CIVILIANISING MILITARY FUNCTIONS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

The privatization of activities previously performed by government has been a major characteristic of economic policies over the past two decades. This article examines the potential for privatization of military activities in the African context. Four categories in which this has or might occur are mercenaries employed by a government to provide for defence or to supplement its own military; private security company personnel employed to protect economic assets or to advise and train the local military; the contracting out of the provision of goods and services ranging from heavy weapons through to accounting services; and the transfer of non-core activities currently undertaken by the military to other government departments or civilian bodies. Of these, the last is of potential importance in Africa, given the wide range of activities which its militaries have come to perform. Three examples where private sector organisations or other government departments could play a much larger and probably more cost-effective role are peacekeeping, internal security and surveillance, resource protection and rescue activities.     

From the sociology of the (military) profession to the sociology of (security) expertise: the case of European national defence universities

Few would disagree that European militaries have experienced dramatic changes since the end of the Cold War. Much of the discussion on these changes to date has referred to the concept of professionalism. However, this approach became outdated as professions in post-industrialist societies entered a state of crisis as a result of growing competition from a variety of competitors. The present study adapts a new framework from the sociology of knowledge literature – sociology of expertise – into one, sociology of security expertise, which is suitable for study of contemporary armed forces. Its utility is demonstrated through analysis of five European professional military education institutions. The analysis shows that European military organisations are transiting, albeit in various degrees, from one form of social organisation of military knowledge production – associated with the military education model common to traditional military colleges – toward another, which is related to the military education model of national defence universities. Hence it is highly probable that European military organisations lose, either voluntary or unintentionally, their professional character and can no longer be unquestionably assumed to be military professions. Hence, they should be analysed hereafter using the sociology of security expertise framework.     

谈公安边防部队信息网络建设

公安边防信息网络建设的水平是公安边防部队科技强警工作的一个重要方面。目前 ,公安边防信息网络建设和管理中还存在重建设轻管理 ,信息安全管理控制不够严密及信息网站建设和管理不规范等问题 ,必须按照公安部的有关要求 ,认真落实全国边防信息化工作会议精神 ,全面加强信息网络的规范化建设和管理 ,提高和推进公安边防部队科技强警工作的质量和水平。     

The market and the military profession: competition and change in the case of Sweden

The rise of private military and security companies (PMSCs) challenges our notion of military professionals. PMSCs bring new claims to professional status and legitimacy outside military institutions and represent an increasing diffusion of - and competition over - military and security expertise. In light of this development, understanding the formation of professional identities in military and private security organisations is as an important undertaking. This paper contributes to this endeavour by analysing professional self-images in the Swedish Armed Forces and how these relate to PMSCs. The study is based on data collected from official documents, semi-structured interviews and a small-scale survey among senior military officers. Focusing on military understandings of PMSCs and contractors, the analysis provides much-needed insight into relational aspects of professional identity formation outside the US context. Furthermore, it points to discrepancies in organisational and group levels in understandings of commercial security actors, and paves the way for future research.     

New directions for African security

African security, particularly conflict-related political violence, is a key concern in international relations. This forum seeks to advance existing research agendas by addressing four key themes: domestic politics and peacekeeping; security sector reform programs; peace enforcement; and the protection of civilians. Each of the articles in this forum makes a case for analyzing African agency when it comes to African security. As a way of introduction, this short article sets out the main debates and concludes by providing further directions for future research.     

公安院校边防管理专业突发事件应急演练之实践探索

公安院校边防管理专业培养的人才必须对边境地区突发事件具有综合处置能力,突发事件应急演练则是培养学员突发事件处置能力的有效途径。从突发事件应急演练的几个方面进行实践探索,以期对人才培养提供一定借鉴。     

浅谈云计算在公安警卫信息化工作中的应用与发展前景

随着公安警卫部队信息化建设的全面高速发展,云计算技术将更多地应用于警卫信息化建设。展望云计算在警卫信息化建设中的应用前景,分析当前警卫信息化建设中运用云计算技术所面临的问题及对策。     

Beyond the state: reconceptualising African security in the 21st century

Confronted with myriad security challenges, African states and the much-vaunted peace and security architecture of the African Union (AU) has proven not to be up to the challenge. Indeed, this is implicitly acknowledged by the AU itself if one considers the creation of such security structures as the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which exists outside its peace and security architecture. This paper argues for a radical rethink of security structures on the African continent – one in which state structures of security coexist with newer forms of security actors, including private military companies (PMCs), community movements and the business sector. Whilst this shift in security actors is already happening on the ground, policymakers need to embrace this new reality.     

公安现役院校教学质量监控体系的建立与实践

教学质量是高等学校的生命线,是影响人才培养质量的最直接因素。依据本院在教学质量监控方面的探索与实践,提出建立一套适合公安现役院校特点的教学质量监控体系,用来指导和评价教学工作,加强教学管理,不断提高教学质量。     

一种基于智能代理的分布式网络监控系统

各种网络攻击事件正频繁发生,如何阻止来自网络外部和网络内部的攻击,显得越来越重要。文中首先分析了现有的网络信息安全系统存在的不足,然后应用智能代理技术,提出一种分布式网络监控系统结构,并进行了形式化分析和实现。由于该网络监控系统克服了现有网络信息安全系统的一些不足,因而具有广泛的应用前景。     

公安警卫部队开展优良传统教育的几点思考

国家政局的长期稳定 ,容易使人产生和平麻痹思想。公安警卫人员要适时地开展优良传统教育 ,克服警卫部队中普遍存在的重勤务、轻教育以及教育模式陈旧、单一 ,方法不灵活 ,没有统一的教育大纲等实际问题 ,进一步规范教育模式 ,明确教育目标 ,弘扬部队正气 ,使公安警卫人员牢记神圣使命 ,坚持“两个务必” ,确保警卫任务的圆满完成。     

Twittering for talent: Private military and security companies between business and military branding

Private military and security companies (PMSCs) play an increasingly important role in the provision of security-related services. In their attempts to win new clients and find suitable personnel, they take on different identities by presenting themselves as conventional businesses, military actors, and humanitarians. In this article, we examine how PMSCs deploy these identities when they recruit new personnel through social media. Our computer-assisted content analysis of Twitter messages posted by two major United States-based companies—CACI and DynCorp International—shows that while both PMSCs amplify their business and military identities to attract the most talented personnel, they construct and communicate these identities in different ways with CACI branding itself as a sophisticated, modern, and patriotic business and DynCorp as a home-grown, traditional military provider. In addition, our analysis lends force to scholars suggesting that state militaries and the private security sector compete increasingly for prospective employees using similar strategies.     

The security sector and the plunder of Zimbabwe’s Chiadzwa alluvial diamonds: the ‘goat mentality’ in practice

While the human rights impact of the deployment of state security agencies in the Chiadzwa diamond fields has been explored, it is important to continue to expose the increasing tendency within the sector to take public resources that should be protected by the state and used for the benefit of the people and channel them for personal gain. The security sector stranglehold of President Robert Mugabe and the ruling political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), has facilitated the siphoning of Chiadzwa diamond revenue into the pockets of individual security personnel. The unfolding sociopolitical crisis in Zimbabwe has also meant that these security personnel have been deployed beyond conflict zones and into traditionally civilian domains, with dire consequences for the public purse. With this in mind, it is asserted that these issues have driven state security agencies to enrich themselves through what is termed in this article as a ‘goat mentality’. The article thus explores the ways in which state security agencies have been deployed and gone on to promote personal enrichment in the Chiadzwa diamond fields.     

无人系统安全防护研究

当前,无人作战系统在大规模、高烈度、高科技体系对抗中的安全防护能力尚显不足,需从多方面加以提升。本文首先从自然环境、协同运用、综合对抗以及自主权限给无人系统带来的安全风险为出发点,深入分析了无人系统的安全防护需求;其次,根据需求,总结了无人系统安全防护的目标,并分别从提升无人系统环境适应性能、降低无人系统可探测概率、强化无人系统抗毁伤能力、夯实无人系统自主作战安全性设计等四方面详述了无人系统可采取的安全防范措施;再次,利用体系防护资源,结合无人平台和载荷的防护基础,提出了内外一体的、控制与防护分离的协同安全架构;最后,对无人系统安全防护的未来发展趋势进行了展望。     

社会学视野中的警卫工作

警卫工作事关国家的稳定与发展，在整个社会中具有举足轻重的战略地位和重要作用。因此，从社会学的角度对警卫工作进行认真思考，对警卫人员和警卫突发事件这对警卫工作特殊矛盾的最激烈表现形式进行解读，有利于从不同的侧面进一步加强对警卫工作的认识。     

A multilevel passenger screening problem for aviation security

Passenger prescreening is a critical component of aviation security systems. This paper introduces the Multilevel Allocation Problem (MAP), which models the screening of passengers and baggage in a multilevel aviation security system. A passenger is screened by one of several classes, each of which corresponds to a set of procedures using security screening devices, where passengers are differentiated by their perceived risk levels. Each class is defined in terms of its fixed cost (the overhead costs), its marginal cost (the additional cost to screen a passenger), and its security level. The objective of MAP is to assign each passenger to a class such that the total security is maximized subject to passenger assignments and budget constraints. This paper shows that MAP is NP‐hard and introduces a Greedy heuristic that obtains approximate solutions to MAP that use no more than two classes. Examples are constructed using data extracted from the Official Airline Guide. Analysis of the examples suggests that fewer security classes for passenger screening may be more effective and that using passenger risk information can lead to more effective security screening strategies. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

国家安全视角下的网络文化安全形势与对策

互联网的发展加速了权力分散,对我国的国家安全尤其是文化安全维护提出了新的问题。当前,我国社会进入新时代发展阶段,社会主要矛盾发生重要变化。与互联网尤其是网络文化安全有关的风险和挑战不断增多,互联网已经成为文化安全斗争的主战场。如何直面挑战,着力维护网络文化安全,提出队伍建设、舆论阵地和平台建设、维护手段、思维和素养、机制和法规建设的对策方法。     

公安现役部队执法能力培养与法学教学

公安现役部队是列入武警序列由公安部门管理的部队。对其执法能力的要求具有特殊性。公安现役院校担负着为公安现役部队培养人才的任务,教学过程中应对公安现役部队执法能力的涵义、执法能力的内容和因执法能力不足而产生的问题以及解决问题的途径作了探讨。提出创新法学教学模式是提高公安现役部队执法能力的有效方法。     

EU security sector reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Reform or resist?

ABSTRACT

Attempts to explain the failure to reform the security sectors in post-conflict countries have often resorted to two sets of explanatory factors: international and local factors. This article seeks to move from that unhelpful dichotomy to an explanation linking both factors. Drawing on a Foucauldian approach and the concept of “counter-conduct,” it examines the rationality and practices of European Union (EU) governmentality and how governing technologies are resisted and reversed by local elites involved in security sector reform (SSR). Instead of understanding power and resistance as binary opposites, this article argues that counter-conduct can be conceived as implicated in the very relations of power that it seeks to resist. To tease out these relations, the article analyzes the EU's efforts in SSR in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where it identifies four forms of counter-conduct: upholding European standards, using the local ownership trap, simulating reforms, and lowering the bar.     

新形势下警卫工作应树立的理念

在新形势下,警卫工作面临着许多新情况、新问题、新挑战,威胁警卫安全的因素增多,警卫工作的难度增大。做好新形势下的警卫工作,应树立根据岗位素质需求招募警卫人员的理念,确保忠诚可靠的思想政治工作理念。完全贴近实际与实战的训练理念,情报信息主导警卫勤务的理念,无缝衔接、零差错率的工作标准理念,科技制胜、不惜重金的装备保障理念。