Pub Date : 2024-05-20DOI: 10.1177/27538931241252943
Sasha Maher, Rhiannon Llyod, Lydia Martin
Green growth has become doxa in the political economic governance of climate change. This is despite the lack of empirical evidence of its success and concerns that it reifies a business-as-usual dynamic. The question arises: why have practices of ‘green leadership’ maintained a hegemonic hold on how nation states respond to climate change? This provocation examines this question through an analysis of Singapore's policy ambition to become Asia's climate services leader. It draws on post-humanism to suggest that the form of ecomodernist leadership exhibited by Singapore not only perpetuates the status quo but (re)affirms the problematic anthropocentrism underpinning their approach. We demonstrate this through analysis of recent policy, media and private sector documents. Finally, we argue that a focus on Singapore matters because of its influence in the region and networked position globally.
{"title":"A Post-Humanist Perspective of Singapore's Ecomodernist Leadership","authors":"Sasha Maher, Rhiannon Llyod, Lydia Martin","doi":"10.1177/27538931241252943","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27538931241252943","url":null,"abstract":"Green growth has become doxa in the political economic governance of climate change. This is despite the lack of empirical evidence of its success and concerns that it reifies a business-as-usual dynamic. The question arises: why have practices of ‘green leadership’ maintained a hegemonic hold on how nation states respond to climate change? This provocation examines this question through an analysis of Singapore's policy ambition to become Asia's climate services leader. It draws on post-humanism to suggest that the form of ecomodernist leadership exhibited by Singapore not only perpetuates the status quo but (re)affirms the problematic anthropocentrism underpinning their approach. We demonstrate this through analysis of recent policy, media and private sector documents. Finally, we argue that a focus on Singapore matters because of its influence in the region and networked position globally.","PeriodicalId":287921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance & Development","volume":"29 13","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141119085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-17DOI: 10.1177/27538931241245669
Sebastian Purwins
In 2018, the Ghanaian government signed the Sinohydro deal, a resource-backed loan using bauxite as collateral, with Ghana's president highlighting the opportunity to develop an integrated bauxite-aluminium industry and boost industrialisation across the country. The deal has led to a number of protests against bauxite mining in Ghana, particularly at one potential site: The Atewa Forest Reserve. This paper analyses the politicisation of the Atewa Forest Reserve through the lens of political ecology. Political ecology recognises that forests are not neutral entities, but are shaped by political processes and dynamics. The Atewa Forest is seen as a political forest, as a particular constellation of power constituted by ideas, practices and institutions. The paper contends that the narrative constructed around the Sinohydro Deal strategically legitimizes mining in the Atewa Forest, positioning the project as a symbol of progress and national development. It also argues that the Sinohydro deal was designed to circumvent national environmental laws, leading to quick (political) success while being embedded in a powerful narrative. Therefore, the contestation over development is increasingly shaped by a discursive closure that limits dissent, influencing public opinion and decision-making. Despite presenting the developments as visions for the future, the narrative ultimately reinforces old development tropes of resource extraction, convincing even counter-movements to focus on the location rather than opposing bauxite mining as a whole. The findings are based on interviews conducted during fieldwork in 2018, 2019 and 2020, as well as analysis of secondary data such as political documents, press statements and speeches.
{"title":"The Politicisation of the Atewa Forest Reserve in Ghana","authors":"Sebastian Purwins","doi":"10.1177/27538931241245669","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27538931241245669","url":null,"abstract":"In 2018, the Ghanaian government signed the Sinohydro deal, a resource-backed loan using bauxite as collateral, with Ghana's president highlighting the opportunity to develop an integrated bauxite-aluminium industry and boost industrialisation across the country. The deal has led to a number of protests against bauxite mining in Ghana, particularly at one potential site: The Atewa Forest Reserve. This paper analyses the politicisation of the Atewa Forest Reserve through the lens of political ecology. Political ecology recognises that forests are not neutral entities, but are shaped by political processes and dynamics. The Atewa Forest is seen as a political forest, as a particular constellation of power constituted by ideas, practices and institutions. The paper contends that the narrative constructed around the Sinohydro Deal strategically legitimizes mining in the Atewa Forest, positioning the project as a symbol of progress and national development. It also argues that the Sinohydro deal was designed to circumvent national environmental laws, leading to quick (political) success while being embedded in a powerful narrative. Therefore, the contestation over development is increasingly shaped by a discursive closure that limits dissent, influencing public opinion and decision-making. Despite presenting the developments as visions for the future, the narrative ultimately reinforces old development tropes of resource extraction, convincing even counter-movements to focus on the location rather than opposing bauxite mining as a whole. The findings are based on interviews conducted during fieldwork in 2018, 2019 and 2020, as well as analysis of secondary data such as political documents, press statements and speeches.","PeriodicalId":287921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance & Development","volume":" 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140692734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-13DOI: 10.1177/27538931241240845
M. Anwar, Shajara Ul‐Durar, Noman Arshed
A persistent rise in the emission of CO2 among several economies in the world makes it challenging to fulfil the aims of the Sustainable Development Goals. The present study empirically examines the connection between economic complexity, which is understood to be structural conversion headed for more refined information-based production, renewable energy demand, per capita income, trade openness, industrialisation, and CO2 emissions among income-based groups of nations from 1998–2021. It also incorporates partner economies of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) project because these cover 65% of the global population. The findings of the panel autoregressive distributed lag model confirms that virtually all of the chosen samples of the various economies, aside from high-income economies, show that economic complexity degrades the environment. On the other hand, the demand for renewable energy enhances global environmental quality. The study highlights the significance of clean energy ventures and the production of greener quality products globally to minimise environmental damage.
{"title":"Relationships between economic complexity, renewable energy uptake and environmental degradation: A global study","authors":"M. Anwar, Shajara Ul‐Durar, Noman Arshed","doi":"10.1177/27538931241240845","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27538931241240845","url":null,"abstract":"A persistent rise in the emission of CO2 among several economies in the world makes it challenging to fulfil the aims of the Sustainable Development Goals. The present study empirically examines the connection between economic complexity, which is understood to be structural conversion headed for more refined information-based production, renewable energy demand, per capita income, trade openness, industrialisation, and CO2 emissions among income-based groups of nations from 1998–2021. It also incorporates partner economies of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) project because these cover 65% of the global population. The findings of the panel autoregressive distributed lag model confirms that virtually all of the chosen samples of the various economies, aside from high-income economies, show that economic complexity degrades the environment. On the other hand, the demand for renewable energy enhances global environmental quality. The study highlights the significance of clean energy ventures and the production of greener quality products globally to minimise environmental damage.","PeriodicalId":287921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance & Development","volume":"31 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140707175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-10DOI: 10.1177/27538931231221718
G. Amoako, Genevive Sedalo, E. Asiedu, George Oppong Appiagyei Ampong
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic posed a big obstacle for nations as it affected the anticipated cash flows from the tourism and hospitality industry. Many tourist destinations have suffered as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis. Tourism and hospitality have been major source of revenue, and nations depend on them to augment their budgetary issues and support the provision of basic public services. Ethical tourism, responsible tourism, social justice, and sustainable tourism promise to be effective tools to execute this reputation agenda, which scholars have ignored. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that shows the effect of sustainability actions and justice on stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality industries, presently and for future generations. An in-depth literature review was employed using papers on sustainability actions. Using Scopus-indexed journals, 88 articles from several databases were sourced using key words. The conceptual framework provides insights into how global crises such as coronavirus disease in 2019 can be used as a gate to launch social justice in the tourism and hospitality space for employees, local tourism communities, tourists, and stakeholders globally. It provides academics and practitioners in the tourism and hospitality sectors with a fairer perspective on the development of strategies to attract tourists and better investment initiatives.
{"title":"Conceptual Framework – Sustainability Actions, Global Crises and Justice in the Future of Tourism and Hospitality","authors":"G. Amoako, Genevive Sedalo, E. Asiedu, George Oppong Appiagyei Ampong","doi":"10.1177/27538931231221718","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27538931231221718","url":null,"abstract":"The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic posed a big obstacle for nations as it affected the anticipated cash flows from the tourism and hospitality industry. Many tourist destinations have suffered as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis. Tourism and hospitality have been major source of revenue, and nations depend on them to augment their budgetary issues and support the provision of basic public services. Ethical tourism, responsible tourism, social justice, and sustainable tourism promise to be effective tools to execute this reputation agenda, which scholars have ignored. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that shows the effect of sustainability actions and justice on stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality industries, presently and for future generations. An in-depth literature review was employed using papers on sustainability actions. Using Scopus-indexed journals, 88 articles from several databases were sourced using key words. The conceptual framework provides insights into how global crises such as coronavirus disease in 2019 can be used as a gate to launch social justice in the tourism and hospitality space for employees, local tourism communities, tourists, and stakeholders globally. It provides academics and practitioners in the tourism and hospitality sectors with a fairer perspective on the development of strategies to attract tourists and better investment initiatives.","PeriodicalId":287921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance & Development","volume":" 22","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139627223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-27DOI: 10.1177/27538931231187314
S. Böhm
Planting trees is widely regarded as a positive contribution to combating climate change and establishing a future-proof, green economy. Yet, there is mounting evidence from many tropical, sub-tropical and temperate regions of the world that tree plantations can have multiple negative economic, social and environmental impacts. These are not always accounted for by the private and public institutions who have heavily supported the forestry sector in recent decades. This ‘tropical provocation’ reports from a recent fieldtrip to the Wallmapu, the region the Mapuche Indigenous people call their ancestral homeland. There, I saw with my own eyes that the so-called green economy does not work for Mapuche communities, as they experience extreme water shortages, wildfires and other plundering from what they regard as their territory.
{"title":"Tree flexing: Forest politics and land struggles in the green economy","authors":"S. Böhm","doi":"10.1177/27538931231187314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27538931231187314","url":null,"abstract":"Planting trees is widely regarded as a positive contribution to combating climate change and establishing a future-proof, green economy. Yet, there is mounting evidence from many tropical, sub-tropical and temperate regions of the world that tree plantations can have multiple negative economic, social and environmental impacts. These are not always accounted for by the private and public institutions who have heavily supported the forestry sector in recent decades. This ‘tropical provocation’ reports from a recent fieldtrip to the Wallmapu, the region the Mapuche Indigenous people call their ancestral homeland. There, I saw with my own eyes that the so-called green economy does not work for Mapuche communities, as they experience extreme water shortages, wildfires and other plundering from what they regard as their territory.","PeriodicalId":287921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance & Development","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115419608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-26DOI: 10.1177/27538931231170509
Joanna Stanberry, Janis Bragan Balda
We outline the discursive origins of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17, describing its ambiguous marching orders, which are further confused by shifting and contested stakeholder approaches. The widespread effect is to obscure the primary aim of making the tropics and other vulnerable countries more resilient, and also globally overcoming barriers to their development. We argue that ecological reflexivity, as developed and advanced by deliberative democracy and the Earth System Governance Project, belongs at the apex of those capacities needed for implementing the Agenda for Transformation. Ecological reflexivity conceptually grounds inclusive, open, critical, and consequential engagement of discourses situated among capable representatives, advocates, and citizens. SDG-related partnerships – whether designed around funding, technology, knowledge generation, or business innovation – are the locus in which this gets worked out. We advance this aim by proposing adjustment of the focal point using a Picturing framework that can enable both scholarly and practitioner approaches to SDG 17 to correct distortions and also materially ‘strengthen the means of implementation’. Using this framework, which entails Picturing politics, Picturing proximity to the poor, and Picturing progress, actors can shift attention to the accompanying discursive properties that affect implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Picturing is given concrete application through five case examples aligned to the research lenses of the Earth System Governance Research Framework. By drawing on studies spanning Barbados, Grenada, Bolivia, Ghana, Zambia, Peru, India and Fiji we demonstrate potential for the Picturing framework to provoke novel development pathways for a more sustainable future in the tropics.
{"title":"A conceptual review of Sustainable Development Goal 17: Picturing politics, proximity and progress","authors":"Joanna Stanberry, Janis Bragan Balda","doi":"10.1177/27538931231170509","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27538931231170509","url":null,"abstract":"We outline the discursive origins of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17, describing its ambiguous marching orders, which are further confused by shifting and contested stakeholder approaches. The widespread effect is to obscure the primary aim of making the tropics and other vulnerable countries more resilient, and also globally overcoming barriers to their development. We argue that ecological reflexivity, as developed and advanced by deliberative democracy and the Earth System Governance Project, belongs at the apex of those capacities needed for implementing the Agenda for Transformation. Ecological reflexivity conceptually grounds inclusive, open, critical, and consequential engagement of discourses situated among capable representatives, advocates, and citizens. SDG-related partnerships – whether designed around funding, technology, knowledge generation, or business innovation – are the locus in which this gets worked out. We advance this aim by proposing adjustment of the focal point using a Picturing framework that can enable both scholarly and practitioner approaches to SDG 17 to correct distortions and also materially ‘strengthen the means of implementation’. Using this framework, which entails Picturing politics, Picturing proximity to the poor, and Picturing progress, actors can shift attention to the accompanying discursive properties that affect implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Picturing is given concrete application through five case examples aligned to the research lenses of the Earth System Governance Research Framework. By drawing on studies spanning Barbados, Grenada, Bolivia, Ghana, Zambia, Peru, India and Fiji we demonstrate potential for the Picturing framework to provoke novel development pathways for a more sustainable future in the tropics.","PeriodicalId":287921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance & Development","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115579377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-20DOI: 10.1177/27538931231182231
Richard Tuyiragize, F. Bassi
This study aims to identify classes and patterns of household energy utilization and the predictive factors that determine class membership. Energy is an essential part of a household's socio-economic status. By examining the household's energy utilization patterns, we can better understand how to formulate and implement efficient strategies for adopting clean energy. This study aims at identifying homogenous classes with respect to their energy patterns in Uganda and examining predictive factors of household class membership. The study uses data on 2,138 households from the 2019/2020 Uganda National Household Survey. Using latent class analysis models, a data-driven method, the study identified four latent household classes; ‘Solar-firewood’ (41%), ‘Electricity-charcoal’ (33%), ‘Moderate energy-user’ (19%) and ‘Low energy-user’ (7%). Results from the study show that the main drivers of household energy choice for cooking and lighting were age, education level, housing conditions and wealth status of the household head. This study contributes to understanding the classes and patterns of household energy utilization patterns in Uganda. These findings may help policymakers predict which latent class a household falls into in order to guarantee efficient targeting of household energy utilization policies and strategies seeking transition to cleaner energy sources.
{"title":"Assessment of household energy utilization patterns in Uganda: A latent class analysis","authors":"Richard Tuyiragize, F. Bassi","doi":"10.1177/27538931231182231","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27538931231182231","url":null,"abstract":"This study aims to identify classes and patterns of household energy utilization and the predictive factors that determine class membership. Energy is an essential part of a household's socio-economic status. By examining the household's energy utilization patterns, we can better understand how to formulate and implement efficient strategies for adopting clean energy. This study aims at identifying homogenous classes with respect to their energy patterns in Uganda and examining predictive factors of household class membership. The study uses data on 2,138 households from the 2019/2020 Uganda National Household Survey. Using latent class analysis models, a data-driven method, the study identified four latent household classes; ‘Solar-firewood’ (41%), ‘Electricity-charcoal’ (33%), ‘Moderate energy-user’ (19%) and ‘Low energy-user’ (7%). Results from the study show that the main drivers of household energy choice for cooking and lighting were age, education level, housing conditions and wealth status of the household head. This study contributes to understanding the classes and patterns of household energy utilization patterns in Uganda. These findings may help policymakers predict which latent class a household falls into in order to guarantee efficient targeting of household energy utilization policies and strategies seeking transition to cleaner energy sources.","PeriodicalId":287921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance & Development","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125592966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-23DOI: 10.1177/27538931231176903
R. Dillon, Kim-Lim Tan
Given the chronic lack of qualified professionals in the cybersecurity industry, the present paper seeks to evaluate the current interest in cybersecurity across Southeast Asia nations and then compare it with the available educational offerings of related degrees in each country to identify eventual gaps in the market. The goal is to assess whether there is a need for additional degree programs in cybersecurity and to evaluate the potential for future growth in the industry by providing a solid educational foundation for aspiring professionals. To estimate current interest from prospective students and profesionals in cybersecurity across each country, leaderboards from the popular TryHackMe gamified cybersecurity training platform are referenced. We further discuss issues by considering the related formal education programmes offered by the top universities in each country, identified by their presence in the QS world university rankings. The data are then used to propose two new metrics: the ‘Cybersecurity Education Prospects Index’ (CEPI) and the ‘Cybersecurity Industry Prospects Index’ (CIPI), which show how most of the eleven countries in Southeast Asia do have an unmet demand for cybersecurity education and only a few of them have already developed an educational infrastructure that is ready to support the growing needs of the local and international industry.
{"title":"Cybersecurity Workforce Landscape, Education, and Industry Growth Prospects in Southeast Asia","authors":"R. Dillon, Kim-Lim Tan","doi":"10.1177/27538931231176903","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27538931231176903","url":null,"abstract":"Given the chronic lack of qualified professionals in the cybersecurity industry, the present paper seeks to evaluate the current interest in cybersecurity across Southeast Asia nations and then compare it with the available educational offerings of related degrees in each country to identify eventual gaps in the market. The goal is to assess whether there is a need for additional degree programs in cybersecurity and to evaluate the potential for future growth in the industry by providing a solid educational foundation for aspiring professionals. To estimate current interest from prospective students and profesionals in cybersecurity across each country, leaderboards from the popular TryHackMe gamified cybersecurity training platform are referenced. We further discuss issues by considering the related formal education programmes offered by the top universities in each country, identified by their presence in the QS world university rankings. The data are then used to propose two new metrics: the ‘Cybersecurity Education Prospects Index’ (CEPI) and the ‘Cybersecurity Industry Prospects Index’ (CIPI), which show how most of the eleven countries in Southeast Asia do have an unmet demand for cybersecurity education and only a few of them have already developed an educational infrastructure that is ready to support the growing needs of the local and international industry.","PeriodicalId":287921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance & Development","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129046231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-25DOI: 10.1177/27538931231165277
H. Gaggiotti
The Latin American tropics have been considered spaces where the taken-for-granted vulnerability of the international assignment experience is exacerbated because of poor working conditions. In classical approaches to international management studies, the complexity attributed to the role of global managers resides in the ‘fact’ that they live under conditions of permanent confrontation, adjustment, change and adaptation. The literature typically portrays the international manager as perpetually experiencing an ‘out-of-place’ existence, as their supposed ‘national culture’ of origin is by definition different from the ‘national culture’ of the destination country. The stereotyped exoticism of the tropics – constructed as spaces for tourism and adventure, but also characterised as precarious in terms of their health infrastructures, uncomfortable climates, and socio-economic and political instability – contributes to the framing of international management in these regions as highly challenging. In this article, these stereotypical conceptions are challenged. Evidence is provided indicating that managers’ narratives about ‘the experience of working and living in the tropics’ have more to do with their negative experiences of organisational power and the creation of a singular organisational culture of control and commitment than with the experience of the tropical context per se. The analysis is based on 6 years of intermittent longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork (2005–2009; 2020–2022) with international and nomadic Latin American professionals working in two factories located in the tropics owned by an industrial corporation.
{"title":"Vulnerability in the Global Tropics? An Ethnography of the Experiences of International Managers in Venezuela and Mexico","authors":"H. Gaggiotti","doi":"10.1177/27538931231165277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27538931231165277","url":null,"abstract":"The Latin American tropics have been considered spaces where the taken-for-granted vulnerability of the international assignment experience is exacerbated because of poor working conditions. In classical approaches to international management studies, the complexity attributed to the role of global managers resides in the ‘fact’ that they live under conditions of permanent confrontation, adjustment, change and adaptation. The literature typically portrays the international manager as perpetually experiencing an ‘out-of-place’ existence, as their supposed ‘national culture’ of origin is by definition different from the ‘national culture’ of the destination country. The stereotyped exoticism of the tropics – constructed as spaces for tourism and adventure, but also characterised as precarious in terms of their health infrastructures, uncomfortable climates, and socio-economic and political instability – contributes to the framing of international management in these regions as highly challenging. In this article, these stereotypical conceptions are challenged. Evidence is provided indicating that managers’ narratives about ‘the experience of working and living in the tropics’ have more to do with their negative experiences of organisational power and the creation of a singular organisational culture of control and commitment than with the experience of the tropical context per se. The analysis is based on 6 years of intermittent longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork (2005–2009; 2020–2022) with international and nomadic Latin American professionals working in two factories located in the tropics owned by an industrial corporation.","PeriodicalId":287921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance & Development","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130390344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-05DOI: 10.1177/27538931231165273
T. Walker
Unsustainable plastic production, use and mismanagement have resulted in increased plastic pollution in the environment threatening sustainability, especially in the tropics. Countries in the tropics have been disproportionally impacted by plastic pollution due to imports of plastic waste from developed countries, or because tropical Small Island Developing States have become overwhelmed by single-use plastics used widely in the tourism sector. However, plastic pollution is pervasive and is not just limited to the tropics. Plastic pollution has resulted in widespread environmental, economic and social impacts globally. Most plastics are derived from fossil fuels which contribute to climate change via greenhouse gas emissions, and plastic pollution also harms wildlife threatening biodiversity, thus placing enormous pressure on earth’s limited resources. Although downstream strategies to curb plastic pollution exist, they are infective in the face of increased upstream plastic production. Therefore, the international community has recognized that a more holistic approach is required to reduce plastic pollution. Current plastic production and waste generation are still outpacing existing plastic reduction regulations. This viewpoint shows why unsustainable global plastic production has resulted in increased global plastic pollution, including in the tropics, but also highlights how ambitious plastic pollution reduction policies can help transition towards a more sustainable plastics future.
{"title":"The tropics should not become the world's plastic pollution problem","authors":"T. Walker","doi":"10.1177/27538931231165273","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/27538931231165273","url":null,"abstract":"Unsustainable plastic production, use and mismanagement have resulted in increased plastic pollution in the environment threatening sustainability, especially in the tropics. Countries in the tropics have been disproportionally impacted by plastic pollution due to imports of plastic waste from developed countries, or because tropical Small Island Developing States have become overwhelmed by single-use plastics used widely in the tourism sector. However, plastic pollution is pervasive and is not just limited to the tropics. Plastic pollution has resulted in widespread environmental, economic and social impacts globally. Most plastics are derived from fossil fuels which contribute to climate change via greenhouse gas emissions, and plastic pollution also harms wildlife threatening biodiversity, thus placing enormous pressure on earth’s limited resources. Although downstream strategies to curb plastic pollution exist, they are infective in the face of increased upstream plastic production. Therefore, the international community has recognized that a more holistic approach is required to reduce plastic pollution. Current plastic production and waste generation are still outpacing existing plastic reduction regulations. This viewpoint shows why unsustainable global plastic production has resulted in increased global plastic pollution, including in the tropics, but also highlights how ambitious plastic pollution reduction policies can help transition towards a more sustainable plastics future.","PeriodicalId":287921,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Tropical Futures: Sustainable Business, Governance & Development","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124806867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：