Fulbright Teaching Award Finalist

National Endowment for the Humanities

'To form a more perfect Union': The Moral Example of Southern Baptist Thought and Education,

This landmark book offers a comprehensive analysis of how development approaches have evolved since World War II, examining and also evaluating the succession of theories, doctrines, and practices that have been formulated and applied in the Third World and beyond. Covering all developing regions, the book offers an integrated approach for considering the entwined aspects of development: governance, economics, foreign assistance, civil society, and the military. With reference to carefully chosen case studies, the authors offer distinctive explanations for why development approaches fall short and systematically relate the evolution of development thinking to current challenges, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of key institutions and the clashes of institutional interests that have distorted otherwise sound doctrines and negatively affected development practice. In identifying the dynamics that account for shortcomings in past development attempts, and recommending a better integration of doctrines across the entire range of inter-connected development fronts, the book points to how development practice may be improved to better advance human dignity.

The Evolution of Development Thinking: Governance, Economics, Assistance, and Security (Politics, Economics, and Inclusive Development)

This book is about the ways that traditional cultural practices either change or persist in the face of social and economic development, whether the latter proceeds primarily from internal or external forces.

Cultural Change and Persistence: New Perspectives on Development

Although the extraordinary leadership that stimulated European recovery efforts in the late 1940s and early 1950s is now widely celebrated as a model for international development assistance, the role of leadership in development is too often taken for granted. Rondinelli and Heffron argue persuasively that leadership is the hallmark of almost every successful effort at international development since the late 1940s, and that its absence is the underlying cause of most development failures. Leadership for Development examines fundamental issues: the tools leaders use to achieve development goals; how culture and interdependence among governments and organizations affects leadership styles; where leaders get their advice from – experts, non-experts, academic or non-academic elites – and if it matters; whether transformational or transactional leadership styles are more effective; and the lessons that can be drawn from examining the traits of successful leaders. Focusing largely on the Pacific Basin region and Latin America, the book offers valuable case studies for development practitioners looking to increase their effectiveness in a highly interdependent global society.

Leadership for Development: What Globalization Demands of Leaders Fighting for Change

"Globalization and Change in Asia" explores three decades of adjustment on the part of governments, civil society, and the private sector to the complex new forces of international competition. Recognizing that the benefits of globalization have not accrued equally to all Asian countries, nor to all stratums of society, the authors seek lessons that can help shape development policy to effect the greatest good. Thus, they focus on the essential ingredients of the most broadly successful globalization strategies - strategies that can most optimally respond to the economic, social, and technological challenges that lay ahead.

Globalization and Change in Asia

Soka University is a private, non-profit, four-year liberal arts college and graduate school located on 103-acres in the City of Aliso Viejo.

Soka University

Dr. Heffron is the Director of the MA program in Educational Leadership and Societal Change at Soka University. He's also a Professor of Educational History and Culture. Dr. Heffron's research focuses on North-South relations in the history of American education, leadership and development, and the transnational sources of schooling.

John M. Heffron, PhD

Soka University

Media

Social

Biography

Areas of Expertise

Accomplishments

Fulbright Teaching Award Finalist

National Endowment for the Humanities

Education

University of Rochester

University of Rochester

Princeton University

Links

Articles

'To form a more perfect Union': The Moral Example of Southern Baptist Thought and Education,