This timely study examines the forces at play in one of the world's most explosive nations, helping readers understand why Syria's popular uprising has been the most violent and hard-fought in the Middle East. In this insightful work, a noted expert goes behind the headlines to examine the complexities of Syrian politics and their impact on the modern world. Beginning with an overview of political and economic change after 1963 when the Ba'th Party came to power, the book focuses on developments in Syria since Bashar al-Assad assumed the presidency in 2000. It probes the evolution of the Islamist opposition and the course of the popular uprising that broke out in 2011 and explores Syria's multilayered relations with Israel, Turkey, Iran, Russia, and the United States. Readers will learn why rebellion in Syria has taken a much different path than movements that overturned autocratic regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen. They will also come away with a more nuanced understanding of the pivotal role Syria plays in both the Arab-Israeli conflict and inter-Arab relations, as well as the confluence of domestic challenges and foreign threats that make Syria the most vulnerable state in the contemporary Middle East.

This new book establishes a comprehensive framework for network security design, unifying the many concepts and aspects of network security and enabling all users to employ a common security foundation. It is presented from the perspective of fundamental principles underlying networking, network control algorithms and security. Using an accessible style and careful explanations, the principles and methodology address design concepts for current and future security concerns for networks. "Principles of Secure Network Systems Design" presents the topic in three basic parts. Part one covers the basic background of network security and the current scope for security in all types of networks and organizations. Part two focuses on the essential nature of network security and a scientific methodology for secure network design. Lastly, part three discusses concrete applications of the design concepts with real world networks, using three comprehensive case studies oriented around ATM networks. Topics and Features: * Holistic view of network security design, going beyond cryptographic issues * Comprehensive framework for a scientific basis of network security design * Integrated view of network security with networks¿ operational and management processes * Extensive case study through modeling & large-scale distributed simulation of ATM network * New approach to both security attack detection and strengthening networks against security attacks and vulnerabilities The book is an essential and practical resource for all professionals, policy makers, practitioners, and advanced students in networking, information systems, computer engineering & science, communications engineering, network design, and security consultants seeking a comprehensive framework for secure network systems design. It is also suitable for self-study purposes by professionals, as well as for advanced course use in network security.

This study provides an overview of trends on Bahrain islands and of the social and historical context from which they have emerged. It is intended as an introduction to Bahraini affairs for the general reader and thus makes use of the existing literature wherever possible.

The 2000 Mexican presidential race culminated in the election of opposition candidate Vicente Fox and the end of seven decades of one-party rule. This book, which traces changes in public opinion and voter preferences over the course of the race, represents the most comprehensive treatment of campaigning and voting behavior in an emerging democracy. It challenges the "modest effects" paradigm of national election campaigns that has dominated scholarly research in the field. Chapters cover authoritarian mobilization of voters, turnout patterns, electoral cleavages, party strategies, television news coverage, candidate debates, negative campaigning, strategic voting, issue-based voting, and the role of the 2000 election in Mexico's political transition. Theoretically-oriented introductory and concluding chapters situate Mexico's 2000 election in the larger context of Mexican politics and of cross-national research on campaigns. Collectively, these contributions provide crucial insights into Mexico's new politics, with important implications for elections in other countries.

Countries at the Crossroads is an annual survey of government performance in 30 key countries worldwide that are at a critical crossroads in determining their political future. Crossroads provides a unique comparative tool for assessing government performance in the areas of accountability and public voice, civil liberties, rule of law, and anticorruption and transparency. The countries evaluated in Crossroads represent a range of governments: traditional or constitutional monarchies, one-party states or outright dictatorships, failed states, states where reforms have stalled or lagged behind, and states that suffer from insurgencies. The survey provides a comparative, in-depth assessment of democratic governance intended to help government officials, scholars, educators, nongovernmental organizations, and the media identify areas of progress and highlight points of concern. For the international community, the survey helps target diplomatic efforts and reform assistance. The narratives and scores clearly highlight the problems and successes of each government, and separate recommendations sections prioritize the steps that should be taken by the countries in question to remedy deficiencies in governance.

The Mississippi Freedom Vote in 1963 consisted of an integrated citizens' campaign for civil rights. With candidates Aaron Henry, a black pharmacist from Clarksdale for governor, and Reverend Edwin King, a college chaplain from Vicksburg for lieutenant governor, the Freedom Vote ran a platform aimed at obtaining votes, justice, jobs, and education for blacks in the Magnolia State. Through speeches, photographs, media coverage, and campaign materials, William H. Lawson examines the rhetoric and methods of the Mississippi Freedom Vote. Lawson looks at the vote itself rather than the already much-studied events surrounding it, an emphasis new in scholarship. Even though the actual campaign was carried out from October 13 to November 4, the Freedom Vote's impact far transcended those few weeks in the fall. Campaign manager Bob Moses rightly calls the Freedom Vote ""one of the most unique voting campaigns in American history."" Lawson demonstrates that the Freedom Vote remains a key moment in the history of civil rights in Mississippi, one that grew out of a rich tradition of protest and direct action. Though the campaign is overshadowed by other major events in the arc of the civil rights movement, Lawson regards the Mississippi Freedom Vote as an early and crucial exercise of citizenship in a lineage of racial protest during the 1960s. While more attention has been paid to the March on Washington and the protests in Birmingham or to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Freedom Summer murders, this book yields a long-overdue, in-depth analysis of this crucial movement.

This monograph is concerned with individual, though related, aspects and economic implications of historic cost (HC) accounting indices. The conceptual basis of the model that is advocated as a yardstick for assessing such implications, including potential corporate financial policy consequences, namely, a multiperiod cash flow-market value (CF-MV) model, is elaborated and evaluated at some length.

Countries at the Crossroads is an annual survey of government performance in 30 key countries worldwide that are at a critical crossroads in determining their political future. Crossroads provides a unique comparative tool for assessing government performance in the areas of accountability and public voice, civil liberties, rule of law, and anticorruption and transparency. The countries evaluated in Crossroads represent a range of governments: traditional or constitutional monarchies, one-party states or outright dictatorships, failed states, states where reforms have stalled or lagged behind, and states that suffer from insurgencies. The survey provides a comparative, in-depth assessment of democratic governance intended to help government officials, scholars, educators, nongovernmental organizations, and the media identify areas of progress and highlight points of concern. For the international community, the survey helps target diplomatic efforts and reform assistance. The narratives and scores clearly highlight the problems and successes of each government, and separate recommendations sections prioritize the steps that should be taken by the countries in question to remedy deficiencies in governance.

This monograph is concerned with individual, though related, aspects and economic implications of historic cost (HC) accounting indices. The conceptual basis of the model that is advocated as a yardstick for assessing such implications, including potential corporate financial policy consequences, namely, a multiperiod cash flow-market value (CF-MV) model, is elaborated and evaluated at some length.

A fundamental and comprehensive framework for network security designed for military, government, industry, and academic network personnel. Scientific validation of "security on demand" through computer modeling and simulation methods. The book presents an example wherein the framework is utilized to integrate security into the operation of a network. As a result of the integration, the inherent attributes of the network may be exploited to reduce the impact of security on network performance and the security availability may be increased down to the user level. The example selected is the ATM network which is gaining widespread acceptance and use.

This second volume of Austrian Folk Plays gives further evidence of the popularity of this form among contemporary writers. In the late nineteenth century the folk play had fallen into disrepute as trivial literature but in the 1920 it began to be restored to prominence and after World War II writers rediscovered the form and believed that it was ideally suited to treat contemporary social problems.

The 2000 Mexican presidential race culminated in the election of opposition candidate Vicente Fox and the end of seven decades of one-party rule. This book, which traces changes in public opinion and voter preferences over the course of the race, represents the most comprehensive treatment of campaigning and voting behavior in an emerging democracy. It challenges the "modest effects" paradigm of national election campaigns that has dominated scholarly research in the field. Chapters cover authoritarian mobilization of voters, turnout patterns, electoral cleavages, party strategies, television news coverage, candidate debates, negative campaigning, strategic voting, issue-based voting, and the role of the 2000 election in Mexico's political transition. Theoretically-oriented introductory and concluding chapters situate Mexico's 2000 election in the larger context of Mexican politics and of cross-national research on campaigns. Collectively, these contributions provide crucial insights into Mexico's new politics, with important implications for elections in other countries.

"Lawson's book salvages the study of the inter-Arab political system from the Middle Eastern ghetto to which it has often been relegated and reintegrates it into a global framework. This work not only strikes another blow against the notion of Middle East exceptionalism, it does so within an interdisciplinary framework that should appeal to both political scientists and historians."--James L. Gelvin, University of California, Los Angeles
"Students of international politics generally throw up their hands at 'exotic' regions like the Middle East. Lawson's fine treatment reveals that standard explanations for the emergence of the state system there are too simple but that the puzzle will yield to careful theorizing and meticulous research. He shows that areas outside of Europe and the United States need not be off-limits to social science, but do need to be approached with deep understanding of the histories and societies involved."--Robert Jervis, Columbia University

Part of the "What Do I Do Now?" series, Peripheral Nerve and Muscle Disease uses a case-based approach to cover common and important topics in the diagnosis and treatment of neuromuscular disorders. Each chapter provides an overview of the approach to the problem in question followed by a discussion of the diagnosis, key points to remember, and selected references for further reading. In this edition, new cases include: Lambert-Eaton Syndrome, Botulism, Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy, and Small Fiber Neuropathy Associated with Fibromyalgia. Peripheral Nerve and Muscle Disease is an engaging collection of thought-provoking cases which clinicians can utilize when they encounter difficult patients on the ward or in the clinic. The volume is also a self-assessment tool that tests the reader's ability to answer the question, "What do I do now?"

Regionalism has regained momentum in the post-Cold War era. New economic groupings continue to spring up across the globe, while older regional organizations have strengthened their institutional bases and broadened their scope. Explaining the reinvigoration of regionalism requires comparative analyses that not only highlight the commonalities that characterize various regional experiments but also account for the differential outcomes and divergent trajectories such projects exhibit. This collection of seminal articles on regionalism advances theoretical concepts that can stimulate useful comparisons, along with scholarly surveys of important instances of regionalism in the contemporary world. Besides classic studies of the European Union, the volume includes authoritative overviews and case studies of regionalist projects in East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Central Eurasia. An introductory essay situates these articles in the context of the five decade-long research program on regional integration theory.

In 2012, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)--which had governed Mexico with an iron grip for 71 years before being ousted in 2000--was surprisingly returned to power. In "Mexico's Evolving Democracy, "a team of distinguished political scientists delivers an exceptional analysis of the remarkable 2012 Mexican elections. Extending the scholarship that the editors generated in their panel studies of the 2000 and 2006 elections, the book assesses all three elections from both traditional and nontraditional vantage points, seeking fuller answers to the lingering question of why this maturing democracy returned the party associated with Mexico's old regime to office.

To evaluate the PRI's rehabilitation and eventual electoral success, the authors explore Mexico's electoral institutions, parties, candidates, campaign strategies, public opinion surveys, and media coverage. They also delve into issues of clientelism, corruption, drugs, violence, and the rise of new protest movements in the run-up to and aftermath of the elections.

Not only does the book provide rich detail for Latin American electoral and democratization scholars, but its coherent narrative will also appeal to those unfamiliar with Mexican politics. Parts one and two offer an excellent recap of the "state of play" in 2012; part three analyzes why Mexicans voted as they did; and part four considers the election's implications for Mexico's political system more broadly.

Following the popular uprisings that swept across the Arab world beginning in 2010, armed forces remained pivotal actors in politics throughout the region. As demonstrators started to challenge entrenched autocratic rulers in Tunis, Cairo, Sana'a, and Manama, the militaries stormed back into the limelight and largely determined whether any given ruler survived the protests. In Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, senior officers pulled away from their presidents, while in Algeria, Bahrain, and Syria, they did not. More important, military officers took command in shaping the new order and conflict trajectories throughout that region. Armies and Insurgencies in the Arab Spring explores the central problems surrounding the role of armed forces in the contemporary Arab world. How and why do military apparatuses actively intervene in politics? What explains the fact that in some countries, military officers and rank-and-file take steps to defend an incumbent, while in others they defect and refrain from suppressing popular protest? What are the institutional legacies of the military's engagement during, and in the immediate aftermath of, mass uprisings? Focusing on these questions, editors Holger Albrecht, Aurel Croissant, and Fred H. Lawson have organized Armies and Insurgencies in the Arab Spring into three sections. The first employs case studies to make comparisons within and between regions; the second examines military engagements in the Arab uprisings in Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria; and the third looks at political developments following the cresting of the protest wave in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and the Gulf. The collection promotes better understanding not only of the particular history of military engagement in the Arab Spring but also of significant aspects of the transformation of political-military relations in other regions of the contemporary world. Contributors: Holger Albrecht, Risa A. Brooks, Cherine Chams El-Dine, Virginie Collombier, Aurel Croissant, Philippe Droz-Vincent, Kevin Koehler, Fred H. Lawson, Shana Marshall, Dorothy Ohl, David Pion-Berlin, Tobias Selge, Robert Springborg.

Selling products or services is difficult for many people, especially for those with a limited sales background. Learn the valuable tips and skills you need to use the power of words to increase your sales. Just by writing great "copy" your profits can multiply, leaving you with customers that are hungry for what you have to offer them

First translation into English of the medieval German Leben der Graefen Iolanda, making it accessible to a wider audience. Brother Hermann was a cleric in the region of Luxembourg in the last quarter of the thirteenth century; evidence from his Life of the Countess Yolanda suggests that he was a Dominican with, perhaps surprisingly, knowledge of the Middle High German courtly epic and the poetry of other contemporaries such as Walther von der Vogelweide. The Life, written shortly after Yolanda's death in 1283, concentrates on her struggle from childhood to free herself from secular society, principally by avoiding a contracted marriage, and to enter the cloister of Marienthal, of which she became Prioress. Although Brother Hermann's epic is hagiographic in tone, the fact that he wrote itin German, not based on a Latin vita suggests that he did not regard Yolanda as a candidate for sainthood; his heroine's attempts to find fulfillment have a strong contemporary resonance. Professor Lawson's translation, thefirst ever into English prose, makes this work accessible to a more general readership.

Rejecting conventional explanations for Syrian foreign policy, which emphasize the personalities and attitudes of leaders, cultural factors peculiar to Arab societies, or the machinations of the great powers, Fred H. Lawson describes key shifts in Damascus's response to regional adversaries in terms of changes in the intensity of political struggles at home. Periodic eruptions of domestic conflict have inspired Syria's ruling coalition to adopt a wide range of programs designed to buy off domestic rivals and perpetuate the predominance of individual coalition members. These programs have undermined the unity of the Ba'thi regime, increasing the chances that opponents will overturn the established order. Challenges to the Ba'thi regime become most threatening whenever crises of accumulation shake the domestic political economy, Lawson contends. Opposition forces gain strength when the state cannot sustain new investment or when competition increases between public and private enterprises. Political and economic trends inside Syria have determined why Damascus has since 1963 alternately escalated tensions with regional rivals and adopted more accommodating postures. Lawson traces this dynamic through five major episodes: the 1967 war with Israel; limited intervention in Jordan in 1970; the widening conflict in Lebanon in 1976; the defusing of conflict with Iraq in 1982; and the rapprochement with Turkey over Kurdish separatism in 1994. These patterns, Lawson suggests, may be characteristic of nations changing from one domestic economic system to a radically different one, as Syria has in the transition from state socialism to a privatized political economy.

The Mississippi Freedom Vote in 1963 consisted of an integrated citizens' campaign for civil rights. With candidates Aaron Henry, a black pharmacist from Clarksdale for governor, and Reverend Edwin King, a college chaplain from Vicksburg for lieutenant governor, the Freedom Vote ran a platform aimed at obtaining votes, justice, jobs, and education for blacks in the Magnolia State. Through speeches, photographs, media coverage, and campaign materials, William H. Lawson examines the rhetoric and methods of the Mississippi Freedom Vote. Lawson looks at the vote itself rather than the already much-studied events surrounding it, an emphasis new in scholarship. Even though the actual campaign was carried out from October 13 to November 4, the Freedom Vote's impact far transcended those few weeks in the fall. Campaign manager Bob Moses rightly calls the Freedom Vote ""one of the most unique voting campaigns in American history."" Lawson demonstrates that the Freedom Vote remains a key moment in the history of civil rights in Mississippi, one that grew out of a rich tradition of protest and direct action. Though the campaign is overshadowed by other major events in the arc of the civil rights movement, Lawson regards the Mississippi Freedom Vote as an early and crucial exercise of citizenship in a lineage of racial protest during the 1960s. While more attention has been paid to the March on Washington and the protests in Birmingham or to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Freedom Summer murders, this book yields a long-overdue, in-depth analysis of this crucial movement.

Hartmann von Aue (c. 1170-1215) is universally recognized as the first medieval German poet to create world-class literature. He crafted German into a language of refined literary expression that paved the way for writers such as Gottfried von Strassburg, Walther von der Vogelweide, and Wolfram von Eschenbach. This volume presents the English reader for the first time with the complete works of Hartmann in readable, idiomatic English.

Hartmann's literary efforts cover all the major genres and themes of medieval courtly literature. His Arthurian romances, Erec and Iwein, which he modeled after Chretien de Troyes, introduced the Arthurian world to German audiences and set the standard for later German writers. His lyric poetry treats many aspects of courtly love, including fine examples of the crusading song. His dialogue on love delineates the theory of courtly relationships between the sexes and the quandary the lover experiences. His verse novellas Gregorius and Poor Heinrich transcend the world of mere human dimensions and examine the place and duties of the human in the divine scheme of things. Longfellow would later use Poor Heinrich in his Golden Legend.

Arthurian Romances, Tales, and Lyric Poetry is a major work destined to place Hartmann at the center of medieval courtly literature for English readers.

In 2006, Felipe Calderon narrowly defeated Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico's hotly contested presidential election. Mexico's 2006 presidential race demonstrated the importance of contested elections in democratic consolidation. "Consolidating Mexico's Democracy" is at once a close examination of this historic election and an original contribution to the comparative study of elections throughout the world.

The contributors to this volume--preeminent scholars from the fields of political science and government--make use of extensive research data to analyze the larger issues and voter practices at play in this election. With their exclusive use of panel surveys--where individuals are interviewed repeatedly to ascertain whether they have changed their voter preference during an election campaign--the contributors gather rich evidence that uniquely informs their assessment of the impact of the presidential campaign and the voting views of Mexican citizens.

The contributors find that, regardless of the deep polarization between the presidential candidates, the voters expressed balanced and nuanced political views, focusing on the perceived competence of the candidates. The essays here suggest the 2006 election, which was only the second fully free and competitive presidential election allowed by the Mexican government, edged the country closer to the pattern of public opinion and voting behavior that is familiar in well-established democracies in North America and Western Europe.