The limits of technocracy and local encounters: The European Union and peacebuilding

ABSTRACT

This article is the conclusion to a special issue that examines the European Union (EU), peacebuilding, and “the local.” It argues that technocracy—particularly EU technocracy—shapes the extent to which local actors can hope to achieve ownership of externally funded and directed peace support projects and programs. Although some actors within the EU have worked hard to push localization agendas, a number of technocracy linked factors come together to limit the extent to which the EU can truly connect with the local level in its peace support activities. While the EU and other international actors have invested heavily into capacity building in conflict-affected contexts, the EU’s own capacity has not necessarily been built to address the scalar problem of accessing the local in ways that are meaningful.     

Local ownership as international governmentality: Evidence from the EU mission in the Horn of Africa

ABSTRACT

While some Foucault-inspired studies construe local ownership in international interventions as a form of liberal governmentality that aims to govern through freedom, others lambast it as an illiberal governmentality that is likely to be resisted because it undermines local autonomy. However, we still do not know what is the rationality behind local ownership, how it is being operationalized, and why a principle that aims to govern through freedom ends up curtailing it. I argue that local ownership, echoing the colonial principle of indirect rule, is driven by the rationality of advanced democracies on how best to govern global insecurities at a distance. Consequently, ownership is operationalized as responsibilization for externally designed objectives. This often gives rise to local resistance which undermines international efforts to achieve ownership. I illustrate my arguments with evidence from the EU Mission on Regional Maritime Capacity Building in the Horn of Africa (EUCAP Nestor).     

Think again – supplying war: reappraising military logistics and its centrality to strategy and war

This article argues that logistics constrains strategic opportunity while itself being heavily circumscribed by strategic and operational planning. With the academic literature all but ignoring the centrality of logistics to strategy and war, this article argues for a reappraisal of the critical role of military logistics, and posits that the study and conduct of war and strategy are incomplete at best or false at worst when they ignore this crucial component of the art of war. The article conceptualises the logistics–strategy nexus in a novel way, explores its contemporary manifestation in an age of uncertainty, and applies it to a detailed case study of UK operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.     

Sweden and the issue of NATO membership: exploring a public opinion paradox

The past decade has seen substantial shifts in Swedish security policy and major change in the domestic debate about NATO. For the first time, all of the right-of-centre “alliance parties” are calling for a full NATO membership, and popular support for NATO has increased. Yet public opinion contains ambiguities and paradoxes that complicate the picture. At the same time as support for NATO has increased, the public is overwhelmingly for continued military non-alignment. Drawing on previous research, longitudinal data from national surveys, and other sources on defence and security issues, this article aims to increase our understanding of the development and change in Swedish public opinion on NATO. A key argument is that Erving Goffman’s theatre metaphor, combined with neo-institutional decoupling theory, to a large degree can help understand the public opinion paradox.     

Offset Contracts as an Insurance Device in Building the National Security

A dynamic multi-stage decision-theoretic approach is introduced to establish the optimal offset and its incidence, the contract price arising from bargaining, and the scale of the acquisition. A new rationale is suggested for offsets in terms of their role as an insurance devise. Results are derived for the pricing of delivery contracts subject to offset claims and their national security implications. It is shown that the national security is strictly convex in the offset transaction. As to the incidence of the offset, the offset claim is shown to be capitalised in the delivery price. The bargaining price is shown to depend on the value of the product to be delivered for the national security, the relative negotiation power of the contracting partners and the social cost of public funds. The analysis highlights the expectation effects of offsets on the bargaining price and the scale of delivery. The results aid in explaining why offsets are widely used in procurement contracts for defence materiel. As they contribute to the national security, they should be allowed to survive and not be denied under competition laws.     

防空中存在两次转火射击时的火力分配模型

在对空防御时 ,进行火力分配不但要考虑到一次性分配的最佳方案 ,而且应该考虑是否在条件允许的情况下进行一次或两次转火射击 ,如果存在 ,怎样进行转火才能使其射击效果最好。把威胁判断和火力分配结合起来考虑 ,以我方的生存概率为指标 ,建立了存在两次转火射击的火力分配模型 ,并用实例计算检验了模型的正确性。     

潜艇水下推算舰载机作战时间动态计算模型

由于受探测手段的限制,水下潜艇对空中目标的威胁评估一直是研究难题.针对潜艇所能获得的各种信息,分析了舰载反潜直升机作战起飞影响因素、跳跃时间影响因素以及声纳定测时间影响因素,给出量化形式,构造出了潜艇水下推算舰载反潜直升机作战时间的动态计算模型,为潜艇定量评估潜在空中目标的威胁程度提供了合理的逻辑支持.     

驱护舰编队对潜防御作战兵力运用

针对驱护舰武器装备的发展,结合现代海上对潜防御作战的新特点,对驱护舰编队在海上对潜防御作战中的兵力运用问题进行了探讨,提出了驱护舰编队对潜防御作战的指导思想、兵力运用原则和兵力攻击行动方式,并就确保编队的兵力行动提出了引导保障、安全保障应遵循的战术原则,对部队作战与训练具有一定的参考价值。     

单舰防空能力评估模型

水面舰艇海上作战的主要威胁来自于敌方反舰导弹的攻击,因而水面舰艇的反导作战能力成为其战斗能力和生存能力的重要指标之一。在传统武器系统效能评估模型的基础上,根据单舰防空武器系统的特点,利用数学整合的方法建立了单舰在遭受单发导弹攻击和多发导弹攻击情况下的防空能力评估模型。这在一定程度上为导弹武器作战系统的指标论证、方案论证、工程研制、鉴定定型和作战运用等提供参考依据。