When the military become a security and political threat: Zimbabwean army generals in electoral politics

The military poses an ongoing threat to modern democratic rule in some African countries, especially in the Zimbabwean context. This paper reveals the ways in which Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) generals have played a political role in the Zimbabwean elections, an issue which is both a political threat and a security threat to the state. It is argued that the ways in which ZNA generals engage in the political process goes against Section 208(2) of the constitution of Zimbabwe, which summarily states that the military must be apolitical. In substantiating this argument, the paper presents and analyses various public speeches made by army generals. It is contended that the army generals’ support of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and President Robert Mugabe has to be understood as a ‘mutual accommodation’, i.e. the generals are offered privileges in return for the political protection of the ruling regime which negatively impacts the security of the vote.     

Japan’s Emerging Trajectory as a ‘Cyber Power’: From Securitization to Militarization of Cyberspace

Japan has been overlooked as a ‘cyber power’ but it now becoming a serious player in this new strategic domain. Japanese policy-makers have forged a consensus to move cybersecurity to the very core of national security policy, to create more centralized frameworks for cybersecurity, and for Japan’s military institutions to build dynamic cyberdefense capabilities. Japan’s stance has moved rapidly toward the securitization and now militarization of responses to cyber challenges. Japan’s cybersecurity stance has bolstered US–Japan alliance responses to securing all dimensions of the ‘global commons’ and extended its defense perimeter to further deter but potentially raise tensions with China.     

Neural network modeling to evaluate the dynamic flow stress of high strength armor steels under high strain rate compression

An artificial neural network (ANN) constitutive model is developed for high strength armor steel tempered at 500 °C, 600 °C and 650 °C based on high strain rate data generated from split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) experiments. A new neural network configuration consisting of both training and validation is effectively employed to predict flow stress. Tempering temperature, strain rate and strain are considered as inputs, whereas flow stress is taken as output of the neural network. A comparative study on Johnson–Cook (J–C) model and neural network model is performed. It was observed that the developed neural network model could predict flow stress under various strain rates and tempering temperatures. The experimental stress–strain data obtained from high strain rate compression tests using SHPB, over a range of tempering temperatures (500–650 °C), strains (0.05–0.2) and strain rates (1000–5500/s) are employed to formulate J–C model to predict the high strain rate deformation behavior of high strength armor steels. The J-C model and the back-propagation ANN model were developed to predict the high strain rate deformation behavior of high strength armor steel and their predictability is evaluated in terms of correlation coefficient (R) and average absolute relative error (AARE). R and AARE for the J–C model are found to be 0.7461 and 27.624%, respectively, while R and AARE for the ANN model are 0.9995 and 2.58%, respectively. It was observed that the predictions by ANN model are in consistence with the experimental data for all tempering temperatures.     

Initiating insurgencies abroad: French plans to ‘chouannise’ Britain and Ireland, 1793–1798

Secret French plans to launch guerrilla-style raids on the British Isles devised in the spring of 1796 were referred to as ‘chouanneries’. The name and concept behind these small-war operations were modelled on the irregular tactics used by the Chouan rebels in the Vendée, which the French state army had brutally quashed, but some wished to transfer into their institutional practice. Part of France's ongoing military strategy in the war against Britain, which included fomenting insurrection in Ireland, these irregular operations were to be manned partially by pardoned deserters and released convicts and prisoners of war. Of these, only Tate's brief invasion of Wales in 1797 was realised, but the surviving plans provide insightful historical lessons into an Anglophobic mindset shared by a small network of practitioners and policy deciders on the effectiveness of such shock and awe tactics. Largely motivated by the desire to take revenge for Britain's support of counter-revolutionaries in the Vendée, these plans could more aptly be referred to as counter-‘chouanneries’.     

Causal Linkages Between Domestic Terrorism and Economic Growth

We use the Hsiao–Granger method to test for terrorism–growth causality for seven Western European countries. In bivariate settings, the impact of economic performance on domestic terrorism is very strong. In trivariate settings, the impact of performance on terrorism diminishes. In general, we find that economic performance leads terrorist violence in robust ways only for three out of seven countries. Terrorism is almost never found to causally influence growth in bivariate and trivariate specifications. Our findings indicate that the role of economic performance in determining terrorist violence appears to have been important for some countries, whereas all attacked economies have been successful in adjusting to the threat of terrorism.     

A Note on the Economics of Stolen Valor

Abstract

The economics of stolen valor concerns the act of trading on false claims of being awarded valorous military service medals. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 2005 Stolen Valor Act, largely on First Amendment grounds. Misrepresentation that devalues the reputation of medals for valor may not violate the revised statute despite decreasing the wage premium and discouraging investment in military effort.     

SECURITY AND FORCED MIGRATION CONCERNS IN SOUTH AFRICA

“As we close this century, there is for the first time realistic hope of a more just future. A Century stained with the sufferings of ceaseless war and atrocity is as much marked by our incomplete efforts to secure the foundations of an international society, one in which all peoples are equal and equally protected from abuse. The last decade has seen the application of dormant humanitarian principles and laws in various fora. The ICC offers us the opportunity to build on these disjointed enforcement efforts. A properly functioning permanent court will be humanity's best chance yet to move out of its self-destructive cycle. Justice is a vindication, a historical right and a deterrent.”     

U.S.–RUSSIAN NUCLEAR COOPERATION AND THE CTBT

Post-Cold War “lab-to-lab” collaborations on unclassified scientific issues between U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons laboratories set the stage for bilateral cooperation in materials control and other nuclear areas. They also became the major element in a cooperative process initiated by a Presidential Decision Directive to ensure Russia's compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. These collaborations have always been highly favored by leaders of the Russian nuclear weapons complex—the same leaders who oversee Russia's participation in various government-to-government programs. This article reviews these collaborations and examines the possibility that U.S. rebuffs of Russian proposals and the U.S. failure to keep promises of expanded collaboration could contribute to Russia's reluctance in major programs and even lead to a return to nuclear testing by Russia. The author argues that a renewed U.S. commitment to the process should be an immediate goal of the Obama administration and is an essential step in re-engaging Russia to solve the nuclear problems remaining from the Cold War. Steps for doing so are recommended.     

装备保障抽组力量物资装载模型

对装备保障抽组力量的物资装载问题进行了数学描述,建立了以实现全部物资尽量分散装载为目标,以同类物资集中装载、车辆承载物资总体积不超过车辆有效容积、车辆承载物资总重量不超过车辆标记载重量、物资必须装载且不被重复装载等为主要约束的数学模型,并进行了求解.最后通过实例解算验证了模型的有效性.     

Pakistan's Relations with Central Asia: Is Past Prologue?

Throughout the 1990s Pakistan sought to cultivate ‘strategic depth’ throughout Iran, Afghanistan and the newly emergent Central Asian Republics while seeking to restrict Indian influence in the region. Chastened by its past failures, Pakistan now embraces more modest regional goals. Despite the diminution in objectives, several factors augur failure including Pakistan's policies in Afghanistan, which diminish the likelihood of a stable Afghanistan, and Pakistan's inability to pacify the various insurgencies roiling both Baluchistan and the Pashtun areas of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas as well as the Northwest Frontier Province.