Money and the Nation State or Womanpower

Money and the Nation State: The Financial Revolution, Government, and the World Monetary System

Author: Kevin Dowd

Money and the Nation State examines the history of modern monetary and banking arrangements, their major problems and their possible correctives. Seventeen scholars, from a diversity of economic perspectives, examine the ways in which political interference in monetary institutions has undermined economic stability and prosperity (and has provoked international conflict). They explain that monetary nationalism - the promotion of the monetary goals of the nation state - necessarily invites economic discoordination because it interferes with the free, equilibrating operation of market forces. Finally, the authors outline the reforms necessary to create monetary, financial and banking systems free of the episodic inflation, devaluation, debt crises, and exchange rate volatility that have plagued the twentieth century.

Finance & Development

This book would be a valuable guide for general readers and students not well versed in money and banking history and principles. But even those who are fairly well read in these areas will find something of interest here...

Finance & Development

This book would be a valuable guide for general readers and students not well versed in money and banking history and principles. But even those who are fairly well read in these areas will find something of interest here...

New interesting book: Communist Manifesto or Born on the Fourth of July

Womanpower: The Arab Debate on Women at Work

Author: Nadia Hijab

Womanpower unveils the lively but little-reported debate on women's positions in the modern Arab world. It paints a picture drawn from individual stories as well as from national development programs and attempts to explain why the process of social change in the region has been slow and uneven by linking it to political and economic developments. By illustrating particular themes--personal status laws, development policies, political rights--with examples from specific countries, Nadia Hijab builds up an informative overview of the Arab world today.

Table of Contents:

	List of tables	x
	Preface	xi
	List of abbreviations	xiv
	Introduction	1
	The UN Decade for Women	1
	The Arab world and the UN Decade	2
	The Convention's rocky road	4
	Change at the grassroots level	5
	Tough times ahead	6
1	The great family law debate	9
	A slow pace of change	10
	The Arab family: the key to society	12
	Women: the key to the family	13
	'Equivalent' under the law	14
	The early days of Islam	15
	Restrictive interpretations	16
	The secular approach: Turkey	20
	Nationalism vs reform: Tunisia's 'Islamic secularism'	22
	An 'Islamic Marxist' approach: Democratic Yemen	24
	Leaving the law to the courts: Bahrain and Kuwait	25
	The debate on identity, religion and rights: Algeria	26
	The Egyptian family law saga	29
	Egyptian women argue their case	31
	A small step for womankind...	35
	Appendix	36
2	Cross-currents conservative and liberal	38
	'Cultural loyalty' and the limits of debate	39
	Cultural colonialism	41
	Cultural loyalty and the status of women	43
	Feminism vs nationalism	45
	The establishment outlook	47
	Defining the role of religion in society	48
	Organisational strength	49
	Reaching out to women	50
	The uses of veiling	51
	Islamic liberation	53
	How to define the role of women	56
	The liberal nationalists	57
	Questioning the framework	59
	The debate goes on	61
3	Arab women in the workforce	63
	Redefining development	63
	Some positive indicators	65
	And some negative indicators	68
	Working women: unreliable statistics	72
	Three conditions: need, opportunity, ability	73
	The cultural thesis: an example from Lebanon	75
	Need at the state level--and the phenomenon of labour migration	77
	Labour migration and the role of women	78
	Opportunity at the state level: planning for women	80
	Arab labour legislation on women	83
	The gap between theory and practice	85
	Need and opportunity at the popular level	86
	Work and public activity: two sets of attitudes	89
	The third condition: ability	91
	Need, opportunity, ability	92
4	Jordanian women's liberating forces: inflation and labour migration	94
	Need at the state level: from unemployment to labour shortage	94
	Ability: the female labour pool	95
	Creating opportunity: planning for women	98
	Self-reliance vs self-help	99
	Legislation and 'consciousness-raising'	101
	Attitudes of Jordanian employers	103
	Need at the popular level	105
	Change in the village, too	109
	New avenues open up	110
	The pendulum swings	112
5	The Arab Gulf states: demand but no supply	116
	A flood of foreign manpower	116
	Opportunity knocks, not too loudly	119
	Social attitudes and opportunity at the popular level	121
	Colonisation in reverse, and the question of identity	123
	Social alarm bells and foreign nursemaids	125
	Changing attitudes to marriage	127
	The young professionals	128
	The women professionals	130
	Tug of war on women's work	132
	Ability: the need for skills	134
	Work for work's sake	135
6	Power past and future	138
	Defining power	138
	Negotiating power	141
	Early women reformers and nationalism	143
	Women's groups, official and unofficial	147
	The right to vote (when parliament exists)	149
	Seeking other avenues for change	152
	Networking, and cultural maturity	156
	Social, economic and national liberation	158
	Information as a source of power	161
	Empowering people	164
	Bibliography	166
	Index	173