Search results for: law enforcement policy

Authors: Massimo Ferrari, Maria Sole Pagliari

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Pollution is a classic example of economic externality: agents who produce it do not face direct costs from emissions. Therefore, there are no direct economic incentives for reducing pollution. One way to address this market failure would be directly taxing emissions. However, because emissions are global, governments might as well find it optimal to wait let foreign countries to tax emissions so that they can enjoy the benefits of lower pollution without facing its direct costs. In this paper, we first document the empirical relation between pollution and economic output with static and dynamic regression methods. We show that there is a negative relation between aggregate output and the stock of pollution (measured as the stock of CO₂ emissions). This relationship is also highly non-linear, increasing at an exponential rate. In the second part of the paper, we develop and estimate a two-country, two-sector model for the US and the euro area. With this model, we aim at analyzing how the public sector should respond to higher emissions and what are the direct costs that these policies might have. In the model, there are two types of firms, brown firms (which produce a polluting technology) and green firms. Brown firms also produce an externality, CO₂ emissions, which has detrimental effects on aggregate output. As brown firms do not face direct costs from polluting, they do not have incentives to reduce emissions. Notably, emissions in our model are global: the stock of CO₂ in the economy affects all countries, independently from where it is produced. This simplified economy captures the main trade-off between emissions and production, generating a classic market failure. According to our results, the current level of emission reduces output by between 0.4 and 0.75%. Notably, these estimates lay in the upper bound of the distribution of those delivered by studies in the early 2000s. To address market failure, governments should step in introducing taxes on emissions. With the tax, brown firms pay a cost for polluting hence facing the incentive to move to green technologies. Governments, however, might also adopt a beggar-thy-neighbour strategy. Reducing emissions is costly, as moves production away from the 'optimal' production mix of brown and green technology. Because emissions are global, a government could just wait for the other country to tackle climate change, ripping the benefits without facing any costs. We study how this strategic game unfolds and show three important results: first, cooperation is first-best optimal from a global prospective; second, countries face incentives to deviate from the cooperating equilibria; third, tariffs on imported brown goods (the only retaliation policy in case of deviation from the cooperation equilibrium) are ineffective because the exchange rate would move to compensate. We finally study monetary policy under when costs for climate change rise and show that the monetary authority should react stronger to deviations of inflation from its target.

Keywords: climate change, general equilibrium, optimal taxation, monetary policy

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Authors: Jakub Gren

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The recent transfer of banking supervision to the ECB has expanded its influence as of a non-majoritarian and technocratic policy-shaper in EU supervisory policies. To fulfil the main policy objectives of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the ECB has been tasked with building a single supervisory approach to supervised banks across the euro area and is now exclusively responsible for direct supervision of the largest ‘significant’ euro area banks and the oversight of the remaining ‘less significant’ banks. This enhanced supranational position of the ECB significantly alters the EU institutional order and creates powerful incentives to actively pursue integrationist agenda by the ECB. However, this drastic shift has a little impact upon adapting the ECB’s new supervisory mandate to the requirements of democratic legitimacy. Whereas the ECB’s strong pre-crisis independence and limited accountability could be reconciled with democratic principles through a clearly articulated price stability mandate, independence and limited accountability in the context of a more complex supervisory mandate is problematic. Hence, in order to ensure the democratic legitimacy of the ECB/SSM’s supervisory policies, the ECB’s supervisory mandate requires both a lower scope of independence and higher accountability requirements. To address this situation, organizational separation (“Chinese Wall”) between the ECB monetary and supervisory arms was introduced. This separation includes different reporting lines and the relocation of the ECB’s monetary function to a new building complex while leaving its supervisory function at the Euro-tower (“Two Towers”). This paper argues that these measures are not sufficient to establish proper checks and balances on the ECB’s powers to pursue euro zone’s wide supervisory policies. As a remedy, this contribution suggests that the ECB’s Treaties-embedded independence, as set out by art. 130 TFEU, designed to carry out its monetary function shall not be fully applicable to its supervisory function. Indeed functional and conditional reading of this provision to ECB supervisory function could enhance the legitimacy of future ECB’s supervisory action.

Keywords: accountability and transparency, democratic governance, financial management, rule of law

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Authors: Saloni Khanderia

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The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA), was concluded at the Singapore Ministerial Conference in 1996. The ITA is considered to be one of the biggest tariff-cutting deals because it eliminates all customs-related duties on the exportation of specific categories of information technology products to the territory of any other signatory to the Agreement. Over time, innovations in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector mandated the consideration of expanding the list of products covered by the ITA, which took place in the form of ITA-II negotiations during the WTO’s Nairobi Ministerial Conference. India, which was an original Member of the ITA-I, however, decided to opt-out of the negotiations to expand the list of products covered by the agreement. Instead, it preferred to give priority to its national policy initiative, namely the ‘Make-in-India’ programme [the MiI programme], which embarks upon fostering the domestic production of, inter alia, the ICT sector. India claims to have abstained from the ITA-II negotiations by stating that the zero-tariff regime created by the ITA-I debilitated its electronics-manufacturing sectors and on the contrary resulted in an over-reliance on imported electronic inputs. The author undertakes doctrinal research to examine India’s decision to opt-out of ITA-II negotiations, against the backdrop of the MiI Programme, which endeavours to improve productivity across-the-board. This paper accordingly scrutinises the tariff-cutting strategies of India to weigh the better alternative for India. Apropos, it examines whether initiatives like the MiI programme could plausibly resuscitate the ailing domestic electronics-manufacturing sector. The author opines that the country’s present decision to opt-out of ITA-II negotiations should be perceived as a welcome step. Thus, market-oriented reforms such as the MiI Programme, which focuses on indigenous innovation to improve domestic manufacturing in the ICT sector, should instead, in the present circumstances gain priority. Consequently, the MiI Programme would aid in moulding the country’s current tariff policy in a manner that will concurrently assist the promotion and sustenance of domestic manufacturing in the IT sector.

Keywords: electronics-manufacturing sector, information technology agreement, make in india programme, world trade organisation

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Authors: Vephkhvia Grigalashvili

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This paper provides an overview of criteria for good governance in Georgian defense sector and scientific outcomes of comparative research. A respect for good governance and its realization into Georgian national defense sector represents a fundamental institutional necessity as well as country`s politico-legal obligation within the framework of the existing collaboration mechanisms with NATO (especially Building Integrity (BI) Programme) and the Association Agreement between the EU and Georgia. Furthermore good governance is considered as a democracy measuring criterion in country`s Euro-Atlantic integration process. Accordingly, integration and further development of the contemporary approaches of good governance into Georgian defense management model represents a burning issue of the country. The assessment of an existing model of the country, identification of defects and determination of course of institutional reforms in a mutual comparison format of good governance mechanisms of NATO or/and the EU member Eastern European or Baltic countries positively assessed by the international organizations is considered as a precondition for its effective realization. Scientific aims of this study are: (a) to conduct comparative analysis of Georgian national principles and generalized standards of NATO or/and the EU member Eastern European and Baltic countries in following segments of good governance: open governance; anticorruption policy; conflict of interests; integrity; internal and external control bodies; (b) to formulate theoretical and practical recommendations on reforms to be implemented in the country`s national defence sector. As research reveals, although, institutional / legal pillars of good governance in Georgian defense sector generally are in compliance with international principles, the quality of implementation of good government norms still remains as an area that needs further development by raising awareness of public servants and community.

Keywords: anti-corruption policy within Georgian defense governance, conflict of interests within Georgian defense governance, good governance in Georgian defense sector, principles of integrity in Georgian defense management

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Authors: Tien-Hui Chiang

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Human capital discourse encourages many countries to expand the capacity of HEIs. Along with this expansion, the higher education system is redefined as a free market and in turn it is privatized and commercialized. However, the state’s role in education is to balance social justice and capital accumulation. This role is further regulated by a specific form of neoliberalism constituted by social contexts. These correlations call for exploring the influence of human capital discourse on interwoven issues, such as the state’s role in education, higher education policy, and employability. Method: According to the perspective of neoliberal governmentality, answers to the above four research questions are likely to be embedded within discourses in documents related to higher education policies. Consequently, this study adopts a qualitative approach by analyzing official documents, including government reports, official statistics, circulars and official statements. Documents were collected and subjected to content analysis, with a particular focus on the period from 2005 to 2021. The technique of content analysis was applied to decode keywords and core concepts of these documents. Findings: Neoliberalism is exerted through human capital discourse in China particularly in the changes in higher education policies moving from quantitative expansion to quality control via employment or employability. Such changes highlight that the principle of “n”eoliberalism is more suitable for illustrating the practice of free market logic in different social contexts. The modifications of neoliberalism adopted by the Chinese government reflect that the state’s mission is to secure social security or the common good, so that public managerialism - in the form of programs for employment, internship and entrepreneurship - is adopted in the name of the public interest and the collective mission. Public managerialism now is not only targeted towards social institutions but the population more generally, incarnated here by college graduates. Its practice is not only to renovate organizational cultures but to activate people’s commitment to national development.

Keywords: employability, higher education expansion, neoliberalism, human capital discourse

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Authors: Michael A. Sprayberry, Vincent C. Paquit

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Process parameter optimization in metal powder bed electron beam melting (MPBEBM) is crucial to ensure the technology's repeatability, control, and industry-continued adoption. Despite continued efforts to address the challenges via the traditional design of experiments and process mapping techniques, there needs to be more successful in an on-the-fly optimization framework that can be adapted to MPBEBM systems. Additionally, data-intensive physics-based modeling and simulation methods are difficult to support by a metal AM alloy or system due to cost restrictions. To mitigate the challenge of resource-intensive experiments and models, this paper introduces a Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning (MORL) methodology defined as an optimization problem for MPBEBM. An off-policy MORL framework based on policy gradient is proposed to discover optimal sets of beam power (P) – beam velocity (v) combinations to maintain a steady-state melt pool depth and phase transformation. For this, an experimentally validated Eagar-Tsai melt pool model is used to simulate the MPBEBM environment, where the beam acts as the agent across the P – v space to maximize returns for the uncertain powder bed environment producing a melt pool and phase transformation closer to the optimum. The culmination of the training process yields a set of process parameters {power, speed, hatch spacing, layer depth, and preheat} where the state (P,v) with the highest returns corresponds to a refined process parameter mapping. The resultant objects and mapping of returns to the P-v space show convergence with experimental observations. The framework, therefore, provides a model-free multi-objective approach to discovery without the need for trial-and-error experiments.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, metal powder bed fusion, reinforcement learning, process parameter optimization

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Authors: Roshanak Nouralian

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The primary focus of my Ph.D. dissertation revolves around the interconnection between language and culture, as well as the crucial role that language plays in facilitating communication and fostering integration within the host society for immigrants. This research specifically focuses on Iranian students studying at various universities in Vienna. Throughout this study, I have attempted to examine and analyze their challenges in various life situations in Austria. The broad dimensions of the research question led the research process to apply a constructivist grounded theory strategy. I have also used critical discourse analysis that is in line with constructivist GT's point of view to look closely at the borders, contradictions, and inequalities that came up in the participants' real-life experiences. Data from individual interviews and group discussions have expanded the research trajectory beyond disciplinary boundaries toward a transdisciplinary approach. The research findings indicate how the language policy of the host society leads to the establishment of power relationships and the arousal of a sense of cultural dominance among the research participants. This study investigates the problems experienced by participants in their daily interactions within the host society. Additionally, the results illustrate the development of a dependency relationship between participants and their host society despite linguistic policies that cause a sense of cultural hegemony. Conversely, the obtained data allowed me to examine the participants' language ideologies. The findings of this study show that social linguistics has the potential to go beyond the boundaries of its field. This is possible by using a variety of research strategies and analyzing people's real-life experiences to find out how language affects different parts of their daily lives. Therefore, in this conference, discussing the logic of employing a constructivist GT strategy along with critical discourse analysis (CDA) in this research, I intend to discuss the achieved results.

Keywords: cultural adapttaion, language policy, language ideology, cultural hegemony, transdisciplinary research, constructivist grounded theory, critical discourse analysis

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Authors: Joseph Udofia, Isaac Olufadewa

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Everyday, the size of Electronic Health Records data keeps increasing as new patients visit health practitioner and returning patients fulfil their appointments. As these data grow, so is their susceptibility to cyber-attacks from criminals waiting to exploit this data. In the US, the damages for cyberattacks were estimated at $8 billion (2018), $11.5 billion (2019) and $20 billion (2021). These attacks usually involve the exposure of PII. Health data is considered PII, and its exposure carry significant impact. To this end, an enhancement of Health Policy and Standards in relation to data security, especially among patients and their clinical providers, is critical to ensure ethical practices, confidentiality, and trust in the healthcare system. As Clinical accelerators and applications that contain user data are used, it is expedient to have a review and revamp of policies like the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), all aimed to ensure data protection and security in healthcare. FHIR caters for healthcare data interoperability, FHIR caters to healthcare data interoperability, as data is being shared across different systems from customers to health insurance and care providers. The astronomical cost of implementation has deterred players in the space from ensuring compliance, leading to susceptibility to data exfiltration and data loss on the security accuracy of protected health information (PHI). Though HIPAA hones in on the security accuracy of protected health information (PHI) and PCI DSS on the security of payment card data, they intersect with the shared goal of protecting sensitive information in line with industry standards. With advancements in tech and the emergence of new technology, it is necessary to revamp these policies to address the complexity and ambiguity, cost barrier, and ever-increasing threats in cyberspace. Healthcare data in the wrong hands is a recipe for disaster, and we must enhance its protection and security to protect the mental health of the current and future generations.

Keywords: cloud security, healthcare, cybersecurity, policy and standard

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Authors: Victoria Masi Haruna Karatu, Nik Kamariah Nikmat

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In recent times awareness about the environment and green purchase has been on the increase across nations due to global warming. Previous researchers have attempted to determine what actually influences the purchase intention of consumers in this environmentally conscious epoch. The consumers too have become conscious of what to buy and who to buy from in their purchasing decisions as this action will reflect their concern about the environment and their personal well-being. This trend is a widespread phenomenon in most developed countries of the world. On the contrary evidence revealed that only 5% of the populations of Nigeria involve in green purchase activities thus making the country lag behind its counterparts in green practices. This is not a surprise as Nigeria is facing problems of inadequate green knowledge, non-enforcement of environmental regulations, sensitivity to the price of green products when compared with the conventional ones and distrust towards green products which has been deduced from prior studies of other regions. The main objectives of this study is to examine the direct antecedents of green purchase intention (green availability, government regulations, perceived green knowledge, perceived value and green price sensitivity) in Nigeria and secondly to establish the mediating role of perceived behavioral control on the relationship between these antecedents and green purchase intention. The study adopts quantitative method whereby 700 questionnaires were administered to lecturers in three Nigerian universities. 502 datasets were collected which represents 72 percent response rate. After screening the data only 440 were usable and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping. From the findings, three antecedents have significant direct relationships with green purchase intention (perceived green knowledge, perceived behavioral control, and green availability) while two antecedents have positive and significant direct relationship with perceived behavioral control (perceived value and green price sensitivity). On the other hand, PBC does not mediate any of the paths from the predictors to criterion variable. This result is discussed in the Nigerian context.

Keywords: Green Availability, Green Price Sensitivity, Green Purchase Intention, Perceived Green Knowledge, Perceived Value

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Authors: Anwar Kashgari

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COVID-19 has severe impacts on business all over the world. The great lockdown of many business owners requires a sage deal with this pandemic. This paper seeks to support business leaders with a standpoint about the COVID-19 situation and provides implications for the (Small and Medium Enterprises) SMEs and companies. The paper reflects the author's view about the impact of COVID-19 on business activities. We discussed the impact of COVID-19 upon three aspects, namely, startups, SMEs, and e-commerce. The KSA is an example of the developing countries about which we present the current situation. Finally, recommendations to policy and decision-makers are given.

Keywords: COVID 19, business networking, globalization

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Authors: Tarun Kumar Dalakoti, Debajyoti Majumder, Aditya Prasad Das, Samir Chandra Saxena

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India’s ambitious target to achieve a 50 percent share of energy from non-fossil fuels and the 500-gigawatt (GW) renewable energy capacity before the deadline of 2030, coupled with the global pursuit of sustainable development, will compel the nation to embark on a rapid clean energy transition. As a result, electricity market reforms will emerge as critical policy instruments to facilitate this transition and achieve ambitious environmental targets. This paper will present a comprehensive analysis of the various electricity market reforms to be introduced in the Indian Electricity sector to facilitate the integration of clean energy sources and will assess their impact on the overall energy landscape. The first section of this paper will delve into the policy mechanisms to be introduced by the Government of India and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission to promote clean energy deployment. These mechanisms include extensive provisions for the integration of renewables in the Indian Electricity Grid Code, 2023. The section will also cover the projection of RE Generation as highlighted in the National Electricity Plan, 2023. It will discuss the introduction of Green Energy Market segments, the waiver of Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) charges for inter-state sale of solar and wind power, the notification of Promoting Renewable Energy through Green Energy Open Access Rules, and the bundling of conventional generating stations with renewable energy sources. The second section will evaluate the tangible impact of these electricity market reforms. By drawing on empirical studies and real-world case examples, the paper will assess the penetration rate of renewable energy sources in India’s electricity markets, the decline of conventional fuel-based generation, and the consequent reduction in carbon emissions. Furthermore, it will explore the influence of these reforms on electricity prices, the impact on various market segments due to the introduction of green contracts, and grid stability. The paper will also discuss the operational challenges to be faced due to the surge of RE Generation sources as a result of the implementation of the above-mentioned electricity market reforms, including grid integration issues, intermittency concerns with renewable energy sources, and the need for increasing grid resilience for future high RE in generation mix scenarios. In conclusion, this paper will emphasize that electricity market reforms will be pivotal in accelerating the global transition towards clean energy systems. It will underscore the importance of a holistic approach that combines effective policy design, robust regulatory frameworks, and active participation from market actors. Through a comprehensive examination of the impact of these reforms, the paper will shed light on the significance of India’s sustained commitment to a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.

Keywords: renewables, Indian electricity grid code, national electricity plan, green energy market

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Authors: B. L. Gadiga

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This study assesses the major ecological zones in Nigeria with the view to understanding the spatial pattern of vegetation zones and the implications on conservation within the period of sixteen (16) years. Satellite images used for this study were acquired from the SPOT-VEGETATION between 1998 and 2013. The annual NDVI images selected for this study were derived from SPOT-4 sensor and were acquired within the same season (November) in order to reduce differences in spectral reflectance due to seasonal variations. The images were sliced into five classes based on literatures and knowledge of the area (i.e. <0.16 Non-Vegetated areas; 0.16-0.22 Sahel Savannah; 0.22-0.40 Sudan Savannah, 0.40-0.47 Guinea Savannah and >0.47 Forest Zone). Classification of the 1998 and 2013 images into forested and non forested areas showed that forested area decrease from 511,691 km² in 1998 to 478,360 km² in 2013. Differencing change detection method was performed on 1998 and 2013 NDVI images to identify areas of ecological concern. The result shows that areas undergoing vegetation degradation covers an area of 73,062 km² while areas witnessing some form restoration cover an area of 86,315 km². The result also shows that there is a weak correlation between rainfall and the vegetation zones. The non-vegetated areas have a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.0088, Sahel Savannah belt 0.1988, Sudan Savannah belt -0.3343, Guinea Savannah belt 0.0328 and Forest belt 0.2635. The low correlation can be associated with the encroachment of the Sudan Savannah belt into the forest belt of South-eastern part of the country as revealed by the image analysis. The degradation of the forest vegetation is therefore responsible for the serious erosion problems witnessed in the South-east. The study recommends constant monitoring of vegetation and strict enforcement of environmental laws in the country.

Keywords: vegetation, NDVI, SPOT-vegetation, ecology, degradation

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Authors: Olufunke Ayilara Aje-Famuyide

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The centrality of the Petroleum Industry in the world energy is undoubted. The world economy almost runs and depends on petroleum. Petroleum industry is a multi-trillion industry; it turns otherwise poor and underdeveloped countries into wealthy nations and thrusts them at the center of international diplomacy. Although these developing nations lack the necessary technology to explore and exploit petroleum resources they are not without help as developed nations, represented by their multinational corporations are ready and willing to provide both the technical and managerial expertise necessary for the development of this natural resource. However, the exploration of these petroleum resources comes with, sometimes, grave, concomitant consequences. These consequences are especially pronounced with respect to the environment. From the British Petroleum Oil rig explosion and the resultant oil spillage and pollution in New Mexico, United States to the Mobil Oil spillage along Nigerian coast, the story and consequence is virtually the same. Nigeria’s Niger Delta Region produces Nigeria’s petroleum which accounts for more than ninety-five percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings. Between 1999 and 2007, Nigeria earned more than $400 billion from petroleum exports. Nevertheless, petroleum exploration and exploitation has devastated the Niger Delta environment. From oil spillage which pollutes the rivers, farms and wetlands to gas flaring by the multi-national corporations; the consequences is similar-a region that has been devastated by petroleum exploitation. This paper thus seeks to examine the consequences and impact of petroleum pollution in the Niger Delta of Nigeria with particular reference on the right of the people of Niger Delta to a healthy environment. The paper further seeks to examine the relevant international, regional instrument and Nigeria’s municipal laws that are meant to protect the result of the people of the Niger Delta and their enforcement by the Nigerian State. It is quite worrisome that the Niger Delta Region and its people have suffered and are still suffering grave violations of their right to a healthy environment as a result of petroleum exploitation in their region. The Nigerian effort at best is half-hearted in its protection of the people’s right.

Keywords: environment, exploration, petroleum, pollution

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Authors: Hazel Pettifor, Charlie Wilson, David Mccollum, Oreane Edelenbosch

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Vehicle purchase is a technology adoption decision that will strongly influence future energy and emission outcomes. Global integrated assessment models (IAMs) provide valuable insights into the medium and long terms effects of socio-economic development, technological change and climate policy. In this paper we present a unique and transparent approach for improving the behavioural representation of these models by incorporating social influence effects to more accurately represent consumer choice. This work draws together strong conceptual thinking and robust empirical evidence to introduce heterogeneous and interconnected consumers who vary in their aversion to new technologies. Focussing on vehicle choice, we conduct novel empirical research to parameterise consumer risk aversion and how this is shaped by social and cultural influences. We find robust evidence for social influence effects, and variation between countries as a function of cultural differences. We then formulate an approach to modelling social influence which is implementable in both simulation and optimisation-type models. We use two global integrated assessment models (IMAGE and MESSAGE) to analyse four scenarios that introduce social influence and cultural differences between regions. These scenarios allow us to explore the interactions between consumer preferences and social influence. We find that incorporating social influence effects into global models accelerates the early deployment of electric vehicles and stimulates more widespread deployment across adopter groups. Incorporating cultural variation leads to significant differences in deployment between culturally divergent regions such as the USA and China. Our analysis significantly extends the ability of global integrated assessment models to provide policy-relevant analysis grounded in real-world processes.

Keywords: behavioural realism, electric vehicles, social influence, vehicle choice

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Authors: Aniya Everette

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In June of 1971, President Richard Nixon made his first public declaration regarding the “War on Drugs,” deeming it America’s number one public enemy. Since then, the drug war has been a divisive topic in the US. Black and brown children have been unfairly targeted and imprisoned at alarming rates as a result of this policy, which has had a negative effect on them. Black and Latino youth have faced significant obstacles that have impacted their educational opportunities, employment prospects, and general quality of life due to harsh mandatory sentences, aggressive policing tactics, and racial profiling.

Keywords: war, drugs, crime, racial profiling

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Authors: Mohammad Arif, Soumen Chatterjee, Krishnendu Gupta

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The peri-urban interface is an area of transition where the urban and rural areas meet and interact. So the peri-urban areas, which is characterized by strong urban influence, easy access to markets, services and other inputs, are ready supplies of labour but distant from the land paucity and pollution related to urban growth. Hence, the present study is primarily aimed at quantifying the spatio-temporal pattern of land use/land cover change during the last three decades (i.e., 1987 to 2016) in the peri-urban area of Burdwan city. In the recent past, the morphology of the study region has rapid change due to high growth of population and establishment of industries. The change has predominantly taken place along the State and National Highway 2 (NH-2) and around the Burdwan Municipality for meeting both residential and commercial purposes. To ascertain the degree of change in land use and land cover, over the specified time, satellite imageries and topographical sheets are employed. The data is processed through appropriate software packages to arrive at a deduction that most of the land use changes have occurred by obliterating agricultural land & water bodies and substituting them by built area and industrial spaces. Geospatial analysis of study area showed that this area has experienced a steep increase (30%) of built-up areas and excessive decrease (15%) in croplands between 1987 and 2016. Increase in built-up areas is attributed to the increase of out-migration during this period from the core city. This study also examined social, economic and institutional factors that lead to this rapid land use change in peri-urban areas of the Burdwan city by carrying out a field survey of 250 households in peri-urban areas. The research concludes with an urgency for regulating land subdivisions in peri-urban areas to prevent haphazard land use development. It is expected that the findings of the study would go a long way in facilitating better policy making.

Keywords: growth, land use land cover, morphology, peri-urban, policy making

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Authors: Yvonne Nanaama Brew, Bismark Jampim Abrokwah

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Children with disabilities in Ghana are not routinely registered, and this can imply that they may be neglected in national policy planning since global estimates may not be near the exact numbers. Although there are some studies with reports on the prevalence of disability among children in Ghana, reliable information on the prevalence, types of disability in children, and children who die with disabilities in the Greater Accra region are lacking. The current study seeks to investigate the incidence of disability among children two to fourteen years at selected districts in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. A cross-sectional design is adapted with a quantitative method for this study. Parents with disabled children who access child welfare clinics at the Greater Accra regional hospital, Maamobi hospital, Ga west, and Ga south district hospitals will be selected through purposive sampling for the study. An adapted UNICEF structured Ten Questions will be used to collect relevant data about participants. The responses to the questions will be either 'Yes' or 'No'. Parents with children who answer 'Yes' to a disability and purposively sampled parents with children who answer 'No' to disability will be invited to Child Health Clinic at the Greater Accra regional hospital for a free clinical assessment. Data will be entered into Microsoft Office Excel 2013 and imported into STATA version 15 for analysis. The study is expected to provide reliable disaggregated data on less than fourteen years of children with disabilities in the Greater Accra region. The findings and recommendations of the study will demonstrate the importance of early detection of disability and facilitate more quality and holistic planning of appropriate programmes that best safeguard the rights of children with disabilities in Ghana. It will help in policy and decision-making on children less than fourteen years with disabilities in Ghana. Also, findings will be useful for health facilities in Ghana to plan services for disabled children. Finally, the study is expected to add to the guides for the National Council of Persons with Disabilities to fulfill its legal mandate for disabled persons in Ghana.

Keywords: prevalence, disability, children, Ghana

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Authors: Amanda Grace Ahl, Matthew Brummer

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‘Smart cities’ are not always as ‘smart’ as the term suggests, which is not often covered in the associated academic and public policy literatures. In what has become known as the smart city approach to urban planning, governments around the world are seeking to harness the power of information and communications technology with increasingly advanced data analytics to address major social, economic, and environmental issues reshaping the ways people live. The definitional and theoretical boundaries of the smart city framework are broad and at times ambiguous, as is empirical treatment of the topic. However, and for all the disparity, in investigating any number of institutional and policy prescriptions to the challenges faced by current and emerging metropoles, scholarly thought has hinged overwhelmingly on value-positive conceptions of informatics-centered design. From enhanced quality of services, to increased efficiency of resources, to improved communication between societal stakeholders, the smart city design is championed as a technological wellspring capable of providing answers to the systemic issues stymying a utopian image of the city. However, it is argued that this ‘techtopia’, has resulted in myopia within the discipline as to value-negative implications of such planning, such as weaknesses in practicality, scalability, social equity and affordability of solutions. In order to more carefully examine this observation - that ‘stupid’ represents an omitted variable bias in the study of ‘smart’ - this paper reviews critical cases of unsuccessful smart city developments. It is argued that also understanding the negative factors affiliated with the development processes is imperative for the advancement of theoretical foundations, policies, and strategies to further the smart city as an equitable, holistic urban innovation. What emerges from the process-tracing carried out in this study are distinctly negative lessons of smart city projects, the significance of which are vital for understanding how best to conceive smart urban planning in the 21st century.

Keywords: case study, city management, innovation system, negative lessons, smart city development

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Authors: Zainab Olabisi Tairu

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The human species is facing some of the most challenging issues encountered as civilization and development occurs. The most salient factors threatening all species globally are habitats loss and degradation, overexploitation, competition with unwanted invasive species, pollution, global climate and various individual lifestyles of indigenous species. In order to avoid or minimize the effect of our actions on the environment and to balance employee work life with their private life, Green Human Resource is important and must be practiced in every organization including Higher Learning Institutions. This study addressed Green HRM from an institutional perspective, University systems are involved in numerous and complex social, educational and extra-curricular activities. The University community must be challenged to rethink and re-construct their environmental policies and practices in order to contribute to sustainable development. Many institutions only look at sustainability from the technology improvement aspect and waste management. People are the principal actors for sustainability development at the institutional level. The aim of the study is to explore the concept of Green Human Resource Management at a case site. Divine Word University (DWU) an Institution of Higher Education that embraced the ‘Printing & Paper use Policy’, also commonly referred to as the ‘paperless policy’, the use of solar as an alternative source of energy, water conservation and improvement in internet technology (IT) with the aim of becoming a green institution in effort to help save the environment. This study used Participatory Action Research as the Overarching methodological framework and Egg of sustainability and Wellbeing as the theoretical perspective in analyzing the data, engaging Case study strategy and a mixed method design at DWU. Focus group interview were conducted with three departments at the University, semi-structure interviews with the senior managers, survey questionnaire administered to students and staff with a sample size of 176 participants, in addition, policy documents were also exploited as extra source of data. Waste management including e-waste appeared to be one of the main concerns at DWU. A vast majority of DWU staff and students expressed the need for their institution to do more on sustainability education. The findings revealed that members of the community are not fully integrated like the Egg of sustainability and wellbeing in order to achieve sustainable development goal. The concept of Green Human Resource Management in Universities lies with the idea that Universities must bear profound responsibilities to manage its stakeholders in an environmental friendly way. Human resource management can help local institutions to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production, consumption as well as the end product in order to combat or at least reduce human Induced which produce or aggravate it.

Keywords: sustainability, environmental management, higher education institutions, green human resource management

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Authors: Rida Wanbha Nongbri, Sabuj Kumar Mandal

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2016-2030 were adopted in response to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which focused on access to sustainable water and sanitations. For over a decade, water has been a significant subject that is explored in various facets of life. Our day-to-day life is significantly impacted by water poverty at the socio-economic level. Reducing water poverty is an important policy challenge, particularly in emerging economies like India, owing to its population growth, huge variation in topology and climatic factors. To design appropriate water policies and its effectiveness, a proper measurement of water poverty is essential. In this backdrop, this study uses the Alkire Foster (AF) methodology to estimate a multidimensional water poverty index for India at the household level. The methodology captures several attributes to understand the complex issues related to households’ water deprivation. The study employs two rounds of Indian Human Development Survey data (IHDS 2005 and 2012) which focuses on 4 dimensions of water poverty including water access, water quantity, water quality, and water capacity, and seven indicators capturing these four dimensions. In order to quantify water deprivation at the household level, an AF dual cut-off counting method is applied and Multidimensional Water Poverty Index (MWPI) is calculated as the product of Headcount Ratio (Incidence) and average share of weighted dimension (Intensity). The results identify deprivation across all dimensions at the country level and show that a large proportion of household in India is deprived of quality water and suffers from water access in both 2005 and 2012 survey rounds. The comparison between the rural and urban households shows that higher ratio of the rural households are multidimensionally water poor as compared to their urban counterparts. Among the four dimensions of water poverty, water quality is found to be the most significant one for both rural and urban households. In 2005 round, almost 99.3% of households are water poor for at least one of the four dimensions, and among the water poor households, the intensity of water poverty is 54.7%. These values do not change significantly in 2012 round, but we could observe significance differences across the dimensions. States like Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh are ranked the most in terms of MWPI, whereas Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Chandigarh are ranked the lowest in 2005 round. Similarly, in 2012 round, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa rank the highest in terms of MWPI, whereas Goa, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh rank the lowest. The policy implications of this study can be multifaceted. It can urge the policy makers to focus either on the impoverished households with lower intensity levels of water poverty to minimize total number of water poor households or can focus on those household with high intensity of water poverty to achieve an overall reduction in MWPI.

Keywords: .alkire-foster (AF) methodology, deprivation, dual cut-off, multidimensional water poverty index (MWPI)

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Authors: A. Pascual Ramsay

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Accounts of the management of the economic and euro crisis in Spain have been dominated by an emphasis on external constraints. However, this approach leaves unanswered important questions about the role of domestic political factors. Using systematic qualitative primary research and employing elite interviewing and process tracing, this paper aims to fill this gap for the period of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) administration. The paper shows that domestic politics played a crucial role in the management of the crisis, most importantly by determining the shape of the measures undertaken. In its three distinct stages – downplaying/inaction, reaction/stimulus, and austerity/reform – the PSOE's response was certainly constrained by external factors, most notably EMU membership and the actions of sovereign-bond investors, the ECB and Germany. Yet while these external constraints forced the government to act, domestic political factors fundamentally shaped the content of key measures: the fiscal stimulus, the labour, financial and pension reforms, the refusal to accept a bailout or the reform of the Constitution. Seven factors were particularly influential: i) electoral and political cost, ii) party and partisanship, iii) organised interests, iv) domestic institutions, v) ideological preferences, vi) ineffective decision-making, and vii) judgement and personal characteristics of decision-makers. In conclusion, domestic politics played an important role in the management of the crisis, a role that has been underestimated by dominant approaches focusing on external constraints and weak domestic policy autonomy. The findings provide empirical evidence to support research agendas that identify significant state discretion in the face of international economic integration and an important role for domestic political factors such as institutions, material interests, partisanship and ideology in shaping economic outcomes.

Keywords: economic crisis, Euro, PSOE, Spain

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Authors: Anders Troedsson

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For us humans, risks are intimately linked to human vulnerabilities - where there is vulnerability, there is potentially insecurity, and risk. Reducing vulnerability through compensatory measures means increasing security and decreasing risk. The paper suggests that a meaningful way to approach the study of risks (including threats, assaults, crisis etc.), is to understand the vulnerabilities these external phenomena evoke in humans. As is argued, the basis of risk evaluation, as well as responses, is the more or less subjective perception by the individual person, or a group of persons, exposed to the external event or phenomena in question. This will be determined primarily by the vulnerability or vulnerabilities that the external factor are perceived to evoke. In this way, risk perception is primarily an inward dynamic, rather than an outward one. Therefore, a route towards an understanding of the perception of risks, is a closer scrutiny of the vulnerabilities which they can evoke, thereby approaching an understanding of what in the paper is called the essence of risk (including threat, assault etc.), or that which a certain perceived risk means to an individual or group of individuals. As a necessary basis for gauging the wide spectrum of potential risks and their meaning, the paper proposes a model of human vulnerabilities, drawing from i.a. a long tradition of needs theory. In order to account for the subjectivity factor, which mediates between the innate vulnerabilities on the one hand, and the event or phenomenon out there on the other hand, an ensuing ontological discussion about the timespace characteristics of risk/threat/assault as perceived by humans leads to the positing of two dimensions. These two dimensions are applied on the vulnerabilities, resulting in a modelling effort featuring four realms of vulnerabilities which are related to each other and together represent a dynamic whole. In approaching the problem of risk perception, the paper thus defines the relevant realms of vulnerabilities, depicting them as a dynamic whole. With reference to a substantial body of literature and a growing international policy trend since the 1990s, this model is put in the language of human security - a concept relevant not only for international security studies and policy, but also for other academic disciplines and spheres of human endeavor.

Keywords: human security, timespace, vulnerabilities, risk perception

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Authors: Zaman Jawahar, Anne Rouve-Khiev, Elizabeth Hoban, Joanne Williams

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Ensuring access to timely obstetric care is essential to prevent maternal deaths. Geographical barriers pose significant challenges for women accessing quality reproductive and maternal health services in rural Cambodia. This policy brief affirms the need to address the issue of transportation and cost (direct and indirect) as critical barriers to accessing reproductive and maternal health (RMH) services in four provinces in Northeast Cambodia (Kratie, Ratanak Kiri, Mondul Kiri, Stung Treng). A systemic search of the literature identified 1,116 articles, and only ten articles from low-and-middle-income countries met the inclusion criteria. The ten articles reported on transportation and cost related to accessing RMH services. In addition, research findings from Partnering to Save Lives (PSL) studies in the four provinces were included in the analysis. Thematic data analysis using the information in the ten articles and PSL research findings was conducted, and the findings are presented in this paper. The key findings are the critical barriers to accessing RMH services in the four provinces because women experience: 1) difficulties finding affordable transportation; 2) lack of available and accessible transportation; 3) greater distance and traveling time to services; 4) poor geographical terrain and; 5) higher opportunity costs. Distance and poverty pose a double burden for the women accessing RMH services making a facility-based delivery less feasible compared to home delivery. Furthermore, indirect and hidden costs associated with institutional delivery may have an impact on women’s decision to seek RMH care. Existing health financing schemes in Cambodia such as the Health Equity Fund (HEF) and the Voucher Scheme contributed to the solution but have also shown some limitations. These schemes contribute to improving access to RMH services for the poorest group, but the barrier of transportation costs remains. In conclusion, initiatives that are proven to be effective in the Cambodian context should continue or be expanded in conjunction with the HEF, and special consideration should be given to communities living in geographically remote regions and difficult to access areas. The following strategies are recommended: 1) maintain and further strengthen transportation support in the HEF scheme; 2) expand community-based initiatives such as Community Managed Health Equity Funds and Village Saving Loans Associations; 3) establish maternity waiting homes; and 4) include antenatal and postnatal care in the provision of integrated outreach services. This policy brief can be used to inform key policymakers and provide evidence that can assist them to develop strategies to increase poor women’s access to RMH services in low-income settings, taking into consideration the geographic distance and other indirect costs associated with a facility-based delivery.

Keywords: access, barriers, northeast Cambodia, reproductive and maternal health service, transportation and cost

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Authors: Muhammad Jum’at Dasuki

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This study investigates the ethical implications of post-fuel subsidy removal support initiatives in Kwara State, Nigeria, with a focus on the application of Islamic principles. The contentious issue of subsidy removal carries significant social and economic consequences, emphasizing the crucial role of ethical considerations in policy implementation. The research provides a comprehensive background on fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria and its implications. Examining post-fuel subsidy removal palliative measures in Kwara State, the study focuses on design and implementation challenges, ethical considerations, transparency, equity, and public trust. Utilizing a case study approach offers insights and best practices. The methodology includes primary sources through in-depth oral interviews and secondary sources like textbooks and journals, aiming for a holistic understanding of the ethical dimensions of support initiatives within the context of Islamic principles in Kwara State. The objective is to contribute to policy decisions and community development. The study recommends an ethically sound implementation of post-fuel subsidy removal support initiatives, emphasizing transparency, accountability, and inclusivity. It advocates for the inclusiveness of governmental palliatives, reaching both civil servants and common individuals in the state. Continuous distribution during fuel subsidy removal challenges is deemed vital. Additionally, extending free or subsidized transportation beyond higher institutions to the general populace is suggested. Consideration should also be given to reducing governmental hospital bills or providing free health services. The study underscores the importance of Islamic ethics in Nigerian governance and employs a case study approach to assess palliative measures in Kwara State, offering practical insights for policymakers and stakeholders.

Keywords: considerations, ethical, palliative, post-fuel subsidy removal

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Authors: Daniel Gidey, Kunwar Siddarth Dadhwal

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By evaluating India's aid systems and ongoing development initiatives, this conference paper offers light on India's role as a source of developmental assistance in Africa. This research attempts to provide insights into the developing landscape of foreign aid and development cooperation by focusing on understanding India's motivations and strategy. In recent years, India's connection with Africa has grown significantly, driven by economic, political, and strategic reasons. This conference paper covers India's many forms of aid, including financial, capacity building efforts, technical assistance, and infrastructure development projects, via a thorough investigation. The article seeks to establish India's priorities and highlight the possible impacts of its development assistance in Africa by examining the industries and locations of concentration. Using secondary data sources, the investigation delves into the underlying goals of India's aid policy in Africa. It investigates whether India's development assistance is consistent with its broader geopolitical aims, such as access to resources, competing with regional rivals, or strengthening diplomatic ties. Furthermore, the article investigates how India's aid policy combines the ideals of South-South cooperation and mutual development, as well as the ramifications for recipient countries. Furthermore, the paper assesses the efficacy and sustainability of India's aid operations in Africa. It takes into account the elements that influence their success, the problems they face, and the amount to which they contribute to local development goals, community empowerment, and poverty alleviation. The study also focuses on the accountability systems, transparency, and knowledge transfer aspects of India's development assistance. By providing a detailed examination of India's aid endeavors in Africa, the paper adds to the current literature on international development cooperation. By offering fresh insights into the motives, strategies, and impacts of India's assistance programs, it seeks to enhance understanding of the emerging patterns in South-South cooperation and the complex dynamics of contemporary international aid architecture.

Keywords: India, Africa, developmental assistance, aid projects and South-South cooperation

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Authors: Fortune Mangara

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The world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history due to rapid urbanization. Africa’s fast rate of urbanization is being driven by several factors such as population growth and migration. Urbanization results in development pressure on existing infrastructure, and numerous existing buildings are being destroyed in the process. Many of these buildings are built by environmental heritage resources which are part of the city's heritage and are therefore valuable. Many built environment heritage resources are currently being destroyed due to development pressure, while others are facing the risk of destruction or abandonment. There are different approaches that inform urban development and urban conservation. The modernist and post-modernist dichotomy has played an influencing role on how development or conservation of built environment heritage resources are approached. The fragmented nature of historical urban conservation paradigms and theories are also reflected in the evolution of policy and legislation that guide urban development and conservation of built heritage resources. Urban development and conservation have a long history of being guided by separated policies and legislation. However, recent international and South African policy and legislation had started to acknowledge the importance of integrating urban development and urban conservation. Spatial planning guides urban development and can be used as an integrative tool. With the aforementioned in mind, the main research question that guides this study is: What role does spatial planning play in the coexistence of urban development and urban conservation in a city in transition? The main purpose of this research is to use spatial planning as a tool for integrating urban conservation and urban development with reference to built environmental heritage resources. A qualitative research methodology is going to be employed in which a singular case study will be used as the research design. A qualitative document analysis will be used to collect data. Potchefstroom is going to be used as a case study as it is the oldest town in the North West province therefore is rich in built environmental heritage resources.

Keywords: built environmental heritage resources, document analysis, spatial planning, urban conservation, urban development

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Authors: Ajeni Ari

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In addressing gender and transport, considerations of mobility disparities amongst users are important. Public transport (PT) policy and design do not efficiently account for the varied mobility practices between men and women, with literature only recently showing a movement towards gender inclusion in transport. Arrantly, transport policy and designs remain gender-blind to the variation of mobility needs. The global movement towards sustainability highlights the need for expeditious strategies that could mitigate biases within the existing system. At the forefront of such plan of action may, in part, be mandated inclusive infrastructural designs that stimulate user engagement with the transport system. Fundamentally access requires a means or an opportunity to entity, which for PT is an establishment of its physical environment and/or infrastructural design. Its practicality may be utilised with knowledge of shortcomings in tangible or intangible aspects of the service offerings allowing access to opportunities. To inform on existing biases in PT planning and design, this study analyses qualitative data to examine the opinions and lived experiences among transport user in Ireland. Findings show that infrastructural design plays a significant role in users’ engagement with the service. Paramount to accessibility are service provisions that cater to both user interactions and those of their dependents. Apprehension to use the service is more so evident with women in comparison to men, particularly while carrying out household duties and caring responsibilities at peak times or dark hours. Furthermore, limitations are apparent with infrastructural service offerings that do not accommodate the physical (dis)ability of users, especially universal design. There are intersecting factors that impinge on accessibility, e.g., safety and security, yet essentially, infrastructural design is an important influencing parameter to user perceptual conditioning. Additionally, data discloses the need for user intricacies to be factored in transport planning geared towards gender inclusivity, including mobility practices, travel purpose, transit time or location, and system integration.

Keywords: public transport, accessibility, women, transport infrastructure

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Authors: Henry Kelly, Helena Shaw

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This paper will seek how innovative methods from Health Economics and, to a lesser extent, wellbeing analysis can be applied in the Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) of transport infrastructure and policy interventions. The context for this will focus on the framework articulated by the UK Treasury (finance department) and the English Department for Transport. Both have well-established methods for undertaking CBA, but there is increased policy interest, particularly at a regional level of exploring broader strategic goals beyond those traditionally associated with transport user benefits, productivity gains, and labour market access. Links to different CBA approaches internationally, such as New Zealand, France, and Wales will be referenced. By exploring a complementary method of accessing the impacts of policies through the quantification of health impacts is a fruitful line to explore. In a previous piece of work, 14 impact pathways were identified, mapping the relationship between transport and health. These are wide-ranging, from improved employment prospects, the stress of unreliable journey times, and air quality to isolation and loneliness. Importantly, we will consider these different measures of health from an intersectional point of view to ensure that the basis that remains in the health industry does not get translated across to this work. The objective is to explore how a CBA based on these pathways may, through quantifying forecast impacts in terms of Quality-Adjusted Life Years may, produce different findings than a standard approach. Of particular interest is how a health-based approach may have different distributional impacts on socio-economic groups and may favour distinct types of interventions. Consideration will be given to the degree this approach may double-count impacts or if it is possible to identify additional benefits to the established CBA approach. The investigation will explore a range of schemes, from a high-speed rail link, highway improvements, rural mobility hubs, and coach services to cycle lanes. The conclusions should aid the progression of methods concerning the assessment of publicly funded infrastructure projects.

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis, health, QALYs transport

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Authors: Shidratul Moontaha Suha

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Violence is organized and utilized differently in various communities across the globe. The capacity to employ violence in numerous societies is largely limited to the apparatus of the state, like law enforcement officers, and in a small share of contexts, it is controlled within the state institutions as per the rule of law. Contrastingly, in many other societies, a broad array of players, mainly organized criminal gangs, are using violence on a substantial scale to agitate against social ills or attain personal interests. The present paper examined the role of social injustice in driving children living off and on the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, into joining organized criminal gangs and committing crimes. The study entailed a comprehensive review of existing literature with theoretical analyses based on three theories: the Marxist’s theory of capitalism and class struggle, the Weberian model of social stratification theory, and the social disorganization theory. The analysis revealed that, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, criminal gangs emerged from social disorganization of communities characterized by absolute poverty, residential mobility, and population heterogeneity, which promote deviance among the youth, and subsequently, led to the rise of organized gangs and delinquency. Although the latter was formed as a response to class struggle, they have been employed by the state and police as the tools of exploitation and oppression to rule the working class. The criminal gangs exploit the vulnerability of street children by using them as sources of cheap labor to peddle drugs, extort, or kill specific individuals who are against their ideals. In retrospect, the street children receive individual, group, and social protection. Therefore, social class struggle plays a central role in the proliferation of organized criminal gangs and the engagement of street children in criminal activities in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Keywords: cheap labor, organized crimes, poverty, social stratification, social children

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Authors: Xuan Li

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The English language occupies a crucial position in the Chinese educational system and is officially introduced in the school curriculum from the third year of primary school onward. However, it is worth noting that along with the movement to remove primary-oriented education from preschools, the teaching of English is banned in preschools. Considering the worldwide trend of learning English at a young age, whether this ban can be implemented successfully is doubtful. With an initial focus on the interaction of language-in-education planning and policy (LEPP) at the macro level and actual practice at the micro level, this research selected three private preschools and two public preschools to explore what is taking place in terms of English education. All data collected is qualitative and is gained from documentary analysis, school observation, interviews, and focus groups. The findings show that: (1) although the English ban in preschool education aims to regulate all types of preschools and all adult Chinese participants are aware of this ban, there are very different scenarios according to type of preschool, such that no English classes are found in public schools while private preschools commonly provide some kind of English education; (2) even public schools do not have an English-free environment and parents’ demand for English education is high; (3) there is an obvious top-down hierarchy in both public and private schools, in which administrators make the decisions while others have little power to influence the school curriculum; (4) there is a clear gap in the perception of English teaching between children and adults, in which adults prefer foreign English teachers and think English teaching is just playing, while children do not have a clear preference regarding teachers and do not think English class is just for fun; (5) without macro support, there are many challenges involved in preschool English education, including the shortage of qualified teachers and teaching resources, ineffective personnel management and few opportunities for speaking English in daily life. Hopefully, this research will not only highlight the interaction of LEPP at different levels and the importance of individual agency but also raise the awareness of how to provide qualified and equal education for all children.

Keywords: individual agency, language-in-education planning and policy, micro context, preschool English education

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