Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Family Farms and the Dairy Industry

There has been increasing recognition that for regional competitiveness in rural areas there needs to be a focus on sustainable farming initiatives especially for family farms that are competing with global conglomerates. Family farms, whilst declining in number, are the purpose of this paper studying the rural entrepreneurship in family farms as they are at the heart of rural communities and the overall agricultural industry and comprise a high percentage of total farms. This paper takes a case study approach using in-depth semi structured interviews to delve into the types of entrepreneurial strategies that are distinctive of family farms in terms of their sustainability approach to farming. Dairy farms in the West Victorian area of Australia are studied and the findings suggest that family farms can increase their regional competitiveness and international standing by focusing on their collaborative, social and sustainable entrepreneurial strategies.

Academic Air Travel Cultures: A Framework for Reducing Academic Flying

As primary producers of knowledge, academics are required to create and disseminate research. The advent of internationalisation has given great emphasis to the importance of travel as it pertains to the success of an academic career and the international standing of an institution. However, academics who are highly aeromobile—particularly researchers working in the field of climate change—are now facing allegations of hypocrisy that in some cases may compromise the efficacy of their (climate) research. The novelty of this chapter arises from the application of the cultures framework to the study of academic air travel. It highlights three key elements—cognitive norms, practices and material culture. In this chapter, the cultures framework is adopted to provide a structure within which to consider individual and institutional pathways to achieve a reduction in academic flying. By exploring the interplay of cognitive norms, practices, material culture, support and barriers, the gap between academic theory and institutional realities and practices can be systematically explored and fully elaborated. Furthermore, in doing so, academics may be encouraged to engage in critical self-reflection of the cognitive dissonance between personal intentions to reduce air miles and behaviours to the contrary.

The Challenge of Taliban Ideology for International Politics: Religious Competition, Counterterrorism, and the Search for Legitimacy

This paper examines the Taliban vision of an Islamic polity posing a challenge to neighboring Central and South Asian states as well as more distant ones in Eurasia and the Middle East. As a potential magnet for militants across these regions, Taliban Islam represents an alternative to forms of piety and legal practice in states that have signifi cant Muslim populations and where each government claims some degree of religious legitimation and control over Islamic authority and interpretation. Author claims the Taliban ideology poses a dilemma to regional actors, too, in that it makes all parties who might cooperate with the movement vulnerable to criticism based on human rights discourse. At the same time, the presence of the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP) has permitted the movement the opportunity to seek to reframe its international standing and its relationship to violence. The Taliban have adapted their critique of ISKP to the claim that they share a counterterrorism mission with other governments, an assertion that allows the movement and its partners to defl ect criticism from various quarters and normalize relations with other states. Author concludes that, seeking international support, the Taliban have adapted their ideological claims to position the movement simultaneously as a competitor to other visions of militant jihadist politics and as a counterterrorist force laying the groundwork for the legitimation of their place in a rapidly evolving global order.

Britain, Brexit and Euroscepticism

When history books about Brexit are written a key question asked will be ‘how did it happen?’ How did a country renowned for stable governments, pragmatism and diplomacy produce a chaotic outcome so harmful to its economic interests and international standing? This article examines the factors that produced Brexit by analysing its political and historical context, the main campaign groups and their communication strategies. Drawing on the work of Verdery (1999), Maskovsky and Bjork-James (2020) and other anthropologists, I suggest we need to look beyond conventional political science concepts and consider Brexit in terms of ‘enchantment’, ‘angry politics’ and ‘technopopulism’. I conclude that while Brexit provides a window for analysing fault lines in contemporary Britain, it also highlights problems in the EU, its austerity politics and democratic deficit.

Romania’s anti-reformists will frustrate change

Significance Chronic infighting is preventing the government from dealing with basic challenges and honouring its commitment to restore judicial independence. Personalities, inter-party turf wars and the renewed politicisation of justice are driving the disputes. Unless they abate, the Citu government is unlikely to last long. Impacts Introversion and disarray at the top of government are eroding Romania’s international standing as tensions rise in the Black Sea region. The coalition may struggle to agree a strategy for spending funds from the EU’s recovery fund. The former communist PSD, which left office in 2019, is likely to continue to regain popularity.

Gathering Pandanus Leaves

It has long been established that education is both a colonial and imperial tool that enables colonizing nations to establish themselves in foreign territories. This paper explores New Zealand’s historical and contemporary role in the Pacific and how the country has leveraged higher education to both strengthen and continue its ongoing colonial and imperial projects. Utilizing current understandings of critical internationalization this paper will examine the lengths that New Zealand has gone to in order to protect its international standing as a gateway to the Pacific.

Diaspora Mobilization for Palestinian Statehood

This chapter and the previous Chapter 6 are interconnected as they both discuss Albanian diaspora mobilizations. This chapter unpacks the typological theory through four causal pathways in the Palestinian field, one of them discussed twice as diaspora entrepreneurs were exposed to different non-state actors. All pathways occurred under host-state foreign policy divergence from the diaspora goals for Palestinian statehood, including refugees’ return. A non-contentious pathway exists but was rare when diaspora entrepreneurs acted under limited global influences. When lacking support from politicized homeland-based actors, diaspora entrepreneurs were less eager to launch contentious mobilizations on their own. Dual-pronged contentious mobilizations occurred: (a) when the homeland government was transnationally involved, under the PNA leadership, acting carefully while seeking to maintain international standing in difficult political circumstances; (b) when transnational left-wing movements were at play; many more diaspora entrepreneurs were on this pathway, seeking to counteract Israeli policies, quite often engaged in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign; and (c) when diaspora entrepreneurs related to transnational Islamic networks. Issues related to humanitarian charities and refugees’ right of return have been emphasized, even if they also have concerned others in the diaspora. The most contentious pathway occurred in response to critical violent events in the original homeland or adjacent fragile states, most notably due to the recurring warfare in Gaza since 2008. This pathway engulfed all four types of diaspora entrepreneurs.

Research on the Application of Traditional Materials in Furnishing Design

With the development of China’s economy and culture, people’s aesthetic level and aesthetic requirement keeps improving, The concept of "Decoration is more important than decoration" becomes more and more popular, people attach more and more importance to furnishing style and material application. In particular, the proportion of soft decoration in the whole furnishing is getting bigger and bigger. At the same time, with the development of globalization, China’s international standing has been constantly strengthened, we need to become more confident on our culture. Also, there are more and more people pay attention to the China traditional folk art and traditional folk material. The designer should not only learning Modern design style, but also look for design style and decoration material fit for China from traditional culture.

Image of India and Pakistan in Digital Age: A Comparative Study on Tweets of International News Agencies

Pakistan and India are two important South Asian neighboring countries equipped with nuclear capabilities. Unfortunately, the checkered bilateral foreign relations history is hostile and both countries have been fought four conventional wars since 1947. Mass media plays a significant role in shaping international relations and it is considered important to study the image of nations and states to assess international standing of a nation. In present study, we explored and compare the image of Pakistan and India in the representation of tweets of international news agencies. Methodologically, we used content analysis and network analysis techniques to find out the country-issue networks in news tweets. We have designated tweets of four major news agencies;Reuters, Agence France Press, Associated Press and Xinhua related to Pakistan and India for the duration of 7 years (from 2010-2016). We found that India and Pakistan are being covered negatively in news tweets of these news agencies. However, Pakistan’s image seems more negative through lens of international news agencies as compare to India in terms of peace and conflict issues coverage. Both countries should take steps and formulate vibrant policy towards creation and dissemination of their positive image on digital media.

I mercati coperti di Giuseppe Mengoni

Florence, the new capital of the Kingdom of Italy (1864-1870), went through a period of great transformation, which would leave significant traces in the city’s image and structure. The construction of the new markets is emblematic of the city’s infrastructural modernisation, with the introduction of new architectural languages and construction technologies of international standing. The Central Market at San Lorenzo is one of the most representative buildings of this modernisation process, a true masterpiece by Giuseppe Mengoni, the renowned designer of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan. This volume reconstructs its history from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, based on largely unpublished documentation. It places Florence and its new market in a European context where architecture, town planning, politics and finance are tightly intertwined. The Florentine case becomes a paradigm of the renewal of Italian architecture in the second half of the 19th century.