Drone Strikes and Grand Strategy: Toward a Political Understanding of the Uses of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Attacks in US Security Policy

This article analyzes the political utility of US drone strikes theoretically and deductively. Placing strikes within the context of the theorized political functions of force and considering how they fit into two grand strategies, restraint and selective engagement, I argue that these strikes buy the United States relatively little in the way of political effects assuring its own security because the terrorism threat they are intended to combat is a limited one within the skein of US global interests. Furthermore, their contribution to counter-terrorism efforts is likely to diminish with the adoption of armed drones by non-state actors. Drone strikes can, however, provide leverage over recalcitrant US client states while reassuring liberal partners and giving them some leverage over US choices. In addition, within the counter-terrorism sphere, drone strikes are less likely to inflame popular opinion than are alternative uses of force. This analysis contributes to an increasingly rigorous examination of the strikes’ role in US foreign and security policy.     

Coalitions & the Legitimisation of UK Security Policy

Abstract

David Moore analyses the role of the Treasury in detemining and controlling defence policy and expenditure, and the place of the MoD within this function.     

Defence Procurement Policy: The Way Ahead

Abstract

The Defence Procurement Executive is the single largest customer of British industry and controls some 127 000 contracts. As Chief of Defence Procurement, Dr McIntosh explains the effects of expanding market forces on defence contracts and the suppliers, before continuing to outline the prospects for future competitive contracts in view of the recent cuts in defence budgets.     

英、汉模糊限制语的分类与理解模式

本文对模糊限制语的分类进行了概要的综述。在此基础上,对模糊限制语的理解模式和产生模式提出了自己的看法。认为理解模糊限制语时存在标志性和无标志性假设;而模糊限制语的产生则是一个动态的过程。     

Understanding contemporary conflicts in Africa: a state of affairs and current knowledge

Understanding contemporary conflicts in Africa remains directly dependent on the approaches employed to decipher or interpret them. This article first examines the bias of conventional approaches (inherited from the Cold War) and then those of a series of supposedly “newer” approaches. Relying primarily on West African examples, it offers a brief overview of current knowledge, issues, and avenues for research, based on three apparent characteristics of a “new generation” of conflicts: the regionalization of wars, the privatization of violence and security, and the recourse to extreme forms of brutality. These three major trends bear witness to a rapid transformation of war and armed violence over the past 20 years, but they are not sufficient to establish a radical historical break between “old” and “new” conflicts in Africa. By concealing elements of continuity a priori, the most influential “new” approaches actually make it impossible to ponder their own limits. To that end, fashionability and struggles for influence within the Africanist field play a major role in perpetuating dominant, sensationalistic, or simplistic (and invariably incorrect) portrayals of African conflicts.     

关于能源互联网的认识与思考

世界各国为振兴经济积极探索发展新兴产业,新能源和科学技术得到迅猛发展,由互联网与新能源技术整合形成的“能源互联网”已成为广大学术界和经济界关注的热点。文章首先给出了能源互联网产生的背景、概念和内涵,接着对能源互联网系统功能结构和关键技术进行了分析,最后通过与信息互联网的对比分析,给出了关于发展能源互联网的一些思考和建议。     

城镇化与农民增收的相关性分析

从理论上分析,城镇化与农民增收之间存在很强的正相关关系;而现实中,在政策措施不科学的情况下,城镇化为农民增收带来了很大的负面效应。因而必须采取必要措施消除负面影响,充分体现城镇化对农民增收的正相关效应。     

加强高校预算管理的思考

预算管理是高校财务管理的核心,加强高校预算管理,能促进高校事业计划顺利完成,有效提高各项资金的使用效益。本文通过对高校预算管理的内容、特点及不足的分析,提出了加强高校预算管理的对策。     

提高企业信用的经济价值认识,加强企业信用建设

现代市场经济是信用经济,而企业信用是其中最重要的组成部分,由于我国企业缺乏对企业信用经济价值的充分认识,企业信用严重缺失,严重制约了企业经济发展。提高企业对企业信用经济价值的认识,加强企业信用建设,才能适应经济发展的需要,提高企业竞争能力。     

一种跳频通信中增加可用频率数的方法及其性能分析

针对跳频通信中传统收发同频体制的不足,介绍了一种新的增加可用频率数的方法。提出了不对称频率表的概念及设计,对其在短波跳频通信中提高跳频处理增益、改善系统抗阻塞干扰等性能进行了分析,并与常规跳频进行了比较,得出了一些有益的结论。