Explaining the security paradigm shift: strategic culture,epistemic communities,and Israel’s changing national security policy

The paper’s main argument is that Israel’s security policy, which traditionally focused on defending its territorial integrity against regular Arab armed forces, was, by the 2010s, transformed into one that focuses on facing a variety of state- and non-state-based threats. Neo-realist explanations could neither account for the contested nature of the security debate during this period, nor the inconsistent evolution of the policy. The present study aims to solve this conundrum by introducing an alternative approach known as 4th generation strategic culture research. The paper is comprised of four parts. First, the origins and evolution of strategic culture are reviewed, with emphasis placed on the commonly accepted weaknesses that, to date, have prevented it from being used as a testable theoretical concept, and subsequently as an explanatory factor for security policy changes. The second part presents the “modernist constructivism” approach that bridges the gap between traditional constructivism and hypothesis-driven research design. Next, the paper introduces the emerging fourth generation in strategic culture literature, followed by a conceptual framework designed to resolve the inherent weaknesses of the more traditional approaches. Finally, this conceptual framework is applied to analyse the transformation of Israel’s security policy between 1982 and 2014.     

Human conflict and universal ethics (part 2)

This second part of the review article begins with a definition of military power, when and how it should be used. From a large number of authors, “moral forces” are linked to “codes of conduct”, and the fundamental understandings about the “profession of arms”, based on “fiduciary trust”, “covenanted” service and professional and personal “conscience”. The article covers what authors have written about “culture” and the ethics of “technology” devices and systems, including “cyber” warfare. It concludes with recognition of the increase in ethical sensitivity in this century which is characterized by a phenomenon, the crises of “identity”, personal, national and global.     

防空兵群指挥所配置方案优化分析

防空兵群指挥所配置是兵力部署的重要内容,它从根本上决定了指挥所的指挥效能和野战生存能力。多年来,指挥所的配置多是根据防空兵战斗的相关战术原则,由作战参谋提出数个配置方案,然后由指挥员做出决策。这种仅凭主观决策的做法与现代防空作战的要求不相适应。结合模糊多指标评判方法与优化理论,从发挥指挥效能与提高生存能力两个方面出发,对防空群指挥所的配置进行了分析,并建立了配置方案优化的模型,从根本上改变了指挥所配置完全依赖主观判断的做法。最后应用模型分析了一个实例。     

防空兵作战指挥对抗能力评估方法

作战指挥对抗在未来防空作战中的地位越来越重要,为科学评估防空兵作战指挥对抗能力,对防空兵作战指挥对抗系统进行了全面分析,建立了防空兵作战指挥对抗能力评估指标体系.并利用模糊数学的方法,建立该系统的模糊综合评价模型,从而为综合评估防空兵作战指挥对抗能力提供了一种方法.该方法能使定性描述定量化,客观地反映了防空兵作战指挥对抗能力的真实情况,具有一定的参考价值.     

Command Coordination and Tactical Effectiveness in Counter-insurgency Operations: Lessons from the South Korean Campaign

This article analyzes the causes of combat effectiveness of the South Korean security forces through the course of its various counter-insurgency (COIN) operations from 1948 to 1953. We argue that improvements in two interrelated aspects ultimately resulted in higher operational and tactical level performance: unified operational command structure and the subsequent improvements in tactical efficiency under the guidance of the US advisory mission. Through an in-depth case study on how a nascent army improved its capacity in combating homegrown insurgencies, we demonstrate how the actual conduct of operations itself remains just as significant in the assessment of overall COIN outcomes.     

A nation-in-the-making,in arms: control of force,strategy and the Ukrainian Volunteer Battalions

At the core of waging war and strategy is the creation, control and use of force. This article investigates the volunteer battalions that mobilized in Ukraine during the spring of 2014. It contextualizes the volunteer phenomenon and focuses on the state strategies to establish control over these militias. As ambiguous entities arising from a situation characterized by rapid social change – revolution and war – the volunteer battalions threatened existing hierarchies and questioned state authority. The situation was exacerbated by the war, which deviated from the expectations of Ukrainian combatants and Western military observers alike. The state nevertheless enjoyed a modicum of success in reining in the militias through four strategies of undermining, co-option, incorporation and coercion. While predominantly integrated into a more rigid category of paramilitary forces, the volunteers continue to play a role in both the Ukrainian society and security sector to the unforeseeable future.     

Cinema,drone warfare and the framing of counter-terrorism

The study of the cinematic representation is extremely useful in framing of counter-terrorism policies, whether in the US or elsewhere. This paper examines cinema’s interest in drone warfare as well as the lives and personalities of drone pilots. It argues that drone warfare suffers a considerable image problem that has been brought out in several recent features and it is unlikely that any major cinematic myth of drone warfare will easily develop, certainly in comparison to myths concerning special forces and special operations.     

防空兵战场控制能力评价模型

为了理解防空兵战场控制系统,分析影响战场指挥能力的因素,建立防空兵战场控制能力模型.将战场控制能力因素转化为量化指标,建立模型主要包括流程分析、指标体系建立、组织因素量化、权重计算等,运用AHP法、幂指数法建模计算,最终得出评价模型.为防空兵群战场控制能力评价提供了一种科学方法,从而便于实施防空兵群控制水平分析和战场控制资源效能分析.     

海军特种作战兵力行动知识推理研究*

通过对兵力行动知识原理和兵力行动知识工程建模方法的分析,根据知识推理的特点,给出了适合的兵力行动知识表示和推理方法的选择,并着重运用三值逻辑神经网络这种兼备符号语义表示和网络传播结构的模型,解决了兵力行动推理中偏好性和主观性的规则逻辑的表示及相应的推理问题.最后,基于兵力行动推理的研究,以海军特种作战兵力行动为例,得出了兵力行动知识推理模型实现的描述.     

论现行法律框架下多种形式消防队伍的发展与管理

随着社会经济的飞速发展,消防保卫任务日趋繁重,但现有消防警力严重不足,如何在建设好公安消防现役队伍的同时,建立和发展多种形式消防队伍,提高全社会的灭火救援能力,已成为保障经济建设和社会稳定的当务之急．同时也是我国消防界急需解决的重要课题。从我国发展多种形式消防队伍的理论和实践依据入手,通过进一步分析目前我国多种形式消防队伍的组织形式和发展现状,指出了我国多种形式消防队伍法制建设方面存在的问题,并结合各地的具体实践展开了对多种形式消防队伍发展的一些思考。