This book offers a comprehensive exploration of Africa's emergence as an epicentre for global terrorism, delving into the critical factors shaping security threats and vulnerabilities across the continent. With a rich historical and empirical foundation, the book presents a nuanced understanding of the complex dynamics of terrorism, serving as a pivotal resource for effective counterterrorism and peacebuilding initiatives. A distinguishing feature of this book lies in its meticulous country-specific and regional analysis of terrorism, unravelling the intricate interplay of internal and external forces that contribute to the genesis and perpetuation of terrorist activities in Africa. By examining the evolution of terrorism over the past three decades, the book sheds light on key milestones such as the adoption of the Organisation of African Unity's Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism in Africa, the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, the ramifications of the Arab Spring, and the impact of the rise of the Islamic State on the African continent. Contributed by experts from various African countries, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the nature, dynamics, and persistent challenges posed by terrorism. It underscores the intricate linkages at the national, regional, and international levels that fuel and sustain terrorism, offering crucial insights for policymakers and scholars alike. With its in-depth analysis and diverse perspectives, this book stands as an important resource for comprehending and addressing the multifaceted dimensions of terrorism in Africa.

Lars Cornelissen argues that the category of race constitutes an organizing principle of neoliberal ideology. Using the methods of intellectual history and drawing on insights from critical race studies, Cornelissen explores the various racial constructs that structure neoliberal ideology, some of which are explicit, while others are more coded. Beginning in the interwar period and running through to recent developments, Neoliberalism and Race shows that racial themes have always pervaded neoliberal thinking. The book's key argument is that neoliberal thought is constitutively racialized-its racial motifs cannot be extracted from neoliberalism without rendering it theoretically and politically incoherent. The book aptly explores a wide variety of racial constructs through the structure of neoliberal ideology, deconstructing the conceptualizations works of landmark thinkers such as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Peter Bauer, Thomas Sowell, Charles Murray, and others from the early twentieth century to the present. In this original-perhaps controversial-critique, Cornelissen asserts that neoliberal thinkers were not just the passive recipients of racial discourse, but also directly impacted it.

At the time Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as the 39th president of the United States, the Democratic Party had been enjoying a half-century of sustained electoral advantage. It had long controlled Congress and dominated measures of party identification. When Carter defeated Gerald Ford in 1976, 40% of Americans called themselves Democrats and another 12% told survey takers they leaned towards the party. To win the election of 1976, Carter just needed to hold the voters that started out on his side. Nearly fifty years later, American politics has inverted itself. Close electoral competition is the norm, and politics are at a stalemate. Brady and Parker call the existing deadlock the era of party parity, an age of division unseen since the late-nineteenth century. This book explains this profound shift in electoral politics. Drawing on fresh datasets and long-running surveys, the authors trace the decline of the Democratic majority and consider how this decline differed from past realignments. They show why modern American presidential elections are always close and argue that the rise of Donald Trump largely reinforced preexisting trends. Their work represents a significant contribution to the scholarly literature on party identification and realignment.

Novel insights into Russian military thought-from the Crimean War to the war in Ukraine

The development of the Russian military's strategic thought is an understudied and thus misunderstood subject in the West. Strategy in Russia encompasses the broader context of foreign and domestic policy as well as the military's ties to the country's leadership. The military's strategic thought is closely linked to Russia's existence as a state and explains patterns of Russian confrontation.

In Russian Military Thought, the renowned scholar Gudrun Persson offers novel insights into Russian military thought on doctrine and strategy, from the Crimean War to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Persson dismantles the simplistic notion that Russian military thought is "backward," instead presenting a deeper analysis of the drivers that influence the changes in Russian military strategy. Through archival research based on Russian language sources, Persson offers a multidisciplinary perspective, drawing on theoretical insights from history and political science that enable her to make a nuanced, qualitative analysis.

This book will be essential reading for practitioners, scholars, and students who seek to understand the mind-set of the current Russian leadership and the constraints that shape Russia's future possibilities.

This book contains a selection of peer-reviewed papers presented at the International Conference on Operations Research (OR 2024), held at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, from September 3 to 6, 2024. Over 650 scientists from all over the world attended the OR 2024 in Munich. Three plenaries and nine semi-plenaries covered theoretical aspects of Operations Research, applications, and real-world practices. In addition, more than 500 presentations were held over three days in up to 23 parallel sessions.
Covering a wide range of topics, the book highlights cutting-edge research and practical applications across various domains of modern operations research. It places a special emphasis on the theme "Data, Learning, and Optimization", exploring how data-driven approaches, machine learning techniques, and optimization strategies are shaping decision-making processes and operational efficiency. The contributions in this book reflect the diversity and innovation in the field, making it a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and academics alike.

This book provides relevant theoretical frameworks and presents the latest empirical findings on outsourcing in Management Science (MS) and Operations Research (OR). It was written for professionals who want to improve their understanding of the strategic role of outsourcing at various levels of the information and knowledge organization, that is, outsourcing at the global economic level, at the network and organization level, at the team and work group level, at the information system level and, finally, outsourcing at the level of individuals as players in the networked environments. The contributors present original research or case studies, showcasing how outsourcing has been effectively applied in both practical situations and theoretical models. The chapters start with a basic concept and discuss the benefits, advantages and disadvantages, current cases, applications, theory, and outlook. The content spans a broad range of topics, drawing examples from both the private and public sector. Future applications, trends, and the potential future of outsourcing are also discussed.

This book is intended for professionals in the fields of energy, engineering, information science, mathematics, economics, etc., and for researchers who wish to develop new outsourcing skills, or who employ outsourcing as part of their work. As the first of a two-volume series, it focuses on bridging theory with practical applications.