Conflict and conflict resolution in the Sahel: The Tuareg insurgency in Mali

Internal ethnic conflicts appear to be protracted and intractable across the globe in the 1990s. A rare success tory is the struggle resolved between the land‐locked West African Republic of Mali and its Tuareg nomadic inhabitants. They rebelled in 1962–64 and 1990–94. The Malian government, which shares borders with seven other states, eventually defused the insurgency mainly by incorporating the Tuareg into its security forces. The author had a prominent role in this and examines the lessons that deserve to be far better known for the world at large.     

The Kashmir insurgency: As bad as it gets

In January 2000, the Kashmir militancy is gaining ground and Indian forces are on the defensive. This is despite a decline in militancy from 1996 to mid‐1999. While India has managed to secure greater international support from the West, the failure of an elected state government in Kashmir to regain the confidence of Kashmiris has cost Delhi support. The militant revival is being driven by increasing professionalism, along with strong support from backers in Pakistan. Given there is now a 12‐year period of violence to analyse, new literature brings interesting insights.¹     

Helping hands: external support for the KNU insurgency in Burma

This article analyses to what extent the Burmese KNU insurgency made use of external support from states, refugees, and diasporas. Based on extensive fieldwork it is concluded that support from neighbouring states and refugees has for years kept the Karen rebellion alive. Western countries perceived forms of resistance to the illegitimate Burmese regime as just and have therefore played a crucial role in the continuation of conflict in Karen State. It is important that policymakers and donors as well as executing organizations continue to reflect critically on the way they exercise their work.     

新疆伊斯兰教建筑装饰艺术的特征

新疆伊斯兰教建筑装饰艺术的特征是以一种特殊的造型、形式、色彩、材质,多种多样的装饰技巧以及独有的审美特征体现出来的。是新疆伊斯兰教建筑文化体系中取得最高成就的一部分,是集实用功能、审美功能、认识教育功能于一体的艺术形式,蕴涵着地域环境、民情风俗、审美价值等丰富的内容,呈现出浓郁的风格特点。这些装饰艺术的特征,影响着人们的情绪,净化着穆斯林们的心灵,给观赏者以建筑装饰艺术的造型、色彩、纹饰的美感,获得审美的愉悦。     

Post-territorial insurgency: the online activism of the revolutionary association of women of Afghanistan (RAWA)

In this article, the RAWA Website is analyzed as an example of the transformation of global security in a context in which globalization, fragmentation, and the rise of new technologies for global communication embody new forms of political behaviour. In particular, the article outlines how a marginalized group in a remote country has used the Web to wage a worldwide struggle for hearts and minds. The author contends that such conditions for new security are manifest in a range of areas, including the 9/11 attacks. In this model, new forms of conflict combine innovative tactics and weapons in unexpected ways.     

Feeding Bread to the Luddites: The Radical Fundamentalist Islamic Revolution in Guerrilla Warfare

This study examines the war that the United States has waged since September 2001 as a global counterinsurgency. Placing the war against al-Qaeda and its allied groups and organizations in the context of a global insurgency also presents implications for doctrine, interagency coordination and military cultural change. The first part of the article offers a distilled analysis of al-Qaeda and its associated networks. The second section examines the US military in the context of the Western way of war, with the attendant military-cultural impediments to adapting to an enemy who embraces a very different approach to war. The third section aims to define and describe the nature of the war that America and its coalition partners are trying to wage. The concluding section offers the most value as it refines and distills the work of several international security and military thinkers to arrive at some imperatives for successfully prosecuting this type of war to its end.     

8·23菲律宾人质劫持事件的教训及启示

2010年8月23日,菲律宾发生劫持中国香港游客的暴力事件,引起世界的关注。以此次事件为切入点,总结菲警方处置劫持事件的教训,以利于我国警方反劫持战斗顺利进行,提高处置此类案件的快速反应能力。     

Framing Political Violence: Success and Failure of Religious Mobilization in the Philippines and Thailand

How do religious civil wars evolve? Many violent conflicts are fought between groups of different faiths. The paper argues, however, that religious differences rarely directly lead to conflict onset. Rather, the apparent religious dimension of many civil wars is a consequence of successful religious framing. Political and military leaders offer religious interpretations designed to legitimize the use of force and to mobilize believers to violent action. Such framing processes can be more or less successful, depending inter alia on the authority of the political and religious leadership, on the coherence and appropriateness of the frames, on the existence of persuasive counter-frames, and on the availability of communication infrastructures that allow for effective dissemination of religious frames. Comparing violent conflicts in the Philippines and Thailand, the paper shows that religious mobilization can fail along the theoretically predicted lines.     

The elephant in the room

When United States (US) President Barack Obama announced in 2013 that he would host the first United States-Africa leaders' summit the next year, he was greeted with considerable scepticism. Many critics thought he was just playing catch-up with other countries and organisations which had been holding Africa summits for years, especially China. But, whatever the motives, the event itself proved to be a substantial success, probably re-setting US relations with Africa for many years to come.     

火灾事故调查中易出现的问题及对策

火灾调查工作是法律赋予公安消防机构的一项法定职责,是公安消防监督执法工作的重要组成部分,也是对社会实行公共安全管理的行政行为。做好火灾事故调查工作,不仅有利于研究火灾的规律和特点,为预防和扑救火灾提供科学依据,而且对依法查处火灾案件,促进消防工作的开展具有十分重要的意义。对火灾事故调查中易出现的问题从程序方面和实体方面进行了分析和说明,并提出了相应的对策和措施。     

网络游戏赌博性质分析

网络游戏产业快速发展的同时,赌博现象混迹其中。网络游戏赌博与传统赌博只是形式上的不同,其实质就是一种赌博行为。只有从教育、法制、监督、自律四方面综合治理,才能使这个行业健康发展。     

新时期思想政治工作的网络阵地

随着科学技术的发展 ,网络的开通为社会文化的发展开辟了空间 ,使得信息传播载体得到了空前的扩展 ,加快了信息传播速度 ,但同时也为思想政治工作的开展增加了难度。要完成建设有中国特色社会主义的各项重要任务 ,我们的思想政治工作必须占领网络这块阵地 ,针对网络的特点有效地开展工作。     

论高校中的红色经典教育

红色经典作为中华民族重要的文化积累,对于大学生无疑有着重大的教育意义。本文通过对红色经典的分析来考察红色经典的教育功能,并试图寻找红色经典教育在当代大学生中的实施途径。改变红色经典传播方式,让红色经典成为大学生成长教育中的有效载体。     

虚拟现实技术的教学应用探析

目前,仿真技术与高性能计算被公认是继理论研究、实验技术之后,认识、改造世界的第三种手段,并逐步发展成一个综合性的学术、学科领域,在国民经济及国防建设中日益发挥着重大作用。从一定意义上讲,虚拟现实技术是仿真技术发展的高级形式,如何促使虚拟现实技术的潜在教育效益得到充分发挥是教育技术工作者不可推卸的责任。     

导数在微观经济学中的应用

用导数的方法可以对经济活动中的实际问题进行定量分析,从而为企业经营者进行科学决策提供量化依据。通过引入导数概念,分析经济学中的边际、弹性和最优值问题,把数学思想方法运用在经济学上,从而阐明高等数学处理复杂经济问题的优越性和重要性。     

The conditional p-center problem in the plane

An algorithm is given for the conditional p-center problem, namely, the optimal location of one or more additional facilities in a region with given demand points and one or more preexisting facilities. The solution dealt with here involves the minimax criterion and Euclidean distances in two-dimensional space. The method used is a generalization to the present conditional case of a relaxation method previously developed for the unconditional p-center problems. Interestingly, its worst-case complexity is identical to that of the unconditional version, and in practice, the conditional algorithm is more efficient. Some test problems with up to 200 demand points have been solved. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.