Memoir of Mr. Jan Drabek who was born in Prague in 1948. His family escaped on skis from the newly communist Czechoslovakia where he finished his schooling and served in the U.S. Navy. He has called various countries in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa his home while working as a taxi driver, refugee resettlement officer, high school teacher, radio broadcaster and an Ambassador. Married with two daughters he is the author of 17 books, both in English and Czech. He conducts seminars on memoir and biography writing and has served three terms as president of the Federation of British Columbia Writers. He lives in Vancouver, Canada. A Czech Canadian writer, Jan Drabek is this year's recipient of the Masaryk Prize awarded by the Czech and Slovak Association of Canada. The prize is presented annually to Canadians of Czech or Slovak origin who have in some significant way played a role in bringing freedom to Czechoslovakia or in some way enriched the lives of Czechs and Slovaks in Canada.
In His Doubtful Excellency: A Canadian Novelist s Adventure s as President Havel s Ambassador, Czech-Canadian author Jan Drabek regails the reader with the escapades of an artist pressed into diplomatic service. When, after the fall of communism, his former schoolmate, playwright Vaclev Havel, becomes president of the Czech Republic, Drabek is named ambassador and chief of protocal, welcoming dignitaries such as Queen Elizabeth and Pope John Paul II.--Amazon.com.
In His Doubtful Excellency: A Canadian Novelist s Adventure s as President Havel s Ambassador, Czech-Canadian author Jan Drabek regails the reader with the escapades of an artist pressed into diplomatic service. When, after the fall of communism, his former schoolmate, playwright Vaclev Havel, becomes president of the Czech Republic, Drabek is named ambassador and chief of protocal, welcoming dignitaries such as Queen Elizabeth and Pope John Paul II.--Amazon.com.
In art era of ever-increasing national consciousness combined, paradoxically, with pressures for regional economic integration, this thought-provoking and exhaustively researched volume will challenge readers' assumptions about optimal paths to national economic development. Drawing on archival sources as well as published materials in eight langua
The main theme of the book is the study, from the standpoint of s-numbers, of integral operators of Hardy type and related Sobolev embeddings. In the theory of s-numbers the idea is to attach to every bounded linear map between Banach spaces a monotone decreasing sequence of non-negative numbers with a view to the classification of operators according to the way in which these numbers approach a limit: approximation numbers provide an especially important example of such numbers. The asymptotic behavior of the s-numbers of Hardy operators acting between Lebesgue spaces is determined here in a wide variety of cases. The proof methods involve the geometry of Banach spaces and generalized trigonometric functions; there are connections with the theory of the p-Laplacian.
An history that presents a canvas of post-war Czech literary developments within the cultural and political context of the times. It provides information about the many English-language translations from Czech literature, and the circumstances in which these translations came about.
Most books on transition economies concentrate on their internal fortunes. Few have analysed the effect that the change in the system has had on foreign trade and export performance - this new book redresses that balance.
Decision-Making in Emergency Management examines decisions the authors have made over their careers based on their combined training, experience and instinct. Through a broad range of case studies, readers discover how experience impacts decision-making in conjunction with research and tools available. While the use of science, data and industry standards are always the best option when it comes to handling emergency situations, not all emergency situations fit one known solution. This book comprehensively explores the question "Is 'instinct' a viable factor when faced with a challenging situation and how close does it match up with the best science available?" Includes case studies from natural and manmade disasters, providing readers with decision-making skills in various global settings Provides readers the opportunity to learn from someone else's decisions Inspires emergency response personnel to continuously pursue learning, question their strategies and apply changes as appropriate
This study is a critical commentary connecting issues of development with the latest thinking in sociology, critical theory and social science. It addresses questions such as the connections with globalization, and culture and modernity.
The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe provide unique examples of large-scale relatively highly developed centrally planned economies. In the 1980s economists in both the East and West began to focus with increasingly critical attention on the economies of the Soviet Bloc, in an attempt to explain why they were performing so poorly in comparison with the economies of the Western powers and the capitalist countries of South-East Asia. First published in 1988 this substantial and innovative contribution to the critical literature on the economies of the former Soviet bloc is unusual in that its author is equally familiar with both Western and Eastern sources. It highlights, in particular, a discrepancy between the behaviour of individuals in Soviet-style economies and that expected of agents in a market system. It proceeds to outline how the consequent discordance between microeconomic practice and macroeconomic planning generates fundamental economic distortions.
This is the first volume in which the fate of democracy is directly related to ethnic diversity. It highlights the crucial episodes in modern European political history, and shows in what sense ethnic diversity was of vital importance.
What is the value of performing Shakespeare's plays for young people? Using interviews with theatre workers, rehearsal observations and workshops with young people, this book argues that, rather than promoting a range of pre-determined textual understandings of the plays, it is by trusting young people's experience of performances that they might gain most benefit. It argues that by privileging the meanings young people make of Shakespeare, new and exciting interpretations of his work might be found. Drawing on case studies from theatre companies such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company, Tiny Ninja Theatre Company and Company of Angels Theatre Company, Jan Wozniak shows how the collaboration and materiality of performance is central to empowering young people to engage with, enjoy and challenge Shakespeare.
The World Trade Organisation cannot be deemed truly international without the full participation of China, a massive market with an increasing number of highly sophisticated sectors. Yet'although China did accede to the WTO in 2001, after fifteen years of negotiations'WTO members persist in classifying China as a non-market economy, with all the trade restrictions such labelling entails. The EC in particular continues to curtail the flow of Chinese-European trade, despite some recent liberalisation in EC import and antidumping regulations. In this important book Dr. Hoogmartens clearly points the way to an equitable resolution of the complex problems raised by the friction between China's planned economy and EC trade policy instruments. The 'economic interface' he constructs takes account of such crucial elements as the following: China's 'unfinished' legal and economic reforms;the danger that the EC may develop an abusive protectionist stance;the challenge to the EC of increased Chinese competition;the persistence of Chinese state-owned enterprises;the absence of a satisfactory methodology to deal with the Chinese variant of a non-market economy;the possible adjustment of EC antidumping regulations vis-à-vis China;emergency safeguards;the role of the rule of law in trade regulation; andthe 'translatability' of Western social and political institutions. Addressing as it does a highly salient present and future aspect of the global economy, EC Trade Law Following China's WTO Accession will be of enormous value to policymakers in international economic law at all national and supranational levels. The author's reasoned and cautious analysis builds a sound platform for the ongoing development of peaceful and mutually beneficial commercial relations between Europe and China.
This book examines the transformation of the state in Central and Eastern Europe since the end of communism and adoption of market oriented reform in the early 1990s, exploring the impact of globalization and economic liberalization on the region’s states, societies and political economy. It compares the different policies and national strategies adopted by key Central and Eastern European states, including the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, showing how initial internally oriented strategies of market reform, privileging domestic sources of investment, had by the late 1990s given way to externally oriented strategies emphasising the promotion of competitiveness by attracting foreign investment. It explores the reasons behind this convergence, considering the influence of internal and external forces, and the roles of interests, institutions and ideas. It argues that internationalization of the state is forged in the processes through which domestic groups linked to transnational capital attain domestic influence necessary to shape state policy and strategy. These groups — the comprador service sector in particular — constitute and organize political, social and institutional support of the competition state in the region. Overall, this book not only provides a detailed account of the political economy of post-communist transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, but also the processes by which states adapt to the forces of globalization.
Covering the major topics of evolutionary game theory, Game-Theoretical Models in Biology, Second Edition presents both abstract and practical mathematical models of real biological situations. It discusses the static aspects of game theory in a mathematically rigorous way that is appealing to mathematicians. In addition, the authors explore many applications of game theory to biology, making the text useful to biologists as well. The book describes a wide range of topics in evolutionary games, including matrix games, replicator dynamics, the hawk-dove game, and the prisoner’s dilemma. It covers the evolutionarily stable strategy, a key concept in biological games, and offers in-depth details of the mathematical models. Most chapters illustrate how to use Python to solve various games. Important biological phenomena, such as the sex ratio of so many species being close to a half, the evolution of cooperative behaviour, and the existence of adornments (for example, the peacock’s tail), have been explained using ideas underpinned by game theoretical modelling. Suitable for readers studying and working at the interface of mathematics and the life sciences, this book shows how evolutionary game theory is used in the modelling of these diverse biological phenomena. In this thoroughly revised new edition, the authors have added three new chapters on the evolution of structured populations, biological signalling games, and a topical new chapter on evolutionary models of cancer. There are also new sections on games with time constraints that convert simple games to potentially complex nonlinear ones; new models on extortion strategies for the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma and on social dilemmas; and on evolutionary models of vaccination, a timely section given the current Covid pandemic. Features Presents a wide range of biological applications of game theory. Suitable for researchers and professionals in mathematical biology and the life sciences, and as a text for postgraduate courses in mathematical biology. Provides numerous examples, exercises, and Python code.
2008 Lamplighter Award Honor Book 2005 Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street College Lizzie's never been one to take risks—not with her mom, who worries so much, and especially not now that she's the new kid at school. But once a week Lizzie watches fives strangers in a theater class learn the art of improvisation.
The European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) suffers from the burgeoning caseload and challenges to its authority. This two-pronged crisis undermines the ECtHR’s legitimacy and consequently the functioning of the whole European human rights regime. Domestic courts can serve as welcome allies of the Strasbourg Court. They have a potential to diffuse Convention norms domestically, and therefore prevent and filter many potential human rights violations. Yet, we know very little about how domestic courts actually treat the Strasbourg Court’s rulings. This book brings unique empirical findings on how often, how and with what consequences domestic judges work with the ECtHR’s case law. It moves beyond the narrow concept of compliance and develops a new three-level methodology for analysing the role played by domestic courts in the implementation of ECtHR case law. Moreover, using the example of Czechia, it shifts the attention from Western countries to a more volatile Central and Eastern European region, which has recently witnessed democratic backsliding and backlash against international checks on human rights and the rule of law standards. Looking at a wider social and legal context, this book identifies factors helping transitional countries to adapt to regional human rights regimes. The work will be an essential resource for students, academics and policy-makers working in the areas of Constitutional law, Politics and Human Rights law. Its global appeal is enhanced by the methodological framework which is applicable in other international systems.
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