Until the recent unauthorized release of thousands of classified State Department cables, public attention was rarely drawn to the frequently outstanding political analysis done by American diplomats abroad. The existing literature on diplomacy has heretofore been limited to memoirs of former diplomats and analyses of international affairs by diplomats, academics, and think tanks. The Craft of Political Analysis offers a fresh approach, one that provides a context for interpreting this embassy reporting and a guide to understanding the work that went on behind the scenes to produce it. Author Raymond F. Smith combines a practitioner's personal view of what is required to do good diplomatic political analysis with his understanding of the social conflict and change that informed his work for the State Department. Smith clearly explains everything the Foreign Service candidate or professional, as well as the interested layman, needs to know about crafting political analysis, including how to write for the analyst's intended audience, how to make best use of the intellectual and analytical tools of the trade, what happens when the analyst's views differ from government policy, and why political analysis risks becoming irrelevant, even though it is still urgently needed. In addition, The Craft of Political Analysis for Diplomats features two case studies using legally declassified cables not included in the Wikileaks release. The first is built around four highly restricted Embassy Moscow cables on the collapse of the Soviet Union; the second includes two cables on the Arab-Israeli conflict that received the State Department's highest award for political analysis. Selected for the Diplomats and Diplomacy Series of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) and DACOR, an organization of foreign affairs professionals.
Improve principal evaluation and create highly effective leaders! Even with great teachers, student achievement hinges on an effective principal. Behind every high-quality principal is an airtight system of leadership evaluation that consistently rewards excellence and remedies deficits. While teacher evaluation methods have improved, instructional leadership evaluation has often stood still—and student learning and achievement have paid the price. This book identifies the major problems in this process and articulates clear solutions. The result is a blueprint for ensuring the best person for the job is occupying the principal’s chair. Content includes: Extensive data, presented in a user-friendly manner Clear connections to the ISLLC Standards for School Leaders A suite of interactive tools including sample self-assessments, mid-year and final evaluation forms, and professional growth plans "This book not only highlights the key messages about the role of the leader, but it is does so in a way that is engaging, practical, and reflects the Smiths’ long history of being school leaders, teaching school leaders, and seeing the effects of their teaching. I have seen the Smiths in action, separately and together, and they know how to lead and how to teach, they have a strength of purpose they do not waver from, and these attributes come through in this book." -John Hattie, Director Melbourne Education Research Institute, University of Melbourne "After reading this book, you′ll truly understand what it takes to grow as a lead learner. We can always get better. This book provides quality insight on strategies that will make good leaders great." -Brad Currie, School Leader, Corwin Author and Co-Founder of #Satchat
The authors assess alternatives for a next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) across a broad set of potential characteristics and situations. They use the current Minuteman III as a baseline to develop a framework to characterize alternative classes of ICBMs, assess the survivability and effectiveness of possible alternatives, and weigh those alternatives against their cost.
Small town America is vanishing from our country's landscapes as larger cities expand and extend their city limits under the protection of eminent domain. Though progress is necessary for economic survival and commercial development, some aspects of life and culture are lost as towns move from regional traditions to a growing, uniform national identity. Incorporated into the metropolis of Chesapeake in the Hampton Roads region in 1963, South Norfolk is one such community that possessed this small-town atmosphere, which has drastically changed over the past four decades. In this volume of over 200 photographs, from the late nineteenth century through the middle twentieth century, you will take a visual journey through a historic area of Chesapeake where life was considerably slower and simpler, and will experience the small-town charm and character of South Norfolk offered its residents and visitors during that time. Stepping back in time, you will meet the prominent Portlock family; explore beautiful, coal- and wood-heated homes, which were without electricity and indoor plumbing; travel down dusty streets lined with horse-drawn wagons and a variety of colorful street vendors; watch athletic events and the city's proud football, basketball, and baseball teams; visit many of the early businesses, such as the Grand Theartre, Jus Maid Ice Cream Store, and Gornto's Bakery; and stroll along the quiet paths of picturesque Lakeside Park.
Agnosticity is a new word created by the author with the hope that it will cause the reader to take a fresh look at how Agnostics think. Volume 1 reflected Agnostic concerns surrounding Christian doctrine in general and was the first of a series intended to analyze the belief systems of major organized religions around the world. Volume 2 concentrates on the Agnostic concerns of Mormon doctrine as an example of a religion established by a charismatic leader claiming a present day visit by God. Utilizing the experience gained from his twenty-seven years as a Special Agent for the FBI, the author employs deductive reasoning and dogged research to justify the Agnostic point of view. This book is written so that the average person can easily understand the doubts that Agnostics struggle with in trying to decide the existence of God from the Mormon perspective. An active adult member of the Mormon faith for over twenty-seven years, the author has attempted to separate the wheat from the chaff in identifying those specific doctrines that are most bothersome for honest Mormons to confront. The author's primary goal remains to portray the Agnostic in a more favorable light and that there is nothing inherently evil with admitting that a sure knowledge of God may not be so sure after all.
Although fairly new on the American scene of cities, Chesapeake possesses a long history dating back to the early 1600s, when the first intrepid settlers began establishing farms on the fertile soils of Tidewater Virginia. Over the centuries, the region divided itself into larger cities, such as Norfolk and Portsmouth, a number of small towns, and rural county governments. Combating the expansion of the City of Norfolk, the leaders and citizens of South Norfolk and Norfolk County agreed to merge their governing entities in 1963 to create the new city of Chesapeake. Chesapeake, Virginia chronicles the history of the young city, nestled between the Elizabeth and Indian Rivers, and explores the various towns and villages that provide the area with its unique charm and character. From Berkley and South Norfolk to Deep Creek and Great Bridge, readers will journey into the past and hunt with the early American Indians that inhabited this lush landscape, toil with the colonial fathers as they began taming the land for future settlement, battle with the Continental troops as they defeated the British at Great Bridge, strain with the workers as they dig the historic Dismal Swamp Canal, and so on across four centuries of struggle and prosperity into the twenty-first century.
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