Climate change: the risks of stranded fossil fuel assets and resources to the developing world

Under the Paris Agreement, 80% of all proven fossil fuel reserves become stranded resources and investments already made in such resources turn into stranded assets. Much of the existing literature focuses on equitable burden sharing; only a few articles examine the risks for developing countries that invest in new fossil fuels. Hence, this paper addresses the question: What are the risks of investing in fossil fuels for developing countries? In doing so, it examines Kenya, a prospective fossil fuel producer, and China, an investor in fossil fuels. In terms of short- to long-term risks, ignoring new fossil fuels and investing in renewables is favourable and politically, socially, ecologically and economically more rewarding, not least because latecomers to development run the risk of having to compensate investors when new fossil fuel assets strand prematurely and become unrecoverable.     

Crises and unpredictability in developing countries

Developing countries have suffered most of the financial crises in the context of the process of economic and financial globalisation. Both current and previous crises have revealed that unpredictability is a feature common to all the episodes which occurred during the process of globalisation. Although certain alarms went off, any of those external financial crises were actually predicted by the advanced methods in use for prediction and country risk analysis. Taking into consideration the information above, the aim of this paper is to check the ability to foresee external financial crises in developing countries of both the country risk index published by Euromoney and the Credit Ratings variable included therein. We have focused on the external financial crises that took place between 1992 and 2011, that is, in a full globalisation era. The results are negative. It appears that neither the index nor the sovereign ratings are able to reflect early enough the vulnerabilities that arise previously to the setting off the crisis episodes. This leads us to conclude that the existing models of country risk have limits. Thus, it would necessary to develop new instruments to measure this risk, considering uncertainty as an essential feature of the current economic and financial environment.     

The birth and development of the language of global development in light of trends in global population,international politics,economics and globalisation

The 1940s saw an intensification of worldwide interest in the problems of development and underdevelopment. One consequence of this was a rapid evolution of the language of global development. The reconstruction of its genesis is most commonly attempted through the analysis of literature on the subject and accounts by those who took part in or observed the debates of the time concerning the world’s development and structure. This article proposes a different approach which locates important events in the evolution of the modern language of global development on timelines tracing populational, political, socio-economic and civilisational processes.     

Why developing countries are just spectators in the ‘Gold War’: the case of Lebanon at the Olympic Games

At the Olympic Games, there is an increasing gap between developed countries that are investing more and more government resources into sporting success, and developing countries that cannot afford the “Gold War”, and are just spectators in the medal race. Based on studying a representative case, Lebanon, I investigate issues and interests of developing countries in the Olympics. On the political level, the main motivation for participation is global recognition. On the sporting level, developing countries seek to use Olympic participation as preparation for regional Games where success is more likely, serving as a soft power tool for regional influence.     

The Awkward Class: a foundation for peasant studies

ABSTRACT

Teodor Shanin's The Awkward Class helped to launch two immensely important research directions. First, resistance by Russian peasants to modernizing agricultural policies by both Tsarist and Soviet governments opened new questions about collectivization of agriculture, and made Russian history relevant to the study of ‘developing societies.’ Second, the idea of cyclical mobility of peasant households challenged the then widely held assumption that peasants were destined to disappear. Instead of explaining ‘persistence’ of peasants, Shanin explored distinct logics of peasant households and communities. This helped to define a new inter-disciplinary field called peasant studies.     

Public service ethics,values and spirituality in developing and transitional countries: Challenges and opportunities

Concerns over the unethical conduct of leaders and public officials have led to the renaissance of interest in public service ethics and values. Although national and organizational systems and structures have been instituted to either eradicate or ameliorate unethical behaviours in the public service of countries, the practice still persists with devastating consequences. As one way forward, spirituality has been touted as having the potential of stimulating the moral thoughts of individuals who are dealing with ethical issues, thereby reducing unethical behaviour and generating positive organizational behaviour. Drawing from the perspectives of developing and transitional countries, this special issue empirically examines the extent to which ethics, values and spirituality can reduce unethical behaviours.     

我国政府雇员制的发展趋势展望——《公务员法》颁布后的政府雇员制度

政府雇员制在我国是新兴事物.但由于此项制度必须以公务员制度的充分发展为先决条件,而目前我国的公务员制度仍未完善,这就注定政府雇员制度不会有好的发展前景.缺乏法律依据,产生程序过于随意和忽视对政府雇员权益的保护,更使这项制度的前景十分黯淡.     

陕西典当业面临的挑战与机遇

典当业在新时期越来越明显地具备了“第二银行”的功能。已不再是单纯地为解决生计问题提供消费性融资,而已成为广泛地发展经济、支持生产、活跃流通、方便群众的生产性、经营性融资的新渠道。透视变化,分析陕西典当业的现状,为促进陕西典当业的发展和进步,提出相应对策。     

谈公安教育改革的原则和方向

公安教育改革是公安院校面临着的一项长期的系统工程。文章针对当前公安教育改革中出现的五个方面的问题作了全面的剖析,进而提出了在公安教育改革中应遵循的四项原则,指出了公安教育在办学理念、管理模式、办学模式、人才培养模式和长效机制建设方面的改革方向。     

略论经济全球化的实质

经济全球化的基本内容是三个自由化:贸易自由化、投资自由化、金融自由化.经济全球化的实质,是西方发达国家、特别是美国通过推行三个自由化进行资本的国际扩张,对全球市场和资源进行再分配.发展中国家要勇于应对这种挑战,善于同国际垄断资本进行周旋,趋利避害,实行"设有安全护栏的对外开放政策",在国际竞争中求得生存和发展.