Nuclear weapons,the United States and alliances in Europe and Asia: Toward an institutional perspective

America’s alliances in Europe and East Asia all involve some institutional cooperation on U.S. nuclear weapons policy, planning or employment—from consultative fora in Asia to joint policy and sharing of nuclear warheads in NATO. Such cooperation is often analyzed through the prism of “extended nuclear deterrence,” which focuses on the extension of U.S. security guarantees and their effect on potential adversaries. This article argues that this underplays the importance of institutional factors: Allies have historically addressed a range of objectives through such cooperation, which has helped to catalyze agreements about broader alliance strategy. The varied form such cooperation takes in different alliances also flows from the respective bargaining power of allies and the relative importance of consensus, rather than perceived threats. The article concludes that nuclear weapons cooperation will remain crucial in successful U.S. alliance management, as allies negotiate their relationship with each other in the face of geostrategic change.     

战区军事职业教育培养联合军官存在问题及建议

发展战区军事职业教育培养联合军官,是加强联合作战指挥人才建设、实现军事人才现代化、推进联合作战指挥体系建设的重要内容。文章针对当前面临的矛盾问题,围绕加快发展战区军事职业教育、下大力培育联合军官提出了顶层设计、优化内容体系、拓宽实践渠道、激发队伍活力。     

领悟社会支持与高中生学习投入的关系:自尊和未来教育规划的链式中介作用

目的:探究领悟社会支持对学习投入的影响,以及自尊和未来教育规划的链式中介效应。方法:采用领悟社会支持量表、自尊量表、未来教育规划问卷和学习投入量表,对446名高中生进行施测。结果:①各变量两两之间均存在显著地正相关(r=0.32~0.50,p<0.001);②领悟社会支持能正向预测高中生学习投入;③在领悟社会支持对高中生学习投入的预测中存在三条路径:一是自尊的中介作用;二是未来教育规划的中介作用;三是自尊和未来教育规划的链式中介作用,效果值分别为:14.81%,27.78%和16.67%。结论:领悟社会支持不仅直接影响高中生学习投入,还通过自尊和未来教育规划影响高中生学习投入。     

把人文精神融入军队思想政治教育中

实现军队思想政治教育人文关怀,是改进军队思想政治教育和促进我军现代化建设的重要任务。把人文关怀融入思想政治教育,使军队思想政治教育迈向更高层次,更加科学化。以马克思主义的人文精神及其内涵为基点,提出把人文精神融入军队思想政治教育中,在阐释军队思想政治教育实践人文关怀的路径上,实现官兵的个人发展和军队建设的和谐统一。     

武警学历教育院校实行本科导师制势在必行

在武警学历教育院校实行本科生导师制很有必要,有利于院校教学和部队建设相结合,有利于教书和育人相结合,有利于教学与管理相结合,有利于知识传授和提高能力素质相结合。     

大学生思想政治教育中的“沉默螺旋”现象

"沉默的螺旋"理论是20世纪70年代德国社会学家诺尔诺依曼基于历史和传播的角度提出的关于舆论形成的理论假设,是现今学界研究受众反应的经典理论之一。本文就沉默螺旋理论在当代大学生思政传播中的存在性进行了论证,并分析了其对大学生思想政治教育可能产生的影响,结合实际,探讨了降低其负面影响的对策。     

‘Outside their expertise’: The implications of Field Manual 3-24 for the professional military education of non-commissioned officers

Within the framework of classical theory, the joint US Army-Marine field manual Counterinsurgency (FM 3-24) described an ambitious set of skills required for success against guerrillas. But if counterinsurgency, as FM 3-24 describes it, is ‘the graduate level of warfare’, then these two military services have been for years systematically failing to train their talent in the appropriate fields. In today's small wars, NCOs serve as modern-day Mounties, and consequently require at least a modest undergraduate education in armed good governance.     

Political transition to democracy

This paper argues that the crisis of electoral democracy in Zimbabwe and Cote d'Ivoire is a result of underlying structural and institutional deficiencies within national and regional multinational institutions. It assesses the extent to which they have been ‘enablers’ or ‘spoilers’ of electoral-based transitions to democracy. Yet it avoids generalisations of the security sector's involvement in political transitions. In terms of structure, the paper is divided into four sections. Section one will briefly discuss the theoretical perspectives of the election-democracy trajectory. It argues that although elections are a major variable for democracy, unless the ‘ecology of elections’ is conducive, elections may not be an instrument of transition to democracy. The second section analyses the militarisation of politics and the role of the security sector in aiding or stalling democratisation. Section three will assess the role of regional organisations such as the Southern African Development Community, Economic Community of West African States and the African Union in electoral-based political transitions in Africa. Lastly, the paper will discuss how the security sector and multinational African institutions can aid political transitions to democracy in troubled African countries.     

What Goes Up Must Come Down: Military Expenditure and Civil Wars

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of civil war on military expenditure. We employ two measures of military expenditure: the share of military expenditure in general government expenditure and the logarithm of military expenditures. We would reasonably expect a priori that military expenditure as a share of general government expenditure increases during a civil war and that such increases would taper off over the duration of a civil war. We also explore whether the termination of a civil war induces a decline in the share of military expenditure as a share of the general government expenditure in the short-run. We find evidence the of share of military expenditure increases during a civil war and falls in the year succeeding the end of a civil war, and, in particular, if a war ends in a peace treaty. The level of military expenditures, however, rises during civil wars and does not appear to decline in the short-term after the end of a civil war.     

试论武警“合训”院校现代化教学模式的构建

武警部队院校体制调整后,作为担负学历教育的“合训”院校,只有大力加强教学理论研究,及时实现教员角色转变,积极营造健康向上的教学环境,才能顺利实现“培养具有较高文化素养、具备扎实军事基础的新型军事人才”的教学目标。