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Italy’s presidency of the G20 defied the odds and resulted in costly commitments by the members on a range of issues: global health, climate change, a minimum global tax, and the crisis in Afghanistan. Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, was certainly a factor. The global context was also important, with the new Biden administration in the US leading a group of countries seeking multilateral solutions to pressing international problems.

This article offers an explanation of varying perceptions of resolve - the willingness to incur costs in order to reach a contested good. The article argues that domestic actors who publicly and personally invest themselves in policy action are likely to view signals of high adversary resolve more critically than those who do not. Variance in signals is also important. Skeptical “vested” actors view even public signals as indicators of low resolve if the signals contain ambiguity. If “vested” actors dominate the challenger’s government, only clear and costly signals are likely to lead the challenger to perceive high defender resolve. I use this approach to explain Italian perceptions of British resolve on the eve of the 1935-36 Italo-Ethiopian War. While many Italian officials came to see British resolve as high, Benito Mussolini was motivated to see the ambiguity in British signals. Cet article propose une analyse de la perception variable de la résolution (l’attitude qui permet de prendre en compte des coûts pour obtenir un bien contesté). L’article soutient que les acteurs nationaux qui s’investissent personnellement et de façon publique dans l’action politique sont susceptibles de sous-interpréter les signaux provenant de compétiteurs engagés dans une épreuve de force. La variation de ces signaux constitue également un paramètre important. Des acteurs sceptiques ne prennent pas aux sérieux des messages, même publics, s’ils contiennent des ambiguïtés. Si des acteurs fortement motivés dominent le gouvernement du compétiteur, alors seulement des signaux clairs et forts (en termes de coûts) de la part du défenseur peuvent amener le compétiteur à percevoir le caractère résolu du défendeur. C’est ce schéma interprétatif que nous utilisons pour expliquer les perceptions italiennes de l’attitude résolue des Britanniques au seuil de la guerre italo-éthiopienne de 1935-1936. Alors que de nombreux officiels italiens percevaient la détermination des Britanniques, Benito Mussolini continuait à insister sur l’ambiguïté des signaux de leur part.

The project Aboriginal Imagination is a research project that aims to encourage Aboriginal artists to find ways to work with communication technologies to help improve Aboriginal health and education. My thesis argues that Aboriginal people must take advantage of current and future developments in new media art and multimedia technologies. The project Aboriginal Imagination provides an example of how it is possible for technology and culture to come together and be used for educational purposes to reach Indigenous audiences. The interactive DVD Aboriginal Imagination is a model of how the knowledge of Aboriginal elders, vision and skills of Indigenous new media artists may be bought together to design and produce culturally appropriate educational materials. Aboriginal people have vital knowledge and skills that must be encouraged and put to use back in their communities. The project highlights the importance of Aboriginal people taking control of their health and of the design, production and dissemination of health education materials. The focus of my thesis and multimedia DVD is the kidney function story that is designed to be meaningful to Aboriginal renal patients and their families.