Suchergebnisse

I was asked to give a series of lectures on Russian history, which I did, uniting them under the general title of the "Reasons for the Russian Catastrophe of the 20th Century and Possibilities to overcome it". I believed then, as I do now, that it is an essential topic to study in order to try to answer two closely related questions: Why in the twentieth century, after the Bolshevik coup, Russia has been a constant source of aggression? and Is there any hope that Russia can change radically, stop being an aggressor and become a peace-loving democratic nation like the EU and NATO countries? I tried to suggest my answers in the six lectures I gave in Brno between October and November 2022 in English. The university later proposed to publish them as a short book. I agreed with enthusiasm, hoping that my texts would contribute to a better understanding of the tragic fate of my people in past and present centuries, the processes that led to the war, and thus to the building of a more lasting peace once it is over.

From 2009 to 2014, Cathy Ashton was the EU's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security. She faced the challenge of representing the views and values of 28 nations. Now Ashton takes us behind the scenes to show us what worked and what didn't, and how it felt to be in 'the room where it happened

Required for peace and security, economic governance, sustainable development and humanitarian support, International Organisations (IOs) are central to the structure of global governance. Introducing the importance of governance in IOs, this Handbook addresses the collective challenges and synthesises the expertise of global or regional representativeness for international cooperation. Addressing four key themes the contributors explore approaches to understanding governance in IOs; who governs IOs; the roles of states; organisational culture, leadership and gender; and the influence of civil society. Chapters further evaluate historical representations of successful and unsuccessful governance, including effective governance; institutional and individual accountability; and the need for reform. The Handbook then concludes with key reflections on the frequently asked question: have international organisations had their day?

This book describes how Italy elaborated a master narrative of the Second World War that evades the faults of Mussolini's fascist war by attributing all responsibility on the shoulders of the German ally

While recent preferential trade agreements (PTAs) cover an increasingly broad range of policy areas beyond their traditional competence for reducing bilateral tariffs, little is known about the implications of this new emphasis on interactions with other trade-related policy measures. We approach this gap by examining the effectiveness of bilateral aid for trade (AfT) in deep North–South PTA relations. To this end, we use a structural gravity model for bilateral panel data of 29 OECD DAC countries and 144 developing countries from 2002–2015 and find that the marginal effect of AfT decreases as the policy areas of a PTA expand. Further investigation of the underlying mechanisms suggests that the observed trade-off between PTA depth and AfT effectiveness may be due to compliance with the non-tariff provisions contained in deep PTAs. We find two lines of reasoning plausible. First, compliance efforts appear to consume large fractions of AfT and thus reduce AfT available for potentially more effective projects, as we do not observe an alignment of AfT in deep PTAs. Second, since we also observe heterogeneity in interactions across donors, depending on their specific project portfolios, AfT provided by high-income PTA partners could well be used to redirect exports to third countries with comparatively fewer bilateral obligations. Donor countries should therefore carefully weigh compliance costs to developing countries against the non-trade benefits of common deep PTAs, and accurately identify financial and technical assistance needs together with their PTA partners.

Scream for Me Africa! examines the hard rock and metal scenes in five African countries: Botswana, Togo, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana. Banchs spent significant time in each country interviewing musicians, producers and fans to create vivid pictures of each of these rarely discussed scenes. This book considers how the subculture of heavy metal is viewed in post-colonial Africa, and how musicians in the continent have stepped forward to make this genre their own. It looks at the continent's blossoming scenes through various themes including hybridity, othering and political tensions.--back cover