This book discusses the following questions: Why are some conflicts so enduring and why is conflict resolution so hard? The author begins by introducing two conflicting perspectives, Skeptics and Believers, to highlight the lack of consensus on conflict resolution. The book further examines the literature on the sources of violent conflict, including ethnic, economic, environmental, and religious sources, and investigates the claim that an absence of knowledge, power, or political will are at the center of conflict resolution failures. By focusing on the problem of state formation, the author demonstrates the ways in which the nature of the state contributes to violent conflict. In the end, conflict resolution fails because individuals, groups, and external powers choose war and often prefer it over peaceful alternatives.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, manipulation of the democratic process coupled with preexisting political and economic grievances led to years-long civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. During and after these conflicts, international peacekeeping efforts and humanitarian intervention became the dominant paths for restoring stability by rebuilding the state. Using these three countries as case studies, this manuscript sheds light on internationally driven state building in war-torn West African nations, the problematic nature of the postcolonial state, and the difficulties of securing its people's wellbeing. Connecting peace and conflict, democracy, and international development studies, Bah and Emmanuel argue that there is a clear nexus between the concepts and practices of peace building and statebuilding; that peace building and statebuilding are not domestic matters alone but also matters of global intervention; and that civil wars can be viewed as opportunities for state building through creative postwar partnerships and organization. This study goes beyond the familiar concepts of failed states, R2P, peacekeeping, and peace mediation and introduces and enhances the concepts of state decay, new humanitarianism, people-centered liberalism, and institutional design. In doing so, it provides critical lessons that local and international actors can draw on as they try to figure out practical solutions to the political, economic, and social problems that impede the development of peaceful and democratic multiethnic postcolonial states in Africa and beyond. Applying comparative-historical methods and theory to archival materials and expert interviews, International Statebuilding in West Africa seeks to shift the discourse on civil wars from their causes and implications to the opportunities they provide to rework failed states—and to shift the discourse on African states from their colonial and neocolonial legacies to their shared moral and security interests with the rest of the world.
The rapid pace of change in the healthcare industry is creating turbulence for just about everyone. For consumers, affordable access to quality healthcare is an issue of primary importance. For employers, health benefits have grown to be an alarmingly large component of their compensation packages. For physicians and other healthcare providers, practice management has become increasingly demanding. Each of this set's three volumes untangles the complexity, provides answers to knotty questions, and points the way toward better healthcare for all. Features include commentary, prescriptions, and insights from leaders in the healthcare industry, including physicians, attorneys, administrators, educators, and business consultants. The result: a landmark set filled with provocative analysis and practical recommendations destined to improve the delivery of healthcare. The rapid pace of change in the healthcare industry is creating turbulence for just about everyone. For consumers, affordable access to quality healthcare is an issue of primary importance. For employers, health benefits have grown to be an alarmingly large component of their compensation packages. For physicians and other healthcare providers, practice management has become increasingly demanding. Complexity is the rule, thanks to government regulations and insurer requirements, the expansion of technology in everything from diagnosis to records, and the desire of policymakers and others to have a say in how healthcare is delivered and to whom. The Business of Healthcare provides Rx to these and other challenges in three volumes: Volume 1: Practice Management Volume 2: Leading Healthcare Organizations Volume 3: Improving Systems of Care. Each volume features commentary and insights from leaders in the healthcare industry, including physicians, attorneys, administrators, educators, and business consultants. The result: a landmark set filled with provocative analysis and practical recommendations destined to improve the delivery of healthcare. The Business of Healthcare presents ideas and information that until now have been sequestered in a variety of professional journals and books, in isolation from each other. For the first time, healthcare professionals, consumers, scholars, students, and policymakers alike will have access to the same body of information about a critical sector of the economy-one that represents 15 percent of the U.S. national GDP, consumes 10 percent of federal government spending, and employs twelve million people. This three-volume set will address the current debates that are determining the future course of the industry. Volume 1: Practice Management: Physicians are beginning to realize that, in addition to providing health care, they are owners and managers of multi-million dollar enterprises. Unfortunately, most have not received formal training in the skills needed to operate such a business. In this volume, experts will present practical advice for physicians (as well as their practice managers and staff) to improve operations. Topics include: *The opportunities and challenges of solo practice. *The logistics of joining and leaving a physician practice. *Performance management in physician practices. *Creating a culture of accountability in physician practices. *Managing difficult and disruptive physicians. *Developing and promoting a physician practice. *Internet marketing of physician practices. *The potential benefits and implementation roadblocks of pay for performance. *Accounts receivable management in hospital and physician practices. *The future of the physician practice. Volume 2: Leading Healthcare Organizations: Whether running their own practice or working as a part of a larger organization, health professionals are being called upon to provide leadership—something more important than ever in health care, where some sectors of the industry are in turmoil, while others are being transformed entirely. This volume will offer insights into the changing role of leadership throughout an organization, and describe how health professionals can exert their influence to effect positive change. Topics covered include: *Perspectives on leading complex healthcare delivery systems. *Mending the gap between practicing physicians and hospital executives. *The physician's role on the hospital board, and a blueprint for success. *The impact of biotechnology advances on healthcare delivery. *The impact of informatics on healthcare delivery. *The next frontier in addressing clinical hospital supply costs. *Liability risk management: Saving money and relationships. *Pastoral medicine: The impact of pastoral care. *The role of complementary and alternative medicine in healthcare today. Volume 3: Improving Systems of Care : This volume explores the current state of health care, and it describes the critical issues that must be resolved in the short run and the long run to ensure that the industry provides the value that the public both demands and deserves. Topics include: *Quality in healthcare: concepts and practice. *Adapting proven aviation safety tools to healthcare: Improving healthcare by changing the safety culture. *Introduction to healthcare information technology. *Market dynamics and financing strategies in the development of medical technologies. *An innovative service delivery model for specialized care. *The impact of healthcare on the US economy. *Improving systems of care: a patient's perspective. *The cost of end-of-life care. *Building the bridge between business and medicine. Better, more efficient healthcare is not just possible but needed more than ever. The Business of Health Care will help lead the way toward a healthier, happier society.
A concise account of the whole biblical narrative and what it means—as well as the beliefs and lifestyle it inspires—for those observing Christianity from the outside, especially those who think there are good reasons not to believe. A Doubter's Guide to the Bible charts a biblical roadmap from the story of creation to the fulfillment of creation, answering many of the most frequently asked questions along the way: How can we read the creation account in Genesis in light of modern science? How should Old Testament law be understood when it appears inconsistent and irrelevant? Isn't the story of Jesus' birth a little far-fetched? What is the Gospel? Why are there four accounts of the same thing, and what are they really saying? John Dickson provides a readable and inviting Bible primer for anyone interested in informing themselves about the most widely read book in the history of humanity. By presenting the whole of the Bible as an account of God's promise to restore humanity to Himself, and humans to one another and to creation, Dickson allows believers and skeptics alike to gain insight into why the Bible has been a compelling, life-changing, and magnetic force throughout the ages—and why it still matters.
A common thread ties together the five case studies of this book: the persistence with which the bilateral relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union continues to dominate American foreign and regional policies. These essays analyze the LIC environment in Central Asia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa.
For more than 40 years, Computerworld has been the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide. Computerworld's award-winning Web site (Computerworld.com), twice-monthly publication, focused conference series and custom research form the hub of the world's largest global IT media network.
Many of the existing juridical states in the Third World remain fragile and prone to collapse. Yet, these conditions have not always given way to anarchy. In some cases, the breakdown of weak and often arbitrary states has given way to more coherent and viable, though not necessarily benevolent, political entities. This book examines the extent to which these sub-units - ' states within states ' - represent alternatives that the international community could look to in a long-term effort to bring stability, security and development to peoples in the Third World.
