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The integration of women higher education leaders into the ideal discourse of educational leadership is a significant issue, as the discourses on women and leadership are continually reshaped in a changing social background, with their compatibility directly influencing women leaders’ construction, understanding and presentation of their leadership identities. In recent years, the Ministry of Education in China has issued a series of documents encouraging the promotion of academic and innovative development in higher education. In response, local governments and higher education institutions (HEIs) have introduced policies that directly link the achievements of university teachers and leaders to evaluations, promotions and performance assessments. The concept of ‘academic and innovative’ encompasses both research and innovation – the ideal educational leader is expected to demonstrate stable research outcomes while actively promoting educational reforms. This chapter focuses on the narratives of women higher education leaders. In particular, the study explores the structural challenges faced by women leaders within the higher education system in integrating this seemingly non-conflicting new ideal leadership discourse with their identities. The research is derived from narrative interviews with eight women leaders in HEIs in China, focusing on their understanding, construction and presentation of their leadership identities. The study suggests that the discourse surrounding the ideal ‘academic and innovative’ higher education leader, while not directly opposing traditional notions of ‘feminine traits’, brings a set of performance management-like evaluation criteria for leaders. However, due to structural challenges within higher education, women face significant hurdles in attempting to integrate into the emerging ideal leadership discourse.

In the past three decades there has been spectacular development in the area of Peace Studies and Peace Science. Peace Studies that takes a more descriptive and case-oriented approach is becoming more quantitative. Peace Science has a theoretical and mathematical orientation. However, in those fields, governance of the political, social, and economic organizations has not been given adequate emphasis. Peace depends on the nature of political and administrative structure of a country. It is often said that democratic countries do not fight. Ethnic crisis and civil war in Africa and elsewhere are very much related to lack of institutions, leadership, decentralization of decision making, gender discrimination, abuse of human justice, and so on.

The elimination of economic impediments and dismantling of trade restrictions have increasingly become a common feature in the economic integration across nations in the world. Many countries in several regions in the world have increased their intra-flows of goods and also inputs. The Arab region has experienced an increase in their labour flows, in particular during the period of oil boom. Consequently, the remittances among the Arab countries registered a steady increase; especially remittances from the Arab Gulf countries (Gulf cooperation council region). Using the panel data fixed effects estimation, the study investigates the relationship between remittances and economic integration in the Arab region covering the period 1983–2003. Despite the rising tide in intra-Arab labour flows, we argue, the harmonisation of economic policies and the removal of further obstacles to intra-labour flows are necessary to give a further fillip to economic integration in the Arab world. Moreover, our work shows that a reduction of the gap between per capita gross domestic products of the Arab countries is important for enhancing Arab economic integration.

Seifudein Adem is research associate professor of Political Science in Binghamton University, New York, NY, USA, and President-Emeritus of the New York State African Studies Association. Before coming to the United States, Dr. Adem taught Political Science in the University of Tsukuba (Japan) and Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia). Seifudein Adem is the author of, among other books, Japan: A Model and a Partner (Brill, 2006).