Global Power

The history of the United States is to a large extent a history of armed conflict. The nation was first forged in war, a tough fight for independence against one of the world’s largest empires, and that fight would resume less than a generation later with the War of 1812. Then there were constant low-level conflicts with Native Americans as the nation expanded westwards, and occasionally the country engaged in full-scale war against the Sioux, Comanche, and Apache. The country also fought the Mexican-American War, starting in 1846, and the bloody Civil War starting in 1861.

Carthage was one of the great ancient civilizations, and at its peak, the wealthy Carthaginian empire dominated the Mediterranean against the likes of Greece and Rome, with commercial enterprises and influence stretching from Spain to Turkey. In fact, at several points in history it had a very real chance of replacing the fledgling Roman Empire or the failing Greek poleis (city-states) altogether as master of the Mediterranean.

Weak, corrupt, and politically unstable, the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are dismissed as isolated and irrelevant to the outside world. But are they? This hard-hitting book argues that Central Asia is in reality a globalization leader with more extensive involvement in economics, politics, and security dynamics beyond its borders than any other world region. Yet Central Asia's international activities are mostly hidden from view, with disturbing implications for world security.

In an age where persuasion is key and influence could be the difference between success and obscurity, Ronald Gill uncovers the greatest strokes of human psychology and leadership in his groundbreaking new book, "17 Rules of Influence and Power." Gill pulls a curtain on the fragile dance of human interactions, revealing the subtle nuances and potent strategies that impact our perceptions, decisions, and relationships.

Spoken by a quarter of the world's population, English is today's lingua franca—its common tongue. The language of business, popular media, and international politics, English has become commodified for its economic value and increasingly detached from any particular nation. This meteoric "rise of English" has many obvious benefits, but very real downsides as well. In The Rise of English, Rosemary Salomone offers a commanding view of the unprecedented spread of English and the far-reaching effects it has on global and local politics, economics, media, education, and business.

Too often, we are told that Russia plays a weak hand well. But, perhaps the nation's cards are better than we know. Russia ranks behind the US and China by traditional measures of power: GDP, population size and health, and military might. Yet twenty-five years removed from its mid-1990s nadir following the collapse of the USSR, Russia has become a supremely disruptive force in world politics. Kathryn E. Stoner assesses the resurrection of Russia and argues that we should look beyond traditional means of power to assess its strength in global affairs.

For centuries, oceans were the chessboard on which empires battled for supremacy. But in the nuclear age, air power and missile systems dominated our worries about security, and for the United States, the economy was largely driven by domestic production, with trucking and railways that crisscrossed the continent serving as the primary modes of commercial transit.

As a new administration focuses on raising American energy production, O'Sullivan's Windfall describes how new energy realities have profoundly affected the world of international relations and security. New technologies led to oversupplied oil markets and an emerging natural gas glut. This did more than drive down prices. It changed the structure of markets and altered the way many countries wield power and influence.

Today, brands have become even more important than the products they represent: Their stories travel with lightning speed through social media and the Internet and across countries and diverse cultures. A brand must be elastic enough to allow for reasonable category and product-line extensions, flexible enough to change with dynamic market conditions, consistent enough so that consumers who travel physically or virtually won’t be confused, and focused enough to provide clear differentiation from the competition.

David Korten argues that global corporate consolidation of power is but one manifestation of what he calls "Empire", the organization of society by hierarchies of dominance that have held sway for the past 5,000 years. Empire has always resulted in misery for the many and fortune for the few. Now it threatens the very future of humanity. The Great Turning traces the ancient roots of Empire and charts its long evolution from monarchies to the transnational institutions of the global economy.

The intensified globalization that ensued after the end of the Cold War has resulted in an unprecedented level of interconnectedness between the economies of all rising and established powers. Economic interdependence makes today's world a much more complex place than when balance of power theory was initially developed. International relations literature has overlooked the fact that great powers have been using institutions to soft balance each other's power and aggressive behavior. Restraining Great Powers places the evolution of balancing behavior in historical perspective.

Our world is constantly buffeted by new and dramatic changes we can't fully grasp. No one is fully prepared for the challenges, crises, and risks that lie ahead. The Extreme Future is a blueprint for what's next and how to navigate these changes.

In this book, discover what becomes possible when you act from unified love and power in service to purpose and the more-than-human world. Let yourself be drawn into a story of stories—woven together into a rich tapestry with threads from the author’s personal journey—along with gems from many teachers and wisdom traditions gleaned along the way. This audio book provides you with a path to collectively manifest what is needed now, addressing the interconnectedness of everything on the levels of self, other, and all.

This book is the first of its kind to examine the role of great powers in the international politics of climate change. It develops a novel analytical framework for studying environmental power in international relations, what counts as a great power in the environmental field, and what their special environmental responsibilities are. In doing so, the book connects International Relations (IR) debates on power inequality, great powers and great power management, with global environmental politics (GEP) scholarship.

Gill descorre el telón de la delicada danza de las interacciones humanas, revelando las sutiles matices y poderosas estrategias que impactan nuestras percepciones, decisiones y relaciones. Esta guía ofrece una amplia gama de métodos y conceptos intemporales, ya sea que estés navegando por las complejas redes de la política corporativa, buscando una ventaja en tus relaciones personales, o simplemente deseando tener la capacidad de usar tus palabras y tu cuerpo para cambiar la dirección de tu vida.

Enthülle die vergessenen Geheimnisse der Dunklen Psychologie, Manipulation, Körpersprache und Gedankenkontrolle! Hör zu, mein Freund. Wenn du hier bist, weiß ich, dass du bereit bist, tief in die verborgenen Tiefen der menschlichen Psychologie einzutauchen. Du willst den Vorhang zurückziehen und die Wahrheiten der dunklen Triade aufdecken. Und lass mich dir sagen, es wird Zeit, dass du dich mit den essenziellen Selbstschutztechniken ausrüstest, um diejenigen, die dir schaden wollen, fernzuhalten.

The way to maximize your time and live each day at peak performance, loving those around you and sustaining deep tranquility? It all comes back to attitude: the state of constant gratitude. Yes, every cosmic moment and event led up to your existence. Learn to love this time on Earth: the deepest shade of blue will fade before the light of thankfulness.

The tilt (tilt): 1. The shift in business and economic power from countries of the north to the fast-developing markets and economies of the south - not only China, India and Brazil, but also the Middle East and parts of Africa. 2. The result of unstoppable forces, including the volatile global financial system, digitization, the rise of state capitalism and a new global middle class that is both youthful and urban- forces by which industries and economies rapidly emerge and change the global playing field.

At first, what happened on the Mekong River on October 5, 2011 seemed like a simple matter of rough frontier justice. A detachment of Thai military commandos reported that they had confronted a band of drug runners smuggling methamphetamines out of the Golden Triangle, the famously lawless borderlands between Burma, Laos, and Thailand. A gunfight ensued, the smugglers fled, and the commandos seized two barges and a haul of nearly a million pills.

During my research and writing, I was fortunate to discover managers in a variety of businesses who actually understand and practice the awesome power of dignifying and respecting the people who depend on the businesses for their livelihoods and on whom the businesses depend on for their existence - the perfect win-win. In addition, the profiled managers are totally convinced that dignity is the root cause of their firms' profitability and sustainability. I think you'll enjoy meeting them and profit from their insights.