Download or read book Populations and Precarity during the COVID 19 Pandemic Southeast Asian Perspectives written by Kevin S.Y. Tan and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2023-06-25 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a collection of articles that examines how the COVID-19 pandemic affected and intersected with various Southeast Asian contexts in the broad areas of migration, education and demographic policy. At the height of the pandemic from 2020‒22, the resulting restrictions to international travel, ensuing nationwide lockdowns and eventual economic crises formed part of what many commentators referred to as a “new normal”. Apart from being a global health crisis, the pandemic disrupted and transformed the experience of everyday life at all levels of society, where many of its effects are now likely irreversible. In particular, the impact of the pandemic certainly affected the most vulnerable individuals and communities throughout the region, especially in countries that are experiencing rapid ageing such as Singapore and Thailand. Examples of the most affected include low-wage migrant workers, the disabled and the children of impoverished families. For many who were already living in a state of precarity, the structural “side-effects” of the pandemic were at times more deadly than the coronavirus itself as it often negatively impacted livelihood, social-emotional ties and overall well-being. At the same time, the “new normal” has further created conditions that raise the likelihood of occupational precarity even for long-term professionals within established fields like education. In other words, few experienced the COVID-19 pandemic without encountering both tangible and intangible challenges, regardless of where one was situated. Hence, by merging the theme of precarity with that of the pandemic’s undeniable and exacerbating effects, this volume hopes to establish a useful platform to reflect and learn from a range of scholarly views and to contribute to new knowledge and inform policymaking in Southeast Asian societies. "This volume is a collection of thoughtful scholarship that examines the challenges that have been made more acute by the COVID-19 pandemic among and between Southeast Asian populations. The chapters here consider how the global public health crisis and its policy responses have aggravated various forms of precarity that had taken root in pockets of Southeast Asian societies. While history will be the ultimate judge of the true social and cultural consequences of COVID-19 policy responses, Populations and Precarity during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Southeast Asian Perspectives is an urgent reminder that while the worst of the pandemic may be behind us, much more remains to be done to relieve the most vulnerable among our populations of a different kind of long COVID."--Associate Professor Lim Lee Ching, Dean of S R Nathan School of Human Development, Singapore University of Social Sciences "We have all witnessed the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on our daily lives. This was especially true in areas such as Southeast Asia where local and regional economies rely on the movement of workers, both skilled and unskilled. The compilation of chapters in this volume provides an interesting examination of the struggles faced by many in Southeast Asia during this difficult period. Readers will realize that what was merely an inconvenience for some people was life altering for others. I highly recommend reading this book to increase awareness of the hidden consequences of such global catastrophes and perhaps better prepare for the next global event. It is hoped that this collection will inspire actions to resolve some of the current issues faced by vulnerable populations."--Professor Gary La Point, Professor of Practice in Supply Chain, Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University "A fascinating book that provides an insightful analysis of the 'new normal' and the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in key areas such as migration, housing, education, disaster management, and ageing in Southeast Asia. The book provides invaluable perspectives and knowledge for social policymakers and students in Southeast Asia and beyond." --Dr Sorasich Swangsilp, Director, Social Policy & Development (SPD) Programme (BA International Programme), Faculty of Social Administration, Thammasat University "Populations and Precarity during the COVID-19 Pandemic provides a timely addition to our understanding of how the pandemic disrupted key areas of everyday life in Southeast Asia, a multi-ethnic and complex region. Thematically diverse and empirically rich, this book is an interdisciplinary collaboration that deserves academic attention."--Professor Jongryul Choi, Chair of the Department of Sociology, Keimyung University, South Korea

Download or read book Economic Dimensions of Covid 19 in Indonesia written by Blane D. Lewis and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2021-04-19 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning in December 2019, the coronavirus swept quickly through all regions of the world. COVID 19 has wreaked social, political and economic havoc everywhere and has shown few signs of entirely abating. The recent development and approval of new vaccines against the virus, however, now provides some hope that we may be coming to the beginning of the end of the pandemic. This volume collects papers from a conference titled Economic Dimensions of COVID 19 in Indonesia: Responding to the Crisis, organised by the Australian National University’s Indonesia Project and held online 7–10 September 2020. Collectively, the chapters in this volume focus for the most part on the economic elements of COVID 19 in Indonesia. The volume considers both macro- and micro-economic effects across a variety of dimensions, and short- and long-term impacts as well. It constitutes the first comprehensive analysis of Indonesia’s initial response to the crisis from an economic perspective.

Download or read book COVID 19 and the Structural Crises of Our Time written by Mah-Hui Lim and published by Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2021 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "We live in paradoxical times. Traditionally, the West has led the world in theory and practice. Yet, recent developments, from COVID-19 to the storming of the US Capitol, show how lost the West has become. This loss of direction has deep roots. In their usual thoughtful and incisive fashion, Lim Mah-Hui and Michael Heng Siam-Heng, draw out the deeper origins of our current crises and show us a new way forward. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand our strange times." -- Kishore Mahbubani, founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, is the author of Has China Won? "A powerful and compelling critique of neoliberal globalization and its potentially devastating, but long underestimated, consequences for financial stability, the environment, social equity and democracy. COVID-19 has laid bare these dysfunctions and stresses. But this is not a pessimistic book. The authors argue, correctly, that we may be on the cusp of another Great Transformation. The choices we make today to make markets more resilient, improve social protection, and preserve our freedoms could lay the foundations for a sustainable globalization that works for future generations." -- Donald Low, Professor of Practice in Public Policy and Director of the Institute for Emerging Market Studies, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology "This fascinating book highlights the interplay between financial and health crises that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed. Financialized capitalism is bad for the planet, bad for human health, and creates more unequal and insecure societies. The authors make a strong and convincing case for re-embedding markets into society and finance into the real economy." --Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA "Lim and Heng's ambitious volume argues that 2020 was the year of the global 'perfect storm' of multiple crises, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating financial, economic, socio-political and environmental breakdowns. They extend Karl Polanyi's original insights to appeal for a sustainable global New Deal. While the reader may not agree with all their theses, the scope of their coverage and ambition will set the stage for debates over the annus horribilis." -- Jomo K.S., Founder-chair, IDEAS www.network.ideas; former United Nations Assistant Secretary General "This book provides plenty of food for thought for many pondering if the COVID-19 crisis could lead to a major transformation of the global economic system shaped by unfettered market forces and policies of governments in their service."-- Yilmaz Akyuz, former Director, UNCTAD, Geneva

Download or read book Different Under God written by Terence Chong and published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. This book was released on 2013 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Different under God is the first substantial, comprehensive and scientific analysis of Christianity in Singapore, covering religious, social and political attitudes. This survey by Terence Chong and Hui Yew-Foong will be enthusiastically welcomed by todays sociologists and historians in the future. An important and timely contribution to the sociology of religion and to the study of Singapore.” —Bryan S. Turner, Presidential Professor of Sociology, the Graduate Centre, the City, University of New York, USA “This is a landmark study of Christianity in Singapore that is sorely needed today, not only to confirm many scholarly guesses, but also to dispel public stereotypes of Christians as homogeneously sheep-like or militant. Scholars and Singaporeans beware, Terence and Yew-Foong have started a fire that will enliven public discourse on religion and society for years to come.” —Daniel P.S. Goh, Assistant Professor of Sociology, National University of Singapore “Analysing individual and discussion-group responses from churchgoers in both mainline denominations and independent churches, this study grapples with a number of highly-relevant, even sensitive issues in contemporary Christianity: issues of moral values and attitudes (including those on sexuality and sexual orientation), money and giving, organizational belonging, governance, and others. While some of the findings and conclusions may reinforce broad perceptions of Christianity and churches in Singapore, others were quite eye-opening. Also useful for researchers, the study contains important data on respondents socio-economic backgrounds. All in all it is a most welcome scholarly contribution, and I expect that it will be a well-cited resource for future scholarship.” —Robbie B.H. Goh, Professor of English Literature, National University of Singapore

Download or read book Inequality and Exclusion in Southeast Asia written by Lee Hwok Aun and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2021-10-11 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inequality is a defining global issue of our times. Southeast Asia stands out in some ways; the 2010s have seen most countries in the region reduce income gaps. Nonetheless, inequality levels remain high, especially in the middle-income to high-income countries, and popular disaffection and economic anxiety prevail, even while official statistics may paint more buoyant scenarios. The age-old problem of group-based exclusion in the development process manifests in new ways. This book provides up-to-date overviews of inequality levels and trends, primarily related to income, but also wealth and other socio-economic variables pertaining to education and health. The country chapters also examine salient themes of inequality, especially structural changes and public policies to redress inequality and exclusion, labour market developments, population groups, regional dynamics, and informal economies. We gain an appreciation for the unique conditions and diverse experiences of each country, and draw comparative insights across the region. “This is an impressive collection of papers written by scholars from Southeast Asia and addressing an important set of issues which deserve serious attention from policymakers. Inequality and social exclusion are problems which never seem to go away, even in the high-income countries, and this collection will be valuable for all those seeking to understand how serious the situation is in eight Southeast Asian states. The editors are to be congratulated on bringing together such a timely book.” Anne Booth, Emeritus Professor of Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies “This compilation of recent research on Southeast Asian economic inequalities by Lee and Choong underscores the rapid progress being made. The authors from the region underscore the global shift in research and policy attention in this century. Reflecting data and methodological diversity, the book variedly captures some ‘intersectionality’ of inequalities beyond the old focus on interpersonal and household income distribution.” Jomo KS, Fellow, Academy of Science, Malaysia “In societies across the world, rising inequality has become a critical issue over the past generation. Besides basic issues of justice, inequality between people obstructs the collective decision-making needed for societies to progress. This book is the most comprehensive study of inequality in Southeast Asia. It stresses that each society is different, but the solutions are common—good data, proper understanding, multidimensional approaches, strong institutions and popular agency.” Pasuk Phongpaichit, Emeritus Professor, Chulalongkorn University

Download or read book Capitalism Magic Thailand written by Peter A Jackson and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2021-12-13 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By studying intersections among new cults of wealth, ritually empowered amulets and professional spirit mediumship—which have emerged together in Thailand’s dynamic religious field in recent decades—Capitalism Magic Thailand explores the conditions under which global modernity produces new varieties of enchantment. Bruno Latour’s account of modernity as a condition fractured between rationalizing ideology and hybridizing practice is expanded to explain the apparent paradox of new forms of magical ritual emerging alongside religious fundamentalism across a wide range of Asian societies. In Thailand, novel and increasingly popular varieties of ritual now form a symbolic complex in which originally distinct cults centred on Indian deities, Chinese gods and Thai religious and royal figures have merged in commercial spaces and media sites to sacralize the market and wealth production. Emerging within popular culture, this complex of cults of wealth, amulets and spirit mediumship is supported by all levels of Thai society, including those at the acme of economic and political power. New theoretical frameworks are presented in analyses that challenge the view that magic is a residue of premodernity, placing the dramatic transformations of cultic ritual centre stage in modern Thai history. It is concluded that modern enchantment arises at the confluence of three processes: neoliberal capitalism’s production of occult economies, the auraticizing effects of technologies of mass mediatization, and the performative force of ritual in religious fields where practice takes precedence over doctrine.

Download or read book COVID 19 in Southeast Asia written by Hyun Bang Shin and published by LSE Press. This book was released on 2022-01-06 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: COVID-19 has presented huge challenges to governments, businesses, civil societies, and people from all walks of life, but its impact has been highly variegated, affecting society in multiple negative ways, with uneven geographical and socioeconomic patterns. The crisis revealed existing contradictions and inequalities in society, compelling us to question what it means to return to “normal” and what insights can be gleaned from Southeast Asia for thinking about a post-pandemic world. In this regard, this edited volume collects the informed views of an ensemble of social scientists – area studies, development studies, and legal scholars; anthropologists, architects, economists, geographers, planners, sociologists, and urbanists; representing academic institutions, activist and charitable organisations, policy and research institutes, and areas of professional practice – who recognise the necessity of critical commentary and engaged scholarship. These contributions represent a wide-ranging set of views, collectively producing a compilation of reflections on the following three themes in particular: (1) Urbanisation, digital infrastructures, economies, and the environment; (2) Migrants, (im)mobilities, and borders; and (3) Collective action, communities, and mutual action. Overall, this edited volume first aims to speak from a situated position in relevant debates to challenge knowledge about the pandemic that has assigned selective and inequitable visibility to issues, people, or places, or which through its inferential or interpretive capacity has worked to set social expectations or assign validity to certain interventions with a bearing on the pandemic’s course and the future it has foretold. Second, it aims to advance or renew understandings of social challenges, risks, or inequities that were already in place, and which, without further or better action, are to be features of our “post-pandemic world” as well. This volume also contributes to the ongoing efforts to de-centre and decolonise knowledge production. It endeavours to help secure a place within these debates for a region that was among the first outside of East Asia to be forced to contend with COVID-19 in a substantial way and which has evinced a marked and instructive diversity and dynamism in its fortunes.

Download or read book Migration and Pandemics written by Anna Triandafyllidou and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-12-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book discusses the socio-political context of the COVID-19 crisis and questions the management of the pandemic emergency with special reference to how this affected the governance of migration and asylum. The book offers critical insights on the impact of the pandemic on migrant workers in different world regions including North America, Europe and Asia. The book addresses several categories of migrants including medical staff, farm labourers, construction workers, care and domestic workers and international students. It looks at border closures for non-citizens, disruption for temporary migrants as well as at special arrangements made for essential (migrant) workers such as doctors or nurses as well as farmworkers, ‘shipped’ to destination with special flights to make sure emergency wards are staffed, and harvests are picked up and the food processing chain continues to function. The book illustrates how the pandemic forces us to rethink notions like membership, citizenship, belonging, but also solidarity, human rights, community, essential services or ‘essential’ workers alongside an intersectional perspective including ethnicity, gender and race.

Download or read book Quality of Life Improvement Smart Approaches for the Working and Aging Populations written by Sabina Baraković and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2024-03-19 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quality of life (QoL) is a broad concept that has many definitions and meanings depending on the context under consideration. It can be perceived as the overall enjoyment of life, and a multidimensional concept which emphasizes the self-perceptions of an individual’s current state of mind, which is affected in a complex way by the person’s physical health, psychological state, personal beliefs, social relationships, and their relationship to salient features of their environment. On the other hand, demographic data suggests an increased need for workers worldwide and a rapid aging trend in the active workforce as well as in general. This trend of workforce deficit and population aging will be even more prominent in the future. Therefore, in order to have and sustain a healthy, motivated, and productive workforce, but also healthy, independent, and active elderly adults, one must improve their QoL, and vice versa. Improving QoL will improve general public health, and in turn create communities who can contribute in diverse and positive ways to both promote and sustain health for future generations.

Download or read book Labor and Politics in Indonesia written by Teri L. Caraway and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-05 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first analysis of how Indonesia's labor movement overcame organizational weakness to become the most vibrant in Southeast Asia.

Download or read book Morocco s Jobs Landscape written by Gladys Lopez-Acevedo and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2021-03-20 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report sheds light on major labor market issues and challenges that Morocco faces. It is the first phase of the programmatic jobs program jointly undertaken with the government of Morocco. The report is a jobs diagnostic that analyzes microdata mainly from Labor Force Surveys and employs new analytical methods to identify the main trends in the labor market. The key challenges that emerge will provide the basis for a deeper analysis and policy formulation in the next phase of this program. "Morocco’s Jobs Landscape" identifies four priorities: accelerate structural transformation to create more and better jobs in higher-productivity sectors, encourage formalization and improve the quality of jobs, increase female labor force participation, and address youth inactivity and its long-term consequences. Morocco has made significant economic progress over the past 20 years, which has raised the living standards of its people. However, Morocco’s economic growth has not been labor-intensive enough to absorb its growing working-age population. It has had a low capacity to generate jobs, and the rate of job creation slowed after the 2008 financial crisis. Morocco is trying to overcome the “middle-income trap,†? which has been preventing its convergence with more affluent middle-income countries. The government of Morocco has called for a new inclusive development model. The new model must address regional development imbalances, facilitate inclusion for youth and women, and continue to foster labor force skills upgrading. The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant safety measures have halted or slowed economic activity, which is worsening the labor market situation. The pandemic undoubtedly complicates prospects for jobs-led growth, and it will make the challenges highlighted in this report even more urgent and deserving of policy makers’ attention.

Download or read book Pandemics Politics and Society written by Gerard Delanty and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2021-02-22 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is an important contribution to our understanding of global pandemics in general and Covid-19 in particular. It brings together the reflections of leading social and political scientists who are interested in the implications and significance of the current crisis for politics and society. The chapters provide both analysis of the social and political dimensions of the Coronavirus pandemic and historical contextualization as well as perspectives beyond the crisis. The volume seeks to focus on Covid-19 not simply as the terrain of epidemiology or public health, but as raising fundamental questions about the nature of social, economic and political processes. The problems of contemporary societies have become intensified as a result of the pandemic. Understanding the pandemic is as much a sociological question as it is a biological one, since viral infections are transmitted through social interaction. In many ways, the pandemic poses fundamental existential as well as political questions about social life as well as exposing many of the inequalities in contemporary societies. As the chapters in this volume show, epidemiological issues and sociological problems are elucidated in many ways around the themes of power, politics, security, suffering, equality and justice. This is a cutting edge and accessible volume on the Covid-19 pandemic with chapters on topics such as the nature and limits of expertise, democratization, emergency government, digitalization, social justice, globalization, capitalist crisis, and the ecological crisis. Contents Notes on Contributors Preface Gerard Delanty 1. Introduction: The Pandemic in Historical and Global Context Part 1 Politics, Experts and the State Claus Offe 2. Corona Pandemic Policy: Exploratory Notes on its ‘Epistemic Regime’ Stephen Turner 3. The Naked State: What the Breakdown of Normality Reveals Jan Zielonka 4. Who Should be in Charge of Pandemics? Scientists or Politicians? Jonathan White 5. Emergency Europe after Covid-19 Daniel Innerarity 6. Political Decision-Making in a Pandemic Part 2 Globalization, History and the Future Helga Nowotny 7. In AI We Trust: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Pushes us Deeper into Digitalization Eva Horn 8. Tipping Points: The Anthropocene and COVID-19 Bryan S. Turner 9. The Political Theology of Covid-19: a Comparative History of Human Responses to Catastrophes Daniel Chernilo 10. Another Globalisation: Covid-19 and the Cosmopolitan Imagination Frédéric Vandenberghe & Jean-Francois Véran 11. The Pandemic as a Global Total Social Fact Part 3 The Social and Alternatives Sylvia Walby 12. Social Theory and COVID: Including Social Democracy Donatella della Porta 13. Progressive Social Movements, Democracy and the Pandemic Sonja Avlijaš 14. Security for Whom? Inequality and Human Dignity in Times of the Pandemic Albena Azmanova 15. Battlegrounds of Justice: The Pandemic and What Really Grieves the 99% Index

Download or read book Authoritarian Neoliberalism written by Ian Bruff and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Authoritarian Neoliberalism explores how neoliberal forms of managing capitalism are challenging democratic governance at local, national and international levels. Identifying a spectrum of policies and practices that seek to reproduce neoliberalism and shield it from popular and democratic contestation, contributors provide original case studies that investigate the legal-administrative, social, coercive and corporate dimensions of authoritarian neoliberalism across the global North and South. They detail the crisis-ridden intertwinement of authoritarian statecraft and neoliberal reforms, and trace the transformation of key societal sites in capitalism (e.g. states, households, workplaces, urban spaces) through uneven yet cumulative processes of neoliberalization. Informed by innovative conceptual and methodological approaches, Authoritarian Neoliberalism uncovers how inequalities of power are produced and reproduced in capitalist societies, and highlights how alternatives to neoliberalism can be formulated and pursued. The book was originally published as a special issue of Globalizations.

Download or read book Capitalism on Edge written by Albena Azmanova and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-14 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The wake of the financial crisis has inspired hopes for dramatic change and stirred visions of capitalism’s terminal collapse. Yet capitalism is not on its deathbed, utopia is not in our future, and revolution is not in the cards. In Capitalism on Edge, Albena Azmanova demonstrates that radical progressive change is still attainable, but it must come from an unexpected direction. Azmanova’s new critique of capitalism focuses on the competitive pursuit of profit rather than on forms of ownership and patterns of wealth distribution. She contends that neoliberal capitalism has mutated into a new form—precarity capitalism—marked by the emergence of a precarious multitude. Widespread economic insecurity ails the 99 percent across differences in income, education, and professional occupation; it is the underlying cause of such diverse hardships as work-related stress and chronic unemployment. In response, Azmanova calls for forging a broad alliance of strange bedfellows whose discontent would challenge not only capitalism’s unfair outcomes but also the drive for profit at its core. To achieve this synthesis, progressive forces need to go beyond the old ideological certitudes of, on the left, fighting inequality and, on the right, increasing competition. Azmanova details reforms that would enable a dramatic transformation of the current system without a revolutionary break. An iconoclastic critique of left orthodoxy, Capitalism on Edge confronts the intellectual and political impasses of our time to discern a new path of emancipation.

Download or read book The Riau Islands written by Francis E Hutchinson and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2021-07-22 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To Singapore’s immediate south, Indonesia’s Riau Islands has a population of 2 million and a land area of 8,200 sq kilometers scattered across some 2,000 islands. The better-known islands include Batam, the province’s economic motor; Bintan, the area’s cultural heartland and site of the provincial capital, Tanjungpinang; and Karimun, a ship-building hub strategically located near the Straits of Malacca. Leveraging on its proximity to Singapore, the Riau Islands—and particularly Batam—has been a key part of Indonesia’s strategy to develop its manufacturing sector since the 1990s. In addition to generating a large number of formal sector jobs and earning foreign exchange, this reorientation opened the way for a number of far-reaching political and social developments. Key among them has been: large-scale migration from other parts of the country; the secession of the Riau Islands from the larger Riau Province; and the creation of a new provincial government. Building on earlier work by the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute on the SIJORI Cross-Border Region, spanning Singapore, the Malaysian state of Johor, and the Riau Islands, and a second volume looking specifically at Johor, the third volume in this series explores the key challenges facing this fledgling Indonesian province.

Download or read book Dissecting the COVID 19 Pandemic written by Ramkrishna Nirola and published by Aawaran Publications. This book was released on 2021-05-19 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: So far, several fascinating and fancy stuff have been imagined by humans. Not all imaginations are bound to happen and could be experienced. However, the current pandemic (COVID-19) seems, and now is set to surpass beyond what a human brain could have imagined. A deep socio-economic scar is in the process of being created and nobody yet knows how deep this wound is going to penetrate. At this juncture, we have congregated to produce a book entitled “Dissecting the COVID-19 Pandemic”, through the facades of global socio-economic impact. It is our pleasure to try to compile what we have seen and hence present the factual accounts to the people post February 2020, and for the days to come. It is a history unfolding, an array of events in front of the human kind. Our effort in witnessing, reviewing, compiling, and binding is definitely going to be a memorabilia of the time it has witnessed. It is said that “seeing is believing”, and here, the authors have factually seen and have by now certainly believed that COVID-19 is not just a simple flu. The pandemic crises of COVID-19 has shaken the world, and its impact is multidimensional and has adversely influenced many aspects of human life. Globally, over 22 million people were infected, and over 4.5 million have died in 215 countries, when this book was in the press. The eight chapters of this book cover various facades of the coronavirus crises, plus their impact globally and particularly in Nepal. The information is relevant to many developing countries. The chapters are written by science scholars, engineers, media analysts, development experts, and scientists in allied disciplines in Australia and Nepal. The contributing authors have both knowledge and experiences of Nepal and overseas in the subject matter and have provided evidence-based information. Our publication efforts and contribution to Nepal and Nepali diaspora deserve special mention. We hope this book will generate enough interest and stimulate significant discourses among scholars, policymakers, and the community at large to advocate for an inclusive health, disaster risk reduction (DRR), diplomacy and migration policy to overcome future pandemic challenges. Finally, we acknowledge the support of NRNA-Australia, Nepal Science Foundation Trust-SK & TT Department, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Embassy of Nepal-Canberra, Federation of Nepalese Community Associations of Australia (FeNCAA), Australasian Nepalese Medical and Dental Association- Australia (ANMDA), and Aawaran publication for their support to bring out this book.

Download or read book At Risk written by Piers Blaikie and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-21 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term 'natural disaster' is often used to refer to natural events such as earthquakes, hurricanes or floods. However, the phrase 'natural disaster' suggests an uncritical acceptance of a deeply engrained ideological and cultural myth. At Risk questions this myth and argues that extreme natural events are not disasters until a vulnerable group of people is exposed. The updated new edition confronts a further ten years of ever more expensive and deadly disasters and discusses disaster not as an aberration, but as a signal failure of mainstream 'development'. Two analytical models are provided as tools for understanding vulnerability. One links remote and distant 'root causes' to 'unsafe conditions' in a 'progression of vulnerability'. The other uses the concepts of 'access' and 'livelihood' to understand why some households are more vulnerable than others. Examining key natural events and incorporating strategies to create a safer world, this revised edition is an important resource for those involved in the fields of environment and development studies.