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GCSP's e-Newsletter
Issue No. 11, 18 September 2014
DISCOVER
15th Swiss Peacebuilding Training Course
Where peacebuilders meet and learn
Every year since 2001, for two weeks, 25 to 30 peacebuilding professionals from around the world converge to the small town of Stans, in the heart of Switzerland, to follow the GCSP co-organised Swiss Peacebuilding Training Course. This year, the participants came from a variety of backgrounds, including journalism in Syria, the protection of civilians in Haiti, the Colombian navy, the United Nations Development Programme in Madagascar, the OSCE in Macedonia and forensics in peacekeeping missions.
REFLECT
President Barack Obama greets Premier Wen Jiabao, United Nations, N.Y.,  23 Sept. 2010 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Confrontation, Competition or Cooperation? Experts' Insights on the Relations between China, the US and the EU
What does the future hold for the relations between the three major powers? Our Asia-Pacific in-house expert Alain Guidetti recently conducted interviews with three prominent researchers from each of the three regions. The result is a well-rounded and in-depth picture of the forces and dynamics at play.
SHARE
Portrait of Dr Nayef Al-Rodhan
Nayef Al-Rodhan Among 30 Most Influential Neuroscientists Alive Today
GCSP's Dr Nayef Al-Rodhan, Director of the Centre for the Geopolitics of Globalization and Transnational Security, was recently named among the 30 Most Influential Neuroscientists Alive Today. "I am very pleased to be included in such distinguished company" Dr Al-Rodhan declared. "I feel gratified that my recent applied work on the relationship between neuroscience and international relations and its importance to global security is being recognized."
ACT
Web editorial by Ambassador Christian Dussey: Learning from history with a humble and curious mind
A hundred years ago, the world witnessed the first battles of the Great War. Today, as the world faces a series of crises and conflicts, we can reflect again on what can be learned from the fateful months of August and September 1914. GCSP Director Christian Dussey gives us some pointers (read his full commentary):   
  • Humility in command is a significant asset. Leadership, civil and military, requires walking the thin line between a confident ego and an arrogant posture.
  • In crisis as in conflict, misunderstanding and misinterpretation are common occurrences.
  • In wartime as in time of intense crisis, the relationship between civil and military leadership is regularly fraught with tensions and sometimes conflict.
  • If we don't understand decision-making (ours, the one of our partners and adversaries), how do we expect to influence it?
  • Analysis of military misfortunes reveals that learning, anticipating and adapting have been essential in avoiding disasters.