Modernisation Agenda Research Articles

Sustainability Reporting of Leading Global Universities in Asia, Europe, and USA

Sustainability Reporting of Leading Global Universities in Asia, Europe, and USA

Open or Bordered? Singapore, Industrialisation and Malaysian Workers

ABSTRACTThis article offers a new approach to the study of Singapore history through an interrogation of the city-state’s borderedness and openness to Malaysian workers during the 1970s and 1980s. This was the period in which the foundations of modern Singapore were laid, as the state opened its borders to meet the demand for labour in the industrialisation program. Yet, this open-border policy was overlaid by a state system of work permits, levies and penalties designed to control migrant labour. The policy turned contradictory over time, attempting to reduce Singapore’s reliance on foreign workers while in practice increasing their numbers. Despite its best efforts, the state was never totally successful in policing the border as workers and employers found ways to circumvent the controls. Regardless, state efforts to adjust border, labour and immigration policies to meet the immediate and imagined contingencies of its modernisation agenda were extensive and relentless. This suggests that we need to consider in more nuanced ways recent notions of borders as zones of transgressiveness that are free from state controls. In the city-state of Singapore during the 1970s and 1980s, the border was a complex zone of both control and transgression.

A Critical Evaluation of the Extent to Which the Reform and Modernisation Agenda Has Impacted on the Professionalisation of Social Work in England

ABSTRACT The last twenty-five years have seen an erosion of the public sector with whole industries being sold off and made into private companies. Even those roles that have remained in the public sector have undergone enormous change, with the importation of ideas and practices formally associated with businesses. Reforms have led to cost-cutting and an increase in managerialism. This paper sets out what is meant by a profession and then explores whether the reform and modernisation agenda has enhanced the profession of social work or whether it has been to the detriment. It is asserted that social workers have seen a reduction in their ability to act independently and that professional knowledge has therefore been eroded. The tensions between these changes and social work values are discussed. The author posits that the reforms have not contributed to service user's life opportunities. It is concluded that that, alongside the manageralism agenda, social work's poor media profile and the fact that many social workers do not want to be considered professionals has contributed to the continued lack of professional standing. Initiatives that may help with improving the profile of the social work profession and outcomes for service users are discussed—although it is noted that the current government's commitment to these aims appears limited.

How Senior Glaswegian Planners are Adjusting to the Scottish Government’s Modernization Agenda

ABSTRACTThis paper is grounded in what 15 experienced Glaswegian planners said about their work. Many spoke of their misgivings about the Scottish government’s efforts to modernize national and local planning practices, whereby, in their view, they are expected to be facilitators of economic development above all other considerations. They spoke of how they thought planning should be practised and in their resource-constrained circumstances, how they strive to do so. Most grew up in the Glasgow region prior to the current neo-liberal ascendancy in public policy and planning and remain committed to their places and people. Whether their professional concerns are now largely residual or still relevant, so presaging possible emergent professional practices are discussed.

The Futurists of Beijing: Alvin Toffler, Zhao Ziyang, and China's “New Technological Revolution,” 1979–1991

This article examines former Chinese Premier and General Secretary Zhao Ziyang's policies to respond to a “New Technological Revolution,” which resulted from a most unlikely influence: the prominent American writer Alvin Toffler and other futurists. Drawing on previously unstudied materials and internal Chinese sources, this article demonstrates how Zhao and other senior Chinese officials interpreted and deployed these ideas to advocate for distinctive and influential policies. This policy vision of actionable futurism shaped science and technology policy during the 1980s—especially the major 863 Program to develop advanced technologies—and had great importance in China's economic transformation. In explicating Zhao's role, this account revises the often-repeated Deng Xiaoping–centered story of the 863 Program's origins and reassesses this major initiative, which exemplifies how new expectations about the future, shaped by the transnational movement of ideas, became centrally important to the Chinese leadership's decades-long agenda for China's modernization. This examination also illustrates the distinctiveness of Zhao's policy vision, frequently effaced by official Deng-centered narratives, and the fluidity of conceptions of modernization in this period. The article concludes by suggesting the enduring relevance of these ideas about the future for the current era of Chinese state-led investment in new technologies.

Transforming Universities for the Digital Age - Policies – Business Models – Resources

Higher education systems in the European Union are operating in an increasingly fast-changing and competitive environment. They have to tackle key issues dealing with massification, career guidance, cost-efficiency, international attractiveness, student mobility. At a more operational level, digital practices and technologies support the change of several aspects of higher education institutions and new players providing expertise and methodologies undermine the classical model of university as a leading knowledge producer and disseminator.Such major transformations require modern governance arrangements and dynamic leadership. As outlined in the EU Modernization Agenda of Higher Education (2011), the major bottleneck found is the staff competence and preparedness, more specifically at the institutional leadership and executive management level.The interest for e-learning is not new but contrary to the obvious interest for equipment or management, this has not been enough for e-learning to impose itself. As stated by Paul Bacsich (2011) the presence of ICT in universities is a reality but the education transformation has not yet taken place. So far, initiatives are generally focused on operational (managerial) aspects. The D-TRANSFORM project starting in 2014 and ending in 2017[1] was the first European-funded project focusing on the fundamental strategic aspects of digital innovation of Higher Education. Through leadership schools, MOOCs, guidelines and stat-of-the-art reports it helped university governing bodies to define their own digital strategies and coordinate them with public policies defined at the European/national level and to be able to plan e-education according to the university needs and profile.[1] DigiTal Resources As a New Strategic FactOr for a Renovation and Modernization in HEType: Initiative supported by the ERASMUS+(2014- 2017)Budget: 1 M$

Urban Land Grabs in Africa?

Africa is rapidly urbanising. New dynamics of investments and mobilities ensue the expansive urbanisation, generating transformative effects on the continents urban land and built environment. The transformative effects are also on the future prospects for sustainable living conditions for African urban dwellers. This special issue of Built Environment has collected articles that carefully observe these effects, in order to explore whether these are indeed leading to ‘urban land grabs’, which take place in new forms of commodification and speculation of land and properties. We recognise that the trend of commodification and speculation is likely to intensify, as the new modernisation agenda is being propagated in the name of pursuing urban sustainability and resilience, corresponding to the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals. At the same time, inclusive urban development is also debated in these international agendas, as ordinary citizens increasingly confront livelihood and land use changes, spatial alteration and social segregation, or physical displacement. In this context, we know little about how African urban dwellers’ experiences could be understood and used to envision genuinely sustainable and inclusive urban development. In this editorial, we give an overview of various emerging urban land investments and how they are experienced by urban dwellers. As shown in all the articles of this special issue, we argue that the far reaching impact of increased investments and mobilities leading to commodification and land speculation as well as the urban dwellers’ agency to navigate the impact deserve more attention in discussions on sustainable and inclusive urban development in Africa.

When Students Design University: a Case Study of Creative Interdisciplinarity between Design Thinking and Humanities

AbstractThis paper addresses the issue of how to enhance student participation in university governance. This issue is approached by taking into account the growing pressures of the European Commission’s modernization agenda on the educational policies of the European Higher Education Area, and by focusing on the way these pressures affect students’ conceptions of themselves and of the mission of higher education. The thesis presented in this paper is that design thinking and the humanities share a common epistemological core that enables them, if applied in educational settings, to play a major role in fostering students’ trust in their governance skills and in their ability to influence educational policies through a creative mindset and a deeper comprehension of the stakes in present-day higher education. An experimental workshop combining design thinking with the humanities and with the constructivist approach of student-centered learning was held within a course in a humanities bachelor program on the basis of a heuristic framework developed through an interdisciplinary research process. This process was conducted according to the principles of design and hermeneutics. The outcomes of the workshop in terms of the participants’ enhanced self-confidence and decisional skills validate the thesis of this study.

Smart-sustainability: A new urban fix?

Urban policy increasingly positions smart urban development as a transformative approach to deliver sustainability. In this paper, we question the transformative credentials of smartness and argue that it is better understood as a partial fix for the economic, environmental and social challenges faced by cities. Drawing on the urban sustainability and smart city literatures, we develop the concept of the urban smart-sustainability fix. This concept focuses on how smart-sustainable city initiatives selectively integrate digital and environmental agendas via entrepreneurial forms of urban governance. We develop this concept by examining how the urban smart-sustainability fix is constructed in the European Commission’s flagship smart cities and communities lighthouse projects, focusing on the Triangulum initiative. Our research reveals three elements of the urban smart-sustainability fix: (1) the spatial development of smart-sustainable districts; (2) the digitisation of urban infrastructure to reveal hidden processes; and, (3) collaborative experimentation with low-carbon and digital technologies. We argue that this has produced urban districts that are attempting to reduce their carbon emissions while promoting green economic growth. The main aim of the urban smart-sustainability fix is to make the urban realm more manageable resulting in amplification, rather than transformation, of the dominant ecological modernisation agenda of sustainable development.

When a Market Runs a Hierarchy: Retrenchment of Bureaucratic Practices in Lithuanian Uniformed Services


 
 Some public administration literature that focuses on public administration reform indulges in constructing grand narrative theories such as New Public Management (NPM), or New Governance (NG). The most recent such theory that has been gaining attention over the past decade is the Neo Weberian State (NWS). The content of the theory with regard to its practical implication when it comes to reform is still unsettled. However, one key assumption behind the NWS is that reforms should be handled with care, as they may undermine the very institutions that have brought Western societies to the levels of their development they are in now. NPM’s drive to increase efficiency, and NG’s – democracy from the point of view of NWS is impossible if reforms deconstruct institutions that ensure the protection of the public interest and rule of law. NWS’s critique of post-communist reform efforts in the new eastern EU member-states is a case in point suggesting that leapfrogging the construction of a professional bureaucracy is ill-advised and does not lead to politically desired outcomes. In this paper we aim to evaluate which path of reform may lead to the best outcomes in a particular area of the public service – two non-military uniformed services of Lithuania – customs and penitentiary. These services have to a large degree avoided sweeping reforms throughout the independence period, in both cases – a soviet institutional legacy is also a factor. Both Customs and the Penitentiary service are suffering from multiple corruption scandals and very low public trust levels. These services are continuously in the crosshairs of reform, but few have been clearly articulated, even less so – implemented. Applying NPM to uniformed services, due to the nature of their functions was complicated, so as reforms in the 1990s and 2000s went along in the other sectors, policy-makers have largely left uniformed to their own devices, and this has led to retrenchment of the bureaucratic principles as would historical institutionalisms theory predict. We suggest that NPM-oriented governance avoids intervention in areas where NPM principles are hard to apply, leaving such areas without proper attention to continue down undesirable development paths. When the deconstruction of a hierarchy appears impossible, higher order governance needs to remain modelled as hierarchy as well. NWS in this case does offer a management modernization agenda, which could keep state institutions in step with social, technological, and economic developments.
 

Book review: Coles, A., Gray, L. and Momsen, J., editors, 2015: The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Development

Coles, A., Gray, L. and Momsen, J., editors, 2015: The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Development. London/New York, NY: Routledge. 594 pp. £190. ISBN: 9780415829083 (Hardcover).

“In sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth?”

Purpose“Economic crises” and “corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives” are two issues that dominate the modern business agenda. Although related, these issues have been analysed separately, and so a significant gap is perpetuated between the two. What are the effects of economic crises on CSR initiatives? Can organisational social initiatives withstand economic crises? The purpose of this paper is to answer these questions.Design/methodology/approachAn integrative literature review was conducted, considering: the economic and geographical context in which the research was conducted; the focus of each piece of research; the adopted research methods; organisational theories of analytical support; the sectors analysed; and the effects of economic crises on CSR initiatives and environmental management.FindingsSome of the findings were as follows: most of the studies analysed reported that CSR helps companies to cope with economic crises by increasing the efficiency of investments and establishing better relations with stakeholders and markets; environmental practices are related to negative environmental performance in periods of economic crises; and CSR relates positively to financial performance in periods of economic crises.Originality/valueThis is one of the first integrative literature reviews to investigate what happens to the relationship between businesses and sustainable change management in periods of crises. This paper also offers a future research agenda for the issue, with 12 questions still unanswered by the latest research.

Challenges in Romanian technical higher education from the perspective of the european requirements for its modernization

In today’s economically changing environment, higher education institutions faces many challenges regarding permanent adaptations to industry needs, inappropriate financing arrangements, the knowledge triangle of teaching, research and innovation, tailored approaches to learning for students, students centred education, reforms in the education system etc. The problem mentioned in European agenda for higher education modernization linked to the inconsistency between the knowledge and skills graduates gain from the educational process and those required by the economy and society remains one major problem, at least at this moment. In regard to this, the paper aim is to analyses the actual situation regarding the consequences of an admission without exam where the baccalaureate grade is taken into account, and as possible solutions to this major challenge are emphasised possible training methods appropriate to the presented situation, methods with a great emphasis on the practical side and the permanent emphasis of the theoretical background used. In this context, good anticipation and thoroughly prepared restructuring is needed, attention and unified efforts from specialists in education field, industry and whole higher education system in order to face actual situation and be prepared for challenges that this problems will rise in the future.

Worlds Conflicting

François-Vincent Raspail (1794–1878) and Theodor Schwann (1810–1882) postulated—in 1827 and 1838, respectively—that plants and animals consist of, and originate from, cells. Whereas Raspail is mainly remembered for his involvement in the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, little is known about his scientific work. Schwann, by contrast, is regarded as one of the founders of cell theory, but historians of biology have hardly taken his philosophical, religious, and political ideas into account. Paying particular attention to Schwann’s unpublished writings, this paper reconstructs the research agendas of Raspail and Schwann, and contrasts the philosophical and political beliefs and incentives behind them. Whereas Raspail was a proponent of republicanism and materialism, Schwann opposed the modernist agenda of explaining nature and humankind without God, as well a democratic reshaping of society. Contrary to the prevailing historical narrative, this paper argues that cell theory did not emerge exclusively in conjunction with the rise of liberalism and materialism. Rather, the idea of a unifying principle of organic development encompassed different and even antagonistic visions of nature, humankind, society, and the role of religion in science. This essay is part of a special issue entitled REVOLUTIONARY POLITICS AND BIOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE AND GERMANY edited by Lynn K. Nyhart and Florence Vienne.

Urban/rural division in environmental justice frameworks: revealing modernity-urbanisation nexus in Turkey’s small-scale hydropower development

ABSTRACTEnvironmental justice frameworks predominantly focus on exploration of socio-environmental inequalities faced by racial, ethnic, religious, cultural and low-income groups. This article aims to expand this mainstream focus of the environmental justice concept on these groups by conceptualising urban/rural division as a group difference, based on which rural communities face with socio-environmental burdens of environmental policies in relation to their urban counterparts. It is based on the analysis of Turkey’s small-scale hydroelectricity power plant (HPP) development policies, referring to the planning and constructions of approximately 1500 hydropower plants across the country, along with country’s modernist agenda, i.e. achievement of economic development, social progress and urban transformation of Turkey. These power plants are also strongly associated with numerous socio-economic, environmental and cultural impacts on local rural communities and local environments with dozens of local opposition movements, while favouring needs, interests and lifestyles of urban communities. This point deserves a systematic conceptualisation within the environmental justice frameworks as it helps to further explain deep causes of socio-environmental inequalities particularly in developing country contexts. Thus, this article is built on such a conceptualisation arguing the necessity to integrate urban/rural division as a separate group difference to environmental justice frameworks by examining modernisation and urbanisation nexus in Turkey’s small-scale HPP development process.

The Concept of ‘Peasant Embourgeoisement’ in the Perspective of Different Historical Conjunctures

Abstract The paper combines the historical analysis of the social transformation of rural Hungary with the evolution of the sociological concept of ‘peasant embourgeoisment’. The authors highlight the long lasting impact of the concept in the understanding of academic knowledge production. The concept was the product of thorough ethnographic studies in the inter- and postwar periods by scholarly intellectuals, whose aim went beyond academic purposes and translated into a political agenda of rural modernization. To make such a methodological combination the authors demonstrate that the global historical context is necessary in the understanding of how knowledge production occurs and interacts at various historical conjunctures, especially during periods of crises.

Socialist hydropower governances compared: dams and resettlement as experienced by Dai and Thai societies from the Sino-Vietnamese borderlands

Research on hydropower development has shown that a diversity of social and environmental impacts of dams is distributed unevenly among various state and corporate actors and riparian populations. This article analyses how two neighbouring socialist states, China and Vietnam, govern dam-induced resettlement along their respective sections of the Red River Watershed. Our investigation focuses on resettlement villages created during the construction of the Madushan (China) and Ban Chat (Vietnam) reservoirs and testifies that resettlement policies on both sides of the border serve statist modernization agendas that fail to acknowledge Dai (China) and Thai (Vietnam) ethnic minority livelihoods. While local populations endure the greatest impacts from dam-induced changes in water allocation and the ensuing consequences for land resources, the benefits of hydropower development are first and foremost shared among state-owned and/or state-backed energy companies. These companies reap huge profits from their role as power generators for capitalist production, while also benefiting from state authorities underevaluating resettled communities’ livelihood assets. A comparison of the two cases reveals that despite the border that separates China and Vietnam, and despite both states emphasizing different resettlement discourses, governance of dam-induced resettlement is strikingly similar.

Has evidence-based medicine ever been modern? A Latour-inspired understanding of a changing EBM.

Evidence‐based health care (EBHC), previously evidence‐based medicine (EBM), is considered by many to have modernized health care and brought it from an authority‐based past to a more rationalist, scientific grounding. But recent concerns and criticisms pose serious challenges and urge us to look at the fundamentals of a changing EBHC.In this paper, we present French philosopher Bruno Latour's vision on modernity as a framework to discuss current changes in the discourse on EBHC/EBM. Drawing on Latour's work, we argue that the early EBM movement had a strong modernist agenda with an aim to “purify” clinical reality into a dichotomy of objective “evidence” from nature and subjective “preferences” from human society and culture.However, we argue that this shift has proved impossible to achieve in reality. Several recent developments appear to point to a demise of purified evidence in the EBHC discourse and a growing recognition—albeit implicit and undertheorized—that evidence in clinical decision making is relentlessly situated and contextual. The unique, individual patient, not abstracted truths from distant research studies, must be the starting point for clinical practice. It follows that the EBHC community needs to reconsider the assumption that science should be abstracted from culture and acknowledge that knowledge from human culture and nature both need translation and interpretation. The implications for clinical reasoning are far reaching. We offer some preliminary principles for conceptualizing EBHC as a “situated practice” rather than as a sequence of research‐driven abstract decisions.

Properties of biochar derived from wood and high-nutrient biomasses with the aim of agronomic and environmental benefits.

Biochar production and use are part of the modern agenda to recycle wastes, and to retain nutrients, pollutants, and heavy metals in the soil and to offset some greenhouse gas emissions. Biochars from wood (eucalyptus sawdust, pine bark), sugarcane bagasse, and substances rich in nutrients (coffee husk, chicken manure) produced at 350, 450 and 750°C were characterized to identify agronomic and environmental benefits, which may enhance soil quality. Biochars derived from wood and sugarcane have greater potential for improving C storage in tropical soils due to a higher aromatic character, high C concentration, low H/C ratio, and FTIR spectra features as compared to nutrient-rich biochars. The high ash content associated with alkaline chemical species such as KHCO3 and CaCO3, verified by XRD analysis, made chicken manure and coffee husk biochars potential liming agents for remediating acidic soils. High Ca and K contents in chicken manure and coffee husk biomass can significantly replace conventional sources of K (mostly imported in Brazil) and Ca, suggesting a high agronomic value for these biochars. High-ash biochars, such as chicken manure and coffee husk, produced at low-temperatures (350 and 450°C) exhibited high CEC values, which can be considered as a potential applicable material to increase nutrient retention in soil. Therefore, the agronomic value of the biochars in this study is predominantly regulated by the nutrient richness of the biomass, but an increase in pyrolysis temperature to 750°C can strongly decrease the adsorptive capacities of chicken manure and coffee husk biochars. A diagram of the agronomic potential and environmental benefits is presented, along with some guidelines to relate biochar properties with potential agronomic and environmental uses. Based on biochar properties, research needs are identified and directions for future trials are delineated.

The Indian Experience as a Swahili Mirror in Colonial Mombasa

People of Indian descent had long interacted with the Swahili of East Africa. This interrelationship became particularly momentous during British colonial rule that gave additional impetus to Indian migration to East Africa. In time East Africa, in general, and Mombasa, Kenya’s second largest city, in particular, became home to significant populations of Indian settler communities. Motivated by an immigrant psychology and relatively privileged status under colonial rule, Indian immigrants took full advantage of the opportunities to become remarkably successful socially and economically. Local inhabitants were fully aware of the success of Indian immigrants of East Africa, and for some of them, the Indian record became a yard stick for their own successes and failures. Among these was Sheikh Al-Amin bin Ali Mazrui (1891-1947), famed for his reformist ideas about East African Islam. Using his Swahili periodical, Swahifa, he tried to galvanize members of Swahili-Muslim community towards the goal of community uplift by drawing on the experiences of East African Indians as a way of referring them back to some of the fundamentals of a progressive Islamic civilization in matters of the economy, education, and cultural preservation. In this sense, the East African Indian “mirror” became an important means of propagating Sheikh Al-Amin’s agenda of an alternative modernity rooted in Islamic civilization.