This book examines conflict resolution efforts in Latin America by the Organization of American States (OAS) over the past fifty years by exploring the relationship of the United States with other member states within the context of the OAS. The book focuses on the impact of institutional factors on the influence that member states are able to wield within the organization. This innovative theoretical approach yields general insights into organizational behaviour and interstate relations within an international organization. The examination of thirty-one cases provides a wealth of empirical data and facilitates cross case comparisons.

The objective of the book is to evaluate critically the ten principles of the Washington Consensus, which govern the conditionality provisions of the IMF and World Bank, and guide the so-called economic reform in developing countries. The book starts with an overview of the Consensus, followed by a chapter on IMF conditionality and how they are related. Since the Consensus is inherently neoliberal, a chapter is devoted to a critique of the free market doctrine and the concept of economic freedom as seen by free marketeers. The ten principles of the Washington Consensus (referred to as the 'ten commandments') are divided into four groups: fiscal reform, interest and exchange rate policies, liberalization of trade and foreign direct investment, and privatization and deregulation (including property rights).The book is written in the normative tradition of what ought to be, as opposed to the positive tradition of what is. While it may be tempting to describe the work as 'polemic', the underlying issues contain such a significant moral component that pretending to be neutral would be a betrayal of justice and morality. In essence, the arguments put forward in the book are intended to dismantle, discredit and debunk a set of principles that are effectively used to loot developing countries.

"The world is changing rapidly and the practice of community organizing needs to change with it. Representing both an homage to, and a departure from the "alinsky traditions" of organizing, Consensus Organizing offers techniques that are specifically designed for urban and rural communities struggling to succeed in the global economy and the information age. Ohmer and DeMasi are experienced organizers who offer a relentlessly thorough examination of the process of bringing diverse communities together to make change and to bridge the ethnic and economic divisions that keep many communities from succeeding." —Bill Traynor Executive Director, Lawrence CommunityWorks Inc. A person doesn′t have to be a consensus organizer to think like one. Consensus Organizing: A Community Development Workbook—A Comprehensive Guide to Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating Community Change Initiatives helps students and practitioners begin to think like consensus organizers and incorporate this way of strategic thinking into their lives and their work. Through a wide range of exercises, role-play activities, case scenarios, and discussion questions, this workbook presents the conceptual framework for consensus organizing and provides a practical and experiential approach to understanding and applying consensus organizing to address a range of issues. This workbook is designed to be used by itself or along with Mike Eichler′s text Consensus Organizing: Building Communities of Mutual Self Interest (SAGE, 2007). Key Features and Benefits Provides a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a community analysis of both internal and external neighborhood resources Brings consensus organizing to life through case studies based on the real-life experiences of the authors Offers field exercises that engage the reader in applying and practicing consensus organizing Provides practical tools that community organizers and practitioners can use in their daily work Includes a sample job description, work plan, monitoring report, and field report for hiring and supervising consensus organizers Presents tools for describing and evaluating consensus organizing and community-level interventions Accompanying Website Instructors and students have access to the many activities and cases on the accompanying website.

We perceive the world in which we live through our senses and make sense of it using our minds. In this way, we construct our very own consensus realities, our subjective interpretations of the world as each one of us perceives and understands it. What do we know about how we construct our consensus realities? How do human body and mind connect, as they somehow must to give us the experience of the world that we know we have? The first three book chapters invite the reader to explore what the human brain, philosophy of mind, and psychology can tell us about the relationship between the human body and mind. We all are curious about those things and exploring them is possible for all of us. We have no other choice than to form our own consensus realities, as it is through them that we can make sense of us in this world. Many consensus realities only deviate from objective reality in as much as our personal vanity goes to make us more comfortable with who we are. Others however, can seemingly dissociate themselves to much greater degrees from objective reality, endorsing fake news and false narratives, creating their own make believe worlds in the process. The fourth book chapter looks into some of the implications that has had in the past and might have in the future.