Terrorism as Method in Nepali Maoist Insurgency, 1996–2016

During the period 1996–2006, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) waged overt people’s war to seize state power and institute a new order that realized the party’s understanding of ‘New Democracy’ as posited by Mao Tse-tung. Contextual shifts led to a crucial strategic turning point in September 2005, when the Maoists agreed to a united front with estranged legal parties to oust the monarchy and establish a republic. Though touted as acceptance of political reintegration, the move was tactical rather than strategic. The party had no intention of supporting a parliamentary version of democracy and thus, 2006–2016, engaged in a covert effort to seize power. Central to this effort was the paramilitary Young Communist League (YCL), the members of which responded to inflammatory party verbiage and exhortations with attacks upon rival political actors. These attacks, academically and legally, were terrorism and offered a salient illustration of intra-state unrestricted warfare. Ultimately, organizational, national, and regional circumstances caused the main Maoist movement to move decisively away from its covert approach. By that time, however, radical splinters had embraced the use of terrorism against rival political actors, creating a situation whereby local politics is yet a dangerous endeavor in certain areas and at certain times.     

Country survey: military expenditure and defence policy in Norway 1970–2013

This article examines military expenditure and defence policy in Norway from 1970 to 2013. Until 1990 Norwegian military expenditure remained between 2.5 and 3.0 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite constant GDP shares, the military expenditure could not sustain a large and properly armed mobilization army. The constant nominal defence budgets of the 1990s accentuated the Norwegian Armed Forces' underlying imbalance between tasks, structure and budget. Around year 2000, large organizational reforms were effectuated, in which costs, the number of man-years, and underlying imbalances between tasks, structure and budget were reduced. Military expenditure increased in nominal terms between 2003 and 2013, while real military expenditure remained practically constant.     

Resource rents,institutions, and violent civil conflicts

Natural resources have been blamed for inducing slow growth and sparking civil conflicts and violence. This paper first develops a model to account for the hazard of armed civil conflicts as a manifestation of the natural resource curse, which is mediated by the quality of both economic and political institutions. We then use recently published data on institutional quality and natural resource rents to measure the potential impact of the resource curse on violent civil conflicts using a panel of data for over 100 countries in the period 1970–2010. Our model explicitly accounts for the role of good economic and political institutions in deterring the recourse to violence as well as the extent to which they might weaken the resource rents effect.     

Resource Dependence and Armed Violence: Impact on Sustainability in Developing Countries

The dependence on oil, gas, and mineral exports arguably has a negative impact on economic growth in resource-rich, developing countries. This article looks at the impact of resource dependence on adjusted net savings (ANS) as an indicator of weak sustainability. Our results, based on a panel of 104 developing countries during the recent commodity price boom, confirm a negative relationship between resource extraction and sustainable development as measured by ANS. We further look at the specific role of armed conflict and armed violence as captured by the homicide rate. Armed conflict, which is positively associated with resource dependence, negatively affects ANS per capita according to both our OLS and instrumental variables (IV) estimates. Similarly, armed violence has a detrimental effect on sustainable development. Our IV estimate suggests that a one-point increase in the homicide rate decreases ANS per capita by $60. Since education expenditures are a critical ANS component, we further examine the impact of resource dependence and violence on human capital. Consistent with previous findings, resource-dependent countries underinvest in education but armed conflict and violence do not affect the instantaneous share of education expenditures, hinting at a detrimental effect working through physical and social capital rather than education.     

Military Innovation and Tactical Adaptation in the Israel–Hizballah Conflict: The Institutionalization of Lesson-Learning in the IDF

This article highlights a pattern of military adaptation and tactical problem-solving utilized by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while engaged in protracted conflict with the Lebanese militant group Hizballah. It discusses the IDF’s recent attempts to institutionalize their historically intuitive process of ad-hoc learning by developing a formal tactical-level mechanism for ‘knowledge management’. The diffusion of this battlefield lesson-learning system that originated at lower-levels of the organization is examined, as well as its implementation and effectiveness during the 2006 Lebanon War. A nuanced analysis of IDF adaptation illustrates the dynamic interplay between both ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ processes of military innovation.     

信息化条件下武警院校电工电子实践教学改革探析

高素质人才是部队信息化建设的关键。围绕如何面对信息化条件下提高学员创新能力、培养高素质人才问题,对武警院校电工电子实践教学改革,提出一些有效的做法和措施。     

加快院校初级指挥人才培养模式转变的思考

加快武警院校初级指挥人才培养模式转变,既是贯彻落实胡主席主题主线重大战略思想的客观要求,也是适应建设现代化武警需要,不断提高院校人才培养质量的迫切要求。客观分析了以往武警院校初级指挥人才培养模式所取得的主要成绩、存在问题及原因;从适应武警部队现代化建设现实需要等方面,阐述了转变人才培养模式的必要性;从服务部队建设、培养合格人才的高度,提出了加快初级指挥人才培养模式转变的六项基本对策。     

美军在信息安全视野下利用社交媒体政策研究

近年来,美军逐步调整社交媒体政策,重视发挥其在公共事务、家庭服务以及塑造军队形象中的独特功能。从信息安全的角度出发,在分析美军社交媒体政策发展变化及其内在动因的基础上,总结出美军运用社交媒体所采取的信息安全措施。     

基于双向启发式属性约简的战术决策建模研究

从预警机指挥引导的多机协同空战原则分析出发,针对超视距协同空战决策过程中的不确定性和不完备性问题,提出了一种不完备信息系统中的基于双向启发式属性约简的战术粗决策建模方法。首先考虑粗糙集决策过程中条件属性发生缺失或不确定的情况,根据扩展不完备信息概念建立了不完备决策信息系统的最优完备选择;其次基于分辨矩阵的属性约简算法,以属性频度的大小作为启发信息进行决策信息系统约简的双向选择,得出决策信息系统的最佳约简集合;然后依据使决策最有可能发生的原则,给出决策信息系统的最优选择,以该最优选择为代表提取出决策规则;最后根据软、硬杀伤结合使用的CGF实体超视距协同空战作战想定,建立了CGF实体综合战术决策模型,并通过作战决策实例对该方法的正确性和有效性进行了验证。结果表明：该方法能在作战态势信息不完备的情况下正确给出CGF实体综合战术行为。     

武警学院双语教学面临的问题及对策

结合武警学院的教育特点,积极开展双语教学的理论研究,科学论证和正确选用双语课程和教材,努力提高教员的教学水平和学员的外语应用能力,提高双语教学质量,充分发挥双语教学在武警学院现代化教学工作中的作用。