Geo-economics vs Geo-politics: The Baghdad Railway Project and the Spoils of a Perpetual Economic War around Middle East

This study focuses on the geopolitical situation in the wider East Mediterranean Region at the dawn of the 20th century, based on the analysis of a major infrastructure project, the Baghdad Railway. The process of its construction eventually led to the rivalry between "Politics" and "Economy", towards increased relative gains for the superpowers of that period. The innovative side of the research extends to the hypothesis that modern economic crises are also related to power games similar to those prevailing almost a century ago. International Relations are linked with the Politics and Economy sectors, considering realistic lessons from the past in order to shape another better in terms of peace and stability future

Modern Learning and Training Tools which can be Properly Adapted and Designed to Reinforce Specialized Courses on Effective Crisis Management

This paper highlights the effectiveness of several modern training tools that could be applied within the context of training organizations, aiming towards the introduction of theoretical and practical fields, like the assessment of critical risks, the impact of time pressure and the importance of situational awareness, into the contents of a training course. The first part deals with present training tendencies and tools like distance and technology-based learning, while it is highlighted that knowledge management has gone through a deep and wide re-orientation. Quality assurance issues regarding education are also of great significance. The second part then studies the psychology of serving in combat or irregular crisis situations. It is about the particularities that compose the military, business or civil protection reality, resulting in new approaches of training courses that pursue excellent performance, particularly in dynamic and changing with high-velocity environments. Concepts like shared-ness of information, maturity in leadership decision making and cognitive task analysis can all determine a new domain of acceptable measures for crisis management training at professional level. The scope ranges from a routine organizational context to rapid response in a larger-scale emergency under pressure, requiring respective training adjustments

Turkey's ambitions to emerge as a regional power : example or counter-example for potential aspiring competitors

CC BY 3.0 Copyright © MCSER-Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational ResearchThis paper aims to provide a functional assessment of a country’s dynamics at a regional power level, through the development of a tool which shall examine the working hypothesis of a given country’s “candidacy” to emerge as a regional power. The power equation applied in order to have such an evaluation has been formulated in a visually enriched and prototype format, given that particularly the geopolitics activate systems of interactions dynamically changing into many dimensions. The scope also includes the criteria verifying the achievement of the regional powers’ objectives as well as the review of future relevant prospects through a SWOT (strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats) analysis in a specific spatial and temporal context. Contemporary Turkey shall be taken as an example of this application and, therefore, while enumerating the assessment criteria, it will be briefly examined whether Turkey meets the conditions under discussion. This country has been selected on the grounds that its intentions have been overtly declared and its efforts are underway. The study consequently emphasises on the policy implications of the dilemmatic question if the on-going Turkish regime transformation may be or keep being a pilot for other states’ progress in the heavily turmoiled Middle Eastern area

Euro+Med-Checklist Notulae, 11

International audienceThis is the eleventh of a series of miscellaneous contributions, by various authors, where hitherto unpublished data relevant to both the Med-Checklist and the Euro+Med (or Sisyphus) projects are presented. This instalment deals with the families Anacardiaceae, Asparagaceae (incl. Hyacinthaceae), Bignoniaceae, Cactaceae, Compositae, Cruciferae, Cyperaceae, Ericaceae, Gramineae, Labiatae, Leguminosae, Orobanchaceae, Polygonaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae and Staphyleaceae. It includes new country and area records and taxonomic and distributional considerations for taxa in Bidens, Campsis, Centaurea, Cyperus, Drymocallis, Engem, Hoffmannseggia, Hypopitys, Lavandula, Lithraea, Melilotus, Nicotiana, Olimarabidopsis, Opuntia, Orobanche, Phelipanche, Phragmites, Rumex, Salvia, Schinus, Staphylea, and a new combination in Drimia