Early Modern Trading Networks in Europe. Cooperation and the case of Simon Ruiz.

In the early modern period, trade became a truly global phenomenon. The logistics, financial and organizational complexity associated with it increased in order to connect distant geographies and merchants from different backgrounds. How did these merchants prevent their partners from dishonesty in a time where formal institutions and legislation did not traverse these different worlds? This book studies the mechanisms and criteria of cooperation in early modern trading networks. It uses an interdisciplinary approach, through the case study of a Castilian long-distance merchant of the sixteenth century, Simon Ruiz, who traded within the limits of the Portuguese and Spanish overseas empires. Early Modern Trading Networks in Europe discusses the importance of reciprocity mechanisms, trust and reputation in the context of early modern business relations, using network analysis methodology, combining quantitative data with qualitative information. It considers how cooperation and prevention could simultaneously create a business relationship, and describes the mechanisms of control, policing and punishment used to avoid opportunism and deception among a group of business partners. Using bills of exchange and correspondence from Simon Ruiz’s private archive, it charts the evolution of this business network through time, debating which criteria should be included or excluded from business networks, as well as the emergence of standards. This book intends to put forward a new approach to early modern trade which focuses on individuals interacting in self-organized structures, rather than on states or empires. It shows how indirect reciprocity was much more frequent than direct reciprocity among early modern merchants and how informal norms, like ostracism or signaling, helped to prevent defection and deception in an effective way.

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION & RESEARCH FOR OH. Experiences of international networks for collaborative education and research using the One Health approach.

The Authors describe first-hand experiences carried out within the framework of selected International projects aimed at developing collaborative research and education using the One Health (OH) approach. Special emphasis is given to SAPUVETNET, a series of projects co-financed under the EU-ALFA program, and aimed to support an International network on Veterinary Public Health (VPH) formed by Veterinary Faculties from Latin-America (LA) and Europe (EU). SAPUVETNET has envisaged a series of objectives/activities aimed at promoting and enhancing VPH research/training and intersectoral collaboration across LA and EU using the OH approach, as well as participating in research and/or education projects/networks under the OH umbrella, namely EURNEGVEC-European Network for Neglected Vectors & Vector-Borne Infections, CYSTINET-European Network on Taeniosis/Cysticercosis, and NEOH-Network for Evaluation of One Health; the latter includes expertise in multiple disciplines (e.g. ecology, economics, human and animal health, epidemiology, social and environmental sciences, etc.) and has the primary purpose of enabling quantitative evaluation of OH initiatives by developing a standardized evaluation protocol. The Authors give also an account of the ongoing creation of OHIN-OH International Network, founded as a spin-off result of SAPUVETNET. Finally, some examples of cooperation development projects characterised by an OH approach are also briefly mentioned.

Redes de cooperação transfronteiriça? Dilemas da rede transfronteiriça da educação/formação como instrumento de inclusão social no Alentejo-Extremadura : Um olhar dos actores das escolas oficiais de idiomas

A presente proposta de investigação, ao abordar os dilemas inerentes à cooperação transfronteiriça, no âmbito da educação/formação, no Alentejo-Extremadura, traduz-se assim, num diagnóstico a nível meso, já que aborda em termos micro, o papel dos professores das Escolas Oficiais de Idiomas da Extremadura enquanto potenciais agentes de regulação da cooperação transfronteiriça, através das suas relações interpessoais, funcionando esta regulação como uma ponte ou forma intermediária de atingir a regulação macro, entendida aqui como a regulação nacional e internacional, no panorama transfronteiriço Portugal/Espanha. A Escola Oficial de Idiomas, ao possuir uma estrutura organizacional geradora de uma dinâmica das relações sociais dos actores, permitiu diagnosticar, no seu dinamismo, a importância das interdependências entre os indivíduos, e destes com o exterior, as quais poderão constituir "redes emergentes'' de cooperação, assentes essencialmente em relações débeis e muitas informais, servindo de eventuais nós na criação de redes de cooperação transfronteiriça mais formais. / Summary: This research proposal, as it tackles the dilemmas inherent in cross-border cooperation concerning education/training in Alentejo-Extremadura, is thus a meso level analysis, since it deals, at the micro levei, with the role of the teachers in the Official Language Schools of Extremadura as potential regulation agents of cross-border cooperation, through their interpersonal relationships. This regulation acts as a bridge or an intermediary way of achieving macro regulation, which refers to the national and international regulation in Portugal/Spain's cross-border context. The Official Language School, possessing an organizational structure that brings dynamics into the actors’ social relations, has made it possible, within its dynamism, to establish the importance of the interdependence between individuals, and between them and the outside, which may create "emerging networks" of cooperation, based mostly in feeble and many informal relationships, operating as possible ties in the creation of more formal networks of cross-border cooperation.

Cooperação desportiva e auto-conceito de competência : Um estudo em equipas de futebol

A cooperação apresenta-se como a base de qualquer organização, mas também das equipas desportivas. O comportamento cooperativo é influenciado pela estima e confiança que o indivíduo tem em si. A confiança entre os indivíduos resulta da mediação entre o comportamento de interesse próprio e o interesse pelo outro, promovendo desta forma a cooperação entre os membros. Vários autores referem as noções de competência relacionadas com comportamentos de confiança. Desta forma estudaram-se no presente estudo as correlações entre a cooperação desportiva e o auto-conceito de competência. A amostra foi constituída por 120 atletas do sexo masculino de equipas profissionais e semi-profissionais de futebol. Os instrumentos utilizados "Questionário de Cooperação Desportiva" e "Questionário de Auto-Conceito de Competência", revelaram possuir qualidades psicométicas aceitáveis. A análise dos resultados revelou correlações estatisticamente significativas entre a dimensão de cooperação situacional e as dimensões, cognitiva, social e criativa do auto-conceito de competência, assim como a dimensão de cooperação incondicionada com as dimensões cognitiva e social do auto-conceito de competência. /ABSTRACT: The cooperation comes as the foundation of any organization but also of sports teams. The cooperative behavior is influenced by the esteem and confidence that the individual has in himself. Trust between individuals result of mediation between the behavior of self-interest and concern for others, thereby promoting cooperation among members. Several authors refer to the notions of competence-related behaviors of confidence. Thus it was studied in the present study the correlations between the sporting cooperation and self-concept of competence. The sample was composed of 120 male athletes of professional teams and semi-professional football. The instruments used "Cooperation Sports Questionnaire" and "Self-Concept Questionnaire for Competence," have revealed qualities psicométicas acceptable. The results showed statistically significant correlations between the dimension of cooperation and situational dimensions, cognitive, social and creative self-concept of ability, as well as the size of unconditional cooperation with the cognitive and social dimensions of self-concept of competence.

Da dominação à cooperação: a paz perpétua e a luta eterna entre nações

O presente ensaio tem por objetivo a construção de uma linha de pensamento sobre as teorias e a realidade das Relações Internacionais baseada na pluralidade de valores e na justaposição de ideias que designam e afetam as relações entre os atores internacionais, assim como, entender os reflexos que estes fatores têm nos desfechos destas interações resultantes em cooperação e conflito. Por meio de uma revisão bibliográfica são visitados alguns pensamentos sobre a formação dos estados nacionais e sobre as interações destes, produzindo conceitos relativos à ordem e ao equilíbrio em uma sociedade internacional, e aos fatores que afetam e são variáveis a existência dos estados. A designação teórica da realidade internacional desprovida de prescrições ou distorções ideológicas edifica neste ensaio valiosas linhas de pensamento, que podem contribuir significativamente para o desenvolvimento de proposições mais fidedignas a realidade do que a anseios específicos no campo das Ciências Políticas e das Relações Internacionais. ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to construct of a way of thinking about the theories and the reality of International Relations based on the plurality of values and juxtaposition of ideas that mark and affect the relationships between international players. A further objective is understanding the influences of these factors in creating outcomes of cooperation or conflict within international interactions. Various thoughts and reflections on the formation of national states and their interactions have been examined by way of an intensive literature review, thus producing concepts concerning the order and equilibrium of an international society as well as the factors that affect and vary depending on the existence of states. Through the theoretical portrayal of the reality of international relations devoid of ideological prescriptions or distortions this study creates a number of lines of thinking, that could significantly contribute to the development of propositions more true to reality than specific aspirations within the field of Political Science and International Relations.