Empirical Investigation into the Determinants of Terrorism: Evidence from Fragile States

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants of terrorism in countries that are in the top category of the Fragile States Index (FSI), and are also prone to terrorism. Panel data for 38 countries mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia for the years 2005–2014 are used. Findings from the negative binomial and fixed effects estimation show that fragile state, number of refugees and youth unemployment have positive and significant impacts on terrorism. Military spending is positive but less robust across models. Conversely, FDI and remittances have a negative impact on terrorism with the former less robust. Governance and foreign aid are negative and insignificantly related to terrorism. Policy implications follow from the findings.     

EDITOR'S NOTE

The Nonproliferation Review (NPR) recently interviewed Ambassador Sergio de Queiroz Duarte of Brazil, who presided over the 2005 Seventh Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Ambassador Duarte discussed his views on the outcome of the conference and the future of the treaty. He provided NPR with valuable insights into the outcome of the conference and also shared his thoughts on some of the most pressing issues confronting the NPT today, including the Middle East, nuclear terrorism, elimination of the threat of highly enriched uranium in the civilian nuclear sector, proposals to limit access to the nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear disarmament, and negative security assurances. Blaming the failed conference on a general lack of political commitment among states parties and their unwillingness to negotiate common solutions, Ambassador Duarte stressed that “the conference should face squarely its own failure without my attempting to disguise or sugarcoat the deep differences of view, which must be resolved with courage and determination by the states parties if they want the treaty to remain effective.”?He emphasized that if states fail to act on their overriding interest in upholding the NPT, especially if states parties continue to ignore or disregard their nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament obligations, some states might come to believe that their security interests are no longer served by the treaty. The future prospects of the NPT would then “look dire indeed.”     

MONGOLIA

Formed according to broad principles laid out by the United Nations, nuclear-weapon-free zones (NWFZs) play an important role in promoting nuclear nonproliferation, paralleling and complementing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. But the traditional regional treaty-based path to establishing NWFZs is not open to all states. Owing to various factors, some countries cannot realistically follow the path of states that have established traditional NWFZs. Mongolia, having declared itself a single-state NWFZ in 1992 and gained UN General Assembly recognition of this status in 1998, may provide an example for other countries to follow. This viewpoint presents Mongolia's case as a state seeking to acquire a nontraditional nuclear-weapon-free status despite unfavorable geopolitical circumstances. The case of Mongolia clearly demonstrates that the creation of a credible, single-state NWFZ status is possible, but demands the support and flexibility of both neighboring states and the nuclear weapon states.     

弹道导弹关机点状态估计的指数加权递归最小二乘方法

在双星预警条件下,将指数加权递归最小二乘算法应用于目标关机点状态估计问题中。通过引入加权因子对目标助推段运动的局部拟线性特性进行描述,从而在一定程度上克服了一般的线性多项式模型难以准确刻画整个助推段运动的难题。通过对助推段目标动力学特性的分析,考察了目标在垂直射面方向上的运动特性。在此基础上,提出了一种更为准确的助推段运动模型。仿真算例表明,所提出的关机点状态估计方法相对于传统的方法具有一定的优越性。     

局部状态检测的GPS/INS组合导航转发式干扰检验方法

针对GPS/INS(Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System)组合导航中GPS转发式干扰问题,在分析故障变化特性与故障诊断函数特性之间关系的基础上,提出了一种基于局部状态χ2检验的方法。通过观测值的变化、观测模型的变化和χ2检验中x赞1k的变化论证了方法的可行性,并得出组合导航受到转发式干扰是判断系统发生故障的充分而非必要条件的结论。最后通过在仿真轨迹中加入诱偏来模拟转发式干扰,仿真实验证明该方法能够以较高的灵敏度和较高的准确性判断转发式干扰的发生。     

Preservation of unimodality under shock models

A number of results pertaining to preservation of aging properties (IFR, IFRA etc.) under various shock models are available in the literature. Our aim in this paper is to examine in the same spirit, the preservation of unimodality under various shock models. For example, it is proved that in a non-homogeneous Poisson shock model if {p_k}_K≥0, the sequence of probabilities with which the device fails on the kth shock, is unimodal then under some suitable conditions on the mean value function Λ (t), the corresponding survival function is also unimodal. The other shock models under which the preservation of unimodality is considered in this paper are pure birth shock model and a more general shock model in which shocks occur according to a general counting process. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 46: 952–957, 1999     

The Changing Nature of Legitimate Authority in the Just War Tradition

ABSTRACT

The legitimate authority principle has become reduced to the issue of state authority. In its current formulation, the state has the sole authority to wage war, and because non-state actors, by their very definition, cannot satisfy this principle, their use of force is inherently unethical. This does not reflect the reality that non-state actors are increasingly engaging in the use of force, sometimes legitimately. As a result, the legitimate authority principle can and should look beyond the state. This article navigates a terrain in which non-state actors engage in the use of force, and in which revisionist just war thinking proposes that the concept of legitimate authority is irrelevant to thinking about the ethics of war. It proposes a principled approach to the inclusion of some non-state actors under the rubric of legitimate authority. This approach draws upon the historical development of the legitimate authority principle and incorporates the factors important to early writers on the subject.     

ASLR机制脆弱性自动分析方法

地址随机化是一种针对控制流劫持漏洞的防御机制。已有的漏洞自动分析与利用技术缺少对地址随机化机制影响的分析,导致生成的测试用例在实际环境中的运行效果受到极大限制。针对地址随机化的缺陷及其绕过技术的特点,提出了一种地址随机化脆弱性分析方法。该方法使用有限状态机描述程序运行路径中各关键节点的状态;针对常见的内存泄漏与控制流劫持场景建立约束条件;通过求解内存泄漏状态约束与控制流劫持状态约束的兼容性,分析地址随机化机制在特定场景下的脆弱性。实验结果表明,该方法可有效检测通过内存泄漏导致的地址随机化绕过及控制流劫持攻击,实现自动化的地址随机化脆弱性分析,提高针对软件安全性分析的效率。     

The making of the EU Global Strategy

This article traces the evolution of the EU strategic reflection which culminated in the publication of the EU Global Strategy (EUGS) in June 2016. It explains the choices made by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini over this time period—including both the initial strategic assessment and the final EUGS. It provides a behind the scenes view on the players, the organization and the methods of work used to produce a strategic vision for the EU’s role in the world.     

基于纯纠缠态的量子安全直接通信协议

基于纯纠缠态,提出一种量子安全直接通信协议.通信方利用decoy光子来检测窃听.在保证量子信道的安全后,发送方通过控制非操作和von Neumarm测量将秘密消息编码在纯纠缠态上并发送给接收方.由于所有的纯纠缠态都用于传输秘密消息,该协议具有较高的量子比特效率.就实验的可行性来说,该协议可以用当前的技术实现.此外,该协议在噪声量子信道中也是安全的.