Civil Services Chronicle September 2020

The No.1 Magazine for IAS Aspirants Since 1990

The No. 1 Magazine for IAS Aspirants Since 1990

CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE FOR IAS,IPS,IFS,IRS AND OTHER STATE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION IN INDIA

The No.1 Magazine for IAS Aspirants Since 1990

This edited volume addresses how transnational interactions among civil society actors in Asia and its sub-regions are helping to strengthen common democratic values and transform dominant processes of policymaking and corporate capitalism in the region. The contributors conceive of transnational civil society networks as constructive vehicles for both informing and persuading governments and businesses to adopt, modify, or abandon certain policies or positions. This volume investigates the role of such networks through a range of interdisciplinary approaches, bringing together case studies on Asian transnationalism from South, Southeast, and Northeast Asia across four key themes: local transformations and connections, diaspora politics, cross-regional initiatives and networks, and global actors and influences. Chapters demonstrate how transnational civil society is connecting people in local communities across Asia, in parallel to ongoing tensions between nation-states and civil society. By highlighting the grassroots regionalization emerging from ever-intensifying information exchange between civil society actors across borders – as well as concrete transnational initiatives uniting actors across Asia – the volume advances the intellectual mandate of redefining ‘Asia’ as a dynamic and interconnected formation. Transnational Civil Society in Asia will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, politics and Asian studies more broadly.

This book explores the personal and professional lives of women in the Indian Civil Services and analyses the dynamics of gender and workplace identities for women in government. Based on first-hand interviews of women civil servants at various levels and ages, this book presents a narrative of their work conditions, the degrees of authority they exercise and their perceptions of themselves – in relation to their children, husbands, family, male and female colleagues, politicians and the public at large. It addresses pertinent issues like work–family balance, workforce diversity, equal employment opportunity, sexual harassment at the workplace, among others. Through this research, the author addresses questions such as, do women in public administration think differently from their male colleagues? And do they exercise different leadership styles, prioritise different issues, approach problems differently, make decisions in markedly different ways and play an actively representative role? This book helps to identify major obstacles that hinder the participation of women in decision-making and uncovers the bottlenecks that impede women’s advancement in the civil services specifically to policymaking positions. An important and timely study, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of gender studies, public administration, management and leadership studies. It will also be of interest to organisations working on issues of equal opportunity and affirmative action in public institutions.

How and why has the office of British Prime Minister lasted an incredible 300 years? Who have been the best, and worst?