National security,military spending and the business cycle

This paper develops a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model where national security is an argument in the agent’s utility function and the government chooses optimally the level of military spending to maximize social welfare. National defense depends on military expenditure and on the strategic environment reflecting a potential hostile external threat. We use aggregate data on consumption, investment, and military spending for the US economy to estimate the parameters of the model. Estimation results suggest that consumption and national defense are complements and that military spending variability is mainly explained by external threat shocks although it also depends on the macroeconomic conditions. We compute impulse response functions of the main macroeconomic variables to several shocks: a total factor productivity shock, a defense technology shock, and a strategic environment shock. Surprisingly, we find that the optimal response to an increase in the external threat (a worsening in the strategic environment) will rise output by reducing consumption and increasing investment.     

The lobbies’ network at the EU policy level: the case of security and defense

Lobbyists may not share the same interests, but they usually agree to form a link in a network which could eventually be used to spread information, to search for potential partners, to speak with one voice to decision makers. In other words, social links represent value for lobbyists because they may ultimately facilitate access. In this article, we explore the network of the Security and Defense lobbies in the EU and we describe its structure.     

‘Responsibility to protect’ and the African Union: Assessing the AU’s capacity to respond to regional complex humanitarian and political emergencies

Despite its many institutional and political weaknesses and limitations, the African Union (AU) has been developing a variety of tools and mechanisms to respond effectively to complex disasters and emergencies (both natural and manmade) by building up a comprehensive regional security architecture. Furthermore, it has become the first and only regional or international organisation to enshrine the principle of ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P) in its Constitutive Act. This regional approach to and formal endorsement of the R2P principle allowed it to assume a particular place in the promotion of peace and security in its area. This article aims to critically assess the effectiveness of the AU on the African continent by exploring its real capacity in preventing and responding to emergencies and violent conflicts, and therefore in rendering the principle of R2P operational. The article argues that the formalisation of principles does not necessarily mean their effective implementation. The organisation's use of the R2P principle is also greatly conditioned by internal and external factors.     

The relevance of the Gulf of Guinea in global energy politics

Africa and for that matter the Gulf of Guinea cannot be indifferent to the global energy politics of the 21st century. The increasing importance of the region has attracted major actors in the energy sector. The competing interests of these actors are played out in various forms. This heightened interest in the region, especially with the discovery of oil in huge commercial quantities, has brought the importance of the area into focus in global oil politics. This paper looks at the importance of the region in light of the huge energy potentials of the Gulf of Guinea and how the institution of proper governance systems could serve as an important factor in ensuring the proper management of the resource.     

关于颠覆性技术发展的理性认知

随着美国揭开第三次"抵消战略"重点发展对象的面纱,研发"颠覆性技术"已成为主要军事大国获得技术优势的手段。当前世界新一轮科技革命、产业革命、军事革命交织并行,给颠覆性技术提供了难得的良好机遇。但当我们看见颠覆性技术引领时代新型武器装备潮流发展的同时,也应理性看待其背后潜藏的风险。通过概述总结颠覆性技术研究现状,分析其推动的科技内生性变革,从本质上对其进行理性认知。研究表明,发展颠覆性技术必须积极作为,谨慎对待。     

潜艇信息系统信息安全与纵深防护策略研究

随着网络中心战的发展,信息安全问题在现代潜艇系统中的重要性日益凸显。首先分析潜艇信息安全问题的背景、总结其研究现状,然后研究了潜艇信息安全需求及属性定义,探讨了潜艇信息系统信息安全防护整体框架,在此基础上提出了一种综合静态安全防护和动态运行安全防护的潜艇信息系统信息安全纵深防护体系结构。以期为解决潜艇系统设计中的安全缺陷、建立潜艇信息安全防护体系,辅助系统维护、保障系统安全提供基础。     

【邀请论文】军队审计应用区块链技术面临的机遇、挑战及推进策略

区块链技术是一种融数据库技术、计算机科学、网络技术、数学及密码学等为一体的现代信息技术,是未来信息化发展的核心技术之一,具有去中心化、公开透明、不易篡改及开源共治等特点。军队审计要坚定不移地贯彻科技强审战略,加强审计信息化建设,将大数据、区块链等现代信息技术与审计业务深度融合,大力推行在线审计、联网审计,促进审计力向保障力和战斗力聚焦。本文在系统阐述区块链技术给军队审计在控制审计风险、提高工作效率、实现审计全覆盖等方面带来机遇的同时,分析了可能面临的应用意识不足、应用经验不足、应用安全存在隐患、应用法规缺乏等挑战,在此基础上提出了区块链技术应用的推进策略,以期更好地推动军队审计信息化的进程。     

基于SWOT分析的我国海上方向空中安全形势及对策措施

海上方向是强敌对我实施战略围堵和遏制的主要方向。随着美国国防战略重回大国竞争,其遏制中国的手段推陈出新,尤其是在海空方向对我施压强度频度与日俱增。文章运用SWOT方法对我国海上方向空中安全形势进行了全面分析,认为优势体现在联合作战指挥体制、国防动员能力、列装新型防空武器等方面,劣势体现在战场建设滞后、预警探测拦截打击能力不足等方面,机遇体现在中美共识与相对稳定的周边环境,威胁体现在强敌对我的侦察威慑、空天打击、海空封锁。通过构建我国海上方向空中安全的SWOT分析矩阵,提出要进一步深化改革,加强军队与地方、平时与战时、作战力量和作战环节的“三个统筹”,发展新型防空、预警装备,以及加强沿海防空战场建设等。     

改进BAS-TIMS算法在空战机动决策中的应用

针对当前空战机动决策精确度低、实时性差的缺点,对天牛须搜索-战术免疫机动系统(Beetle Antennae Search-Tactical Immune Maneuver System, BAS-TIMS)算法进行改进,并应用于空战机动决策中。增加左爬升、右爬升、左俯冲、右俯冲4种机动,对传统的机动策略库进行扩充,设计了11种基本机动策略并给出了相应的控制方法。基于距离、高度、速度、角度和战机性能优势函数,利用非参量法构造战机机动决策综合优势函数。针对天牛须搜索算法在全局搜索和收敛速度上存在的缺陷,引入蒙特卡洛概率迭代的方法对算法进行改进,并和战术免疫机动系统进行融合,将改进的BAS-TIMS算法用于空战机动决策。设计算例进行仿真分析,并将结果和博弈论法、改进共生生物免疫进化算法、传统BAS算法和传统TIMS模型的计算结果进行对比,验证所提算法的有效性。仿真结果表明:改进BAS-TIMS算法在空战机动决策的收敛精度、收敛速度和全局搜索能力上更加具有优势。     

The practice of strategy: South African defence in stasis

The article concerns the strategy development processes of the South African Department of Defence in South Africa. It intends to identify the probable causes of the observed failure of the South African National Defence Force to develop appropriate departmental policy and military strategy. Military strategy comprises force development, force employment, force deployment and the coordination of these elements in pursuit of national, grand-strategic objectives. (See Dennis M. Drew and Donald M. Snow, Making Twenty-first Century Strategy: An Introduction to Modern National Security Processes and Problems Montgomery, AL: Air University Press, Maxwell Air Force Base, November 2006, 103). Of these four constructs, the article concerns itself only with the first two. The article analyses two complementary approaches to strategy formation: a resource-driven, inside-out model and an interests-driven, outside-in method. The article concludes that the Department is preoccupied with the inside-out method to the lasting detriment of the declared strategic intent of the defence policy.