In 2013, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey stated that the world is “more dangerous than it has ever been.” Is this accurate? Do we live in a world that is uniquely dangerous? Is it possible that the many threats and dangers promoted by policymakers and the media are exaggerated or overblown? In this timely edited volume, experts on international security assess – and put into context – the supposed dangers to American security. The authors examine the most frequently referenced threats, including wars between nations and civil wars within nations, and discuss the impact of rising nations, weapons proliferation, general unrest, terrorism, transnational crime, and state failures.

Central Europe may be perceived as a homogeneous subunit: a geographic locale that shares similar cultural traits, common histories, and a linked troubled past, and one that has embarked on a joint process of European integration in the past three decades. A closer look reveals that there are significant differences hidden in the cracks and the states of Central Europe exhibit large variety in two key elements that makes regional cooperation uniquely challenging: their strategic cultures and their relations toward Russia. Two major factors determine a state’s foreign policy and international ambition – its perception of the security environment and the capabilities it possesses. Policy experts provide an overview of how these two factors, and by extension state-level foreign policies, have varied in the post-Cold War era, up until 2019. The contributing authors in this volume take a deep dive into nine Central and Eastern European states’ policies: Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine. The assessments provided in this book attempt to deconstruct the monolithic regional-level approach through the methodical study of the states of the region. This approach will be particularly useful for scholars and interested individuals who want to understand why and how individual Central European states participate in NATO and EU security and defence initiatives and policies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Defense & Security Analysis.

This book offers a multidisciplinary perspective on perceived safety. It discusses the concept of safety from engineering, philosophy, and psychology angles, and considers various definitions of safety and its relationship to risk. Examining the categorization of safety and the measurement of risk, risk cultures, basic human needs and decision-making under uncertainty, the contributions demonstrate the practical implications and applications in areas such as health behavior, aviation and sports. Topics covered include: What is “safety” and is there “optimal safety” in engineering? Philosophical perspectives on safety and risk Psychological perspectives on perceived safety: social factors of feeling safe Psychological perspectives on perceived safety: zero-risk bias, feelings & learned carelessness Perception of aviation safety Intended for both practitioners and academic researchers, this book appeals to anyone interested in decision-making and the perception and establishment of safety.

Winner of the 2019 Edgar S. Furniss Book Award from the Mershon Center for International Security How do people make sense of distant but disturbing international events? Why are some representations more appealing than others? What do they mean for the perceiver’s own sense of self? Going beyond conventional analysis of political perception and imagining at the level of accuracy, this book reveals how self-conceptions are unconsciously, but centrally present in our judgments and representations of international crises.Combining international relations and psychosocial studies, Dmitry Chernobrov shows how the imagining of international politics is shaped by the need for positive and continuous societal self-concepts. The book captures evidence of self-affirming political imagining in how the general public in the West and in Russia understood the Arab uprisings (also known as the Arab Spring) and makes an argument both about and beyond this particular case. The book will appeal to those interested in international crises, political psychology, media and audiences, perception and political imagining, ontological security, identity and emotion, and collective memory.

The international tourism industry has seen increased growth in the past few years as millions of individuals continue to travel worldwide. As one of the world’s largest economic sectors, creating jobs, driving exports, and generating prosperity worldwide, hospitality and tourism management needs to continually be explored in order to update best business models and practice. Strategic Business Models to Support Demand, Supply, and Destination Management in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry is an essential reference source that emphasizes emergent and innovative aspects and new challenges and issues within the industry with a particular focus on demand, supply, and destination management. Featuring research on topics such as circular economy, consumer behavior, and social networking, this book is ideally designed for business professionals, executives, hotel managers, event coordinators, restaurateurs, travel agents, tour directors, policymakers, government officials, industry professionals, researchers, students, and academicians.

Since its original publication in 1976, Perception and Misperception in International Politics has become a landmark book in its field, hailed by the New York Times as "the seminal statement of principles underlying political psychology." This new edition includes an extensive preface by the author reflecting on the book's lasting impact and legacy, particularly in the application of cognitive psychology to political decision making, and brings that analysis up to date by discussing the relevant psychological research over the past forty years. Jervis describes the process of perception (for example, how decision makers learn from history) and then explores common forms of misperception (such as overestimating one's influence). He then tests his ideas through a number of important events in international relations from nineteenth- and twentieth-century European history. Perception and Misperception in International Politics is essential for understanding international relations today.

This edited collection highlights the different meanings that have been attached to the notion of energy security and how it is taken to refer to different objects. Official policy definitions of energy security are broadly similar across countries and emphasize the reliability and affordability of access to sufficient energy resources for a community to uphold its normal economic and social functions. However, perceptions of energy security vary between states causing different actions to be taken, both in international relations and in domestic politics. Energy Security in Europe moves the policy debates on energy security beyond a consideration of its seemingly objective nature. It also provides a series of contributions that shed light on the conditions under which similar material factors are met with very different energy security policies and divergent discourses across Europe. Furthermore, it problematizes established notions prevalent in energy security studies, such as whether energy security is ‘geopolitical’, and an element of high politics, or purely ‘economic’, and should be left for the markets to regulate. This book will be of particular relevance to students and academics in the fields of energy studies and political science seeking to understand the divergence in perspectives and understandings of energy security challenges between EU member states and in multilateral relationships between the EU as a whole.