This book brings together eleven contributions by authors from all parts of the world who have examined the notion of responsibility in their respective countries. In the first part Edith Sizoo presents a comparative analysis of those texts which reflect a rich variety of worldviews and traditions: harmony with the earth and relational ethics in the Maori culture of New Zealand, juridical approach in France, responsibility in Confucian thinking in China, individualism in the face of collective duty in the United States, duty and responsibility on the shores of the Congo, responsibility in Arab Islamic culture, encountering the sense of responsibility in Germany... This book thus presents an intercultural vision of responsibility that is all the more interesting because the final texts are the outcome of an intense dialogue between the authors. This exchange enhanced a more explicit expression of their respective points of view, thus making these more accessible to people from other cultural backgrounds.

This volume explores in a novel and challenging way the emerging norm of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), initially adopted by the United Nations World Summit in 2005 following significant debate throughout the preceding decade. This work seeks to uncover whether this norm and its founding values have resonance and grounding within diverse cultures and within the experiences of societies that have directly been torn apart by mass atrocity crimes. The contributors to this collection analyze the responsibility to protect through multiple disciplines—philosophy, religion and spirituality, anthropology, and aesthetics in addition to international relations and law—to explore what light alternative perspectives outside of political science and international relations shed upon this emerging norm. In each case, the disciplinary analysis emanates from the global South and from scholars located within countries that experienced violent political upheaval. Hence, they draw upon not only theory but also the first-hand experience with conscience-shocking crimes. Their retrospective and prospective analyses could and should help shape the future implementation of R2P in accordance with insights from vastly different contexts. Offering a cutting edge contribution to thinking in the area, this is essential reading for all those with an interest in humanitarian intervention, peace and conflict studies, critical security studies and peacebuilding.

The rise or resurgence of revisionist, repressive and authoritarian powers threatens the Western, US-led international order upon which Germany’s post-war security and prosperity were founded. With Washington increasingly focused on China’s rise in Asia, Europe must be able to defend itself against Russia, and will depend upon German military capabilities to do so. Years of neglect and structural underfunding, however, have hollowed out Germany’s armed forces. Much of the political leadership in Berlin has not yet adjusted to new realities or appreciated the urgency with which it needs to do so. Bastian Giegerich and Maximilian Terhalle argue that Germany’s current strategic culture is inadequate. It informs a security policy that fails to meet contemporary strategic challenges, thereby endangering Berlin’s European allies, the Western order and Germany itself. They contend that: Germany should embrace its historic responsibility to defend Western liberal values and the Western order that upholds them. Rather than rejecting the use of military force, Germany should wed its commitment to liberal values to an understanding of the role of power – including military power – in international affairs. The authors show why Germany should seek to foster a strategic culture that would be compatible with those of other leading Western nations and allow Germans to perceive the world through a strategic lens. In doing so, they also outline possible elements of a new security policy.

Named by The Washington Post as one of the 11 Leadership Books to Read in 2018 When it comes to recruiting, motivating, and creating great teams, Patty McCord says most companies have it all wrong. McCord helped create the unique and high-performing culture at Netflix, where she was chief talent officer. In her new book, Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, she shares what she learned there and elsewhere in Silicon Valley. McCord advocates practicing radical honesty in the workplace, saying good-bye to employees who don’t fit the company’s emerging needs, and motivating with challenging work, not promises, perks, and bonus plans. McCord argues that the old standbys of corporate HR—annual performance reviews, retention plans, employee empowerment and engagement programs—often end up being a colossal waste of time and resources. Her road-tested advice, offered with humor and irreverence, provides readers a different path for creating a culture of high performance and profitability. Powerful will change how you think about work and the way a business should be run.

Clean, fresh drinking water is essential to human and animal life. It’s equally important to the world economy: it functions as a universal solvent, makes possible industrial cooling and transportation, and is necessary for all kinds of agriculture. Antoine Frérot, CEO of Veolia Water, takes us on a tour of the world’s waters, of our water. Lack of clean water kills 2.2 million people every year, and nearly 1 billion people do not have reliable access to clean drinking water. Using examples that transform theory into close-to-home reality, Frérot issues a serious challenge while showing us how to ensure that all the fast-growing cities of Asia, Africa, and Latin America have enough water. He considers how climate change will cause water shortages and explains what we can do now to prevent them. We have the political, economic, and scientific means to ensure the future of water on earth: we need only the will to take action.

Is corporate investing in the arts and culture within communities good business? Written by an expert on the topic who ran the Corporate Art Program at Johnson & Johnson, the book sets out the case for business patronage of the arts and culture and demonstrates how to build an effective program for businesses to follow. As companies seek new ways to add value to society, this book places business support of the arts in a corporate social responsibility context and offers a new concept: Corporate Cultural Responsibility. It discusses the issues underlying business support of the arts and explores new avenues of collaboration and value creation. The framework presented in the book serves as a guide for identifying the key attributes and projected impact of successful and sustainable models. Unlike other books centered on the relationship of art and commerce, this book looks at the broader and global implications of Corporate Cultural Responsibility. It also usefully sets the discussion about the role of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility and the arts within an historical timeframe. As the first book to link culture to community responsibility, the book will be of particular relevance to corporate art advisors and auction houses, as well as students of arts management and corporate social responsibility at advanced undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The aim of this book is to reflect on the complex practice of responsibility within the context of a globalised world and contemporary means of action. Levinas' exploration of the ethical serves as point of entry and is shown to be seeking inter-cultural political relevance through engagement with the issues of postcoloniality and humanism. Yet, Levinas fails to realise the ethical implications of the inevitable instrumental mediation between ethical meaning and political practice. With recourse to Weber, Apel and Ricoeur, Ernst Wolff proposes a theory of strategic co-responsibility for the uncertain global context of practice.