Youth Between State and Rebel (Dis)Orders: Contesting Legitimacy from Below in Sub-Sahara Africa

Abstract

The Sahel has gained attention in international politics as one of the central theatres in the war on terrorism. International actors in this war seek alliances with states in the region, reinforcing the latter’s military strength and their legitimacy from outside. At the same time, increasingly-connected young populations question the legitimacy of their states, and contest that legitimacy from within and below. In the absence of states delivering any reasonable form of social contract, young people become torn between different governing orders and find themselves in a liminal space. In this article we present the cases of youth in Mali and Chad, who find themselves in a period of re-definition of their position in society and hence search for legitimate structures representation. In this search they may frame their belonging in terms of ethnicity, religion or political opposition – and increasingly also in adherence to global citizenship. New information flows and connectivity among young people in these regions, and between them and the diaspora, has given a new turn to their search for citizenship/belonging and rightful representation. However, whether their search will be successful in this geopolitical context is questionable.     

作战实验组织实施框架设计

为了规范指导实验人员有效开展作战实验,对作战实验组织实施框架进行了设计。通过忽略不同实验的细微差别,抽取作战实验组织实施的公共模式,从实验团队角度明确规定了实验的关键步骤,规范了实验组织实施过程和里程碑工作。能有效指导将实验对象的概念理解映射到实验系统中进行具体实验,保证了实验的成功实施。     

破解军队“两个不够”问题的措施建议

文章就习主席提出的"两个不够"问题——打现代化战争能力不够及指挥现代化战争能力不够,提出了在全军实行《岗位资格认证制度》和《岗位轮换制度》,在全军院校实施"教学名师工程",以及进一步加强部队训练与考核大纲体系建设三点措施建议。     

增强军校本科学员指挥谋略能力研究——基于计算机兵棋系统

对指挥谋略进行概念分析,确定基于计算机兵棋系统的指挥谋略训练内容;明确计算机兵棋推演的一般步骤和注意事项;以联军2004年11月"破晓"行动为例运用计算机兵棋系统进行指挥谋略训练。研究表明,基于计算机兵棋系统运用战例研究可以成为增强军校本科学员指挥谋略的训练模式。     

国外战储法规建设及启示

为贯彻落实依法治军、依法治储要求,推动战备物资储备工作法治化,提高我军战备物资储备法规体系建设的科学化水平,本文探讨了加强战备物资储备法规体系建设的必要性,深入分析了美国、日本、俄罗斯战储法规制度建设情况以及立法特点、实践经验。结合我军战储建设实际,借鉴他国的立法思路,在法规体系建设上提出基于立法规划、法规制订、立法研究、立法队伍建设等方面的措施建议,对建立适应我军新的编制体制和战储建设实际的法规制度具有重要作用。     

The politics of renewed quest for a Biafra Republic in Nigeria

The quest for a Biafran Republic by the Igbo ethnic group has become a recurring demand in Nigeria since the late 1960s. The agitation has been premised on claims of marginalisation and exclusion of the Igbo people in the Nigerian body politic. In spite of the consistency of the agitation through various Administrations, there was a noticeable lull in such demands during the time of President Goodluck Jonathan, only to assume a frightening proportion since the advent of the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. This article locates the factors in the outcomes of the 2015 general elections: the question of inclusion and representation; the unfinished nature of the Nigerian civil war; economic challenges, miscalculation both on the part of the Igbo people and indiscretion in the initial appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari. The article recommends political restructuring of Nigeria as one of the ways to address secessionist tendencies.     

A Typology of War Ethics

Interdisciplinary communication on war is impeded by doctrinal gaps concerning its morality, immorality, and amorality. Much is written on ad bellum ethical standards for military force by states, mainly in the fields of international politics and religious studies. However, a necessary first step in comparing these different approaches to war ethics with each other is to develop a system for classifying them. The classification system offered in this paper places war ethics on a grid with two scales. One axis of the grid ranges from permissiveness to restrictiveness. The other axis ranges from regard for self to regard for others. Twelve forms of war ethics are assigned points within the grid, including pacifism, just war, holy war, UN Charter obligations, several variants of realism, cost–benefit analysis, isolationism, and various ideological war ethics such as communist and fascist approaches. In doing so, this paper lays the groundwork for “quantifying” war ethics, to enable measurements of their effects against other state-level characteristics and outcomes of interaction.     

网络舆论斗争的全域一体化联合作战

作战体系已成为制约网络舆论斗争作战效能的关键性问题。论文借鉴信息化战争的一体化联合作战思想,分析了网络舆论斗争的全域一体化联合作战特点,建立了全域一体化联合作战体系架构,为网络舆论斗争实践提供思想理论指导。论文的研究成果,对于丰富网络舆论斗争理论,占领网络舆论制高点,具有重要理论意义和参考价值。     

IS STUXNET PHYSICAL? DOES IT MATTER?

Cyber-weapons are software and software, at least intuitively, is non-physical. Several authors have noted that this potentially renders problematic the application of normative frameworks like UN Charter Article 2(4) to cyber-weapons. If Article 2(4) only proscribes the use of physical force, and if cyber-weapons are non-physical, then cyber-weapons fall outside the purview of Article 2(4). This article explores the physicality of software, examining Stuxnet in particular. First, I show that with a few relatively uncontroversial metaphysical claims we can secure the conclusion that Stuxnet is physical. In particular, there exist instances of Stuxnet that are both located in space and causally efficacious, and this is very strong evidence for their being physical. Second, I argue that the question of physicality is actually irrelevant for the moral evaluation of an attack like Stuxnet because of its undeniably physical effects. Finally, I argue that some features of Stuxnet should make us optimistic about the prospects for discrimination and proportionality in cyberwarfare.