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Due to the interaction between foreign instructors and local recruits in Security Force Assistance (SFA), deployed military personnel often experience challenges arising from cultural frictions. This article analyses the relevance of cross-cultural awareness for military performance in SFA. The research is based on data obtained from 22 face-to-face interviews with Spanish military personnel about their experience in Iraq (2015-2022). The results reported cultural differences as being the main difficulty in deployment. Spanish military personnel employed different strategies to cope with these difficulties, relying mainly on interaction through mediated or direct communication with local personnel. Despite this, the sociability of the troops has been identified as a distinctive element of the Spanish military, which facilitates the building of relationships. The culture of origin of the military operates as a cross-cutting category that substantially facilitates intercultural awareness in international operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most social research collects data about abstract concepts (e.g., attitudes) using survey questions. However, survey data suffer from measurement errors that affect substantive conclusions. When measurement errors differ across countries, cross-national comparisons of standardized relationships can result in incorrect substantive conclusions. However, no research has analysed the measurement quality of survey questions in Spain in a comparative perspective. Using a Split-Ballot Multitrait-Multimethod experiment conducted in the European Social Survey round 8, we compare the quality of questions in Spain with their quality in other participating countries. The average measurement quality in Spain is higher than the overall average for all ESS countries. In addition, when comparing Spain with other countries, substantive conclusions can be incorrect if differences in the size of measurement errors are not taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the discourses and strategies of the counter-revolution in New Spain/Mexico between 1810 and 1823. I study the ideological evolution operated by the anti-liberals, from the rejection of the first proposals for independence until their acceptance. This change has not had a completely satisfactory explanation for historiography. My interpretative proposal supports the need of inserting that problem within a broader dynamic that encompasses the Euro-American space and its experiences. In this work I develop the concept of Atlantic Counter-Revolutionary Identity. It refers to the diffusion and exchange of ideas, books, doctrines, and imaginaries between both sides of the ocean. From the intellectual field, the articulation of an early sort of International of the Anti-Liberalism contributed to the symbolic union of opponents of the Revolution. The anti-enlightened and reactionary theories of the European authors were adapted to the historical circumstances of the Americas, becoming part of a new interpretative tradition that was constantly renewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that Treaty of San Ildefonso signed between Spain and Portugal on opens the door for Spain to attempt in its history, the colonial occupation of the Gulf of Guinea through an annex reserved for African territories. Topics include Spain managed to establish a colonial law in the middle of the African equatorial zone; and military resources destined for the expedition to Africa were withdrawn from the territories of Santa Catalina and Colonia Sacramento,.