Climate change, and also other factors, are capable of bringing about major disasters on a scale hitherto unimaginable. Ecological and other risks, besides having scientific and technological dimensions, are also a subject of study for social scientists, concerned with how disasters and potential disasters are noticed, perceived, guarded against, managed once they have occurred, and coped with after they have happened. This book considers a range of ecological risks and disasters and how they are managed in both China and Europe. It examines how far risks and disasters are perceived and managed in different ways in Europe and China, explores how an increasing humanitarian approach to "vulnerable people" being taken up in Europe is also being adopted in China, and assesses how far the management of disasters differs from wider government management of more ordinary aspects of everyday life. The book argues that the same stresses and strains which are present in normal society are there also, in enhanced form, in disaster situations.

Climate change, and also other factors, are capable of bringing about major disasters on a scale hitherto unimaginable. Ecological and other risks, besides having scientific and technological dimensions, are also a subject of study for social scientists, concerned with how disasters and potential disasters are noticed, perceived, guarded against, managed once they have occurred, and coped with after they have happened. This book considers a range of ecological risks and disasters and how they are managed in both China and Europe. It examines how far risks and disasters are perceived and managed in different ways in Europe and China, explores how an increasing humanitarian approach to "vulnerable people" being taken up in Europe is also being adopted in China, and assesses how far the management of disasters differs from wider government management of more ordinary aspects of everyday life. The book argues that the same stresses and strains which are present in normal society are there also, in enhanced form, in disaster situations.

Within a movement towards the circulation and globalisation of knowledge, new centres and new peripheries form and new hierarchies appear - more or less discretely - producing competition and rivalry in the development of “new” knowledge. Centres of gravity in social sciences have been displaced towards Asia, especially China. We have entered a period of de-westernization of knowledge and co-production of transnational knowledge. This is a scientific revolution in the social sciences which imposes detours, displacements, reversals. It means a turning point in the history of social sciences. From the Chinese experience in sociology the author is opening a Post-Western Space where after Post-Colonial Studies, she is speaking about the emergence of a Post-Western Sociology.

This book is rooted in an epistemological approach to sociology in which the boundaries between Western and non-Western sociologies are acknowledged and built on. It argues that knowledge is organised in conceptual spaces linked to paradigms and programmes which in turn are linked to ethnocentred knowledge processes; that until recently Western approaches, including Post-Colonial, French Social Science and American approaches, have dominated non-Western theories; and that Western theories have sometimes seemed incapable of explaining phenomena produced in other societies. It goes on to argue that the blurring of boundaries between Western and non-Western sociologies is very important; and that such a Post-Western approach will mean co-production and co-construction of common knowledge, the recognition of ignored or forgotten scientific cultures and a "global change" in sociology which imposes theoretical and methodological detours, displacements, reversals and conversions. The book brings together a wide range of Western and Chinese sociologists who explore the consequences of this new approach in relation to many different issues and aspects of sociology.

Beyond hegemonic thoughts, the Post-Western sociology enables a new dialogue between East Asia (China, Japan, Korea) and Europe on common and local knowledge to consider theoretical continuities and discontinuities, to develop transnational methodological spaces, and co-produce creolized concepts. With this new paradigm in social sciences we introduce the multiplication of epistemic autonomies vis-à-vis Western hegemony and new theoretical assemblages between East-Asia and European sociologies. From this ecology of knowledge this groundbreaking contribution is to coproduce a post-Western space in a cross-pollination process where “Western” and “non-Western” knowledge do interact, articulated through cosmovisions, as well as to coproduce transnational fieldwork practices.

Policy Transfer and Norm Circulation brings together various fields in the humanities and social sciences to propose a renewed analysis of policy transfer and norm circulation, by offering cross-regional case studies and providing both a comprehensive and innovative understanding of policy transfer. The book introduces a constructive interdisciplinary dialogue and comparative approach, highlighting the partial and fragmented understanding of policy transfer and the questions and challenges in the study of policy transfer in three parts. Firstly, notions of transfer and circulation, including law, (political) economy, sociology and history; secondly, a focus on European studies and the transfer of norms, both within and outside the EU; and finally, an examination within a broader IR context. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of European Union politics/studies, international relations, public policy, economics and law, as well as practitioners dealing with regional integration.

Provides an understanding of the relationship between social-ecological systems and multilevel governance so that readers can properly deal with hydrometeorological extreme events and hazards Based on field investigations from EU research projects, this book is the first to devote itself to scientific and policy-related knowledge concerning climate change-induced extreme events. It depicts national and international strategies, as well as tools used to improve multilevel governance for the management of hydrometeorological risks. It also demonstrates how these strategies play out over different scales of the decision-making processes. Facing Hydrometeorological Extreme Events: A Governance Issue offers comprehensive coverage of such events as floods, droughts, coastal storms, and wind storms. It showcases real-life success stories of multilevel governance and highlights the individuals involved and the resources mobilized in the decision-making processes. The book starts by presenting a synthesis of hydrometeorological extreme events and their impacts on society. It then demonstrates how societies are organizing themselves to face these extreme events, focusing on the strategies of integration of risk management in governance and public policy. In addition, it includes the results of several EU-funded projects such as CLIMB, STARFLOOD, and INTERREG IVB project DROP. The first book dedicated to hydrometeorological extreme events governance based on field investigations from EU research projects Offers a “multi-hazards” approach—mixing policy, governance, and field investigations’ main outputs Features the results of EU-funded projects addressing hydrometeorological extreme events Part of the Hydrometeorological Extreme Events series Facing Hydrometeorological Extreme Events is an ideal book for upper-graduate students, postgraduates, researchers, scientists, and policy-makers working in the field.