This Brief explores school funding reform in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1990, Kentucky passed the Kentucky Education Reform Act designed to overhaul that state's education system. Two years later, Tennessee passed the Education Improvement Act which included the Basic Education Plan, designed to foster equity in funding among the state's schools. Initiated as a result of lawsuits against the states' educational systems, both programs dealt with school funding, specifically funding equalization among districts. This Brief examines the environments that precipitated funding reform...
This Brief explores school funding reform in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1990, Kentucky passed the Kentucky Education Reform Act designed...
This book shows how Chinese officials have responded to popular and international pressure, while at the same time seeking to preserve their own careers, in the context of disaster management. Using the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake as a case study, it illustrates how authoritarian regimes are creating new governance mechanisms in response to the changing global environment and what challenges they are confronted with in the process. The book examines both the immediate and long-term effects of a major disaster on China's policy, institutions, and governing practices, and seeks to explain which...
This book shows how Chinese officials have responded to popular and international pressure, while at the same time seeking to preserve their own ca...
Brazil is renowned worldwide for its remarkable reforms in pharmaceutical regulation, which have enhanced access to essential medicines while lowering drug costs. This book innovates by analysing the generic drug reform in Brazil, demonstrating that pharmaceutical regulation is only partially influenced by non-state actors. Little is known about the institutional antecedents and policy process that channeled this regulatory reform. This is particularly intriguing because a regulatory shift in the pharmaceutical sector requires the participation of a number of stakeholders and interest groups...
Brazil is renowned worldwide for its remarkable reforms in pharmaceutical regulation, which have enhanced access to essential medicines while lowering...
This volume focuses on the spotlight on Romania and Moldova, two distinct nations that share a common language, history and culture. Romania is a NATO member since 2004 and a fully integrated nation into the European Union since 2007, while The Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet republic) is attempting to join both international organizations for security and development reasons.
Ever since the Iron Curtain fell on Europe at the end of World War II, the term "Eastern Europe" has been used without much regard for the diversity of the region. Given the geographical proximity, perhaps...
This volume focuses on the spotlight on Romania and Moldova, two distinct nations that share a common language, history and culture. Romania is a N...
This book explores time use, time policy, well-being and sustainable development using concepts and findings from time policy research, socio-ecological sustainability research, behavioral economics, consumer research, and research into prosperity and "the good life." Because any change in time structures, whether opening or working hours, school or travel times, has large scale impacts on other times that should ideally be recognized, the political and social restructure and negotiations for more effective time policy must include cross-cutting issues in the relevant sector policies -...
This book explores time use, time policy, well-being and sustainable development using concepts and findings from time policy research, socio-e...
This short book sets out to explore the concept of nature in the context of a changing reality, in which the extent of our transformation of the environment has become evident: What is nature and to what extent has humanity transformed it? How do nature and society relate to one another? What does the idea of a sustainable society entail and how can nature be understood as a political subject? What is the Anthropocene and how does it affect nature as both an idea and a material entity? Has nature perhaps "ended?" In addressing these questions, the author delivers a concise but meaningful...
This short book sets out to explore the concept of nature in the context of a changing reality, in which the extent of our transformation of the envir...
This book investigates the socio-economic determinants of the emergence and persistence of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria. Since 2009, Boko Haram continues to capture mainstream news headlines, as well as the imagination of aspiring young Salafi-jihadists around the world who support the notion of a radical Islamist socio-political system. By providing an essential overview of the literature on Boko Haram and bridging research and current events, the authors cover a broad spectrum of topics and suggest relevant policies for addressing the problem of Boko Haram terrorism. WhileBoko...
This book investigates the socio-economic determinants of the emergence and persistence of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria. Since 2009, Boko Haram ...
This Brief discusses the current policy environment in which the United States space program operates and proposes an industry-government partnership as a long-term policy solution. Since the Reagan administration, American space policy has increasingly sought to involve private sector operators for space. The culmination of this trend has been the Obama administration s policy of private sector transportation of crew and cargo to the International Space Station on behalf of NASA. This book proposes that future administrations extend this policy to other areas of space, including energy, in...
This Brief discusses the current policy environment in which the United States space program operates and proposes an industry-government partnership ...
This Brief provides some answers as to why famines continue to torment humankind here in the 21st century despite all our progress in food production, logistics, information dissemination and relief work. Contemporary famines are inherently political, and so the interesting question is not how famines can be prevented, but why they are allowed to develop in the first place; only by understanding the latter, is there hope to eradicate major famines. The Brief assesses the various analytical approaches to the understanding of famine, from the classical approaches inspired by Thomas Malthus...
This Brief provides some answers as to why famines continue to torment humankind here in the 21st century despite all our progress in food production,...
This Brief presents a benefit-cost analysis of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as well as an evaluation of its cumulative socioeconomic effects. Created by Congress in 1968, the NFIP provides flood insurance protection to property owners, in return for local government commitment to sound floodplain management. Since 1994, the NFIP has included a Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program to provide local communities with support for flood mitigation. This book offers quantitative evidence of the net social benefit of the NFIP for the years 1996-2010, including an independent...
This Brief presents a benefit-cost analysis of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as well as an evaluation of its cumulative socioeconomic...
