Emerald Publishing Limited

Understanding the challenges in research and practice of participation in the digital era, and the important role of local governance in achieving the sustainable development goals, Community Participation and Civic Engagement in the Digital Era unfolds the complex relationship of community participation, social capital and social networks.

Singh presents an in-depth literature review alongside case studies from developing countries, showcasing the role of participation in sustainable development, and explaining how digital development creates technological tools and a virtual space for community engagement – increasing the complexity of community participation and civic engagement, and the potential for implementing the sustainable development goals at a local level. From the historic concept and forms of participation to describing and analysing the environmental and individual factors shaping practice of participation, community development interventions and local governance, the book culminates in a discussion of future work and challenges in the digital world.

Delivering a careful review of the theoretical and practical problems of community participation in the digital age and featuring applied theories and cases which appeal to public policy makers and researchers, Community Participation and Civic Engagement in the Digital Era offers a rich theoretical perspective and detailed critical review of social capital and social networks that has profound application in the fields of political science, sociology and development economics.

The promises, dreams and hopes of architects for future cities are now inextricably linked to climate change. Architects, Sustainability and the Climate Emergency: A Political Ecology chronicles how architects have shaped their ideas of the city—and sustainability—as knowledge of the climate emergency has unfolded. Have architects responded to the climate crisis too slowly?

Describing a political ecology of architecture, Peter Raisbeck draws on architectural history, theory and practice, and the climate imaginaries of architects themselves. This exploration indicates how architects have viewed the climate emergency and positions architecture alongside the politics of climate and development studies. Raisbeck questions to what degree the traditional agency of architects leads to a political authority isolated from nature, human-environment systems and the nonhuman ecological subjects rapidly approaching tipping points.

The fluidity of the climate emergency itself and its unfolding relationship to architectural knowledge suggests that new approaches, agencies and subjectivities are urgently required. As architects struggle to respond to the climate emergency, this book is an important and timely contribution to sustainability, climate and development debates. Architects, Sustainability and the Climate Emergency: A Political Ecology is a necessary provocation of a critical topic.

The global professionalisation of women’s football has gathered momentum in the twenty first century, and professional women footballers are now more prevalent and evident in cultures around the world. Despite increased professionalisation and record-breaking viewing and participation figures for women’s football, there are persistent challenges for women in the game. Professional football is now a viable career opportunity for women globally; however, as Women’s Football in a Global, Professional Era demonstrates, there are pressing issues and unanswered questions that remain in the game.

In this collection, a range of scholars contribute research covering three key areas as women’s football shifts into a global, professional era: issues surrounding the historical development of professional women’s football, documentation of the lived experiences of women in an emerging professional space and, finally, discussions around commercialisation and media coverage of the sport.

Women’s Football in a Global, Professional Era is an important addition to discussions on sport as work for women, and an essential reference point for students, researchers and sports professionals interested in the debates around the professionalisation of women’s football internationally.

The Bologna Process created the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), establishing comparable higher education structures within the EHEA member states, but the process has also been influential in countries outside of the EHEA. The map of the EHEA on the cover page of this book presents current active members of the EHEA, following EHEA membership changes in April 2022.

Towards Social Justice in the Neoliberal Bologna Process combines research from leading international scholars. The eclecticism of the perspectives shed light on the interaction between neoliberal and social justice discourses in the Bologna Process by exploring neoliberal aspects of Bologna and the growing voice of social justice. The editors present these discourses as complementary rather than opposing, contrary to popular perspectives in the wider literature. Applying this lens to the analysis of a range of Bologna’s action lines in the context of the EHEA and beyond is very important, particularly now. Identifying pitfalls in the social justice agenda in the Bologna Process calls for the attention of Bologna policymakers on the international level to address these issues in the run-up to the new 2030 EHEA deadline.

This timely collection is essential reading for higher education scholars, policymakers, and postgraduate students across the EHEA, as well as countries beyond the EHEA that have been aligning their systems of education to the Bologna Process.

Austrian economics is known for extensive—and many economists would say excessive—ruminations on methodology. Attempting to steer a middle course between radical forms of historicism (there are no economic laws) and scientism (economic laws are as precise as physical laws), this approach often appears to diminish the importance of empirical testing and quantitative methods more generally. Since the Austrian revival of the 1970’s, social scientists have developed a number of new theoretical and empirical approaches to studying the social world. Experimental and behavioral economics have exploded in popularity. Econometrics has arguably taken a more central role in the discipline than even formal economic theory. And, most prominently, econometricians have developed quasi-experimental techniques for examining real-world data as part of the “credibility revolution.”

This volume, Contemporary Methods and Austrian Economics, examines the relationship between Austrian economics and these new social scientific methods. Do Austrian critiques of the excessive ambitions of formal theory and empirical measurement still hold water (if they ever did)? Do the findings of these new approaches bolster or undermine distinctively Austrian theories? How should we update our views on the relationship between abstract economic theory and empirical investigations?