Global Studies Senior Capstone Project

Since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009 several hundred different 'cryptocurrencies' have been developed and become accepted for a wide variety of transactions in leading online commercial marketplaces and the 'sharing economy', as well as by more traditional retailers, manufacturers, and even by charities and political parties. Bitcoin and its competitors have also garnered attention for their wildly fluctuating values as well as implication in international money laundering, Ponzi schemes and online trade in illicit goods and services across borders. These and other controversies surrounding cryptocurrencies have induced varying governance responses by central banks, government ministries, international organizations, and industry regulators worldwide. Besides formal attempts to ban Bitcoin, there have been multifaceted efforts to incorporate elements of blockchains, the peer-to-peer technology underlying cryptocurrencies, in the wider exchange, recording, and broadcasting of digital transactions. Blockchains are being mobilized to support and extend an array of governance activities. The novelty and breadth of growing blockchain-based activities have fuelled both utopian promises and dystopian fears regarding applications of the emergent technology to Bitcoin and beyond. This volume brings scholars of anthropology, economics, Science and Technology Studies, and sociology together with GPE scholars in assessing the actual implications posed by Bitcoin and blockchains for contemporary global governance. Its interdisciplinary contributions provide academics, policymakers, industry practitioners and the general public with more nuanced understandings of technological change in the changing character of governance within and across the borders of nation-states.

Global Histories of Work is the first title in the new series "Work in Global and Historical Perspective". This collection of selected articles written by leading scholars in different disciplines provides both an introduction and numerous insights into themes, debates and methods of Global Labour History as they have been developed over the last years. The contributions to the volume discuss crucial historiographical developments; present different professions that have gained new attention in the context of an emerging Global Labour History; critically engage the boundaries of "free" labour and the ambiguities contained in this concept; and take up and historicize current debates about "informal labour". Global Histories of Work will familiarize readers with a burgeoning fi eld of high academic, social, and political relevance.

Labor and Global Justice: Essays on the Ethics of Labor Practices under Globalization combines conceptual and theoretical perspectives across a multiplicity of relevant differences, both geographical and disciplinary, to develop a transnational perspective on labor and justice. Through its multidisciplinary, transnational approach and its engagement with public policy, the contributors advance urgent contemporary debates around work and clearly demonstrate the necessity of articulating the rights of labor to any global ethics or to any concept of global justice. Together, the chapters make evident why justice requires, both theoretically and practically, a rethinking and rearticulation of the relation between labor and capital. Framing the theoretical and practical question of justice in a new way, the editors have gathered addresses scholars across multiple disciplines, including philosophy, international relations, and the social sciences. As the volume emphasizes the connection between the concept of justice and real public policy, it also appeals to human rights workers and labor organizers, as well as those who make the public policies that establish the relation between labor and capital, just or unjust, and that determine the well-being of workers, for good or ill.

Food is increasingly traded internationally, thereby transforming the organization of food production and consumption globally and influencing most food-related practices. This transition is generating unfamiliar challenges related to sustainability of food provision, the social impacts of international trade and global food governance. Distance in time and space between food producers and consumers is increasing and new concerns are arising. These include the environmental impact of food production and trade, animal welfare, the health and safety of food and the social and economic impact of international food trade. This book provides an overview of the principal conceptual frameworks that have been developed for understanding these changes. It shows how conventional regulation of food provision through sovereign national governments is becoming elusive, as the distinctions between domestic and international, and between public and private spheres, disappear. At the same time multi-national companies and supranational institutions put serious limits to governmental interventions. In this context, other social actors including food retailers and NGOs are shown to take up innovative roles in governing food provision, but their contribution to agro-food sustainability is under continuous scrutiny. The authors apply these themes in several detailed case studies, including organic, fair trade, local food and fish. On the basis of these cases, future developments are explored, with a focus on the respective roles of agricultural producers, retailers and consumers.

Global cities with a largely cosmopolitan environment, such as Auckland, Berlin, Dubai, London, New York, Shanghai or Singapore, are successfully developing and attracting entrepreneurs from all over the world. This book elucidates the policy approaches related to the formation of the cosmopolitan environment that supports entrepreneurship in large urban areas. The book's core theme is the relationship between cosmopolitanism and entrepreneurship whilst the latter is viewed as a key driver of economic growth, sustainability and prosperity. The book argues that successful entrepreneurship rests on the two pillars of the cosmopolitan environment - diversity and the creation of business opportunities. In contrast to globalisation's standardised solutions in policy, commerce, banking and social issues, cosmopolitanism allows individualised value and solutions, whereby actors - entrepreneurs, businesses, families, interest groups, governments, NGOs and virtual communities - enjoy diversity as a norm. The book pays special attention to under-researched topics, such as threats to sustainability in cosmopolitan cities; why cosmopolitan cities attract immigrants with a highly independent mindset; the impact of religious norms on female and male entrepreneurs; varying experiences of local and expatriate entrepreneurs; and the differences in doing business by female entrepreneurs, stemming from their nationalities and residence status. The book offers conceptual insights into the enablers of entrepreneurship in cosmopolitan cities and urban governance, complemented by case studies based on the field work in Dubai, Hamburg, Istanbul, Karachi, Kyiv, London, Moscow and Tel Aviv. The book will appeal to those who study or teach cosmopolitanism, globalisation or urban development concepts and those professionals who consider the possibility of doing business or working as an expatriate in a cosmopolitan city. p;lt;/P> The book pays special attention to under-researched topics, such as threats to sustainability in cosmopolitan cities; why cosmopolitan cities attract immigrants with a highly independent mindset; the impact of religious norms on female and male entrepreneurs; varying experiences of local and expatriate entrepreneurs; and the differences in doing business by female entrepreneurs, stemming from their nationalities and residence status. The book offers conceptual insights into the enablers of entrepreneurship in cosmopolitan cities and urban governance, complemented by case studies based on the field work in Dubai, Hamburg, Istanbul, Karachi, Kyiv, London, Moscow and Tel Aviv. The book will appeal to those who study or teach cosmopolitanism, globalisation or urban development concepts and those professionals who consider the possibility of doing business or working as an expatriate in a cosmopolitan city.

This book argues that larger flaws in the global supply chain must first be addressed to change the way business is conducted to prevent factory owners from taking deadly risks to meet clients' demands in the garment industry in Bangladesh. Using the 2013 Rana-Plaza disaster as a departure point, and to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future, this book presents an interdisciplinary analysis to address the disaster which resulted in a radical change in the functioning of the garment industry. The chapters present innovative ways of thinking about solutions that go beyond third-party monitoring. They open up possibilities for a renewed engagement of international brands and buyers within the garment sector, a focus on direct worker empowerment using technology, the role of community-based movements, developing a model of change through enforceable contracts combined with workers movements and a more productive and influential role for both factory owners and the government. This book makes key interventions and rethinks the approaches that have been taken until now and proposes suggestions for the way forward. It engages with international brands, the private sector and civil society to strategize about the future of the industry and for those who depend on it for their livelihood. A much-needed review and evaluation of the many initiatives that have been set up in Bangladesh in the wake of Rana-Plaza, this book is a valuable addition to academics in the fields of Development Studies, Gender and Women's Studies, Human Rights, Poverty and Practice, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, and South Asian Studies. ment. This book makes key interventions and rethinks the approaches that have been taken until now and proposes suggestions for the way forward. It engages with international brands, the private sector and civil society to strategize about the future of the industry and for those who depend on it for their livelihood. A much-needed review and evaluation of the many initiatives that have been set up in Bangladesh in the wake of Rana-Plaza, this book is a valuable addition to academics in the fields of Development Studies, Gender and Women's Studies, Human Rights, Poverty and Practice, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, and South Asian Studies.

Capital Markets, Globalization, and Economic Development consists of fourteen articles contributed by authors from Australia, Asia, Europe, South America, and the United States who provide a wide range of insights. The contributors include academics, government officials, and regulators. This book examines some of the capital market issues that economies face as they mature. These include, but are not limited to, credit ratings, financial regulation, infrastructure privatization and other timely topics.