This book explores the type of leadership needed to transform EU Institutions to allow them to truly serve Europe’s people. Our world today calls for leaders who are connected to themselves, know how to unleash the potential of others and build organisations that serve people’s needs, and are stewards of society. The path towards transformation is not just about learning another trick or method, it is an inward journey each of us must undertake. We search to first recognise our best self and then give ourselves to lead our lives in service of a bigger purpose. The prioritising of serving others leads to a conscious choice of one aspiring to lead. In turn, others will experience this inspiration at all levels, learning to lead as servants. This timeless concept is what Robert Greenleaf referred to when he coined the term “servant-leadership” in 1970. This book not only gives insights into the servant-leadership philosophy, but also offers real-life interviews with twelve EU civil servants, including Herman van Rompuy, former President of the European Council. Their stories illustrate that servant-leadership is manifesting inside EU institutions already, independent of background and function level. Servant-leadership offers a unique opportunity to empower EU professionals in facing the challenges of the 21st century and helping the EU to serve its citizens better.
This book explores the type of leadership needed to transform EU Institutions to allow them to truly serve Europe’s people. Our world today calls for leaders who are connected to themselves, know how to unleash the potential of others and build organisations that serve people’s needs, and are stewards of society. The path towards transformation is not just about learning another trick or method, it is an inward journey each of us must undertake. We search to first recognise our best self and then give ourselves to lead our lives in service of a bigger purpose. The prioritising of serving others leads to a conscious choice of one aspiring to lead. In turn, others will experience this inspiration at all levels, learning to lead as servants. This timeless concept is what Robert Greenleaf referred to when he coined the term “servant-leadership” in 1970. This book not only gives insights into the servant-leadership philosophy, but also offers real-life interviews with twelve EU civil servants, including Herman van Rompuy, former President of the European Council. Their stories illustrate that servant-leadership is manifesting inside EU institutions already, independent of background and function level. Servant-leadership offers a unique opportunity to empower EU professionals in facing the challenges of the 21st century and helping the EU to serve its citizens better.
Over the past fifteen years countries in Latin America made tremendous progress in strengthening their economies and improving living standards. Although output fell temporarily during the global financial crisis, most economies staged a rapid recovery. However, economic activity across the region has been cooling off and the region is facing a more challenging period ahead. This book argues that Latin America can rise to the challenge, and policymakers in the region are already implementing reforms in education, energy, and other sectors. More is needed, and more is possible, in Latin America’s quest to continue to improve living standards.
Combining military, political, cultural, social, and oral history, Sebastian Balfour narrates for the first time the development of a brutalised, interventionist army that played a crucial role in the victory of the Francoists in the Spanish Civil War. Spain's new colonial venture in Morocco in the early twentieth-century turned into a bloody war against the tribes resisting the Spanish invasion of their lands. After suffering a succession of heavy military disasters against some of the most accomplished guerrillas in the world, the Spanish army turned to chemical warfare and dropped massive quantities of mustard gas on civilians. Dr Balfour exposes this previously closely guarded secret using evidence from Spanish military archives and from survivors in Morocco. He also narrates the daily life of soldiers in the war as well as the self-images and tensions among the colonial officers. After looking at the motives that drove Moroccans to resist or cooperate with Spain, the author describes the contradictory pictures among Spaniards of Moroccan collaborators and foes. Finally, he examines the Spanish colonial army's response to the Second Republic of 1931-1936 and its brutal march through Spain in the Civil War. QUOTES FROM PAUL PRESTON'S READERS REPORT: 'This is a book of very considerable significance, the work of a first rate historian working at his peak...This is the most complete and wide-ranging account to date of the Spanish involvement in Morocco and of the consequences of that involvement inside Spain itself...written with a compelling blend of elegance and immediacy...this is a major work, one of which any historian would be proud.
The paper investigates whether the macroeconomic effects of external devaluations have systematically different effects in small states, which are typically more open and less diversified than larger peers. Through several analytical approaches -- DSGE model, event study, and regression analysis -- it finds that the effects of devaluation on growth and external balances are not significantly different between small and large states, with both groups equally likely to experience expansionary or contractionary outcomes. However, the transmission channels are different: devaluations in small states are more likely to affect demand through expenditure compression, rather than expenditure-switching channels. In particular, consumption tends to fall more sharply in small states due to adverse income effects, thereby reducing import demand. Policy conclusions point to the importance of social safety nets, complementary wage and antiinflation policies, investment-boosting reforms, and attention to potential adverse balance sheet effects to ensure positive outcomes.
Highly favorable external conditions have helped Latin America strengthen its economic fundamentals over the last decade. But, has the region built enough buffers to guard itself from a weakening of the external environment? This paper addresses this question by developing a simple framework that integrates econometric estimates of the effect of global factors on key domestic variables that determine public and external debt dynamics, with the IMF‘s standard debt sustainability framework. Results suggest that, while some countries in the region are well placed to withstand moderate or even large shocks, many would benefit from having stronger buffers to be in a position to deploy countercyclical policies, especially under tail events. External sustainability, on the other hand, does not appear to be a source of concern for most countries.
We study the dynamic response of gross capital flows in emerging market economies to different global financial shocks, using a panel vector-autoregressive (PVAR) setting. Our focus lies primarily on the potentially stabilizing role played by domestic investors in offsetting the response of foreign investors to global shocks. We find evidence of such role, but its existence and magnitude depend on the nature of the shock. Local investors play a meaningful stabilizing role in the face of global uncertainty shocks, as well as shocks to long-term U.S. interest rates. However, while in the former case, sizeable asset repatriation largely offsets the retrenchment of non-residents, in the latter case the extent of the offsetting is much more limited. Meanwhile, residents and non-resident behave alike in response to short-term U.S. interest rate shocks, pulling capital away from emerging markets, although magnitudes are not economically significant. The results shed light on the potential impact of the Fed’s QE tapering on emerging market economies.
Unravelling the fierce debate in Spain about nation and identity which is still causing division today, this book looks at the debate and its role as part of a wider global process in which traditional identities are evolving rapidly, or being challenged.
This book highlights historical explanations to and roots of present phenomena of violence, insecurity, and law enforcement in Central America. Violence and crime are among the most discussed topics in Central America today, and sensationalism and fear of crime is as present as the increase of private security, the re-militarization of law enforcement, political populism, and mano dura policies. The contributors to this volume discuss historical forms, paths, continuities, and changes of violence and its public and political discussion in the region. This book thus offers in-depth analysis of different patterns of violence, their reproduction over time, their articulation in the present, and finally their discursive mobilization.
Relationships empower Special Operations Forces (SOF) to perform as a highly skilled and reliable cadre in collaboration with local partner forces to prevent and solve shared problem sets, often accomplishing more with less. Since 9/11, however, relationships between SOF and their partners have not always been properly built and maintained. The authors trace the causal effects of constraints, trainings, and incentives and their impact on the current North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) SOF approach of building enduring relationships. Motivated by numerous deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, with recurring problem sets, we chose to conduct a struc-tured-focused comparison between U.S. and Danish SOF supporting Operation Inherent Resolve in Al Anbar, Iraq (2015-2018) and German SOF during the shift of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan (2013-2015). The analysis of these cases finds that specific interactions of the studied factors not only cause variations in relationships between SOF and partner forces, but ultimately influence operations and objectives determining mission success or failure. With further testing of our analysis and recommendations, this research can help to identify inherently flexible and nested strategic options for SOF senior leaders, allowing them to deploy SOF elements efficiently during times of asymmetric, diffuse, and episodic conflicts. Gojowsky and Koegler have written a fascinating and important manuscript concerning the use and lessons-learned of SOF in recent asymmetrical conflicts. In doing so, the authors systematically assess modern SOF tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) and relationships between NATO SOF and their local partners. This is a must-read for those interested in the future of SOF as well as counter-insurgencies' future TTPs, constraints and incentives. Gojowsky and Koegler recommendations should be carefully considered by NATO and its member countries. Professor Thomas H. Johnson, Author of "Taliban Narratives: The Use and Power of Stories in the Afghanistan Conflict", Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.
Commodity-exporting countries have significantly benefited from the commodity price boom of recent years. At the current juncture, however, uncertain global economic prospects have raised questions about their vulnerability to a sharp fall in commodity prices and the policies that can shield it from such a shock. To address these questions, this paper takes a long term (4 decade) view at emerging markets' commodity dependence, the history of commodity price busts and the role of policies in mitigating or amplifying their economic impact. The paper highlights the stark difference in trends between Latin America - one of the most vulnerable regions given its high, and rising, commodity dependence - and emerging Asia - which has evolved from being a net exporter to a net importer of commodities in the last 40 years. We find evidence, however, that while commodity dependence is an important ingredient, a country's ultimate degree of vulnerability to commodity price shocks is to a great extent determined by the flexibility and quality of its policy framework. Policies in the run-up of sharp terms-of-trade drops - especially when those are preceded by booms - play a particularly important role. Limited exchange rate flexibility, a weak external position, and loose fiscal policy tend to amplify the negative effects of these shocks on domestic output. Financial dollarization also appears to act as a shock "amplifier.
An accessible learning resource that develops data analysis skills for natural science students in an efficient style using the R programming language R-ticulate: A Beginner’s Guide to Data Analysis for Natural Scientists is a compact, example-based, and user-friendly statistics textbook without unnecessary frills, but instead filled with engaging, relatable examples, practical tips, online exercises, resources, and references to extensions, all on a level that follows contemporary curricula taught in large parts of the world. The content structure is unique in the sense that statistical skills are introduced at the same time as software (programming) skills in R. This is by far the best way of teaching from the authors’ experience. Readers of this introductory text will find: Explanations of statistical concepts in simple, easy-to-understand language A variety of approaches to problem solving using both base R and tidyverse Boxes dedicated to specific topics and margin text that summarizes key points A clearly outlined schedule organized into 12 chapters corresponding to the 12 semester weeks of most universities While at its core a traditional printed book, R-ticulate: A Beginner’s Guide to Data Analysis for Natural Scientists comes with a wealth of online teaching material, making it an ideal and efficient reference for students who wish to gain a thorough understanding of the subject, as well as for instructors teaching related courses.
Microfluidics introduces the theory and practice of fluid flow on small scales. The exquisite control of such flow at low Reynolds numbers allows liquids to be processed in either a well-defined co-flow or a well-defined segmented-flow fashion. Both lays a ground for high-throughput analytics and advanced materials design. With that, this book is ideal for research scientists and Ph.D. students in the fields of chemistry, chemical engineering, biotechnology, and materials science.
The second edition of The Lateralized Brain provides for readers a volume detailing the functional and structural differences between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, highlighting how the widespread use of modern neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and DTI have completely changed the way hemispheric asymmetries are currently investigated. In this new edition, all chapters have been updated with recent advances in the field, and a new chapter on hemispheric asymmetries in development and aging has been integrated. Also featured is a new, larger section on laterality in social behavior, alongside a comprehensive overview about key topics in laterality research, including its history, evolutionary perspectives, brain structure, and the role of the corpus callosum. Chapters cover functional hemispheric asymmetries in language processing, motor behavior, spatial attention, self- and face-perception, emotion processing, and social behavior. Additional topics include the ontogenesis of hemispheric asymmetries and their development over the life span, as well as sex differences and associations with clinical syndromes. This volume can be used by anyone working on hemispheric biology or in courses on hemispheric asymmetries. Provides a comprehensive overview about key topics in laterality research, including its history, evolutionary perspectives, the corpus callosum, and brain structure Includes references to key articles, books, protocols, and online resources for additional, detailed study Discusses classic studies that helped define the field of laterality research and presents introductory short stories (e.g. famous classic clinical cases in laterality research) as a starting point for each chapter Covers key concepts and methods in separate call-out boxes for quick overview Newly integrates a chapter on laterality in social behavior, as well as various smaller new sections covering recent advances in the field
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.