(SoHSS) School of Humanities and Social Sciences

<p>Shiv Nadar University is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric University offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, the University comprises of academic wings, sophisticated labs, international standard sports facilities, amphitheaters, auditorium, conference rooms and smart classrooms. The University&rsquo;s goal is to become internationally recognized for the quality of its research and creative endeavors and their applicability to improving quality of life, generating new insights and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge creativity. Committed to excellence in teaching, research and service, the University aims to serve the higher education needs of India and the world beyond.</p>

Shiv Nadar University

International Relations and Governance Studies

Superpower Rivalry and Conflict: The Long Shadow of the Cold War on the 21st Century

Engaging the idea of global citizenship

This paper explores the role of risk perceptions in influencing public policy related to global warming. It solves for the optimal paths for emissions, abatement and investment in pollution-eliminating research by incorporating perceived risks into public decision making. It also compares the impact of differential risk perceptions on international collaboration on carbon abatement. Key findings are that the perception of risks related to environmental damages and technological breakthroughs plays an important role in determining the level of mitigation efforts. A high level of perceived risk of environmental damages discourages investment in pollution-eliminating research as there are few benefits from eliminating pollution after damages are realized. Other options that allow for sequestering carbon from the atmosphere may still remain viable. Another key finding is that when it comes to effort sharing between nations, differential mitigation efforts are primarily caused due to the differences in abatement technology, benefits from emissions and research capabilities. However, such differences could be accentuated or mitigated depending upon the differences in risk perception of developed and developing countries. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Economics

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change

The future of global warming: Will it be emissions control or environmental damages?

This article examines the theoretical salience of territoriality, particularly in South Asia, by comparing the histories of the region's three most contentious boundaries - Durand, McMahon and Radcliffe lines. It argues that four distinct avenues are central to theoretical considerations on territoriality in South Asia: the role of liberalism in colonial construction of state; international and domestic dimensions of geopolitics; disruptions in demographic and cultural contiguities produced by the boundaries; and the nature of sovereignty resulting from the experience of colonialism. Traditional lenses for studying boundaries and territoriality offer limited analytical purchase. The article posits that critical geopolitics and history-intensive approaches allow a better grasp of material and discursive dimensions of territoriality. Such an eclectic consideration is especially suitable for studying territoriality in South Asia given the region's cross-border complexities, both real and symbolic. {\textcopyright} 2008 SAGE Publications.

Fulltext

International Studies

Boundaries and territoriality in South Asia: From historical comparisons to theoretical considerations

Archaeologists study craft production as it provides information on the ways in which artifacts were produced. Craft specialization is, however, more complicated as it involves not only techniques but also organization. In contrast to anthropology where observation can reveal the scale of production or the amount of resources or time utilized for the practise of a craft, archaeology can make only tentative interpretations. Scale of production, standardization, and levels of expertise can be understood when certain variables are known. Archaeology is a discipline that understands the past in the context of the present and thus often uses the methods of production and the function of present-day artefacts to interpret ancient artefacts. However, there is also a tendency to use present-day organizational systems to understand past production mechanisms. This may be problematic especially where past systems varied greatly from modern ones. The particular socioeconomic background of past systems must account for the forms that ancient specialization took. To explicate this, a case study of manufacture in a Harappan settlement is taken to understand the context of craft activities. The study shows that production in a large urban centre could be dispersed and episodic and yet be specialized. © 2008, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.

History

Studies in History

Archaeological Problems with Specialization

Journal of Environmental Management

Introduction: Special issue on the economics of invasive species management

In this paper we examine the optimal management of a renewable resource that is at risk from alien species invasion. The objective of this paper is to derive implications for optimal management of a resource when options exist for both preventing the arrival of an invasive species and mitigating the impact of that arrival. Uncertainty about the timing and nature of an invasion can have important implications for the choice of management strategy, and a key feature of this analysis is an explicit treatment of that uncertainty. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

World University root node

Optimal renewable resource management in the presence of endogenous risk of invasion

Archaeologists have at times perceived the early medieval to medieval period as marked by a break at the end of the twelfth century, thus separating the period 700–1200 CE—often described as the ‘Rajput’ period—from the period 1200–1500 CE—commonly designated as the ‘Sultanate’ period. It is frequently believed that this break is manifested in the entire range of archaeological materials with clear changes perceived between the two periods. Moreover, there has been a tendency to ascribe particular religious identities to the artefacts of the ‘Rajput’ and ‘Sultanate’ periods. Implicit in such a reading of the material culture are certain assumptions that have been made by archaeologists. One is that a change in political elites will bring about a change in daily practices and, concomitantly, in the artefacts. Another assumption is that certain artefacts indicate a specific religious/ethnic identity and that their use can be attributed only to a particular period. However, while excavating the cuttings at Indor Khera, which we dated from the tenth/eleventh to thirteenth/fourteenth centuries CE, we realized that not only was such a neat demarcation not evident in the material culture, but that the problem was far more complex and had not quite received the attention it deserved from archaeologists. This article discusses the issue of ascribing religious and ethnic identities to artefacts. © 2008, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.

Archaeology and the Construction of Identities in Medieval North India

A draft bill on public funded research and development prepared by the department of biotechnology proposes grant of financial incentives to scientists to patent and sell their own research. This is a good example of how legal tinkering or half-baked institutional changes based on inadequate analysis of the existing system will instead restrain science.

Economic and Political Weekly

Policy bungling on incentives for public sector s and t

Mainstream theories on international relations have largely evaded engagement with the concept of Sovereignty, which is fundamental to the discipline. Critical approaches such as "constructivism" appear to make headway into thinking about Sovereignty, not only in the west but also in south Asia, where theorising is sorely needed. With the approach's engagements with Sovereignty revealing contingent and relativist features as well as sounder ontological foundations of the concept, constructivism is better placed to theorise issues related to domestic and regional politics in south Asia.