The book discusses how the two interrelated questions of biopolitics and ethics influence discursive and non-discursive practices in the fields of international relations and strategic studies. The book debates the following research question of how discussions on global regimes that rule human empowerment and human fragility in international and strategic arenas require the establishment of a complex relation between the contested concepts of biopolitics and ethics. The book focuses on six main areas which are (1) the politics of (in)security, (2) complex emergencies and contemporary terrorism, (3) health, risk and population management, (4) environment and climate change, (5) the politics of memory and trauma and (6) migration and refugee flows. The usefulness of the book derives from critically questioning how, international public policies in sensitive areas like terrorism, global health, global migration flows or humanitarian assistance are being built through global policy regimes and global discursive regimes.

Empowerment of those living in poverty is both a critical driver and an important measure of poverty reduction. This report aims to build donor understanding of empowerment and how best to support it.

The Corona pandemic has affected orchestra organizations around the globe since January 2020. Most of the ensembles were forced to stop operations during hard lockdown periods of public life. Freelance ensembles and privately funded orchestras faced even higher pressure than state funded ones. The pandemic has shown, how fragile orchestras may be. On the other hand the pandemic has brought forth a boost of creative alternatives from single musicians, from greater ensembles and from orchestra managements to upkeep operations under new physically distanced conditions and on the internet. Highest flexibility was shown in artistic planning, in creating new programs, in digital and recording work, in outreach and education activities, in new concert formats or support of pandemic-related charity campaigns. The pandemic has shown, how agile orchestras might be. The very questions are: What are the lessons learned from the pandemic challenges? What are new structural approaches for musicians and managements to rethink orchestral organizations for the post-pandemic future? How can the engagement of musicians and staff for the own organization be enhanced? How can the ties towards the members of already familiar audience groups be strengthened? Every co-author of this book is a specialist in his or her field. Together we're looking out to all aspects from which we think that orchestral organizations should take a breeze of fresh air and rethink their operations in the "new normal" after the pandemic. There is no step back, there only are steps forward.

In Israel, as in numerous countries of the global North, Filipina women have been recruited in large numbers for domestic work, typically as live-in caregivers for the elderly. The case of Israel is unique in that the country has a special significance as the ‘Holy Land’ for the predominantly devout Christian Filipina women and is at the center of an often violent conflict, which affects Filipinos in many ways. In the literature, migrant domestic workers are often described as being subject to racial discrimination, labour exploitation and exclusion from mainstream society. Here, the author provides a more nuanced account and shows how Filipina caregivers in Israel have succeeded in creating their own collective spaces, as well as negotiating rights and belonging. While maintaining transnational ties and engaging in border-crossing journeys, these women seek to fulfill their dreams of a better life. During this process, new socialities and subjectivities emerge that point to a form of global citizenship in the making, consisting of greater social, economic and political rights within a highly gendered and racialized global economy.

This book re-imagines the essence and role of adult education at both the individual and societal levels. It provides arguments for understanding adult education as a process of agency and empowerment, which has not only instrumental but intrinsic and transformative roles to play. This book brings together ideas from the capability approach with insights from recognition theory; the embeddedness approach; the political economic perspective for understanding public and private goods and the common goods perspective. The analysis draws on data from large-scale international studies – alongside qualitative data - and adopts a wide-ranging European comparative perspective. The book develops original instruments for measuring different dimensions of adult education as a common good, and its realisation in different social contexts. It is aimed at academics, students, practitioners, and policy makers interested in adult and/or higher education and the social justice perspective to human life.

This publication takes stock of i) the evolution of fragility as a concept, ii) analyses of financial flows to and within fragile states between 2000 and 2010, and iii) trends and issues that are likely to shape fragility in the years to come.

States of Fragility 2020 sets a policy agenda for fragility at a critical turning point: the final countdown on Agenda 2030 is at hand, and the pandemic has reversed hard-fought gains. This report examines fragility as a story in two parts: the global state of fragility that existed before COVID-19, and the dramatic impact the pandemic is having on that landscape.