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Resilient Statehood

New book edited by myself and Alexandra Wilson. Full book is available as Open Access: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-92-0221-8 Introduction: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-92-0221-8_1 Framework: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-92-0221-8_8 Lessons for Resilience Today: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-92-0221-8_9

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Geopolitics for the End Time

Former Secretary of State for European Affairs for Portugal, political philosopher Bruno Macaes has penned several books (and is frequently a public commentator). These notes reflect on Geopolitics for the End Times: From the Pandemic to the Climate Crisis (2021). This is the first of his books I have read, and it may not have […]

Tags: #Bruno Macaes #Geopolitics #Political Philosophy

Thought Provokers

The Dilemma of Retention

One of the challenges expatriate dependent nations face is how to attract global talent while building capacity nationally. This has often included a mix of nationalization policies along with attraction, development and recruitment policies for the entire workforce. Qatar has a minority citizen population and the large majority of its workforce is expatriate. To assess […]

Tags: #Human Resources #Policy #Qatar #Retention #Talent #Workforce

Thought Provokers

The Edible Gardens of Ethiopia

Peveri undertook about a decade of visits to southern Ethiopia between 2004 and 2015, and upon which she basis the book The Edible Gardens of Ethiopia – An Ethnographic Journey into Beauty and Hunger (2020). This book is published by the University of Arizona Press. In these notes I share a couple of sociological insights […]

Tags: #Agriculture #Anthropology #Culture #Ethiopia #Sociology

Thought Provokers

The Black Gold Spies

This is not an academic book, one of those random titles that gets mentioned and peaks curiosity. The author, Gilles Munier, has another book on Iraq and has multiple connections to the Middle East. He spent time in jail for being involved in violations on the sanctions on Iraq. An interesting character. This was published […]

Tags: #CIA #Espionage #Gilles Munier #Iran #Middle East #Spies

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The Structure of Scientific Revolution

Cited 165,000 times (as of today), this 1962 book on the history and sociology of science has been immensely influential. Thomas Kuhn argues that we don’t progress on a step-by-step process (a slow accumulation model to understanding change) but rather paradigm shifts change entire ways of thinking, working and doing (in understanding change, similar to […]

Tags: #History #Paradigm #Philosophy #Science #Sociology #The Structure of Scientific Revolution #Thomas Kuhn

Thought Provokers