Turbulent Times

This edited collection features state-of-the art scholarship by diverse contributors on a contemporary array of compelling and contentious gender and politics concerns.

This open access book explores the most recent trends in the EU in terms of development, progress, and performance. Ten years after the 2008 economic crisis, and amidst a digital revolution that is intensifying the development race, the European Union, and especially Central and Eastern Europe, are ardently searching for their development priorities. Against this background, by relying on a cross-national perspective, the authors reflect upon the developmental challenges of the moment, such as sustainable development, reducing inequality, ensuring social cohesion, and driving the digital revolution. They particularly focus on the relation between the less-developed Eastern part of the EU and its more developed Western counterpart, and discuss the consequences of this development gap in detail. Lastly, the book presents a range of case studies from different areas of governance, such as economy and commerce, health services, education, migration and public opinion in order to investigate the trends most likely to impact the European Union's medium and long-term development.

Managing in Turbulent Times tackles the key issues facing managers in the 1990s: how to manage in rapidly changing environments. This seminal and prophetic book laid the foundation for a generation of writers on change management. This book concerns the immediate future of business, society and the economy. The one certainty about the times ahead, says Drucker, is that they will be turbulent times. In turbulent times the first task of management is to make sure of the organizations capacity for survival, to make sure of its structural strength and soundness, its capacity to survive a blow, to adapt to sudden change and to avail itself of new opportunities. The author is concerned with action rather than understanding, with decisions rather than analysis. It aims at being a practical book for the decision maker, whether in the private or the public sector.

'A marvellous banquet with four leaders whose lives provide lessons for all. Pull up a chair' Warren Buffett 'It is a safe bet that Leadership will soon sit on the nightstand of every chief executive officer in the land and will be avidly read by the legion of ambitious young people who want their jobs' Niall Ferguson, Sunday Times In this culmination of five decades of work, Doris Kearns Goodwin offers an illuminating exploration of the origin, growth and exercise of leadership through the lives of four US presidents Are leaders born or made? How does adversity affect the growth of leadership? Does the man make the times or do the times make the man? In Leadership, acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin looks at four presidents - Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson - to show how they first recognized leadership qualities within themselves, and were recognized as leaders by others. By looking at their entry into public life and how they confronted the dilemmas of their times, we can follow their development into leaders of their time. These stories of leadership in fractured times take on a singular urgency in today's polarized world and provide a much-needed roadmap for aspiring and established leaders. 'Colourful, fun and illuminating . . . a master storyteller' Daniel Finkelstein, The Times

More than 100 themes of affirmations grounded in neuroscience. We live in complex and unsettled times. The issues before us are unimaginably difficult, and range from the personal to the global. This beautiful little book accompanies readers toward a greater sense of peace and self-compassion, reminding us that even though our world is so turbulent, we can still have quiet places within, filled with love, that make it easier to live and to breathe with ourselves. Rooted in the neuroscience of affirmations, and covering more than 100 themes (including health, self-care, issues at work, and connection with loved ones and with the planet), this book is a companion for daily life. With the help of questions and wonderings about what may be important for readers, the book gently encourages acceptance of what is. The affirmation for each theme reminds readers of their own strengths and reservoirs of calm, and helps them to remember and reclaim their innate gifts and resources.

Central banks came out of the Great Recession with increased power and responsibilities. Indeed, central banks are often now seen as 'the only game in town', and a place to put innumerable problems vastly exceeding their traditional remit. These new powers do not fit well, however, with the independence of central banks, remote from the democratic control of government. Central Banking in Turbulent Times examines fundamental questions about the central banking system, asking whether the model of an independent central bank devoted to price stability is the final resting point of a complex development that started centuries ago. It dissects the hypothesis that the Great Recession has prompted a reassessment of that model; a renewed emphasis on financial stability has emerged, possibly vying for first rank in the hierarchy of objectives of central banks. This raises the risk of dilemmas, since the Great Recession brought into question implicit assumptions that the pursuit of price stability would also lead to financial stability. In addition, the border between monetary and fiscal policy was blurred both in the US and in Europe. Central Banking in Turbulent Times asks whether the model prevailing before the Great Recession has been irrevocably altered. Are we entering, as Charles Goodhart has hypothesized, into the 'fourth epoch' of central banking? Are changes to central banks part of a move away from the global liberal order that seemed to have prevailed at the turn of the century? Central Banking in Turbulent Times seeks to answer these questions as it examines how changes can allow for the maintenance of price stability, while adapting to the long-term consequences of the Great Recession.

How is policy made in higher education, particularly in the wake of recent economic turbulence? Has policy development converged internationally, and if so, what impact has this had on academic life and institutions? What role does policy-oriented research play in shaping the direction of higher education? Are universities grappling in common ways with issues of access and equity? Making Policy in Turbulent Times provides a historically informed and nuanced response to these and other questions. Distinguished scholars and administrators from across the globe identify economic challenges and pressures facing universities, compare policy developments in numerous jurisdictions, and demonstrate the ways in which networks and lobbyists achieve results. Cogently argued, Making Policy in Turbulent Times contributes significantly to new research, and will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners alike.

The world is increasingly turbulent and complex, awash with disruptions, tipping points and knock-on effects. These range from the impacts of warfare in the Middle East on energy futures, investment and global currencies to the vast and unpredictable impacts of climate change. All this threatens established strategic planning methods.This book is for business and organizational leaders who want and need to think through how best to deal with increasing turbulence, and with the complexity and uncertainty that come with it. The authors explain in clear language how future orientation and, specifically, modern scenario techniques help to address these conditions. They draw on examples from a wide variety of international settings and circumstances including large corporations, inter-governmental organizations, small firms and municipalities. Readers will be inspired to try out scenario approaches themselves to better address the turbulence that affects them and others with whom they work, live and do business. A key feature of the book is the exchange of insights across the academic-practitioner divide. Scholars of scenario thinking and organizational environments will appreciate the authors' conceptual and methodological advances. What has previously remained jargon only accessible to the highest level of corporate and government futures planners here becomes comprehensible to a wider business and practitioner community.