Word: functional
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...society whose political health demands the responsible and reflective engagement of all of its citizens, we simply cannot afford politics to be reduced to the level of these sophomoric episodes on college campuses. For democracy to function optimally, our leaders and our parties must appeal to our higher principles—those of duty, community, and respect—and not our basest urges, like our inclination for momentary and mindless entertainment...
...Walter Reed shouldn't be punished for extending its top-notch medical services to soldiers longer than military hospitals have in past conflicts. A leading center for amputations and brain injury, it has achieved amazing breakthroughs and revived function and hope for soldiers who would have died in past conflicts...
...Paris, though he concedes that the introduction of the euro brought with it some "terrible problems of perception." (Researchers are busy trying to figure out why - see sidebar.) Economists fear that that the credibility of official statistics could be undermined altogether, with potentially serious consequences. "An economy cannot function if half the people think that inflation is at 100% and the other half think that it's at 2%," frets Giovannini...
...point is that Russia's geopolitical power has become a function of the value of its energy exports. As Princeton historian Stephen Kotkin has pointed out, the energy crisis of the 1970s helped the Soviet economy--even as it hurt the West--by bathing the ailing Soviet system in petrodollars. But as oil prices slid below an average price of $20 per bbl. from 1986 to 1996, Russian power slid too. It's no coincidence that the price of oil touched $11 in Yeltsin's miserable last year...
...newly designated executive, it helps to consider leadership in general. A leader is a person, usually in an assigned role, who is expected to provide direction for an organization or polity. At a minimum, a leader must be able to manage her institution, making sure that its constituent entities function well and synergistically; if management is not the leader’s strong card, she must be able to select strong managers, work with them, and give them considerable autonomy...