L'estate di sei amici inseparabili. Simeone e una tragedia impensabile che sconvolgerà l'equilibrio di tutti: la morte di Claudio. La decisione di fare una seduta spiritica è l'inizio della fine, catapultati in una realtà dominata da presenze e spiriti che non trovano pace porterà i ragazzi all'incontro con la fede. Padre Bernardo sfiderà delle forze incontrollabili sino all'ultimo colpo, ma niente sarà più come prima...

Un'antica leggenda racconta la storia dell'ultimo drago a cui fu strappato il cuore per farne una spada. Secondo la profezia, chi riuscirà a riunire i tre elementi che compongono l'arma, la lama, il fodero e il rubino incastonato nell'elsa, diventerà invincibile. Oppure verrà trascinato nella follia. Il drago inizia a mostrarsi in sogno a molti, reclamando la sua libertà e risvegliando istinti di potere o di giustizia in chiunque senta il suo richiamo. Tutti coloro che la cercano rincorrono un sogno. Ma la Spada della leggenda potrebbe non essere affatto quello che si aspettano. 'La creatura non era buona né malvagia. Semplicemente, era un drago. E voleva essere libero.'

This books assesses the opportunities for the normative and practical advancement of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Latin America.

The volume identifies the points of resistance and potential obstacles to the advancement of R2P in Latin America, a region often overlooked in this context but which has considerable potential to advance the R2P cause. This is both on account of the progress that human rights have made on the continent since the 1980s, and of the experience there of the crimes envisaged by the R2P norm.

The book is divided into two sections. The first part offers a detailed study of the evolution of views and attitudes towards the R2P in eight different country cases. Individual chapters provide an analysis of the way in which the debate on humanitarian intervention and the R2P evolved in the period between NATO’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999, and the endorsement of the R2P in paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 Summit Outcome Document. These analyses, together with the statements delivered by different delegations in the 2009 R2P debate in the General Assembly provide the basis for a more thorough diagnosis of the movement of each country along a spectrum whose most noticeable aspect has been the movement of formerly neutral states towards more active support. Although the group of countries considered in this study does not include declared 'spoilers', the evolution of the positions of both Brazil, and most notably Bolivia, offers substantial evidence of the opportunities for normative advancement. Each case-study offers a brief overview of the main variables and factors that account for the country’s position towards R2P. The study thus begins by tracing each country’s record in human rights norms. This brief historical account of the role played by each country in both the regional and international human rights regimes provides the background for the in-depth analysis of a rich variety of trajectories.

This book will be of much interest to students of the Responsibility to Protect, Latin American politics, international law, human rights, IR and security studies.

Sono combattive, passionali, vulnerabili, vendicatrici, materne; in una parola: donne. Donne sospese tra passato e futuro in affascinanti sequenze spazio temporali, le resilienti protagoniste di 'Lei', brevi e profondi ritratti di figure femminili provenienti da tutti i mondi possibili. Ci sono il fantasy classico e la fantascienza, vicende ambientate sulla Terra, su altri pianeti o in mondi alternativi, squarci sul fantastico, incursioni nelle favole, ghost stories, suggestioni prese in prestito da opere d'arte o echi di accadimenti storici. Leggendo oltre le righe, si scoprono metafore sottili nei racconti di Monica Serra. Il fantastico rimane la cornice che delimita queste storie originali ambientate in 'altri mondi' che, spesso, di simile al nostro hanno solo i sentimenti.

Quattro racconti, quattro brividi lungo la schiena. Immergetevi nei tetri meandri di Yôkai, tra le nebbie di questi luoghi oscuri. Lasciatevi trasportare in questo viaggio tra le caligini della mente. Il giardino dei bambini storti: un'intensa fiaba dark, ispirata dalla creatura del folclore giapponese Yuki-onna, la donna delle nevi. È un meta racconto, in cui la narrazione si intreccia su se stessa e avvolge il lettore con le sue spire senza tempo, proiettandolo in un groviglio di storie sul cui sfondo si muovono bambini che sono come ricordi, promesse tradite, treni che non tornano più e lacrime che si perdono nelle tempeste. L'amore dona la vita, ma l'amore tradito non muore mai. E nel giardino dei bambini storti, quando arriva l'inverno, la signora delle nevi vi racconterà la sua storia di dolore. La casa nasconde ma non ruba: l'orrore può celarsi nelle situazioni più normali, nei luoghi più confortevoli e, a prima vista, sicuri. Può trovarsi in uno sguardo innocente, in uno scricchiolio costante, in un oggetto fuoriposto, in una scelta sbagliata. La giovane Indra, accettando di fare un favore ad un'amica, non avrebbe mai immaginato di trovarsi faccia a faccia con un orrore antico e ben radicato tra i muri di una casa da sogno. Demone, mangia i miei sogni: lo scontro fra i signori della guerra che insanguina le pianure giunge fino alla Dorsale. Yuki, sopravvissuta alla distruzione del suo villaggio, viene salvata dal potente Mori Okami che la porta via con sé per darle una nuova vita. Riuscirà il demone a cui la ragazza è stata affidata a proteggere il suo sonno dalle i

The responsibility to protect (R2P) is at a crossroads, the latest in a journey that is only ten years old. This book present debates on the prevention of mass atrocities to R2P’s normative prospects.

The book addresses key questions as a way to inform and drive on-going conversations about R2P. Moving beyond well-rehearsed debates about the tensions and meanings around sovereignty in R2P practice, the book focuses on advancing the credibility of the preventive dimensions of R2P, whilst simultaneously examining the extent of R2P’s current value-added in state decision making—especially for the 2011 actions in Libya and Côte d’Ivoire.

Questions addressed include:

• Did the R2P framework of the 2005 World Summit Declaration intend to mould sovereignty, and if so how?
• Can R2P break or revert cycles of violence?
• How can one determine the appropriate duration and timing of the preventive and protective phases of R2P?
• Who/what should be the targets of preventive action, and how does this have an impact on R2P diplomacy?
• Under which conditions are particular policy tools likely to be effective?
• Which state and regional actors are best suited to using these tools?
• What are the barriers to successful preventive action—how can they be overcome?
• What capacities need to be built (at the national, regional, and international levels) in order to operationalize R2P’s preventive agenda?

Examining a wide range of countries, this work will be essential reading for students and scholars of international human rights, international organizations, peacekeeping and conflict resolution.

Built in the early 1980s, Detroit's People Mover is an elevated 2.9-mile automated mass transit system that loops around the downtown area of the city making stops at thirteen stations. When the city government first announced the project it sparked considerable controversy. The People Mover was viewed in some quarters as 'a train going nowhere' - an expensive trip the city could ill afford. But where some people saw problems, others saw opportunity.
In the original plan, the stations of the People Mover were to be utilitarian, containing little more than a few benches and turnstiles. Irene Walt had another vision. A long-time advocate of art in public places, she saw the stations as venues in which shoppers, business people, and visitors to Detroit would have the opportunity to experience public art on a grand scale. Together with other Detroiters who shared her vision, Walt formed a commission known as Art in the Stations. The commission's task was ambitious. It not only had to select, commission, and oversee the works of art from conception through installation; it also had to raise more than $2 million to finance the project.
The going was not always easy, but the result is world-class public art. Out of the more than 200 proposals that were submitted, the commission selected the works of twenty artists. As the People Mover loops around the downtown area, passengers are treated to a panorama of murals, bronze sculptures, Venetian glass mosaics, and neon installations reflecting the spirit and history of Detroit. The thirteen stations of the People Mover have become a vibrant part of the Detroit landscape; the art that they contain delights and inspires. They are models of what public art should be.
The story of how all this came about is chronicled in this book, enriched with photographs by the noted Balthazar Korab. In celebrating the art in the People Mover stations, the book also celebrates the determination, perseverance, and hard work of a group of private individuals who took it upon themselves to do something for their city and their fellow citizens.