The different dynamics created by ceasefires discussed throughout this book challenge many of the basic, frequently unstated assumptions about how ceasefires are used as part of a particular political process that supposedly moves violence towards peace. This book argued that ceasefires are often not the humanitarian, purely positive or beneficial tools they have long been considered to be. In many cases, ceasefires are not simply a “cease fire’ but rather interject into complex contestations for control of the state. As such, this final chapter presents actionable recommendations for practitioners about how ceasefires interject into much broader and more complex processes. Ceasefires are not only used as military tools to stop violence but political tools actors in civil wars use for their own statebuilding ends. These ends are invariably much broader than winning or losing militarily and need to be considered when making decisions relating to, for example, mediation, foreign aid, humanitarian access, development, reconstruction, migration and refugee intakes.

The founding father of the laws of armed conflict, Hugo Grotius assumed a ceasefire to be a temporary state of affairs that did not alter the legal state of war. He wrote that if hostilities resumed after a ceasefire is declared, there is no need for a new declaration of war to be made since the legal state of war is ‘not dead but sleeping’. While the official legal state of war may be sleeping’, Grotius’ metaphor perhaps does not imply that nothing happens. Even during sleep, much can and does occur that we are temporarily unaware of. However, ceasefires continue to be largely considered in relation to how to better bring warring parties to the negotiating table, hostilities to a halt and/or their influence on peace processes. The argument advanced in this book is that ceasefires in fact rarely only ‘cease fire’. Consequently, the book offers a more nuanced examination of two core questions: what ceasefires actually are and what areas they affect.

Chapter 4 considers the rising nuclear threat and how individuals can help forestall it.

Chapter 8 examines the ethics of community – a dominant value of the hippie movement – and points to the differences between the people who live at The Farm and those who left it. Notwithstanding, this chapter reveals the power of what may be described as the cement of powerful shared experiences in early life in forming a lifelong bond that remains stable and offers a strong psychological sense of community regardless of physical distance and frequency of contact. This chapter also highlights the challenges of community life and examines them vis-à-vis perceived advantages.

Steps taken to start a new venture can make for rocky road ahead if consideration is not given to the points reviewed in this chapter. How to select and build a team and fairly distribute the founder’s equity, how to select an advisory board or a board of directors, and the importance of establishing a culture within the new company are all points discussed in detail and highlighted through personal stories and case examples. The main components of a business plan are covered in many texts and blogs, so this chapter focuses on the practical issues that few academic texts discuss, such as: how to perform due diligence on your investors and tips on creating slide decks , pitching and presenting business plans, and structuring financials and milestone to meet investors key concerns. The sources of financing and expectations of investors are reviewed with a view to guiding the entrepreneur or executive through the key elements for success, including successful closing on a term sheet or preparing for due diligence so that the process moves smoothly towards closure of the financing. The specific challenges facing an academic technopreneur moving into a decision-making executive (CSO or CEO) role are reviewed and guidance offered on utilizing the strength of the team around them.

For large irrigation systems there is usually an organizational structure that is tasked with managing water, structures and equipment, and people. It engages in decision-making, resource mobilization, communication, and conflict resolution. This chapter provides a snapshot of elements of irrigation management.

Culture can mean several things when referring to a group: identity, values, goals, principles. Culture can be defined from the inside or outside – how is your group viewed by others, either at your institution or outside? Is your group viewed as “functional,” in which the members get along with each other, work as a team, and accomplish important goals? Or does it carry a reputation of being a “difficult place to work”? Usually a culture is a mix, some elements hardworking and driven, some supportive and nurturing. This chapter talks directly about how to develop a positive culture for your group, and how to be explicit in the process. It starts with recognizing and acknowledging the elements of your core identity as a group – what are your guiding values and behaviors? It dives into the difference between acceptable behaviors that can stimulate the group and be positively provocative, versus those that can be negative, destructive, and unacceptable, and how to deal with them when they occur. It describes the principle of accountability and how all group members are responsible for the overall health of the group. It discusses how to handle difficult interpersonal interactions once they’ve taken place, and how to reset the team after a negative culture event. It reminds the reader of the importance of embracing diversity, that differing opinions are necessary and important, but negativity and destructive behavior is never helpful.

Chapter 15 offers new perspectives on the formative struggle to establish the League of Nations as an effective international organisation at the heart of the postwar order. It argues that in spite of the global conceptions they advanced its key architects intended the League to become the superstructure of a new transatlantic international order and security architecture. It analyses how far it was possible to find common ground between the most influential American and British blueprints for an integrative League and the markedly different French plans for an institution of the victors whose main purpose was supposed to be to protect France and constrain Germany. And it illuminates why ultimately the League of Nations came to be founded as a truncated organisation dominated by the principal victors of the Great War and initially excluding the vanquished, which were required to undergo a period of probation to become eligible for membership. Finally, it explains the far-reaching consequences this had and examines how far the League nonetheless had the potential to become the essential framework of a modern Atlantic and global order over time.

Chapter 17 explores how far the new Atlantic order that began to take shape in 1919 could be extended to the most unsettled region after the war: the post-imperial terrain of central and eastern Europe. It reassesses how the victors sought to balance in different ways newly prominent claims of national self-determination and fundamental strategic considerations in their efforts to create a stable system of states in this region – and of how they interacted with the representatives of the numerous east European national causes. While also analysing the Czechoslovakian settlement it then focuses on the victors’ attempts to “solve” the most critical problems in this context, the Polish and the Polish-German questions. And it underscores how extremely difficult it proved to establish a viable Polish nation-state that was not from the outset divided from its more powerful German neighbour by conflicts over contested borders and minority problems. More broadly, it shows how challenging it was to establish effective mechanisms to protect the rights of German, Jewish and other minorities in the new and very heterogeneous east European states. And it elucidates that the western powers’s capacity to forge a durable new order reached distinctive limits in the east.

Chapter 7 discusses the importance of public support and accountability and the need to address issues at the intersection of natural sciences, social sciences, and engineering. Recognition that the acceptability of coastal management actions can be polarized into ecocentric and anthropocentric views or along disciplinary lines requires adoption of compromise solutions enhanced by combining the skills of a range of specialists and local stakeholders. Actions that can enhance natural value of beach/dune systems are provided for municipal managers, developers and property holders, scientists, engineers, and environmental advocates and regulators. The case is made that nature in developed municipalities may be small but more complex than in natural areas because it includes human and natural processes. More frequent human participation may be required where landforms and biota must be maintained in nonequilibrium states to survive. Restored landscapes on developed coasts may be artifacts, but the added natural values and significance of getting off a human trajectory is suggested as better than alternatives that create landscapes that are redundant with inland locations.

Key Learning Points

1. 1. The capacity to make an autonomous decision is central to all of modern medicine.

2. 2. Valid consent requires the voluntary decision of an individual with capacity who has been given adequate information.

3. 3. When a patient lacks the capacity to consent, then the justification for treating them is best interests.

4. 4. Mediation is a process where the two (or more) sides of a dispute have a structured conversation to try and find a mutually acceptable resolution.

5. 5. The results of mediation showed that between 60 and 90 per cent of disputes settled without the need to go to court.

Communication is recognised as an important factor in interprofessional collaboration and teamwork. The delivery of optimal person-centred care ‘requires healthcare professionals to effectively communicate, cooperate and collaborate with each other’ (Stanley & Stanley 2019). Interprofessional communication can ensure that information is shared with a collective purpose and clearly defined goals. Thomson and colleageues(2015) demonstrated that having a shared purpose to pursue quality improvement as well as collaboration provides a framework for interprofessional, person-centred care that is highly dependent on effective communication. This chapter outlines the principles of interprofessional communication as well as five competencies that can contribute to collaborative practice. Handover frameworks are explored, along with the value of teamwork. The chapter also examines how nurses and other health professionals recognise and understand conflict as it discusses strategies for managing difficult situations. Finally, professional development is explored through peer learning, mentoring and supervision, with some examples of how this can be achieved.