Conflict management in the Central African Republic: making genocide prevention work

This commentary analyses the international response to the crisis that struck the Central African Republic (CAR) in early December 2013. It examines three intertwined dimensions defining the courses of action available to policymakers dealing with pre-genocidal crises: the politics and institutional manoeuvring shaping the United Nations (UN) Security Council's decision to authorise an enforcement mission without deploying ‘blue helmets’ on the ground; the operational complexities involved in launching rapid reaction forces; and the interdependent logics between peacebuilding and atrocity prevention. The author argues that there are three ways for the UN Secretariat to ensure a more effective response to CAR-type situations: generating political will to respond swiftly to deteriorating crises leading to widespread abuses of human rights by advancing the concept of Responsibility to Protect as a core component of states' national interests; developing strategic frameworks for the deployment of multi-plural missions equipped to avert the actual or potential threat of atrocities; and developing joint early warning and scenario planning between peacebuilding and atrocity prevention agencies.     

文科类大学生学习物理意向调查与分析

综合素质已经成为21世纪人才质量的一个重要标志。过去文科与理科的人为割裂,在一定程度上成为综合素质的障碍。目前国内外部分高校为文科类专业的学生开设文科物理,以培养文科生的科学意识与理性的思维方式。石河子大学作为一综合性大学,从学科分布角度上来说,完全有条件为文科生开设文科物理课程。为了了解文科类学生对此课程的态度和观点,通过问卷形式对不同年级和专业的学生进行调查。从结果看,有必要把文科物理设为公选课。     

部队资产管理与预算管理相结合长效机制建设的思考

按照武警总部资产管理与预算管理相结合的办法要求,公安现役部队实行了资产管理与预算管理相结合改革,取得明显成效,促进了保障效益的提高。如何确保资产管理与预算管理相结合走上规范化、经常化的轨道？如何确保这些工作有章可循、顺畅运转,具有长久的生命力？笔者通过分析目前部队资产使用和管理现状,提出了加强资产管理与预算管理相结合长效机制建设。     

装修材料消防监督管理工作问题研究

从具有防火性能的装修材料在生产、销售、使用环节和消防监管过程两个方面,分析了消防监管工作存在的各部门难以形成合力、执法难度大、销售者和使用者不懂法等问题,提出了公安机关消防机构带头,各社会单位、协会相协调形成齐抓共管局面的工作建议。     

军品质量管理中的统计技术与SPSS软件的应用

统计技术现已成为质量管理中必备的一种工具.结合当前军品质量管理中统计技术的应用现状,分析了我国所面临的紧迫形势;在简要介绍常用统计技术的基础上,将简单、实用的SPSS软件引入了军品质量管理中,大大简化了应用统计技术的难度.     

难加工材料3种优化指标的应用特性

采用刀具耐用度、切削里程、材料去除总量对同一组难加工材料进行正交试验,结果表明:采用刀具耐用度作为评价指标进行优化时,其结果往往是对应于最小的切削用量,高的刀具耐用度并不对应于高的切削能力和切削效率,优化结果存在较大的局限性;切削里程和材料去除总量在实际生产中分别代表已加工表面的形成量和总切削量,可以较好地反映切削参数与应用效果之间的关系,作为评价指标时,两者较刀具耐用度的评价更为有效。不同指标的评价结果不同,应用时需根据实际情况进行有针对性的选择。     

Life cycle costs for decision support ‐ a study of the various life cycle costs used at different levels of defence policy and management∗

Debates on many aspects of defence economics ‐ on the scale of defence expenditure, on the allocation of that expenditure to various military capabilities, and on the selection of equipment offering the best value for money ‐ are bedevilled by misunderstandings and misconceptions about the costs of defence equipment. This paper seeks to improve understanding of defence equipment costs by defining a hierarchy of defence equipment within which the direct and indirect life cycle costs of defence equipment may be allocated at different levels. Having reviewed the direct and indirect components of the life cycle cost, this paper then shows how different costing studies for different purposes require different approaches to life cycle costing, and that there is no unique life cycle cost which can be assigned to one particular item of defence equipment. There is instead a range oflife cycle costs, each of which is appropriate for a particular study, and it is important that a quoted cost of an item of defence equipment should be used only in the pertinent circumstances. The paper is written from a UK perspective and accordingly uses British nomenclature, but its principles should be relevant to defence cost studies in other nations.     

The creation of committed combatants

Theories on conflict behaviour regard armed groups as unitary actors whose members faithfully execute the orders of their leaders. Nevertheless, in reality mutinies, insubordination and fractionalisation occur. We argue that the faithful execution of orders depends on the level of organisational commitment of combatants. This level can be increased with the help of four management strategies. Using a dataset based on fieldwork in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we analyse the influence of each of these strategies. The Bayesian analyses show that recruitment, training and promotion has statistical reliable influence, but that providing rewards does not.     

MODELLING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEFENSE SPENDING AND ECONOMIC GROWTH FOR THE FIJI ISLANDS

The goal of this paper is to examine the nexus between GDP and military expenditure. We model this relationship within a multivariate framework by including exports in the model. We use the recently developed bounds testing approach to cointegration and find that there is a long run relationship among the variables when GDP is the endogenous variable. Normalizing on GDP and using four different estimators, we find that in the long run both military expenditure and exports have a positive impact on GDP. Finally, using the Granger causality test, we find that there is evidence for military expenditure Granger causing exports and exports Granger causing GDP, implying that military expenditure indirectly Granger causes GDP in the short run. In the long run, we find that both military expenditure and exports Granger cause GDP for Fiji. Our findings are consistent with the Keynesian school of thought, leading us to derive some policy implications.     

Excess procurement strategies by a dominant buyer under constrained supply

Supply chains are often characterized by the presence of a dominant buyer purchasing from a supplier with limited capacity. We study such a situation where a single supplier sells capacity to an established and more powerful buyer and also to a relatively less powerful buyer. The more powerful buyer enjoys the first right to book her capacity requirements at supplier's end, and then the common supplier fulfills the requirement of the less powerful buyer. We find that when the supplier's capacity is either too low (below the lower threshold) or too high (above the higher threshold), there is no excess procurement as compared to the case when supplier has infinite capacity. When the supplier's capacity is between these two thresholds, the more powerful buyer purchases an excess amount in comparison to the infinite capacity case.