Development, Power, and the Environment: Neoliberal Paradox in the Age of Vulnerability

ISBN-13: 9780415540025 / Angielski / Twarda / 2013 / 280 str.

MD Saidul Islam

Opis

Unmasking the neoliberal paradox, this book provides a robust conceptual and theoretical synthesis of development, power and the environment. With seven case studies on global challenges such as under-development, food regime, climate change, dam building, identity politics, and security vulnerability, the book offers a new framework of a "double-risk" society for the Global South. With apparent ecological and social limits to neoliberal globalization and development, the current levels of consumption are unsustainable, inequitable, and inaccessible to the majority of humans. Power has a great role to play in this global trajectory. Though power is one of most pervasive phenomena of human society, it is probably one of the least understood concepts. The growth of transnational corporations, the dominance of world-wide financial and political institutions, and the extensive influence of media that are nearly monopolized by corporate interests are key factors shaping our global society today. In the growing concentration of power in few hands, what is apparent is a non-apparent nature of power. Understanding the interplay of power in the discourse of development is a crucial matter at a time when our planet is in peril - both environmentally and socially. This book addresses this current crucial need.

Spis treści

Part I: Concepts and Theories  1. Challenges of Our Time: Environmental and Social Vulnerabilities  with Quek Ri An  2. Understanding Power in Social Organization  3. Paradigms of Development and Their Power Dynamics  4. Theorizing Nature-Society Relationships  5. Neoliberal Paradox: Connection Through Disconnection  Part II: Case Studies  6. Development Dynamics in the Global South: From Colonization to Globalization  7. Green Revolution: Transformation, Optimism and Reality  8. Food and Power: The Mirage of the Food Aid Regime  9. Climate Politics: Power and Development in Mortgaging the Planet  10. Tipaimukh Dam: Triumph of Development over the Environment and Popular Voice  11. Labelling Tribal: State-Power in Forming and Transforming Identities  12. A Neoliberal Knowledge/Power/Security Regime After 9/11: The Case of “Muslim Patient”  Part III: Sustainable Earth Amid Vulnerabilities  13. Third World Vulnerabilities: Towards a Double Risk Society  14. Towards a Sustainable Earth?

O autorze

Md Saidul Islam is Assistant Professor in the Division of Sociology at Nanyang Technological University.