Assessing military reform in Indonesia

This article seeks to assess the magnitude of military reform in Indonesia and its impact in establishing greater levels of professionalism within the armed forces. To this end, the authors will offer some reflections on the studies of civil-military relations and military transformation for inculcating a higher degree of military professionalism; analyse to what extent the process of military reform in Indonesia has reshaped the institutional role of the armed forces; and discern three major strategic gaps in Indonesia's military reform, namely the “legal loopholes and regulation vacuum,” the “shortcomings of democratic civilian control,” and the “defence-economic gap.” This article asserts that military professionalism will grow more substantially depending on the ability of civilian elites to exercise effective control over the military and the capacity of the government to transform the military establishment keeping pace with strategic challenges and operational requirements.     

Institutionalizing supreme command: explaining political–military integration in the Vietnam War, 1964–1968

Under what conditions can leaders achieve wartime political–military integration? In the Vietnam War, political–military integration exhibited dramatic variation: in the air war, the US was able to tightly integrate its political objectives and military conduct, but in the ground war, the American military prosecuted a strategy that was both divorced from broader political objectives and was immune from Washington's influence. I argue that the nature of information management between the military and civilian leadership explains the pattern of political–military integration in the Vietnam War more completely than do explanations that focus on the organizational cultures of professional militaries.     

Explaining the impact of militancy on Iran–Pakistan relations

ABSTRACT

Sectarian militants have for years launched attacks from Pakistan across the border to Iran. Finding sanctuary in a neighbouring country can make the difference between success and failure for militants. Conventional wisdom holds that a lasting transnational militancy challenge would typically create serious interstate conflict. Militancy has triggered armed encounters between Iran and Pakistan. This article argues that despite some tension militancy has resulted in deeper cooperation in the ambivalent dyad. Both states’ overarching security concerns, having exhausted other options, the believed involvement of third-party states, and economic potential, have moderately alleviated negative pressure caused by militancy.     

Democratic control of Romanian intelligence after three decades: quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

ABSTRACT

Romania faced one of the most dramatic transitions from authoritarian communism to become a democracy and a member of the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). The backbone of building a democratic society has been civilian control of the military. This article briefly describes the norms and institutions of democratic control of the intelligence services in Romania and assesses how the mechanisms of democratic control have worked in practice after almost three decades of reform. We argue that many of the post-1989 reforms have been only superficial implemented and monitored, particularly after Romania joined NATO and the EU. The article concludes that the democratic control of intelligence in Romania is an unfinished business. There are structural shortcomings embedded in the process of democracy consolidation that need to be addressed.     

创新人才军民融合培养体系及其构建

创新人才军民融合培养构成人才强国战略、创新驱动发展战略和军民融合发展战略的交汇点。创新人才是战略资源,军民融合为创新人才培养提供了一条全新路径。作为一项系统工程,创新人才军民融合培养包括创新人才军民融合培养主体系统、创新人才军民融合培养客体系统、创新人才军民融合培养方案系统、创新人才军民融合培养资源系统、创新人才军民融合培养制度系统、创新人才军民融合培养考评系统,在系统构建过程中需加大统筹协调、投入保障、政策倾斜、法治保障、合理使用力度,注重体系推进。     

消防行政强制措施与消防行政处罚之关系探讨

从理论和实践方面分析了消防行政强制措施的性质,理清了消防行政强制措施与消防行政处罚之间的关系,认为消防行政强制措施与消防行政处罚决定是两个独立的具体行政行为,消防行政强制措施不是消防行政处罚的法定程序。     

关于联合国维和警察公共关系工作的几点思考

阐述了开展联合国维和警察公共关系工作的必要性与紧迫性,分析了开展联合国维和警察公共关系工作的原则与步骤,从加强联合国维和警察与各种传播媒体之间的公共关系工作;加强联合国维和警察与任务区民众之间的公共关系工作;加强联合国维和警察机构与联合国其他机构、各国驻维和任务区外交代表机构以及当地政府之间的公共关系工作;加强联合国维和警察内部派遣国警队之间的公共关系工作;重视发挥维和警察个体的公关作用;及时处理突发事件引起的公关危机等6个方面提出了开展维和警察公共关系工作的具体措施。     

A new outranking‐based approach for assigning alternatives to ordered classes

We consider the problem of assigning alternatives evaluated on several criteria into ordered categories C₁,C₂,…,C_p. This problem is known as the multi‐criteria sorting problem and arises in many situations such as classifying countries into different risk levels based on economical and socio‐political criteria, evaluating credit applications of bank customers. We are interested in sorting methods that are grounded on the construction of outranking relations. Among these, the Electre Tri method requires defining multidimensional profiles that represent the “frontier” separating consecutive categories C_h and C_h+1, and assigns an alternative to categories according to how it compares to each of the profiles. The explicit specification of the profiles of consecutive categories can be difficult for decision makers. We develop a new outranking based sorting method that does not require the explicit definition of profiles. We instead require the decision maker to assign a subset of reference alternatives to the categories. To assign the remaining alternatives, each such alternative is compared to reference alternatives, and assigned to categories accordingly. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009     

The Anglo-American military relationship: Institutional rules,practices, and narratives

The Anglo-American military relationship is a vital yet neglected area of study. This article argues that the British military have actively cultivated a relationship with the U.S. military that has contributed to the longevity of the broader so-called “Special Relationship,” even in the Trump era. The article contends that the complexities of the military relationship can best be captured by the theoretical lens provided by Lowndes and Roberts that combines different strands of institutionalism to focus on rules, practices, and narratives. The intense linkages between the United States and United Kingdom have become routinized, enabling them to adapt their peacetime cooperation to conflicts, and thereby address post-Cold War security challenges. The article draws upon semi-structured interviews with senior British military officers as well as policy documents to explore how these patterns of collaboration have become ingrained in patterns of both thinking and behavior.     

精神困境·救赎之路·孤独之旅—谈鲁迅与史铁生

史铁生是当代著名作家,他的作品思想深邃,精神探索超前,艺术方面也达到一定高度,鲁迅对他的影响很深刻,二人的创作无论在内容方面还是在艺术方面都有异曲同工之妙,二人共同关注着精神困境和生命本真,共同寻找和思考救赎之路,并且用三种相同的方式表达孤独。