The purpose of this thesis will be to examine the decision-making process in crisis situations, defined as those presenting a high threat and short decisional time. Crisis situations in the area of foreign policy have become more acute and dangerous since the end of World War II and the rise of nuclear weapon delivery capabilities.

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In this thesis, we aim to find the relationship between the economic crisis and the rise of nationalism in Yugoslavia. In addition, we focus on the political framework, as defined by the 1974 Constitution, which significantly changed the course of Yugoslav institutions after the death of Tito. We find that the rising levels of debt and economic misbalance across republics were key contributors to increasing tensions between republics. We conclude that the combination of these factors with the lack of political will, stemming from decentralization and increased power to republics, as the main culprits behind the rise of nationalism. We build on the existing literature, contributing to the further cross-examination of reasons behind the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The importance of this thesis is related to the political elite, who can apply key takeaways from the case of Yugoslavia to the modern geopolitical context dealing with economic and political crises.

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Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Lloyd B. Thomas Jr / The European sovereign debt crisis has had a profound impact on the rest of the world. The “debt crisis” refers to the rapid accumulation of debt within some struggling euro-zone countries. This debt accumulation has resulted in a variety of financial bailouts made to various countries within the European Union and a debt default by the country of Greece. The results of this crisis have changed the way of life for many living within the struggling economies. Division within the euro zone, on both policy and ideology, has begged the question of whether the euro will be able to survive in the long term. The purpose of this report is to investigate the buildup and evolution of this crisis, as well as to highlight various responses and proposed solutions of the future.

Tesis para optar al grado de Magíster en Economía / Autor no autoriza el acceso a texto completo de su documento / Este trabajo analiza el desempeño de las firmas exportadoras chilenas durante el período posterior a la crisis financiera de los años 2008 y 2009. Luego de la crisis, las importaciones mundiales aumentaron sosteniblemente, lo que fue aprovechado por las firmas chilenas en particular, y el país en general. Específicamente, las firmas de mayor tamaño, y aquellas que tenían menores necesidades de financiamiento externo, fueron las que se beneficiaron en mayor medida del nuevo contexto internacional, incrementando sus exportaciones a los mercados que ya exportaban con anterioridad. Si bien la recuperación se explica principalmente por el margen intensivo, del presente trabajo se desprende que las firmas de mayor tamaño también aumentaron sus destinos de exportación, por lo que la recuperación se verifica en los 2 tipos de márgenes. Finalmente, se realiza un análisis de supervivencia, cuyos resultados señalan que las firmas de mayor tamaño necesitaron menos tiempo para recuperar su nivel de exportaciones.

with Dr. Joseph T. Kelley / Cushing Hall 001

Thesis advisor: Patrick H. Byrne / In this dissertation, I attempt to contribute to Lonergan scholarship by bringing greater clarity to his notions of general and group bias. By applying these notions to a concrete event, the subprime mortgage crisis, I intend to shed light on their meaning and significance in a new way. Over the course of this dissertation, I will investigate and employ other theoretical tools that Lonergan provides, such as his notions of transcendental method, self-appropriation, common sense, and values, and especially the destructive impact of group and general bias upon the good of order. The theoretical ideas that are examined in this dissertation have a heuristic value, for they have the potential to help individuals notice areas and respond to issues that might have otherwise been overlooked. The subprime mortgage crisis, which arguably began when American house prices dropped in July of 2006, was the product of an accumulation of biased decisions over time. Lonergan's notion of the general bias of common sense afflicted many of the central parties involved in the subprime mortgage market leading up to the crisis, prompting them to conclude that house prices would interminably rise. Institutional relationships that were impaired by this biased orientation toward the housing market came to be further plagued by Lonergan's notion of group bias. Ultimately, I argue that subprime mortgage crisis was a manifestation of a breakdown in the good of order, which is a component of Lonergan's notion of the invariant structure of the human good. Chapter One consists of a presentation and explication of the set of Lonergan's theoretical tools that are utilized in this study. The chapter begins with an exploration of his transcendental method and then proceeds with a discussion that includes his notions of cognitional structure, self-appropriation, common sense, values and judgments of value, conversion, self-transcendence, authenticity, bias, and the invariant structure of the human good. Chapter Two serves a bridge between these theoretical terms and my analysis of the parties that were involved in the subprime mortgage crisis. In addition to arguing that the general bias of common sense distorted the decision making processes of many of the significant players in the subprime mortgage market, I will also contend that group bias was operative leading up to and during this crisis. The emphasis in this latter section will be on instances of "co-opted" group bias, or arrangements in which different parties cooperated with one another in mutually advantageous ways in the short-term, but to the detriment of the good of order. Chapters Three through Six each focus on one of the parties that played an instrumental role in the development and outbreak of the subprime mortgage crisis: subprime lenders (Chapter Three), arrangers (Chapter Four), credit rating agencies (Chapter Five), and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Chapter Six). I examine key regulatory relationships in these chapters as well and note that, in many cases, they were ensnared by general and group bias. My concluding analysis is that, as an accumulation of biased decisions, the subprime mortgage crisis was an avoidable outcome, for individual submission to bias is not inevitable. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

Cette thèse est issue d'un travail d'enquête de près de quatre ans au sein de l'IRSN, un des membres du système d'acteurs en charge de la gestion de crise nucléaire. Nous sommes partis de la problématique suivante : Comment la France se prépare-t-elle à gérer un accident nucléaire et quels sont les effets de cette préparation en situation réelle d'accident, mineur ou hors du territoire national ? Grâce à un riche travail de terrain et de recherches documentaires, nous montrons dans cette thèse que la monopolisation de la construction de la « crise » par un système d'acteurs dominés par les ingénieurs du corps des Mines induit une définition très technique de la « crise » centrée sur l'aléa technique et faisant abstraction de la population. Les scénarii d'exercices de crise qui en résultent ne permettent pas aux acteurs en charge de sa gestion de se préparer à faire face aux réactions sociales provoquées par un accident nucléaire. Au contraire, cette lecture faisant abstraction de la population, est paradoxalement facteur de « crise » lors d'accidents nucléaires jugés « techniquement » mineurs. Au final, le système de gestion de crise se transforme malgré tout. Mais les évolutions organisationnelles de la gestion de crise nucléaire, notamment la prise en compte progressive de sa composante sociale, résultent moins des dispositifs de préparation à la crise que de la confrontation avec la population lors de crises nucléaires réelles. / This thesis is the result of almost 4 years of research carried out within the IRSN, one of the actors among the different actors in charge of nuclear crisis response. We started with the following question: how France gets prepared to manage a nuclear accident situation and what are the results of this preparation in a real accident case even if it is a minor accident or if it happens abroad ? Thanks to a very fruitful documentary and in field research work, we are able to show in this thesis that the unilateral management of a "crisis" situation by the different actors organized under the leadership of high level engineers from the 'Corps de mines ", results in a very technical definition of the "crisis " focused on the technical aspects while disregarding the general public. As a consequence, emergency drills that are defined and carried out do not prepare intervention teams to manage social reactions that may be caused by a nuclear accident. To the opposite and paradoxically, such a vision that neglects the reaction of the population may generate by itself a crisis situation even when an accident is deemed to be "technically" of a minor importance. However the management system of nuclear crisis is evolving. Organizational changes in this area that progressively take into account the social factor, really result from the in field experience of dealing with the general public reactions during a real nuclear crisis. Crisis training and drills have a lesser impact on this evolution.

Dentro de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, las secciones de Ingeniería cuentan con múltiples servicios, e infraestructura tecnológica que está vulnerable ante distintas circunstancias. Es por este motivo que para el presente proyecto de fin de carrera se considerarán a las secciones de Electricidad y Electrónica, Ing. Informática e Ing. de las Telecomunicaciones ubicadas en el Pabellón V - PUCP como entidades para establecer planes de continuidad. Estos planes constituyen estrategias y acciones a realizar en caso ocurra algún incidente de interrupción que afecte el normal desempeño de los procesos y servicios. Se consideró la importancia el desarrollo del proyecto debido a las siguientes razones causa: no se cuenta con planes de continuidad en caso ocurra algún evento de interrupción, no se tiene mapeado los procesos vitales que se realizan, no se encuentran identificados los riesgos principales que afectan a la sección y no se tiene una distribución adecuada de los roles del personal de la instalación. El servicio principal es la disponibilidad de los centros de cómputo, los cuales son utilizados por estudiantes, docentes, grupos de investigación o colaboradores de la PUCP. En respuesta a este problema, se realizará un análisis y diseño de planes de continuidad operática aplicables a los laboratorios y administración de las secciones de Ingeniería ubicadas en el Pabellón V - PUCP en caso ocurra algún sismo, incendio o inundación. Se escogieron estos eventos debido a que se verá afectada una gran cantidad recursos relacionados a los procesos vitales de la sección mencionada como el personal crítico, colaboradores, infraestructura, información crítica y tecnologías de información. Uno de los objetivos principales es que los laboratorios de estas secciones puedan brindar un servicio a un nivel aceptable para los profesores, grupos de investigación, personal del campus y estudiantes que lo requieran. Para dicha finalidad se plantea usar como base la norma ISO/IEC 22301:2012 “Seguridad de la Sociedad – Sistemas de gestión de Continuidad del Negocio”. Esta norma brinda un marco formal de continuidad de negocio y ayudará al desarrollo de los planes de continuidad de negocios. Así mismo, minimizará el impacto y permitirá reanudar el servicio lo más rápido posible, asegurando que los servicios principales sean brindado. / Tesis