Books about Fragility from Amazon.com

This book is a study of ancient views about "moral luck." It examines the fundamental ethical problem that many of the valued constituents of a well-lived life are vulnerable to factors outside a person's control, and asks how this affects our appraisal of persons and their lives. The Greeks made a profound contribution to these questions, yet neither the problems nor the Greek views of them have received the attention they deserve. This updated edition contains a new preface..
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This book is a concise overview of the recent history of US-Central American relations Part of the Contemporary Inter-American Relations series edited by Jorge Dominguez and Rafael Fernandez de Castro, it focuses on the relations between the US and this region since the end of the Cold War.

The volume considers economic relations between the two regions, presenting pertinent information on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). It also looks at political issues such as military cooperation, security issues, the drug trade and organized crime, democracy in the region, and migration. Finally, it concludes with an assessment of the direction US-Central American relations are taking at present, moving beyond the black-and-white challenges of Soviet domination in the region to address post-9/11 security concerns.

The United States and Central America will be of interest to students and scholars of foreign policy, Latin American politics and politics andinternational relations in general.

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With the exception of Denmark, Bulgaria was the only country allied with Nazi Germany that did not annihilate or turn over its Jewish population Here a prominent French intellectual with Bulgarian roots accounts for this singularity.

Tzvetan Todorov assembles and interprets for the first time key evidence from this episode of Bulgarian history, including letters, diaries, government reports, and memoirs--most never before translated into any language. Through these documents, he reconstructs what happened in Bulgaria during World War II and interrogates collective memories of that time. He recounts the actions of individuals and groups that, ultimately and collectively, spared Bulgaria's Jews the fate of most European Jews.

The Bulgaria that emerges is not a heroic country dramatically different from those countries where Jews did perish. Todorov does find heroes, especially parliament deputy Dimitar Peshev, certain writers and clergy, and--most inspiring--public opinion. Yet he is forced to conclude that the "good" triumphed to the extent that it did because of a tenuous chain of events. Any break in that chain--one intellectual who didn't speak up as forcefully, a different composition in Orthodox Church leadership, a misstep by a particular politician, a less wily king--would have undone all of the other efforts with disastrous results for almost 50,000 people.

The meaning Todorov settles on is this: Once evil is introduced into public view, it spreads easily, whereas goodness is temporary, difficult, rare, and fragile. And yet possible.

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Against the background of the globalization of private finance, the predominance of states in global affairs cannot be taken for granted New actors, such as commercial banks or securities houses, have entered the global arena and, therefore, need to be included in any informed analysis of social reality. The actions of these institutions have to be regarded as influential forces impacting world politics. The theory of transnational regimes is advocated as a new way of structuring the global system..
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The Strategic Asia Program at The National Bureau of Asian Research is a major ongoing research initiative that draws together top Asia studies specialists and international relations experts to assess the changing strategic environment in the Asia Pacific. The Strategic Asia Program transcends traditional estimates of military balance by incorporating economic, political, and demographic data and by focusing on the strategies and perceptions that drive policy in the region.

Strategic Asia 2003–04: Fragility and Crisis, the third Strategic Asia volume, examines the weaknesses and fractures affecting the strategic environment in the Asia Pacific and assesses how multiple crises are changing the region’s international relations..
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In this book an eminent international banking expert grapples with issues that surround the trend toward financial globalization and its potential impact on financial fragility. Does globalization entail the risk of greater financial market instability -- perhaps even genuine systemic fragility -- or will it lead to a smoother working of markets? How should governments, central banks, and international institutions respond to manifestations of financial fragility? Alexandre Lamfalussy analyzes four major crisis experiences in emerging markets: Latin America in 1982-83, Mexico in 1994-95, East Asia in 1997-98, and Russia since 1998. The author finds that the build-up of short-term indebtedness and asset price bubbles were at the heart of the four crises. And in each case the exuberant behavior of lenders and investors from the developed world played a major role, while financial globalization was an aggravating factor. Lamfalussy offers a series of carefully considered policy recommendations for the future that are both pragmatic and wise..
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When we are confronted with images of and memoirs from the Holocaust and subsequent cases of vast cruelty and suffering, is our impulse to empathize put at risk by the possibility of becoming numb to horror? Carolyn J. Dean’s provocative new book addresses the ways we evade our failures of empathy in the face of massive suffering: Has exposure (or overexposure) to representations of pain damaged our ability to feel? Do the frequent claims that artistic representations of extreme cruelty are pornographic allow us to dodge the real issues that we must confront in attempting to come to terms with suffering? Does an excess of terror place constraints on compassion?

Dean examines the very different representations of suffering found in visual media, history writing, cultural criticism, and journalism that grapple with the assumption that Americans and Western Europeans have been rendered numb and their appropriate human responses blunted by the events of the past century. The Fragility of Empathy after the Holocaust will be of interest to all readers concerned with contemporary "victim culture," Holocaust representation, and humanism..
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Haiti is a resilient society whose rural communities in particular have developed coping mechanisms in response to a long history of underdevelopment and political instability. The country's religious, cultural, and artistic life is highly diverse and vibrant. Like other fragile states, however, Haiti is also beset by widespread poverty, inequality, economic decline, unemployment, poor governance, and violence. This Country Study examines Haiti's conflict-poverty trap from the perspective of the triangle of factors that have been identified as its main components: (a) demographic and socioeconomic factors at the individual and household levels; (b) the state's institutional capacity to provide public goods and manage social risks; and (c) the agendas and strategies of political actors. The report's three main chapters explore the nature of these components. The closing chapter considers the linkages among them..
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