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Climate change is a bitter truth for the entire humanity, and it vehemently calls for thoughtful means for environmental protection along with sustainable economic growth. International trade blocs fundamentally represent amalgamation of countries to achieve unified goals like higher living standards, reduced trade barriers, freer labour mobility across member states, social and cultural upliftment, political allegiance to regional association, etc. Throughout the 1990s, these trade blocs have committed to reducing environmental pressures and shifting towards cleaner forms of energy. This chapter examines the relationship between rate of change in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions per capita and rate of change in per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in linear, quadratic and cubic polynomial forms with the other control variables like inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI), export of goods and services, population density, urban population percentage and location dummies for the 66 countries falling in seven regional trade blocs. Other than the European Union and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the remaining five trade blocs in the study – Association of South-East Nations (ASEAN), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Common Market for Eastern and South Africa (COMESA), Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – contain mostly the developing and some of the fastest growing economies of the world. The panel regression result finds an inverse relationship between rate of change in per capita CO₂ emissions and rate of change in GDP per capita (in linear and cubic polynomial forms), exports and population density, while the other coefficients of the explanatory variables are positive. The study also establishes an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) which is opposite to N-shape during 2005–2019, and that contradicts with the original EKC of inverted U-shaped. However, this shape admits the collective efforts of region-specific trade blocs towards achieving clean environment which is one of the important global goals.

This chapter addresses a significant topic in Algeria, namely the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), by examining the use of business ethics codes. In recent years, there has been growing interest among companies in implementing practices that can justify their CSR efforts, including the development of corporate business ethics codes. These codes play a crucial role in formalizing the integration of CSR strategies. In Algeria, several companies have adopted business ethics codes; one such example is the companies in the oil and gas sector, the leading oil industry company in Algeria. These companies have implemented a business ethics code to provide justification and guidance for their CSR practices. The main objective of this chapter is to demonstrate the commitment of companies to CSR through the development of their business ethics codes. It presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of the business ethics codes of Algerian companies in the oil and gas sector. The approach involved the development of an analytical framework with various criteria and an objective examination of the business ethics code to yield results that aligned with these criteria. The study concludes that the business ethics codes of these companies serve as sources of internal regulation that primarily address ethical concerns and reflects the existing Algerian regulations at the organizational level.

This chapter explores various theoretical and practical issues of sustainable tourism approaches in industrial areas. This includes applying sustainability approaches and ideas to the growing domain of industrial tourism. The essence, main definitions, and provisions of industrial and sustainable tourism are discussed and summarized, focusing on the use of tourist potential in former and current industrial areas. The case study of sustainability-based industrial tourism development was carried out in three tourist destinations in the USA and Germany: Lowell (USA), the Ruhr River basin, and Papenburg (Germany). Examples of best practices and possibilities for implementation in Armenia are also discussed. Particularly, the use of tourist attractions of mining and metallurgical industries and the “revival” of former industrial enterprises for touristic, cultural, cognitive, and entertainment purposes are framed as priority activities.

In the 21st century, placing higher education institutions in the global world has become the norm. Therefore, many higher education institutions in Ghana and across the globe have set out to internationalise or become world-class universities as part of their strategic ambitions. Thus, finding ways to become visible on a global scale and transcend beyond the countries in which they operate has become of major interest to most universities. The authors of this chapter were curious to determine how universities adopt imported organisational templates as a strategic ambition. One should not assume that the semblance of such imported concepts is mere institutional isomorphism stemming from internationalisation and globalisation. The study employed semi-structured interviews and institutional documents as data collection tools among ten (10) university actors in a flagship university in Ghana. The study used postcolonial theory to critically examine the drivers and current practices embedded in dominant hegemonic global discourses, such as internationalisation. The findings revealed that the drivers and reforms underpinning university internationalisation ambition are framed within economic rationalities, producing human capital, self-marketisation to promote visibility, and a quest for global competition couched within global neoliberal ideology. The study recommends the need for university actors to (re)focus and (re)evaluate university internationalisation discourse to ensure a balance between local relevance and global forces.

The objective of this research conducted in the city of Cuenca is to elaborate on the management platform model of the smart tourist destination (STD). The chapter provides the components to develop such a system as a pilot plan. To maximize the impact of the proposed approach and enhance the decision-making capacities of local actors, the metrics that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) developed for the so-called intermediate cities in the study “Cuenca Sustainable City” are used. The platform (www.smarturcuenca.com) considers the transcendence of the current reality of the tourism sector, which is open to multidisciplinary work with other sectors to promote the rational use of cultural and natural resources through the Internet of Things (IoT).

Research indicates a long historical connection between racism and nationalist ideologies. This connection has been highlighted in the resurgence of exclusionary nationalism in recent years, across many multicultural societies. This chapter discusses the notions of race, ethnicity and nation, and critically examines how racism shapes contemporary manifestations of nationalist discourse across the world. It explores the historical role of settler-colonialism, imperial expansions and the capitalist development in shaping the racial/ethnic aspect of nationalist development. Moreover, it provides an analysis of the interconnections between the racialisation of minorities, exclusionary ideologies and the consolidation of ethno-nationalist tropes. This chapter further considers the impact of demographic changes in reinforcing anti-migrant exclusionary sentiments. This is examined in connection with emerging nativist discourse, exploring how xenophobic racism has shaped and is shaped by nostalgic nationalism based on the sanitisation of the legacies of Empire and colonialism.