Grand Alliance Research Articles

Migraine epidemiology in collegiate student-athletes: Findings from the Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium.

This cross-sectional study evaluated de-identified data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association-Department of Defense Grand Alliance from 2014 to 2020 to determine the prevalence of migraine and migraine medication and to describe differences in migraine prevalence by sex, race, and sport. Epidemiological studies can help identify underdiagnosed and undertreated populations. Understanding migraine prevalence in collegiate student-athletes is essential for positive healthcare outcomes including development of prevention and treatment plans. From a concussion baseline assessment, participant's self-reported demographics (e.g., age, sex, sport), migraine diagnosis (i.e., yes/no), and migraine medication usage (e.g., yes/no, type) determined prevalence of migraine and medication use in collegiate student-athletes. Migraine was reported in 5.6% (2617/47,060; 95% confidence interval [CI] 5.4%-5.8%) of the student-athletes, with higher prevalence in females, 7.5% (1319/17,628; 95% CI 7.1%-7.9%), than males, 4.6% (1298/28,116; 95% CI 4.4%-4.9%). Medication usage was reported by 36.2% (947/2617; 95% CI 34.3%-38.0%) of individuals with migraine. Migraine reporting differed by race, with Caucasian reporting highest (5.9%; 1990/33,913; 95% CI 5.6%-6.1%) and Asian the lowest (2.7%; 55/2027; 95% CI 2.1%-3.5%). Women's sports, including golf, gymnastics, and lacrosse, and men's diving and squash had higher migraine reporting than other sports. Caucasian females reported higher rates than other groups and sport influenced rates of migraine diagnosis.

Association of Alzheimer's disease polygenic risk score with concussion severity and recovery metrics.

Identification of genetic alleles associated with both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and concussion severity/recovery could help explain the association between concussion and elevated dementia risk. However, there has been little investigation into whether AD risk genes associate with concussion severity/recovery, and the limited findings are mixed. We used AD polygenic risk scores (PRS) and APOE genotypes to investigate any such associations in the NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance CARE Consortium (CARE) dataset. We assessed six outcomes in 931 total participants. The outcomes were two concussion recovery measures (number of days to asymptomatic status, number of days to return to play (RTP)) and four concussion severity measures (scores on SAC and BESS, SCAT symptom severity, and total number of symptoms). We calculated PRS using a published score [1] and performed multiple linear regression (MLR) to assess the relationship of PRS with the outcomes. We also used t-tests and chi-square tests to examine outcomes by APOE genotype, and MLR to analyze outcomes in European and African genetic ancestry subgroups. Higher PRS was associated with longer injury to RTP in the normal RTP (<24 days) subgroup ( p = 0.024), and one standard deviation increase in PRS resulted in a 9.89 hour increase to the RTP interval. There were no other consistently significant effects, suggesting that high AD genetic risk is not strongly associated with more severe concussions or poor recovery in young adults. Future studies should attempt to replicate these findings in larger samples with longer follow-up using PRS calculated from diverse populations.

Radicals and Carbohydrates: A Grand Alliance

AbstractThis review describes applications of radical reactions developed in the authors’ laboratory for the modification of carbohydrates. It focuses on tin‐free variation on the Barton‐McCombie deoxygenation; on reductive de‐iodination; on intermolecular radical additions of xanthates; on allylations and vinylations of xanthates and iodides, with emphasis on allylations using allylic alcohols activated as fluoropyridyl ethers; and, finally, on the synthesis of mercaptosugars.

Concussion Risk and Recovery in Athletes With Psychostimulant-Treated Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Findings From the NCAA-DOD CARE Consortium

The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) –related psychostimulant use in the context of concussion risk and symptom recovery. Data were obtained from the National Collegiate Athletic Association Department of Defense Grand Alliance Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (NCAA-DOD CARE) Consortium from 2014 to 2017. Relative to individuals without diagnosed ADHD (i.e., control), both ADHD diagnosis and the combination of ADHD diagnosis and psychostimulant use were associated with a greater risk of incurring a concussive injury. Following a concussive injury, ADHD diagnosis was associated with longer symptom recovery time relative to the control group. However, individuals with ADHD who use psychostimulants did not take longer to resolve symptoms than controls, suggesting that psychostimulants may have a positive influence on recovery. Regardless of time point, ADHD diagnosis was associated with an elevated number of concussion-related symptoms; however, this effect appears mitigated by having used ADHD-related psychostimulants.

Swift’s War and Peace

Abstract This article considers some of the military and diplomatic contexts which have been neglected in the study of eighteenth-century mock-heroic literature, with a particular focus on the early satires of Swift. Typically, mock-heroic literature is seen as a skilful exercise in a particular kind of literary style, and individual mock-heroic satires are usually contextualized by setting them alongside the military epics (e.g., the Iliad or Aeneid) which they seem to parody. This article takes a slightly different approach by setting Swift’s mock-heroic satires against the background of the Grand Alliance wars against Louis XIV (1688–1714), and by taking another look at his relationship with the retired diplomat and ambassador Sir William Temple. As will be discussed, Temple’s essay ‘Of Heroic Virtue’ offered Swift a model of civil heroism which could be defended or advocated in satire, and it is the influence on Swift of the period’s diplomatic, political, and legal writings which will occupy the core of this discussion.

Cost allocation of cooperative autonomous truck platooning: Efficiency and stability analysis

This study investigates the cost allocation of cooperative autonomous truck (AT) platooning among carriers. Motivated by the fuel consumption saving from truck platooning, carriers can collaborate for creating more platooning opportunities in an alliance. The formation of carrier alliance is associated with two key conditions: (i) efficiency: the total cost is allocated to each carrier without a budget deficit, and (ii) stability: all carriers find it beneficial to stay in the grand alliance and do not form sub-alliance. Since an alliance satisfying these two conditions may not always exist, we aim to find a cost allocation such that the violation of efficiency and stability conditions is minimized. We first propose a cooperative AT platooning problem for a trade-off between fuel consumption savings and schedule deviation cost. Then, we model the problem as a cooperative AT platooning game and formulate cost allocation models. The exact row-generation solution method is developed to computationally calculate the cost allocation. Extensive numerical experiments demonstrate the properties of proposed models and the effectiveness of solution methods. The results show that the developed row-generation solution method can solve the instances of up to 100 requests and 20 carriers within a two-hour time limit, and the schedule deviation coefficients significantly impact the performance of optimal cost allocation.

Primary and Secondary Risk Factors Associated With Concussion Symptom Clusters in Collegiate Athletes: Results From the NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance CARE Consortium

There is a broad and diverse range of symptoms after a concussion, from irritability to nausea. This heterogeneity of symptoms is a challenge for clinicians managing the different presentations among injuries. Prior research has investigated the structure of postconcussive symptoms to determine if they can be grouped into clusters of related symptoms. The purpose of this study was to identify symptom clusters during the acute phase after a sports-related concussion using exploratory factor analysis and to understand the relationship between risk factors for postconcussion symptoms (ie, demographics, injury characteristics, mental health, and sleep qualities) and different symptom clusters. We hypothesized that certain factors would be predictive of specific symptom clusters. Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. Collegiate athletes (N = 1104) from the Concussion, Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium completed the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-Third Edition symptom assessment tool 24 to 48 hours after concussion. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the symptom evaluation to determine symptom clusters 24 to 48 hours after concussion. Regression analysis was used to examine the effects of pre- and postinjury characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 4-cluster structure for acute postconcussive symptoms that explained 62% of the variance in symptom reporting: vestibular-cognitive, migrainous, cognitive fatigue, and affective. Delayed reporting, less sleep before assessment, female sex, and being hurt outside of competition (during practice/training) was correlated with increased symptoms for 4 symptom clusters. Depression predicted higher vestibular-cognitive and affective symptoms. Amnesia was correlated with higher vestibular-cognitive and migrainous symptoms, whereas migraine history was associated with more migrainous and affective symptoms. Symptoms can be grouped into 1 of 4 distinct clusters. Certain variables were associated with increased symptoms across multiple clusters and may be indicative of greater injury severity. Other factors (ie, migraine history, depression, amnesia) were associated with a more specific symptom presentation and may be mechanistically related to concussion outcomes and biological markers.

International order transition and the UK’s tilt to the ‘Indo-Pacific’

This article analyzes the UK government’s response to international order transition as seen through its recent foreign policy ‘tilt’ toward the ‘Indo-Pacific’. It suggests that in post-Brexit Britain the determinants of foreign policy are increasingly complex involving an attempt to balance domestic policy, manage internal party conflict and establish an “independent” position in international relations in the context of US attempts to build a “grand alliance” against China. Our central argument is that the UK policy shift toward the Indo-Pacific is informed in large part by a changing dominant narrative on China and in particular by perceptions of China as “systemic competitor” in the global political economy. We argue that not only is the “tilt” at this point in time based on rather questionable assumptions regarding the UK’s relationship with the ‘region’ but that ‘international order transition’ is more complex than is suggested by the new UK policy orientation. Limited in terms of conventional military power, the UK tilt strategy focuses on effecting institutional and normative change and positions the UK as a ‘soft power superpower’ alongside the United States in the region. In the context of renewed international political and economic crisis the “tilt” expresses the contradictions that lie at the heart of UK foreign policy rather than offering a clearly defined and viable new orientation for “global Britain.”

Test-Retest Reliability and Efficacy of Individual Symptoms in Concussion Management.

(1) To determine test-retest reliability of individual Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-Third Edition (SCAT-3) symptom scores and symptom severity scores, (2) to examine the specificity/sensitivity of individual SCAT-3 symptom severity scores acutely (24-48 hours) postconcussion, and (3) to develop a model of symptoms best able to differentiate concussed from nonconcussed student athletes and cadets. Prospective, longitudinal, and cross-sectional. Twenty-six civilian schools and 3 US service academies. Collegiate student athletes (n = 5519) and cadets (n = 5359) from the National Collegiate Athletic Association-Department of Defense Grand Alliance: Concussion Assessment, Research and Education Consortium, including 290 student athletes and 205 cadets, assessed 24 to 48 hours postconcussion. Concussed and nonconcussed student athlete and cadet groups. Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-Third Edition individual symptom severity scores, total symptom scores, and symptom severity scores. Results indicated poor test-retest reliability across all symptom scores (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.029-0.331), but several individual symptoms had excellent predictive capability in discriminating concussed from nonconcussed participants (eg, headache, pressure in the head, and don't feel right had area under the curve >0.8, sensitivity >70%, and specificity >85%) regardless of baseline testing. These symptoms were consistent with Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector classification trees with the highest mean probability. Findings support the excellent diagnostic accuracy of honest symptom reporting, notwithstanding the known limitations in symptom underreporting, and suggest that there may be added value in examining individual symptoms rather than total symptom scores and symptom severity scores alone. Finally, findings suggest that baseline testing is not necessary for interpreting postconcussion symptom scores.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Risk of Concussion: Findings from the National Collegiate Athletic Association Department of Defense Grand Alliance Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (NCAA-DOD CARE) Consortium (2014-2017).

Evidence suggests neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs) may be associated with an increased incidence of concussion, but no studies have cross-sectionally and longitudinally assessed the associations of NDs and sex with concussion in collegiate athletes. We sought to assess the odds and relative risk (RR) of concussion in athletes self-reporting a diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disability (LD), and ADHD+LD. Data from the Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium (2014-2017) were used to evaluate the likelihood of concussion for male and female athletes with ADHD, LD, and ADHD+LD, relative to controls. Odds ratios (ORs) of concussion history prior to enrollment and relative risk ratios for incurring a concussion following enrollment, with and without concussion history were calculated for all groups. Athletes with self-reported diagnosis of ADHD, LD, and ADHD+LD were more likely to report a single concussion (OR range = 1.528 to 1.828) and multiple concussions (OR range = 1.849 to 2.365) prior to enrollment in the CARE Consortium, irrespective of sex compared with control athletes. While enrolled in CARE, male athletes with ADHD, LD, and ADHD+LD had greater risk of incurring a concussion (RR range = 1.369 to 2.243) than controls, irrespective of concussion history. Male athletes with ADHD+LD with concussion history (RR = 2.221) and without concussion history (RR = 1.835) had greater risk of incurring a concussion than controls. These results suggest NDs may be associated with increased odds of single and multiple concussions, irrespective of sex. However, when we accounted for concussion history, it appears only male athletes with ADHD+LD had greater risk than respective controls. There were no significant differences between females and males with ADHD, LD, or ADHD+LD for either odds of concussion history or risk for incurring concussion.

The Cold War: A World History

The Cold War: A World History

Profit distribution of IPD projects using fuzzy alliance

PurposeThis paper examines the profit distribution of engineering projects in the integrated project delivery (IPD) mode. IPD is a new delivery method that can ameliorate many of the disadvantages of traditional delivery methods and improve project results. In the implementation of IPD, the profit distribution is key for ensuring the success of IPD projects.Design/methodology/approachThis paper described a new method for characterizing profit distribution in the IPD mode. The payment function and Shapley value of the cooperative fuzzy game of fuzzy alliance were defined by considering the Choquet integral of the fuzzy measure. The participation of each player was considered, and the influence of participation on the profit distribution was discussed. Lastly, changes in the profit distribution of core participants under different alliance combinations were studied.FindingsA case from a report of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) was used to verify the fuzzy alliance model. There was a significant correlation between the degree of participation of the owner, architect and builder and the profit distribution among these three participants.Research limitations/implicationsThe theoretical research in this paper has some limitations. Initially, this paper selects a case with only three key participants in order to simplify the research. When there are many core participants, how to establish the alliance in the IPD mode and how to establish the corresponding profit distribution model, further work is certainly required to disentangle these complexities in models. Second, in this case, BIM technology has little impact on the income of the whole project. Therefore, this paper does not consider the impact of BIM technology on the marginal effect of the IPD project. Third, the contract type in the case is a custom tri-party based on IFOA. There is no classified discussion of the impact of different contracts on the profit distribute in the paper.Practical implicationsBased on the in-depth study of cooperative game with alliance structure, this paper promotes the classic cooperative game with alliance structure. The authors define the payoff function of fuzzy cooperative games by Choquet integral of fuzzy measure, and introduce the idea into the field of IPD. It aims at extending the solution to a cooperative game without a core. It can be obtained through a simple calculation. In the IPD alliance, the fuzziness and uncertainty of the participation degree of each participant will affect the profit of the whole project. The authors find that the higher the participation rate of players, the more profit each participant has. The greater the influence weight of the designer on the alliance, the lower the influence weight of the contractor on the alliance, the lower the participation of the contractor and the designer, and the lower the income distribution value of the three core participants. It shows a monotonous decline status.Social implicationsFor any construction enterprise, it can make more profits if it joins the grand alliance. In the IPD alliance, each participant can maximize their own interests, which can also promote the enthusiasm of construction enterprises to participate in the alliance and increase the application of IPD mode in AEC industry. This research method provides a new fast, effective, and more realistic solution method for cooperative countermeasures. It can be further extended to other cooperative game fields and advance a new research perspective and solution for the distribution of cooperative interests.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper is the development of a fuzzy alliance model that provides a tool for measuring the profit distribution in IPD. This is the first quantitative model to connect the degree of participation with the profit distribution in IPD using fuzzy alliance.

Assembly Elections of India, 2021: Revisiting Assam

In India, Assembly Elections were held in Assam, West Bengal, Kerela, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the first half of 2021. Driving this study is an attempt to analyse the election results of the state of Assam where Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies, Mitrajot or National Democratic Alliance (NDA), successfully defeated the Indian National Congress (INC), and its allies, Mahajot (Grand Alliance). Drawing primarily upon secondary data and applying GIS techniques, the study makes a critical analogy of how Mitrajot managed to accomplish victory.&#x0D; This is a solicited article. Submitted: 10 May 2021; Accepted: 24 June 2021.

A Near-Run Thing: the Improbable Grand Alliance of World War II (1929–1942)

This is a chapter from a draft manuscript of some 2000pp. in English being prepared for publication on relations between the USSR and various European powers, large and small, and the United States in the lead-up to World War II and then beyond until 1942. The author discovers and illustrates social and cultural aspects of diplomatic activities. The topic is Soviet relations with Nazi Germany and Poland in 1933. The larger context is the origins and unfolding of World War II, a subject of importance both intrinsically and politically in relations between the Russian Federation and the western powers. President Vladimir Putin has himself taken an interest in these questions, insisting on an honest, frank historical treatment of that period. How did the USSR and in particular the Narkomindel react to Adolf Hitler’s assumption of power in Germany at the end of January 1933? What additional information do the Russian archives contribute to our knowledge of the origins of the war? The methodology is that of a historical narrative based on archival research, especially in the AVPRF in Moscow. The objective is to explore the policies of the Narkomindel, and in particular the personal views of its leaders, M. M. Litvinov, N. N. Krestinskii, and B. S. Stomoniakov, on the interconnected issues of Soviet relations with Germany and Poland. Let’s call it an histoire des mentalités. 1933 was a year of transition in Soviet relations with the outside world moving from the so-called Rapallo policy of correct relations with Germany to a new policy of collective security and mutual assistance against Nazi Germany. In this chapter one can follow the evolution of ideas in the Narkomindel in reaction to Hitler’s rise to power: from immediate anxiety to a growing conviction that Rapallo was dead and that the USSR had to form stronger relationships in the west and with Poland. This may surprise some readers who think that the Soviet preference, or at least Stalin’s, was always a German orientation. As for Poland, in what may also surprise some readers, and especially many Poles, the Narkomindel sought better relations with Poland to counter the Nazi danger. It was the Polish government which did not want them, preferring a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany (January 1934). Could Poles and Russians ever bury the hatchet after centuries of animosity? In a tragedy amongst many, they could not do so.

Preface to the Russian Publication: Michael Jabara Carley. A Near-Run Thing: the Improbable Grand Alliance of World War II (1929–1942)

The work of Michael Jabara Carley gives a unique perspective on the diplomatic relations of the key world powers in the pre-war period and appeals to a wide audience who are not indifferent to the history of the world. The events described took place almost a century ago and over the years have received a variety of interpretations in the domestic and foreign literature about those times. Painstaking work with archives combined with s fine psychological approach made it possible to recreate and visualize the peculiarities of international relations of those years. This thorough analysis resulting in a vivid cultural description of the fateful period falls neatly within the framework of historical cultural studies and adds to our understanding of the intricacies of world diplomacy. Looking into the past, the author sees in the faded lines of the archived documents more than mere facts: there are people with their principles and insecurities, societies striving for peace and countries earning for power and security at all costs. Sketching portraits of the main characters with a few sharp strokes, Michael Carley manages to immerse the reader in the thick of events and understand the human side of diplomatic relations between countries, which could be allies should things have happened somewhat differently. The translation of the paper does not give verbatim quotations from the Russian language archives, but rather follows the author’s conception. The intention behind the book is not limited to a chronological compilation of dispatches, diaries and reports. On the contrary, it becomes obvious that written documents record dry facts, and only taken in a broader context can they truly shed light on the complex, uneven negotiations. The unique features of the era, traced in the text along with the individual characteristics of the persons involved, deserve readers’ attention as the non-trivial optics with which the author approaches the subject will allow a fresh look at the foreign policy relations of the USSR in 1933-1934. One will see how the cultural canvas through major trends and minor happenings influences the fate of the world. The vision that can be projected to the many and many other events of the past and present.

«КОРЕННОЙ ПЕРЕЛОМ» ВО ВТОРОЙ МИРОВОЙ ВОЙНЕ: СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ АКАДЕМИЧЕСКИЕ ДИСКУССИИ

The aim of the article is to review the contemporary scholar discussions which take place in the Russian and foreign historiography about the “turning point” in the Second World War. The use of the “turning point” term by scholars was inevitably linked to the question about the relative con - tribution made by the countries of the “Grand Alliance” to the victory over the “Axis Powers”. Thus, it was logical that after 1945, during the rise of the Cold War, the academic and media discussions about the “turning point” had not only a historiographical but also political significance. Such disputes continue nowadays. This article analyses one of the recent revisionist conceptions about the “turning point” proposed by the British historian Ph. O’Brien. He tried to revise the widely held thesis that the huge land battles at the Soviet-German front were crucial to the outcome of the whole war. A critical evaluation of O’Brien’s conception is fruitful to the further scholar research on the topic as well as to the understanding of the historiographical process itself.

Progress and Future Directions of the NCAA-DoD Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium and Mind Matters Challenge at the US Service Academies.

Despite the significant impact that concussion has on military service members, significant gaps remain in our understanding of the optimal diagnostic, management, and return to activity/duty criteria to mitigate the consequences of concussion. In response to these significant knowledge gaps, the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) partnered to form the NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance in 2014. The NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium was established with the aim of creating a national multisite research network to study the clinical and neurobiological natural history of concussion in NCAA athletes and military Service Academy cadets and midshipmen. In addition to the data collected for the larger CARE Consortium effort, the service academies have pursued military-specific lines of research relevant to operational and medical readiness associated with concussion. The purpose of this article is to describe the structure of the NCAA-DoD Grand Alliance efforts at the service academies, as well as discuss military-specific research objectives and provide an overview of progress to date. A secondary objective is to discuss the challenges associated with conducting large-scale studies in the Service Academy environment and highlight future directions for concussion research endeavors across the CARE Service Academy sites.

The impact of political party/candidate on the election results from a sentiment analysis perspective using #AnambraDecides2017 tweets

This work investigates empirically the impact of political party control over its candidates or vice versa on winning an election using a natural language processing technique called sentiment analysis (SA). To do this, a set of 7430 tweets bearing or related to #AnambraDecides2017 was streamed during the November 18, 2017, Anambra State gubernatorial election. These are Twitter discussions on the top five political parties and their candidates termed political actors in this paper. We conduct polarity and subjectivity sentiment analyses on all the tweets considering time as a useful dimension of SA. Furthermore, we use the word frequency to find words most associated with the political actors in a given time. We find most talked about topics using a topic modeling algorithm and how the computed sentiments and most frequent words are related to the topics per political actor. Among other things, we deduced from the experimental results that even though a political party serves as a platform that sales the personality of a candidate, the acceptance of the candidate/party adds to the winning of an election. For example, we found the winner of the election Willie Obiano benefiting from the values his party share among the people of the State. Associating his name with his party, All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) displays more positive sentiments and the subjective sentiment analysis indicates that Twitter users mentioning APGA are less emotionally subjective in their tweets than the other parties.

Parliament and the Press: Forging the United Nations in Wartime Britain, 1939–45

AbstractDuring the Second World War, not only the United States but also Great Britain played a leading role in planning and establishing the United Nations (UN) as a new international organisation to replace the League of Nations. While scholarship on post‐war planning is extensive, relatively little exists on how the planning process was discussed and depicted publicly in Britain. The purpose of this article is to fill such lacunae by examining the two most important domains for public discussion at the time, the press and parliament. It will argue, first, that the League of Nations’ experience – its inability to use collective force and its optimistically democratic structure – overwhelmingly shaped public discourse in reference to the UN. By referring to the past, the press and politicians alike in Britain were content to relinquish interwar ideas such as equal rights and equal representation for all nations. Second, apart from the lessons of history, the less democratic structure of the new world organisation was justified from the perspective of great power politics. The desire to make the grand alliance between Britain, the United States of America, and the USSR functional despite all mutual suspicions, directed the view of the UN, and typically overrode all other concerns relating to post‐war planning. Finally, throughout the wartime planning of the UN, public opinion, in so far as press and parliament were concerned, held fast to the idea that the British empire was not to be touched by the UN. In public, the establishment of the UN was hardly considered as a starting point for decolonisation. Instead, the UN was designed to become the post‐war embodiment of the grand alliance, a vehicle through which the victory over the Axis powers would be managed at the global level: such management did not envision the need to let empire go. Viewed this way, it also becomes clear that nationalism and internationalism were not mutually exclusive or binary visions, but coexisted and shifted in importance throughout the period examined.

Portuguese Diplomatic Correspondence and Information Channels during the War of the Spanish Succession

During the War of the Spanish Succession, Portugal joined the Grand Alliance in 1703. It made it involved, from that year on, in the conflict that included most of the major European Powers in a dispute for the Spanish throne, which, ultimately, represented a contest for dominance in Europe. Under these circumstances, several diplomats were in charge of representing Portugal at the main European courts, protecting its interests and communicating regularly with the court of Lisbon. This paper addresses an understudied set of the correspondence written in this period by Francisco de Sousa Pacheco, the Portuguese envoy to The Hague, to Joao de Almeida Portugal, Portuguese ambassador to the court of Archduke Charles of Habsburg, one of the pretenders to the Spanish throne, in Barcelona. The main objective of this article is to study the information network established in Europe, mainly in the Grand Alliance side, and the different routes letters followed from The Hague to Barcelona, either using the existing postal system or known intermediaries. Letters were not the only means diplomats had to convey information to their addressees. They also sent other sources of information, like periodicals, accounts of events and pieces of information gathered from different sources, including propaganda in its various forms. It also analyses the developments of the war, the structure and evolution of these letters and the struggle of these diplomats with the other states to make sure their commitments to send military and financial support to the troops were fulfilled. He also wrote about the espionage within the various courts, and the interception diplomatic letters suffered from the opposite side. Ultimately, we’ll see the efforts of these ambassadors as a means for Portugal to gain recognition within Europe, although it ended up with an increasing dependency on foreign states support.