How long until midnight? Intelligence-policy relations and the United States response to the Israeli nuclear program, 1959–1985

Why did the United States fail to stop Israeli acquisition of nuclear weapons? Existing research argues that patrons such as the U.S. should have an easy time halting proliferation by militarily and economically vulnerable clients. Nevertheless, Israel acquired nuclear weapons with relatively little American opposition. Utilizing extensive primary source research, we argue that problematic intelligence-policy relations hindered U.S. efforts to arrest Israeli proliferation as (1) policymakers often gave mixed guidance to the intelligence community, resulting in (2) limited information on Israeli efforts that reinforced policy ambiguity. The results carry implications for understanding the dynamics of nuclear proliferation and intelligence-policy relations.     

Capacity investment decisions under risk aversion

This article studies the optimal capacity investment problem for a risk‐averse decision maker. The capacity can be either purchased or salvaged, whereas both involve a fixed cost and a proportional cost/revenue. We incorporate risk preference and use a consumption model to capture the decision maker's risk sensitivity in a multiperiod capacity investment model. We show that, in each period, capacity and consumption decisions can be separately determined. In addition, we characterize the structure of the optimal capacity strategy. When the parameters are stationary, we present certain conditions under which the optimal capacity strategy could be easily characterized by a static two‐sided (s, S) policy, whereby, the capacity is determined only at the beginning of period one, and held constant during the entire planning horizon. It is purchased up to B when the initial capacity is below b, salvaged down to Σ when it is above σ, and remains constant otherwise. Numerical tests are presented to investigate the impact of demand volatility on the optimal capacity strategy. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 218–235, 2016     

位置信息与替换概率相结合的多核共享Cache管理机制

多核系统中末级Cache是影响整体性能的关键。为了提出一种细粒度、低延迟、低代价的末级共享Cache资源管理机制,将系统性能目标转换为每个内核当前占用Cache资源的替换概率,以决定每个内核能够提供的被替换资源的数量;对某个需要增加Cache资源的内核,从可提供被替换资源的候选内核中选出距离较近且替换概率较高的一个内核,并以Cache块为粒度进行替换,从而实现Cache资源在不同内核间的动态划分。与传统以相联度为粒度的粗粒度替换机制相比,以Cache块为单位的替换机制具有更细的替换粒度,灵活性更高。另外,通过将位置信息和替换概率结合,保证了Cache资源与相应内核在物理布局上的收敛,降低了访问延迟。同时,所提出的方法只需要增加极少的硬件代价。实验结果表明,根据实验场景和对比对象的不同,所提方法与其他已有研究成果相比,可以实现从6.8%到22.7%的性能提升。     

Fencing the bear? Explaining US foreign policy towards Russian interventions

Despite the burgeoning literature on Russia’s renewed power politics, little attention has been paid to the fact that US reactions towards Russia’s military interventions were all but coherent. The USA has chosen weak measures in Georgia in 2008 (shaming) compared to its assertive response in Ukraine in 2014 (sanctions, hard deterrence). This article assesses the explanatory power of neorealist, liberal and constructivist theories for the variation in US reactions towards Russian interventions in Georgia and Ukraine. Our argument is that the constructivist perspective explains the cases best as it highlights the power and communality of normative assessments. The Ukraine crisis was perceived by the USA as a violation of core international norms, especially the non-use of force and the principle of territorial integrity. Relevant international norm carriers shared this assessment of the conflict. In contrast, the perception of the Georgian war centred on the issue of democracy promotion. While democracy is an important aim of US foreign policy, it does not summon the same normative importance as general principles of international law. Furthermore, the perception of the Georgian war remained contested among Western allies, which decreased the communality of the normative assessment.     

Securitising humanitarian assistance and post-conflict reconstruction in Africa: A critical review of South Africa's new defence policy

The South African Defence Review 2014 is the country's new defence policy. The Review, which is expected to steer South African defence policymaking for the next few decades, discusses in detail the role of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in peace missions in Africa and proposes the direct involvement of the country's soldiers in both military and civilian tasks, from peacekeeping to humanitarian assistance, post-conflict reconstruction and development. This paper contains a critical review of the Review with regard to South Africa's envisaged contribution to regional and continental peace and stability. It is argued that humanitarian assistance and post-conflict reconstruction should not be securitised and that the SANDF should only be tasked with peacekeeping and the establishment of stability and security in fragile in-conflict and post-conflict settings. The humanitarian work should be left to humanitarian and aid agencies, while reconstruction and development should be left to organisations such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development, continental and international development organisations, and local actors.     

基于Citespace的国内公共政策研究现状分析

推进社会经济发展和管理需要科学制定和实施公共政策对当前研究现状进行分析梳理,有利于该领域的发展,使公共政策的制定和执行更加科学有效。以CNKI数据库收录的5799篇国内公共政策研究期刊论文为样本,采用文献计量法和知识可视化分析工具CiteSpace,对国内公共政策研究的现状、演进与热点等进行深入探讨。结果表明,21世纪以来,公共政策研究进入了高潮,但作者、机构之间学术联系较弱,还处于比较分散的状态。研究热点主要集中在政策制定、合法性有效性评估、群众认可及产业应用方面,新的研究前沿将是开拓民主渠道、完善监督机制、推动政府决策科学化等方面。     

Understanding China’s goals and strategy in the South China Sea: bringing context to a revisionist systemic challenge – intentions and impact

ABSTRACT

The slow moving conflict in the South China Sea has been characterized by some as “not worth the candle.” China claims the entirety of the South China Sea pursuant to a nine-dash line, the legal impact of which has been limited by international courts. At the same time, China has changed the reality of control over the South China Sea by building a number of fortified islands in the Spratly Islands and elsewhere. The US has either refused to stand up to China's behavior (Obama) or responded unevenly (Trump). This paper examines the impact of China's behaviour on local parties, US interests, and the liberal international system.     

Local perceptions of the EU’s role in peacebuilding: The case of security sector reform in Palestine

ABSTRACT

Perception research can make a valuable contribution to the study of the local dimension in EU peacebuilding. The conceptual framework developed in this article distinguishes between perceptions of the “legitimacy,” “effectiveness,” and “credibility” of EU peacebuilding practices, which are crucial factors for successful peacebuilding. Relying on the case of the EU’s support for security sector reform (SSR) in Palestine, this article shows that local stakeholders—which participate in various EU-sponsored training and capacity-building programs—display considerable support for liberal peacebuilding norms. Yet, perceived discrepancies between the EU’s peacebuilding rhetoric and its SSR activities have severely undermined the potential of the EU’s liberal peacebuilding model in the eyes of Palestinian stakeholders. Critical local perceptions are frequently articulated with reference to the EU’s own liberal peacebuilding discourse, pointing to a lack of inclusiveness of the SSR process and deficits in terms of democratic governance and the rule of law.     

军人犯罪刑事政策探究

刑事政策是大刑事法思想的基本范畴 ,军人犯罪刑事政策是国家基本刑事政策在军队的具体沿用。军人犯罪刑事政策是由军委就一定时期军队犯罪情况制订的原则性指导意见 ,它不直接对某一犯罪人作出评判 ,而是作为军事立法机关和司法机关形成最终法律判断的动态标准。     

Newsvendor bounds and heuristics for serial supply chains with regular and expedited shipping

We study an infinite‐horizon, N‐stage, serial production/inventory system with two transportation modes between stages: regular shipping and expedited shipping. The optimal inventory policy for this system is a top–down echelon base‐stock policy, which can be computed through minimizing 2N nested convex functions recursively (Lawson and Porteus, Oper Res 48 (2000), 878–893). In this article, we first present some structural properties and comparative statics for the parameters of the optimal inventory policies, we then derive simple, newsvendor‐type lower and upper bounds for the optimal control parameters. These results are used to develop near optimal heuristic solutions for the echelon base‐stock policies. Numerical studies show that the heuristic performs well. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2010