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This chapter maps the political economy characteristics of Icelandic society in the post-war period. It shows how the period of statism from the early part of the 20th century, with a strong legacy of protectionism and clientelism, changed up to the present. A major turning point came with a shift towards more liberal mixed economy in 1960, which progressed through the 1980s. That was a period of very high growth rates in an egalitarian society. During the 1990s the political economy became significantly more influenced by neoliberal policies, which can be associated with the buildup of an excessive bubble economy in the 2000s. A new policy emphasis in a new environment of globalized finance, of which Iceland became an active part from 1995, in conjunction with a generally lax attitude of laissez faire in public administration, seems to have made possible rather unusual excesses in speculation and debt accumulation. That eventually led to the dramatic collapse of Iceland's financial system in October 2008. In the wake followed a deep recession. The chapter sets this long-term development into a broad societal context, taking account of political power constellations and changes in politics, the labour market and living conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges and justification of the reconstruction of built heritage in Bosnia. This paper also debates the effect of setting up a close relationship between reconstruction and reconciliation, suggesting that the reconstruction of the built environment in the period of post-war recovery provided a foundation for reconciliation.

Throughout history, in the face of various disasters, world encountered the challenge of reconstruction. In the past decade of the 20th century, just such a challenge was the war in Bosnia. After the war, reconstruction and reconciliation took place, with a focus on reestablishing a normal way of life, the return of displaced people, and the reconnection of broken bonds, as well as the rehabilitation of heritage assets.

This paper elaborates on how reconstructions were guided by the aims of reconciliation and its justifications. Regarding the technical aspects of these reconstruction projects, an overview comprising several case studies is presented to help elucidate two levels of physical intervention. The first of these levels concerns the reconstruction of single structures and the second concerns the reconstruction of historic centers. War memorials are considered to be a third level of intervention.

The selected cases presented here confirm the existence of the relationship between post-war reconstruction and reconciliation. This paper also assesses the efficiency of the reconstruction of Bosnia’s built heritage in terms of authenticity and overall post-war recovery.

After war, societies can undergo change that extends justice to formerly excluded groups. Using theories of moral exclusion and moral inclusion as a lens, this chapter examines societal change in two consecutive periods after the American Civil War (1861–1865): Reconstruction and Jim Crow. Focusing on the well being of black Americans in the American South, this chapter examines Reconstruction's inclusionary gains and setbacks. It then describes challenges faced by black Americans during Jim Crow, a period of white supremacy and violence, and factors associated with Jim Crow's decline. Applying social psychological theory to these historical periods offers insight into the dynamics of inclusionary and exclusionary change.

This analysis attempts a comparative specification of certain aspects of the country studies contained in this volume. The point of departure is the banking crises of the early 1990s (deep in Finland, Norway and Sweden, mini-crisis in Denmark and absent in Iceland) and the contrast to Iceland's financial meltdown in 2007/2008 (no crisis in the three, a new mini-crisis in Denmark). Detailed process tracing of the Icelandic crisis is provided. The case account is then used to shed light on the different roles of neoliberalism, economics expert knowledge and populist right-wing party formation in the five Nordic political economies.

There exist long-term fluctuations in the process of capital accumulation. The economic long wave is an essential part of research into non-mainstream western economics. After the Second World War, the capitalist world experienced the fourth long wave of expansion and then entered into a downward phase of the long wave in the 1970s. Regarding to whether a new long wave of expansion took place in the 1980s, left-wing scholars hold different viewpoints. The purpose of this paper is to focus on this issue.

First, based on the review of the long wave history, this paper discusses three kinds of long wave theories with significant influence and puts forward the theoretical framework of analyzing the long wave of capitalist economy. Next, under the guidance of this theoretical framework and in combination with the actual development and evolution of the capitalist economy, the issue of whether the fifth long wave of the capitalist economy began to emerge in the 1980s is discussed deeply.

This paper argues that, from the early 1980s to 2007, the US-dominated developed countries experienced a new long wave of expansion driven by the information technology revolution, the adjustment of the neoliberalism system and the economic globalization. However, the financial-economic crisis of 2008–2009 led to a new phase of long wave downswing.

This paper does not agree with the single-factor analysis of the intrinsic formation mechanism of economic long wave and sticks to the multi-factor analysis centering on the fluctuation of accumulation rate. It is pointed out that the evolution of the long wave of capitalist economy depends on the combined influence of technology, institutions and market. The study of the long wave of the economy will help us to correctly understand the historical stage and characteristics of the current world capitalist economy in the long-term fluctuations, so that we can make an appropriate and positive response.

The fundamental idea that we seek to establish in this chapter is that the establishment of regional or local, peace calls forth global peace. In other words, our argument is that local and regional conflicts are partly driven by global factors, especially what is commonly known as international tension. In order to achieve meaningful and sustained peace, there is a reason to believe that it is mandatory to manage and contain international tensions. The main thesis of this chapter is to explain or posit, conflicts as a product of continuing international chasms, splits and differences of political and social ideologies in our modern world. Thus, we argue that conflicts are, to some extent, driven by international tension or global, ideological and geo-political factors. Notwithstanding the global influence, local factors – such as income inequality, income growth or lack of it, political institutions – can and do exacerbate conflicts and a peaceful resolution of conflicts becomes a difficult phenomenon.

It is difficult to unravel the thread of W. Edwards Deming’s impact on the post‐war industrial recovery of Japan and its transformation from a manufacturer of shabby copies of Western goods to a pre‐eminent producer of high‐quality goods. His name is woven, however, into the fabric of Japanese industrial history. Deming helped launch a campaign for institutionalizing “quality control” within the Japanese manufacturing sector, which adopted a number of the terms and concepts he advocated. In fact, his pedagogical approach dovetailed perfectly with, and helped to provide a philosophical basis for, the infusion of quality as an intrinsic part of the production process. Most importantly, Deming was conveying these concepts on the eve of the “electronics revolution”, where unparalleled precision, cleanliness, and consistency of product were essential metrics determining success or failure. However, the true extent of Deming’s influence may never be known as it was caught up in the complex dynamics that characterized Japan’s industrial resurgence from the late 1940s through the 1980s.

This paper is a historical review of the development of private primary and secondary education in Hong Kong from 1841-2012. The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolving relationship between the state and private schools in Hong Kong.

This paper utilizes sources from published official documents, public data available on government websites, archival documents and newspapers. The authors also carried out a few individual interviews with legislators, government officials and principals who were familiar with the history of private education in Hong Kong.

The colonial Hong Kong Government adopted laissez-faire policy in greater part of its rule until 1970s. The year 1978 marked the period of “state control” until the 1990s when privatization and deregulation emerged as a world trend in the governance of education. The role of government changed to that of “supervision” instead of “control.” Further, it is shown that the change of sovereignty did not avert the trend of decentralization, deregulation and privatization in education which is entrenched in the management of public affairs in human societies.

The findings provides an illuminating look into the development of a society and how it grapples with the fundamental questions of the degree of social control and proper use of political power in a colonial setting.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a historical development of public relations from its early days until 1970. The study aims to show that in the early stages of development public relations was closely linked with public opinion research.

A historical content analysis is used to establish a “story of identity” through a review of selected articles from Public Opinion Quarterly from 1937 to 1970.

A clear finding is that public relations was once an integral part of public opinion science but later changed its focus to the management field, interested in reaching different publics. From the very beginning public relations was a subject of academic interest.

This paper has a few limitations; one that stands out is that selected articles were analysed from only one journal, which does not offer the recent material (after 1970 and especially from the 1990s). At the end, the paper raises some questions, which should aid the discussion about the identity crisis of public relations discipline (and managerial function) in the postmodern era.

The paper attempts to cover the gap in an interactive relationship between two disciplines: communication studies and public relations. It contributes to the knowledge of historical development of public relations as an academic discipline.

The purpose of this paper is to construct historical perceptions of coal use in India and Japan in different historical time periods through the process of analyzing the narratives and discourses in academic, media and trade literatures.

In terms of methodology, this paper will utilize discourse theories/analysis and interpretive history to study the subject matter. In this paper, specific literatures on energy as well as general literatures on themes like technology are utilized.

The finding of the paper is that discourses and narratives about coal energy for example are constantly negotiated, constructed and then deconstructed again to fit and adapt to new realities, including the availability of newer technologies or priorities and concerns about the environment.

The research implication and originality of the paper is to demonstrate empirically the idea of the existence of narrative communities debating the use of coal energy in India and Japan. It highlights the communities of stakeholders interested in coal energy resource. The practical application and value of the ideas is the intellectual process of categorizing various contemporary narratives about coal energy use specific to two of the largest consumers and importers of coal in Asia. Through historical narratives of its past and recent coal use, the role and function of coal in the overall energy mix of India and Japan are instructive. The research limitation lies in its non‐quantitative nature and reliance on a combination of academic and trade secondary sources.