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This chapter provides an examination of the characteristics of comparative and international education research published in 2020 as well as an overview of the trends in this research since 2014. This analysis of published research includes a special focus on authors situated in the Global South as well as those authors who are affiliated with organizations outside of academic (i.e., professional, non-teaching organizations). These two focus characteristics reflect the shifting composition of authors and research in comparative and international education in the twenty-first century as well as the professionalization aspirations of the field of comparative and international education more broadly. Evidence from the seven years of data collection suggests that there is a marked shift toward increasingly more co-authored research, a shift from predominantly qualitative methods to non-empirical research content, and a rise in topic oriented research over the otherwise dominant single-country study in comparative and international education research.

This chapter examines the trends in published comparative and international education research from 2014 to 2019 with a special focus on 2019 publication in open access journals and by authors situated in the Global South. In particular, two trends from 2019 are (1) the increasing number of research publications in the field of comparative and international education that are being published in online, open access journals and (2) the representation among these research publications between authors situated in Global North versus Global South contexts. Evidence from the six years of data collection suggests that single country studies and qualitative methods continue to dominate published research in comparative and international education journals. 2019 data also show that there are significant different in the publication trends in subscription versus open access journals in the field, and that authors from the Global South are more likely to publish in open access journals, especially if they are female.

Tourism is a rapidly growing economic sector that contributes significantly to national and local economies globally. Tourism growth in any destination largely depends on the weather and climate, considered prime factors affecting global tourist flows. Global South countries are said to be particularly vulnerable to climate change, owing to their limited adaptation capacity, placing them at greater risk of the impacts of climate change. This adaptive capacity is mainly attributed to a lack of capital intensity and technological flexibility, which is less effective than in developed countries. In addition to a lack of capacity to adjust to the direct hazards of climate change, developing countries are at additional risk due to their heavy reliance on economic sectors and resources sensitive to climate change, such as tourism. An enhanced understanding of climate change's impacts and adaptations to climate change is critical for determining strategic actions for tourism planning and development. This chapter provides a theoretical review of tourism and adaptation strategies, challenges and the dimensions of vulnerability in a tourism context, as well as the implications of climate change on tourism planning in the future. This chapter discusses the impact of climate change on tourism in the Global South, examining case studies and policy frameworks for adaptation and mitigation. It further explores opportunities for sustainable tourism development and partnerships for climate-resilient tourism. Overall, the chapter focuses on the challenges and opportunities for sustainable tourism in the Global South in the face of climate change.

The immersion of global higher education in a competitive, economy-oriented paradigm calls for perspectives on internationalisation that are explicitly aimed at shaping cooperative, sustainable and alternative/decolonial futures. The authors of this chapter recognise the relevance of research perspectives that – epistemologically aligned with critical internationalisation studies – emphasise the dilemmas and contradictions of internationalisation of higher education (IHE). In this chapter, the authors therefore present reflections that confront the hegemonic discourse that portrays the phenomenon of IHE as an unconditional good. The authors dialogue with the idea of promoting a perspective of IHE from and for the Global South – that is, one that instead of suppressing, recognises the epistemic plurality of the world. To do so, the authors assume that any critical efforts to address internationalisation in the context of the Global South can be enriched when explicitly situated within colonial history. The authors argue that looking towards the future of IHE requires a look towards its past. Specifically, the authors bring together four interrelated lines of argument: (i) recognising the university as a historical producer and reproducer of colonial hierarchies; (ii) conceiving the Global South as a field of epistemic challenges; (iii) having a non-myopic view of South–South cooperation; and (iv) spreading the epistemological horizon of internationalisation. Such reflections might contribute to envisioning new horizons for IHE in the Global South and its relation with those who have been relegated to a status of invisibility.

This chapter explores Lula's internationalist strategy toward the politics of globalization, which involves building alliances within the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) and between Mercosur and the European Union. It compares Lula's internationalism with the earlier nationalist Brazilian informatics policy as shifting strategies of sovereignty, highlighting their differences as interventions in the politics of globalization. In the process, it explores the changing conditions of globalization and assesses the potential of Lula's strategy as an alternative to the dominant neoliberal globalization form.

This chapter compares the current biodiversity practices of higher education institutions (HEIs) and their learning effects of the Global North and South. It particularly explores the HEIs’ strategies targeting biodiversity and ecosystem services preservation. In order to answer the research question, a qualitative content analysis of published sustainability reports of the systematically selected HEIs was performed. The Times Higher Education (THE) was used to select HEIs. The results show that biodiversity reporting and management is still in its early stages in HEIs from both the Global North and South and could benefit from further research and suggestions for improvement. One implication for the HEIs is that they could increase public awareness and knowledge of biodiversity through the integration of this topic into their curricula, more research projects on biodiversity, and operations on and off campus.

The purpose of this chapter is to share the findings of a qualitative case study focusing on international sustainability guidelines’ ‘fit’ at a mega South African state-owned enterprise (SOE). The case study set out to determine if international guidelines developed in the West fit when the home country of the company is in the global South. The case study drew on document analysis and 23 serial interviews with 12 formally employed sustainability champions and the analysis was conducted through applied thematic analysis (ATA) using the computer-aided qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) Atlas.ti. The case study was conducted at a South African SOE with over 60,000 employees and an average annual revenue of 50 billion Rand. The study found that there were several international sustainability guidelines in use at the SOE and that the guidelines in use were not only a good fit but were valuable to the sustainability champions and the company’s corporate sustainability governance structures. The research is limited in that it is not generalizable; however, it is transferrable to similar contexts.

The study recommends that companies ensure that they adopt guidelines that are appropriate for their organization, industry and the regions wherein they operate and that sustainability guidelines may be particularly useful in promoting corporate sustainability within the organization and establishing sustainability-related governance mechanisms which may be valuable for stakeholders as well. This research demonstrates that companies who engage in international trade are likely to benefit from international sustainability guidelines and reveals unique practices which the company proactively engages into ensure that the guidelines are effectively applied.

Some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly are related to violence, crime and crime control issues. In what seems to be an innovative approach, the so-called ‘international community’ has seemed to reach the commonsensical agreement that, in order to enjoy sustainable development and strengthen the capabilities, well-being and freedom of the citizens of the global south, their governments must reduce violence and crime (SDG 16.1). The SDGs also seem to provide the response to tackle crime and violence in the global south. SDG 16.3 aims at ‘promoting the rule of Law at the national and international level and ensuring equal access to justice for all’. Thus, the promotion of the rule of law has commonly been understood as the strengthening of the criminal justice system and State security forces to reduce crime and impunity in the global south. Focussing on Latin America, this article will critically discuss the problematic presuppositions and implications of such a paradigm, which tends to impose, reproduce and legitimise the particular worldviews of global north countries and institutions. This approach is counterproductive, for it does not acknowledge the particularities and historical trajectories of Latin American countries, while naturalising specific global north political, economic and truth regimes.

This chapter addresses the issue of the Global South external debt by mobilizing insights from Modern Monetary Theory, Ecological Economics, and Dependency Theory. It argues that the external debt problem of Southern governments is a reflection of their subordinate economic and monetary status. It shows why the argument of foreign currency shortage often used to explain the need for Southern governments to issue foreign currency debts remains superficial. In contrast to the usual focus on creditors, the chapter highlights the role played by foreign direct investment in the genesis of the chronic external indebtedness of most Southern countries. It argues then that the external debt of the South must be understood holistically not only as a manifestation of the unequal ecological exchange between the North and the South but also as an instrument that has contributed to reproducing and amplifying this pattern. Under these conditions, the cancellation or restructuring of the South's external debt stock and a few other unlikely concessions by the Northern countries will not be enough to abolish the “debt system.” This is an important lesson from the antiimperialist critique of the mid-1970s New International Economic Order (NIEO) agenda that current movements for Southern debt cancellation and Climate Justice would do well to remember.