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Small States in EU Policy-Making: Strategies, Challenges, Opportunities (Small State Studies)
by Anna-Lena Högenauer and Matúš MišíkSmall States in EU Policy-Making analyses how small states try to impact European Union policy-making through a range of strategies.With the last rounds of enlargement and Brexit, the number and weight of small states in the European Union have steadily increased. At the same time, small states face distinct challenges in different institutions, which may impact their strategies. Nonetheless, the existing literature primarily focuses on the Council of the European Union and the European Council and offers few insights into how small states navigate the other institutions. The contributions to this volume examine how small states can wield influence in different institutions, arguing that they do indeed pursue different strategies depending on institutional context. The policy case studies on the EU’s foreign and security policies confirm these findings: small states can have influence in EU policy-making and can create situations where their needs are met. They are most likely to succeed when they build foreign policy coalitions, when they anticipate major economic developments and when they manage to acquire a high level of expertise in a policy area. However, the case studies also show that there is a risk of small states becoming policy-takers in cases where they cannot provide leadership in terms of ideas and expertise and/or fail to build political weight through coalitions.This book will be of interest to academics and practitioners of European politics and the EU in particular, as well as policy-makers and practitioners working on small states.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Secret Surrender
by Ann SummersAlice Daumier is an award-winning film actress, envied by every woman she meets and desired by every man. But she tires of her sedate husband, Pierre, and the same people at the same old Parisian parties. When a figure from her past reappears, the mysterious writer Jacques, old passions are reignited. Alice risks her career and renown for sexual thrills like she has never known before...An erotic novella that will excite and shock in equal measure, in Secret Surrender passions are stripped bare for all to see.
Too Hot to Handle: True Stories as Told to Madame B
by Ann SummersTen women reveal all to our mysterious hostess, Madame B. Nothing is out of bounds and passion is pushed to its very limit. Under Offer - Sally just can't keep her eyes off the hot estate agent. By the third apartment, Sally can't control her lust any longer and makes him an offer he can't refuse...Backstage Pass - Everyone knows him, the rock star who regularly tops the charts. Ali just has to have him, and blags a backstage pass...Executive Decision - It's the career chance of a lifetime. PA to a gorgeous, jet-setting executive. Amanda wants the job - and him - so badly. Then he asks if she has any 'extra services' to offer. Shopaholic - Zoe's bored with her look. So when a friend recommends personal shopper and stylist Maria, she books in for a session. Maria knows just how to make Zoe feel fabulous - and it all kicks off in the changing room.Coming Up Roses - Kara can't face a day in the office and calls in sick. That's when she notices two attractive gardeners working outside her apartment window. It's hot, they're sweating. So Kara invites them both in for a shower...Filthy Rich - At a salsa club, Jen and Mike meet an older, wealthy couple, who invite them back to their mansion. The place is a millionaire's paradise - acres of land, and a sexy outdoor jacuzzi...Double Fantasy - Identical twins and flatmates Gilly and Annie secretly share their men. So when fit delivery guy Rob turns up with a washing machine, Gilly has her fun on top of it - and then lets Annie take over. Curtain Raiser - Cathy's boyfriend confesses he's always wanted to try a seedy peep show. She's not so sure. But once they're inside the cubicle, Cathy can't get enough.Tunnel Vision - She spots him at check-in, and he's sitting opposite her in first class. He passes her a mobile number. She texts. He texts. And things get steamy...Father Figure - Jane's always fancied her ex-boyfriend's dad. Then she bumps into him at a taxi rank. They share a cab, but they don't even make it indoors...With private indulgences stripped bare for all to see, Too Hot to Handle ensures that nothing remains a secret any more.
True Passion: A Tale of Desire as Told to Madame B
by Ann SummersFreshly out of a long term relationship, Katie is a woman on a mission: to experience every kinky thrill that life can offer. Bored by the 'vanilla' sex that she's had before, she decides it's time to experiment. Toys, sex clubs, bondage, group sex, roleplay, and more: she's determined to make all her fantasies come true, no matter how long it takes, and how far it pushes her personal limits.Katie loves her adventures in the sexual playground, learning more about herself with every swish of a crop, stamp on a slave and taste of a woman. But when she meets Alex, a sexy older man who thinks kinky sex is wrong, she faces her greatest challenge yet: to bring him round to her way of thinking. She's drawn to his intellect, his sophistication and his twinkling green eyes, but without changing his mind she knows that any chance of a relationship is doomed. After all, she can't face a life of vanilla sex - can she?Although Alex initially falls for Katie's charms, and seems willing to acquiesce to her desires, she soon realises that everything is not as it seems and faces the ultimate dilemma. Should she sacrifice her lifestyle for the man that she loves and accept a life without kink, or are her fetishes more important than her man? Can she really cope with what it means to be vanilla?
China in India's Neighbourhood: Shifting Regional Narratives
by Anita Sengupta and Priya SinghThis book explores the scope and extent of the growing Chinese influence in India’s neighbourhood and its impact on India as well as on Asian power politics.Through theoretical narratives and detailed case studies, it examines Chinese bilateral relationships in the Indian neighbourhood and looks at the extent and significance of Chinese influence through the lens of strategic, economic and infrastructural arrangements and Chinese interventions in South, Southeast, and Central Asia. The book takes into account regional voices and domestic political compulsions in understanding what they make of the Chinese narrative and examines how and whether the narrative has changed in recent years through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as an instrument of Chinese public diplomacy. The volume also discusses how domestic narratives and compulsions in the Indian neighbourhood remain significant and how these, in turn, would impact the trajectory of Chinese public diplomacy. Intertwined through all these themes is a focus on the extent to which these could become potential flashpoints for India.This book will be a useful resource for academics and researchers working on Asian geopolitics and geo-economics, Chinese foreign policy, Chinese politics, international relations of Asia, Asian dynamics and Asian studies.
Mathematical Modeling and Control in Life and Environmental Sciences: Regional Control Problems (Modeling and Simulation in Science, Engineering and Technology)
by Sebastian Aniţa Vincenzo Capasso Simone ScacchiThis monograph explores the use of mathematical modeling and control theory in a variety of contemporary challenges in mathematical biology and environmental sciences. Emphasizing an approach of learning by doing, the authors focus on a set of significant case studies emerging from real-world problems and illustrate how mathematical techniques and computational experiments can be employed in the search for sustainable solutions.The following topics are extensively discussed:Eradicability and control of a paradigmatic epidemic model, with a view to the existence of endemic states, their stability, and the existence of travelling wavesA spatially structured epidemic model concerning malaria as an example of vector-borne epidemicsOptimal harvesting problems for space-structured and age-structured population dynamicsControlling epidemics in agriculture due to pest insectsThe role of predators as a possible biocontrol agent of epidemics in agricultureControl by taxation of the environmental pollution produced by human activitiesThe originality of this text is in its leitmotif – regional control – along the principle of “Think Globally, Act Locally.” Indeed, for example, in many real spatially structured ecosystems, it is practically impossible to control the relevant system by global interventions in the whole habitat.Proofs are given whenever they may serve as a guide to the introduction of new concepts. Each chapter includes a comprehensive description of the numerical methods used for the computational experiments, and MATLAB© codes for many of the numerical simulations are available for download. Several challenging open problems are also provided to stimulate future research.This text is aimed at mathematicians, engineers, and other scientists working in areas such as biology, medicine, and economics. Graduate and advanced undergraduate students of a quantitative subject related to the analysis and applications of dynamical systems and their control will also find it to be a valuable resource.
Torchwood: Another Life (Torchwood #3)
by Peter Anghelides'The twenty-first century is when it all changes, and you've got to be ready.'Separate from the government; outside the police, beyond the United Nations: Torchwood sets its own rules.A team of investigators, using alien technology to solve crime - both alien and human. This new British sci-fi crime thriller, created by Russell T Davies, sees them delve into the unknown. A group of people fighting the impossible.A terror hides at the bottom of Cardiff Bay - waiting, feeding, controlling... this novel is a gripping Torchwood adventure
Torchwood: Pack Animals (Torchwood #15)
by Peter AnghelidesThe hunters become the hunted… Shopping for wedding gifts is enjoyable, unless like Gwen you witness a Weevil massacre in the shopping centre. A trip to the zoo is a great day out, until a date goes tragically wrong and Ianto is badly injured by stolen alien tech. And Halloween is a day of fun and frights, before unspeakable monsters invade the streets of Cardiff and it's no longer a trick or a treat for the terrified population.Torchwood can control small groups of scavengers, but now someone has given large numbers of predators a season ticket to Earth. Jack's investigation is hampered when he finds he's being investigated himself. Owen is convinced that it's just one guy who's toying with them. But will Torchwood find out before it's too late that the game is horribly real, and the deck is stacked against them?Featuring Captain Jack Harkness as played by John Barrowman, with Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato and Ianto Jones as played by Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoki Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd, in the hit science fiction series created by Russell T Davies for BBC Television.
Outlandia
by Georgia AngelisA spicy erotic historical novel set in the nineteenth century...Shipwrecked on the remote South Sea island of Wahwu, at first, Iona Stanley longs for the temperateness of England. But as her days are spent luxuriating in the tropical splendour, her natural sensuality blossoms as she is worshipped by a host of virile young islanders keen to serve her every desire. Suddenly, things don't seem so bad after all.
Cleopatra: The Queen Who Challenged Rome and Conquered Eternity
by Alberto Angela“The political machinations, betrayal, and battles may appeal to those fans of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series interested in a real-world game of thrones.” -- BooklistOne of Italy’s most revered cultural figures reconstructs the extraordinary life of the legendary Cleopatra at the height of her power in this epic story of passion, intrigue, betrayal, and war.Our world today would not be the same without Cleopatra. While she is one of the most famous figures in history, the legendary Egyptian queen remains, in many ways, an enigma. In this mesmerizing history, Alberto Angela offers a fresh and dynamic portrait of this extraordinary ruler, revealing a strikingly modern woman born in an ancient era and skilled in the art of diplomacy and war, who would conquer the heart of a general—Marc Antony—and Rome itself.Cleopatra focuses on a twenty-year period that marked a sweeping change in Roman history, beginning with the assassination of Julius Caesar that led to the end of the Republic, and ending with the suicides of Antony and Cleopatra and the birth of the Augustan Empire. Angela brings the people, stories, customs, and traditions of this fascinating period alive as he transports us to the chaotic streets of the capital of the ancient world, the exotic port of Alexandria in Egypt, and to the bloody battlefields where an empire was won and lost. Meticulously researched and rich with vivid detail, this sweeping history, reminiscent of the works of Simon Schama, Mary Beard’s SPQR, and Tom Holland’s Rubicon, recreates this remarkable era and the woman at its turbulent center.Translated from the Italian by Katherine Gregor“[Cleopatra] combines scholarship with novelistic detail and character depth…[Alberto Angela] effectively draws on previous scholarship, wading through legend and myth to get at the truth of what actually occurred… a character-rich historical biography.” -- Kirkus
The History of Vegas: Stories
by Jodi AngelTrouble. From the first page of each of the edgy and unrelentingly intense stories in this debut collection, the teenaged characters are headed for big trouble. The adult world has mostly failed them, and they find themselves entering into highly charged situations where they make their own rules, with misguided understanding of the consequences. The stories burn hot and fast, providing searing insights into their world of sex, drugs, drinking, violence, and accidental grace, played out in small, tough towns. Written with raw directness and understanding that makes these nine stories impossible to forget, The History of Vegas announces an exciting, fresh talent with the impact of Mary Gaitskill, Mary Karr, and Jayne Anne Phillips.
Ukraine 22: Ukrainian Writers Respond to War
by Mark Andryczyk'The extraordinary writers in this volume articulate the taste, the terror, and the dialect of war; they command their powers of description to face a shameless empire intent on annihilating them' Ellena SavageA selection of Ukraine's leading writers convey the reality of life within Ukraine during the first year of the invasionOn 24 February 2022, the lives of Ukrainians were devastatingly altered. Since that day, many of Ukraine's writers have attempted to fathom what is happening to them and to their country. This anthology brings together writing from inside Ukraine, by Ukrainians, available in English for the first time. Here they document everyday life, ponder the role of culture amid conflict, denounce Russian imperialism and revisit their relations with the world, especially Europe and its ideals, as they try to comprehend the horrors of war.From tearing-downs of Russia's use of culture as justification of the war to moving descriptions of nights spent sheltering in corridors, poignant snatched moments with a husband on his single night away from the army, to descriptions of the eerie weather in the months leading up to the invasion, as if nature was trying to warn Ukraine, these essays reveal the texture, rawness and reality of life in Ukraine under war as never before.
Writing from Ukraine: Fiction, Poetry and Essays since 1965
by Mark AndryczykA selection of fifteen of Ukraine's most important, dynamic and entertaining contemporary writersUnder USSR rule, the subject matter and style of literary expression in Ukraine was strictly controlled and censored. But once Ukraine gained independence in 1991 its literary scene flourished, as the moving and delightful poems, essays and extracts collected here show. There are fifteen authors included in this book, both established and emerging, and in this anthology we see them grappling with history and the future, with big questions and small moments. From essays about Chernobyl to poetry about Robbie Williams, from fiction discussing Jimmy Hendrix live in Lviv to underground Ukrainian poetry of the Soviet era, WRITING FROM UKRAINE offers a unique window into a rich culture, a chance to experience a particularly Ukrainian sensibility and to celebrate Ukraine's nationhood, as told by its writers.
IT's All about the People: Technology Management That Overcomes Disaffected People, Stupid Processes, and Deranged Corporate Cultures
by Stephen J. AndrioleThis book explains how to achieve dramatic improvements in service and agility by enhancing the people, processes, and culture within your organization. It details the various roles within the technology management process and supplies insight into the realities of human behavior-including the range of best and worst behaviors from managers, executives, and corporate culture. Industry veteran Stephen J. Andriole provides a fresh perspective on the old basics of IT management through a twenty-first-century lens.
Seven Hanged (Penguin Little Black Classics)
by Leonid Andreyev'It was like walking along the knife-edge of the highest possible mountain range, seeing life on one side and death on the other in the form of two deep, gorgeous and gleaming seascapes.'This astonishing novella from 1908, newly translated for Little Black Classics by War and Peace translator Anthony Briggs, probes the emotions and experiences of seven people condemned to death in Tsarist Russia. A powerful and subtle exploration of the morality of capital punishment, it was a bestseller at the time, and, in a strange quirk of history, influenced the conspirators in the cataclysmic assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.
The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements: Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo
by Caitlin Andrews-LeePolitical movements founded by charismatic leaders are often considered ephemeral. Existing literature argues that because they rest on unmediated, emotional attachments between leaders and followers, these movements either fade quickly after their leaders disappear or transform into routinized parties. Yet, charismatic movements around the world have proven surprisingly resilient and have retained their personalistic core. Focusing on Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo, this book investigates the nature and trajectory of charismatic movements from the perspectives of both leaders and followers. Using interviews, focus groups, and survey experiments, Caitlin Andrews-Lee reveals that charismatic movements can emerge, survive, and become politically revived by sustaining - not discarding - their personalistic character. Followers' charismatic attachments to the movement founder can develop into an enduring, deeply affective political identity that successors can reactivate under certain conditions by portraying themselves as symbolic reincarnations of the founder. Consequently, charismatic movements can have lasting, deleterious effects on democracy.
Broken Glass (The Mirror Sisters Series #2)
by V.C. AndrewsThis second gothic novel in the dark Mirror Sisters trilogy continues the tale of sisterly love at its absolute worst—from the legendary New York Times bestselling author of Flowers in the Attic and My Sweet Audrina (now Lifetime movies). For fans of Ruth Ware (In a Dark, Dark Wood) and Liane Moriarty (The Husband&’s Secret).Under their mother&’s watchful eye, identical twins Haylee and Kaylee Fitzgerald have lived their entire lives in sync. Never alone, never apart, everything about them must be exactly the same: clothes, friends, punishments. One night, in the darkness of a movie theater, Haylee reveals that she&’s leaving to meet up with someone she knows from online. But suddenly feeling ill, and not wanting to disappoint this older man, she convinces Kaylee to go in her stead. He&’ll never know, and this way he won&’t think she stood him up. Kaylee reluctantly agrees to go, but when the credits roll and she&’s nowhere to be found, Haylee confesses everything to her mom. With the manhunt on, Haylee knows everything must be done to find her sister. Still, for the first time in her life, she&’s free from her twin, which, really, isn&’t so bad...is it?
Capturing Angels
by V.C. AndrewsV.C. Andrews, queen of Gothic fiction for twenty-five years, explores a new genre in her women’s fiction debut—available exclusively as an eBook. A young mother struggles to keep her marriage together in the wake of her daughter’s kidnapping…and to keep hope of her return alive. Grace is the doting mother of Mary, an angelic five-year-old who charms everyone around her. But in one tragic moment at a local shopping mall, Grace looks down to discover that Mary is no longer at her side…and can&’t be found anywhere. She and her husband wait by the phone for a ransom demand that never comes. For months Grace believes that Mary is somewhere, alive and safe, waiting to come home to her—but as her family and friends give up hope, Grace&’s marriage begins to crumble. Only one detective, Sam Abraham, shares her determination to find Mary…but could his motives be less than altruistic? As Sam and Mary work together to track Mary&’s disappearance, they discover clues that this was more than a random kidnapping—and that Mary may have been special to more than just her mother…
Child of Darkness (Gemini #3)
by V.C. AndrewsSHE GREW UP IN THE SHADOWS OF LIES. NOW THE PAST WILL COME TO LIGHT. As a child, she was Baby Celeste, the one thing that kept her mother in touch with reality. But now her mother is in an institution, damaged by years of lies and secrets, and sixteen-year-old Celeste Atwell is alone in the world. Adopted by a wealthy couple, Wade and Ami Emerson, Celeste has everything a girl could desire: designer clothes, luxury cars, even a handsome boyfriend. But her new life is shrouded in mystery: Ami acts more like a girlfriend than Celeste's adoptive mother -- what mother would encourage her daughter to flirt outrageously and dress in racy outfits? Wade, meanwhile, stoically accepts his wife's wild spending sprees and over-the-top behavior. Celeste is about to discover the true price of having it all -- because the secrets hidden within the Emerson household are too dangerous to keep under wraps....
Cloudburst (March)
by V.C. AndrewsThe followup to Family Storms, this book follows Sasha Porter, now a senior in high school, as new troubles unfold with her foster family.Since being taken in by wealthy Mrs. Jordan March and living in her exquisite home like a daughter, Sasha Porter&’s traumatic past—destitute on the streets, and the shattering accident that killed her mother—seems like a fading nightmare. Beautiful and sophisticated, as bold and daring as her &“sister,&” Kiera March, Sasha still keeps her mother&’s wise words close to her heart: never fully trust anyone. Inside her privileged new world, it&’s advice that will prove more precious than gold. Against the wishes of Jordan&’s husband, Donald, Sasha attracts the attention of Duane Banks, a shy, handsome athlete, and maneuvers her way into his heart. But Duane&’s hidden torment soon explodes in a horrific tragedy that pulls Sasha into a flood of guilt and despair. And when someone she thought she could trust targets her vulnerability, Sasha recalls her mother&’s warnings—and a violent storm of dark deceptions and shocking family secrets is unleashed. Will she sink or swim?
Daughter of Darkness (Kindred Series, The #1)
by V.C. AndrewsDangerously enticing and deliriously intoxicating, V.C. Andrews's Daughter of Darkness will leave readers thirsting for more.Beloved bestselling author V.C. Andrews&’s passion for vampires comes to spellbinding life in a long-awaited novel of dark desires as all-consuming—and forbidden—as in Flowers in the Attic. One night, with the sound of a young man&’s scream, high school senior Lorelei discovers that her stern but loving father, who adopted Lorelei and her sisters as infants, is no ordinary man. He has raised his beautiful girls for one purpose: to lure young men into their world of shadows. Like her sisters, Lorelei has been trained in the art of seduction and warned never to fall in love. But when she meets a handsome and charming classmate, she boldly defies her family and follows her heart—even if love is a poison...
Dawn (Cutler #1)
by V.C. AndrewsFrom #1 bestselling author V.C. Andrews (Flowers in the Attic, My Sweet Audrina) the first book in the captivating Cutler series—soon to be a Lifetime limited series!In her fine new Virginia school, Dawn Longchamp feels happy and safe. But nothing is what it seems... Now Dawn and her older brother Jimmy have a chance for a decent, respectable life, and Dawn&’s secret, precious hope to study singing can come true. Philip Cutler, the handsomest boy in school, sets Dawn&’s heart on fire. She is deeply devoted to her brooding brother; but with Philip, she imagines a lovely dream of romance... Then Dawn&’s mother suddenly dies, and her entire world begins to crumble. After a terrible new shock, she is thrust into a different family and an evil web of unspoken sins. Her sweet innocence lost, humiliated and scorned, Dawn is desperate to find Jimmy again and...strip away the wicked lies that will change all their lives forever.
Delia's Gift (The Delia Series #3)
by V.C. AndrewsThe last in a three book series, Delia's Gift continues the story of Delia's Heart and Delia's Crossing.No amount of money can keep heartbreak away: Delia Yebarra learned that painful lesson after a boating tragedy ended her fairy-tale romance with Adan Bovia, a wealthy politician's son. But when she discovers she is carrying his child, Delia has no choice but to live under the watchful eye of Adan's powerful father, who blamed Delia for the deadly accident but soon puts her health and the safe delivery of his grandchild above his resentments. Or so Delia believed. For Adan's father intends to use his connections to blackmail Delia. A cruel nursemaid monitors her every move. And a manipulative schemer orchestrates a reunion with Delia's cousin Edward—a visit with grave consequences. But after tiny Adan Jr. arrives, Delia is no longer fighting for herself but for everything she ever believed, back when she was a Mexican country girl. Can Delia recapture the innocence of her roots and make a bright future for her family?
Eye of the Storm (Hudson #3)
by V.C. AndrewsIn the wake of a terrible loss, Rain is left alone to bear Hudson family secrets as dark and forbidding as storm clouds on the horizon...After the death of her beloved Grandmother Hudson, Rain found herself caught in a battle for the vast Hudson family wealth. Marked to inherit millions, Rain faced the fury of her unaccepting mother, her manipulative stepfather, and her cold, vicious Aunt Victoria. But no amount of money can keep Rain's world from crashing down when sudden tragedy strikes. Left helpless after a devastating blow, Rain sinks into despair as her precious dreams are washed away?dreams that cannot be bought with the Hudson fortune. Her only hope for rebuilding her life rests in trusting a stranger who has come into her world—a man whose generosity and kindness does not appear to come with strings attached, much to Rain's amazement. But just as she opens her heart to a promising new future, her past comes back to haunt her—and Rain is pulled into a furious whirlpool of bitterness and heartache.
Falling Stars (Shooting Stars)
by V.C. AndrewsAll The World's A Stage -- but What If The Play Doesn't Go As Planned? Four talented girls from vastly different pasts share a dream of stardom: Cinnamon, the edgy actress; Ice, the phenomenal vocalist; Rose, the beautiful dancer; and Honey, the first-rate violinist. The four meet at the prestigious Senetsky School of the Performing Arts -- housed in an ornate New York City mansion -- and become instant friends as they take off on a dazzling whirlwind of intense classes, theater outings, and celebrity-studded parties. And together they bend the strict house rules of Madame Senetsky, a famous actress who guarantees success for students under her tutelage. But they soon realize this is no ordinary school. Madame Senetsky pushes the girls' studies beyond reason. She controls their social lives. And they get the strange feeling someone is watching them. But who...and why? Cinnamon, Ice, Rose, and Honey set out to untangle a shadowy web of Senetsky family secrets. As they explore dark corners and hidden rooms, every creak and moan of the old mansion tells a story too frightening to repeat. A devastating story that can destroy their dreams...