International Scholars Research Articles

Building the de-risking state: Power, policy and Canada’s Social Finance Fund

In 2018 the Canadian Government announced the Social Finance Fund, a $755 million pool of public capital with the purpose of accelerating the growth of social finance markets in Canada. The Fund promises to unlock large new sources of funding for social purpose organizations by de-risking private investments (reducing investor losses by providing capital that will be lost first in case of investee default), dually offering investors financial returns as well as an opportunity to do social good with their capital. While the literature has interrogated the theoretical contradictions present in social finance markets, there has been little attention to how social finance markets emerge through acts of policy, and how de-risking private capital becomes a priority of the state. This paper examines how the changing network of actors over decades of policy debate led to the evolution and launch of the Social Finance Fund. The paper also argues that international policy learning was critical to the prioritization of de-risking private investments in social finance markets.

RECEIVING INFLUENCE FROM CHINESE LITERATURE IN THE COMPOSITION OF TRUYEN KY MAN LUC (CASUAL RECORDS OF TRANSMITTED STRANGE TALES) BY NGUYEN DU (VIETNAM) AND THE VALUE OF THE WORK

Truyen Ky Man Luc (Casual Records of Transmitted Strange Tales) by Nguyen Du, born in the 16th century, is considered an ancient fairy tale of Vietnamese medieval literature. The work laid the foundation for the birth and flourishing of the folktale genre in Vietnam. Understanding the source factors affecting the creation of works and explaining why Truyen Ky Man Luc is so appreciated in Vietnamese literature is a matter of theoretical and practical significance. In particular, our research would like to introduce to international scholars one of the classic works of the Vietnamese people in comparison with Chinese literature, which is a useful document for in-depth research on ancient literature of Vietnam in particular and ancient literature of East Asian countries in general.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0006/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Self-preferencing entre todo y nada: en busca de una definición según la ley brasilera de defensa de la competencia

The term self-preferencing has gained great prominence in the competition and regulation debate involving digital platform markets. However, it has increasingly been used to designate practices with distinct structure, economic rationale, and effects, including in contexts that fall outside of digital markets (even though those conducts already existed in preceding times and were widely scrutinized by competition authorities under the existing legal grounds). In Brazil, the situation is no different. This is due to the lack of a well-established legal test, including definitions about presumptions of illegality and burden of proof, and the attempt to concentrate, under the same “umbrella” diverse and distinct conducts. Following up on debates in international scholarship and, most relevantly, discussions within the European scenario, this article provides initial suggestions for the development of an adequate legal test for the practice of self-preferencing in Brazil. We make a preliminary attempt to differentiate between diverse categories of self-preferencing and suggest, among other aspects, that tests and theories of harm existing in CADE case law should be improved and adapted to drive antitrust analysis for those practices. This is the case, for example, for the classic (or “pure”) pattern of what the scholarship has equated to self-preferencing, being possible to turn to an adaptation of the CADE’s position on the essential facilities doctrine (EFD). We argue the essentiality test should not be completely abandoned, as it stands as a relevant divisor between distinct types of self-preferencing, with relevant enforcement implications, and provide aninitial outline of an adapted legal test to assess essentiality.

China reshaping green value chain initiatives: between global and Southern standards

The paper contributes to the growing debate about how China drives change in institutions and norms of global governance. It analyses the case study of China’s approach to transnational voluntary sustainability standards as concrete tools of Western-sponsored green value chain initiatives, between integration and contestation. Engaging international political economy scholarship, the paper shows that China participates in such initiatives by reshaping their focus away from contested market-based approaches to more internationally consensual state-led ones. This stance indicates that China’s reshaping of international norms and institutions conveys claims made by Global South alliances. These alliances are increasingly important for China, not only politically and militarily but also economically and for the success of key initiatives, like the Belt and Road Initiative.

Impactful social entrepreneurship education: A US-Spanish service learning collaborative online international learning (COIL) project

Social Entrepreneurship Education (SEE) is becoming ubiquitous across geographical and institutional contexts. Although service learning (SL) and global learning (GL) are high-impact practices frequently used in SEE, the implementation of SL Collaborative International Online Learning (COIL) in this context is less explored. This study borrows from the literature on SE competencies, SL and GL to address this gap by critically describing a US-Spain seven-week SL COIL project, and, through an exploratory multi-sourced qualitative "researcher-participants" study, generating findings related to the effect of this pedagogical tool on the students' competencies. Mixed teams of students had to solve a challenge posed by four social enterprises in the US and Spain. The findings confirm increased personal, social, and cognitive skills, reinforcing the relevance of this pedagogy to increasing intercultural competencies, and reducing the inequities of traditional study-abroad experiences. As an exploratory study, it is limited in its scope, but it provides the foundation for further research into COIL practices in SEE.

On benefits of new legal realism for international tax scholarship

ABSTRACT Specialists in international tax law tend to adopt a legal positivism perspective. Although not without merit, legal positivism alone offers an incomplete understanding of international tax law for the purposes of legal theory, law-making and practice. In comparing new legal realism with legal positivism, this article will demonstrate how analytical frameworks that incorporate a new legal realism approach can enhance our understanding of international tax law and its concepts, by viewing it through the real-world lens. It will also outline some issues for future empirical analysis that could help to advance legal positivism theory and connect law-making and the practice of international tax law to the real world.

The Students’ Development of Discourse Competence in the Elementary Chinese Courses for International Learners

Based on the theoretical approaches to interlanguage and discourse cohesiveness, this study examines international students' growth in discourse awareness and discourse competence in the teaching of elementary Chinese reading and writing, and explores a set of assessment methods for teaching discourse. The learners' knowledge and production of Chinese conjunctive words were assessed with multiple test methods, including the sentence sequencing test for testing learners' cognitive understanding of discourse cohesiveness, the elicitation tasks for assessing learners' production of conjunctive words, the tests of picture-based sentence writing and essay writing for evaluating learners' discourse awareness of the cohesiveness in form and meaning. 13 students were recruited by us to participate in these tests. A comprehensive discussion of the data supports that appropriate reading and writing instruction can develop learners' discourse competence and enhance their discourse awareness to a certain extent.

An Exploration of Chinese Language International Education Exchange and Cooperation Model Based on Random Forest Model

Abstract Chinese culture is always the eternal root of the Chinese nation and is an important language tool used in international exchanges between China and the rest of the world. As China’s status in the international arena has been enhanced in recent years, people from all over the world have become increasingly interested in the Chinese language, and more and more people are going to China to study it. Because of this, in recent years, the academic field has been researching the exchange and cooperation model of Chinese language international education, but most focus on quality rather than reality. This paper takes Chinese international education in colleges and universities as the research object and composes and summarizes the results of international scholars’ exploration of the exchange and cooperation model of Chinese international education. Based on the relevant theoretical foundation of the random forest algorithm; then, based on the previous research experience, four hypotheses are put forward on the influencing factors of the Chinese international education exchange and cooperation model, and combined with statistical theory, the correlation coefficient and visualization are used to demonstrate the size and direction of the correlation between each influencing factor and the Chinese international education exchange and cooperation model; then, the random forest algorithm is carried out from two perspectives of feature selection and weighted random forest Then, the random forest algorithm is optimised from two perspectives: feature selection and weighted random forest, and the model of Chinese international education exchange and cooperation is constructed, with the decidability coefficient (R 2) as the evaluation index of model accuracy, and the mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) as the evaluation index of model error. The four hypothetical factors (AQI) indices were analyzed for 3, 6, and 9 years respectively. The results of this study show that the index analysis of the random forest algorithm-based model of Chinese language international education exchange and cooperation is highly evaluated. In the analysis of the AQI indices for 3, 6, and 9 years, the coefficient of decidability (R 2) of the four models reached 0.84, 0.74, and 0.63, respectively, with an increase of 14.23% in the evaluation of the indicator coefficients, an average reduction of 5.77% in the mean absolute error (MAE) and an average reduction of 5.42% in the root mean square error (MAE). According to the above results, the random forest algorithm-based Chinese language international education exchange and cooperation model constructed in this paper possesses good correlation analysis, which promotes Chinese language international education exchange and cooperation and facilitates humanistic exchanges between China and other countries in the world to become more in-depth and the common development of the global economy.

Development and evaluation of the Measure of the International Learning Environment Status (MILES) in international higher education.

The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an instrument to assess international students' perceptions of the international learning environment called 'Measure of the International Learning Environment Status' (MILES). We based the development of the MILES on a solid theoretical framework from Moos by addressing three domains to measure the quality of the international learning environment, namely goal direction, relationships, and system change and system maintenance. We have designed and constructed the instrument in three steps. Firstly, we have collected items from relevant existing instruments and grouped them into the three domains via content analysis. Secondly, we applied a Delphi procedure involving international higher education experts from different stakeholder groups and from different cultural backgrounds to identify and reach consensus on the items comprehensively covering important elements of the international learning environment. Thirdly, we carried out an initial questionnaire evaluation. The final MILES consisted of 47 items with 13 in the first domain, 17 in the second and 17 in the third domain. The content of the domains was clearly in line with Moos theoretical framework and we interpreted the sets of items as goal direction, relationships, and supporting services, respectively. This study provides a comprehensive and systematically developed instrument for future research to better understand international students' perspectives towards the international learning environment that are supported by stakeholders from a range of cultures.

People and Places: The Contextual Side of Politics in Demography and Geography

The disciplines of political demography and geography examine the interplay between social behaviors, spatial dimensions, politics, and policy. Investigations into demographic shifts, driven by evolving social norms or domestic and international political events, can influence numerous critical dependent variables in international relations, such as trade, development, and inter- and intra-state conflict. Similarly, geography and the interconnection of space with independent variables, such as power, wealth, and culture, yield similar insights. In this article, we employ a systemist approach from the Visual International Relations Project (VIRP) to provide a brief overview of the theoretical intersection between geography, demography, and international relations focusing on using VIRP to teach these subjects. To accomplish this, we have selected two representative pieces of literature from each field. For demography, we examine Hendrik Urdal’s A Clash of Generations? Youth Bulges and Political Violence, and for geography, we review Alex Braithwaite’s The Geographic Spread of Militarized Disputes. These seminal articles in their respective fields demonstrate the clear applicability of demography and geography to international politics scholarship.

Relationship of Cultural Intelligence, Student’s Innovative Work Behavior and The Influence of Interpersonal Trust

Rapidly shifting market due to globalization increases the nation's demand for young innovators. Innovators from Generation Z are needed to support the future growth of Indonesia. There are several Indonesian Government initiatives to elevate Indonesian education to grow innovations, such as establishing an international student mobility scholarship program. However, research on how the program can increase innovative work behavior for Indonesian students is still unclear. This research aims to investigate how Indonesian students perceive the impact of international student mobility on their innovative work behavior, focusing on the role of cultural intelligence and its effect on innovative work behavior through interpersonal trust. A quantitative approach was adopted for this study to examine the relationships between the variables with the assistance of SmartPLS 4.0 software. An online questionnaire was distributed to 302 respondents consisting of Indonesian students who had completed the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards program in 2022 from all host country regions. This study demonstrates that students with higher cultural intelligence positively influence their individual innovative work behavior. Interpersonal trust also influences the process as a mediating role in the relationship between cultural intelligence and innovative work behavior among students in multicultural environments. This study can be a reference for future research and stakeholders to improve education quality by focusing on the impact of cultural intelligence on students' innovative work behavior in the context of cross-cultural interaction, specifically Indonesian students that participate in international student mobility programs from the Indonesian government. Such research has not been explored extensively beforehand, making this study valuable addition to the pedagogy and management science field.

The Potential Utilizing ChatGPT for Education and Teaching Students: Understanding, Prospects, Challenges, and Utilization"

This research aims to analyze the development of the ChatGPT topic in the context of its utilization and the challenges in supporting 21st-century education and learning programs that require the development of learning media as well as mapping the risks associated with the presence of AI (Artificial Intelligence) phenomenon, specifically ChatGPT. This requires the development of learning media as well as the mapping of risks associated with the presence of AI phenomenon, specifically ChatGPT. The method used in this study is a literature review related to ChatGPT, gathered from the Google database using the Google Advanced search strategy. The keywords "ChatGPT," "education," and "learning" were used to access various publications, particularly national and international scholarly articles that discuss relevant topics. The research findings generally indicate that ChatGPT is currently popular and dynamic, and it is predicted to continue growing in the future. However, discussions specifically related to ChatGPT in the field of education and learning are still the subject of debate, with both supporters and dissenters presenting rational arguments. Several examples demonstrate the significant positive benefits of ChatGPT's presence. To avoid confusion, it is crucial to establish policies formulated by authorized entities and implement them nationally with various supporting regulations.

Comparative capitalism and the empirical taxonomy of context: enhancing the institutionalist blueprint

PurposeCritiques of international business (IB) have long pointed to the weaknesses in the understanding of context. This has ignited debate on the understanding of institutions and how they “matter” for IB. Yet how institutions matter ultimately depends on how IB applies institutional theory. It is argued that institutional-based research is dominated by a narrow set of approaches, largely overlooking institutional perspectives that account for institutional diversity. This paper aims to forward the argument that IB research should lend greater attention to comparing the topography of institutional configurations by bringing political economy “back in” to the IB domain.Design/methodology/approachUsing principal components analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis, the authors provide IB with a taxonomy of capitalist institutional diversity which defines the landscape of political economies.FindingsThe authors show institutional diversity is characterised by a range of capitalist clusters and configuration arrangements, identifying four clusters with distinct modes of capitalism as well as specifying intra-cluster differences to propose nine varieties of capitalism. This paper allows IB scholars to lend closer attention to the institutional context within which firms operate. If the configurations of institutions “matter” for IB scholarship, then clearly, a quantitative blueprint to assess institutional diversity remains central to the momentum of such “institutional turn.”Originality/valueThis paper provides a comprehensive survey of institutional theory, serving as a valuable resource for the application of context within international business. Further, our taxonomy allows international business scholars to utilise a robust framework to examine the diverse institutional context within which firms operate, whilst extending to support the analysis of broader socioeconomic outcomes. This taxonomy therefore allows international business scholars to utilise a robust framework to examine the institutional context within which firms operate.

The Question of Socialism in China: An Introduction

Heady days of the Soviet revolution mooted questions of the contours of socialism. However, following World War II, questions of socialism would reappear on the Left agenda as indications spread of the Soviet Union not living up to Marx’s sketches of what a socialist society should look like. Following the Soviet collapse, the global Left was forced to both rethink basic questions of socialism and consider whether other societies self-identifying as socialist could be upheld as really existing exemplars of Marx’s vision for the human future. China, under Mao, was initially embraced by the Left as the new representative of really existing socialism. But, following the 1978 reforms of its economy towards markets and opening to international capital it fell out of favour in Left circles. Yet, China’s unparalleled successes among Third World economies in economic growth and poverty alleviation had, by the early twenty-first century, placed it once again in the crosshairs of Left debate over socialism. While vigorous debate swirled around the question of socialism in the erstwhile Soviet Union there has been less sustained debate over the question of socialism in China. What follows in this article and the Feature Section of the journal is an attempt to remedy this deficit by bringing international Left scholarship to bear upon the important question of the kind of society and economy that is represented by China.

Where internationalisation and digitalisation intersect: designing a virtual exchange to enhance student teachers’ professional awareness as European teachers

ABSTRACT Virtual exchange, a form of internationalisation at home, provides an opportunity to increase teacher access to international learning experiences, but so far it has mainly been studied in the context of foreign languages teacher education. This article explores the design and implementation of a virtual exchange between an Austrian and a French university for student teachers of various disciplines, aiming to enhance their professional awareness as European teachers. Deploying a design-based research approach, we designed the intervention and evaluated it on the basis of participants’ perceptions. Data were gathered through multiple methods and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings suggest that the effective delivery of a virtual exchange requires an established partnership, collaborative student tasks, and the use of synchronous online communication. Virtual exchange can extend student teachers’ professional awareness, developing their knowledge of other teacher education systems, appreciation of cultural diversity, and openness to transnational collaboration.

Crossing Boundaries through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) during Covid-19: A Participatory Case Study in China

Due to the impact of Covid-19, collaborative online international learning (COIL) increasingly plays an important role in the internationalization of higher education. Based on a participatory case study of a COIL program given at Shanghai University (SHU), this paper explores how students, foreign professors, and professors in China prepare, understand, and experience online teaching, learning, and assessment in a COIL program. Three findings include 1). Organizing COIL Programs with a Global Perspective; 2). Enhancing Teaching and Learning through Intercultural Communication; and 3). The Barriers of COIL in Chinese Universities. Taking insiders’ perspectives, we argue that a cultural gap regarding teaching and learning styles can affect COIL programs in Chinese universities, posing challenges for both students and teachers. We suggest that program organizers should focus on the cultural gaps affecting these programs, and provide additional opportunities for intercultural communication to address the cultural gaps.

An Analysis of the Historiographic Tradition Surrounding the Extraordinary Chambers in the Cambodian Courts

From 1975 to 1979, The Democratic Kampuchea, or the Khmer Rouge, killed between one and a half to two million people, or twenty percent of the population of Cambodia through starvation, torture, and other means. This period is often cited as prime example of a genocide, yet forty years have passed and only four people have been held accountable for these crimes. In 2003, after years of negotiation with the government of Hun Sen, the prime minster of Cambodia from 1985 until the present, the United Nations and the government of Cambodia decided to establish the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the prosecution of the people many believe responsible for the death of over a million people. Yet, from 2003 until the present, as the courts are still in operation, only four people have been prosecuted despite sixteen years and $300 million dollars from the international community.[1] Despite the Cambodian Genocide being a prime example of genocide, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, or ECCC, has proven to be a complete failure for the millions of dead, and the many millions more who lived through the events, and continue to live with the memory every day. Historians, lawyers, and international scholars have debated the issues surrounding why the ECCC has failed to deliver the promises of justice. Over the course of this paper we will be looking at the historiographic tradition surrounding the Extraordinary Chambers in the Cambodian Courts, dividing the works into two different camps. These two camps differ in their opinion on the fatal flaw with regard to the ECCC. These two camps of thought are, one, that political interference by the authoritarian Hun Sen government has, over the courts ten plus years of existence, used its power to prevent any real progress from being made. The other camp argues that the United Nations 2003 agreement with its international standards of justice does not fit into the national ideal of justice and that hybrid courts that attempt to balance international and national priorities have been flawed since its creation. By providing a detailed analysis of these sources the goal will be to find how the two different camps make their arguments and perhaps how scholars have proposed solutions to the difficulties of the Hun Sen government and the UN to attempt to find justice in Cambodia.

The role of founder CEO and independent board in family firms' international growth: evidence from India and Italy

PurposeThis paper investigates the role of the founder CEO and board independence in shaping the way in which Indian and Italian family firms (FFs) pursue international growth via two modes, that is exports and FDI. This article claims that country's context matters in determining the relationship between the presence of the founder CEO and FFs' extent of exports and extent of FDI. Further, this article examines the moderating role of board independence on the above-mentioned founder CEO–FF's international growth relationship.Design/methodology/approachUsing a fixed-effect panel data method, this article tests the hypotheses on a sample of 1,275 Indian FF-year observations and 705 Italian FF-year observations over the period 2008–2015.FindingsThis article reveals that the presence of a founder CEO is positively associated with the extent of exports but negatively associated with the extent of FDI in Italian firms. However, in case of Indian firms, the presence of the founder CEO is negatively associated with the extent of exports as well as with the extent of FDI. This founder CEO's influence on the firm's international growth is mitigated by the presence of an independent board in Italian firms; however, this moderation is not significant in the case of Indian firms.Research limitations/implicationsIt is important to capture heterogeneity within family firms and across institutional contexts while studying family firms' international growth. Further, it is important for international business scholars to theorize for different modes of international growth because challenges faced in expansion via exports are different from the challenges faced in expansion via FDI (foreign subsidiaries). Therefore, family firms leadership might prefer a certain mode of international growth.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study imply that national culture and institutional context could play an important role in determining (a) Founder CEO's inclination towards FF's extent of exports and FDI as well as (b) the effectiveness of an independent board in mitigating founder CEO's influence on FF's international growth.Originality/valueThis work is one of the very few studies that examines the impact of FF's heterogeneity and country heterogeneity on two modes of international growth, namely exports and FDI, in the Indian and Italian contexts. Further, this work provides empirical evidence on the independent board's role in mitigating founder CEO's influence in decision making in the case of Italian firms. Extant literature expects an independent board to encourage FFs' international growth both via exports and FDI; this study shows that independent boards could reduce the founder CEO's inclination towards exports and mitigate founder CEO's influence on the decision making; however, this mitigation effect is highly context dependent.

From “Loss and Damage” to “Losses and Damages”: Orthographies of Climate Change Loss and Damage in the IPCC

Abstract Political conflict over climate change loss and damage (L&D) has made it difficult for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to engage with the topic in its entirety, especially in the intergovernmentally agreed Summaries for Policymakers (SPMs). The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), however, saw the inclusion of the term “losses and damages” in SPMs for the first time. Drawing on evidence from twenty-eight interviews with IPCC authors, reviewers, and L&D experts as well as an analysis of IPCC materials, this article traces the representation of L&D in the IPCC. I suggest that the clarification of different L&D orthographies (“Loss and Damage,” “loss and damage,” and “losses and damages”) through the IPCC Glossary in 2018 paved the way for L&D wording to be consensually approved in multiple AR6 SPMs. Discussing the implications of orthographic choice, I show how L&D orthographies are appraised differently by individuals, depending on their position in the L&D science–policy discourse. Building on insights from science and technology studies and international relations scholarship, I contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the role of language and spelling in reaching consensus at the climate science–policy interface.

15th JIM/TMS Young Leader International Scholar

15th JIM/TMS Young Leader International Scholar