Soldiers contra diplomats: Britain’s role in the Zimbabwe/Rhodesia ceasefire (1979–1980) reconsidered

Abstract

This article re-examines part of the literature on Britain’s role in the December 1979 to March 1980 Zimbabwe/Rhodesia ceasefire. The ceasefire ushered in an era of peace after a protracted internal war and it was an integral part of the transition from colonial white minority rule, towards black majority independence. Scholars present Britain’s success in brokering and monitoring the Zimbabwe/Rhodesia ceasefire as the result of its judicious and accordant management of the road to peace. However, this article argues that in fact deep internal divisions plagued the British managers of the ceasefire. Internal divisions centred on authority struggles between diplomats and military actors, conflicting personalities, discordant approaches to and goals in the ceasefire, and inter-institutional rivalry between the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence. The article concludes that Britain only managed the ceasefire effectively because its military’s independence, political nous, and competence ultimately prevailed over the injudicious views and machinations of diplomats.     

Reward,punishment or inducement? US economic and military aid, 1946–1996

If the US has wielded power as global hegemon, then there should be evidence of a linkage between American resources and the ability to influence behavior. However, there is widespread disagreement on how this power is manifested (see Krause, ). Methodological and epistemological issues have hampered empirical studies of US hegemonic behavior. For example, does the US reward past behavior or does it offer inducements for future behavior? We document and discuss these issues in terms of the aid–foreign policy compliance nexus. The empirical portion of our paper tests whether US military and non‐military aid are correlated with foreign policy similarity. The main merits of our study are that: (1) we test a new measure of foreign policy similarity developed by Signorino and Ritter () and compiled by Gartzke et al. (); (2) we relax the causality issue and test using vector autoregression (VAR) for 76 developing countries; and (3) our time horizon is a minimum of 30 years for each country. Our central finding is that aid is most often used as a reward. More specifically, foreign policy similarity leads to greater economic aid for most African countries, foreign policy similarity leads to greater military aid for a majority of Latin American states, and there are no overarching patterns for Asia and the Middle East. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of the bargaining and structural approaches to statecraft.     

大数据趋势下的军队深度信息化建设

以大数据的迅猛发展为背景,结合我军信息化建设的现实问题,深刻分析了大数据在推动我军信息化建设向深度转型过程中的积极作用,并指出在大数据发展趋势下,加快形成大数据意识,充分重视数据建设的主体功能,加强大数据资源的深度开发利用,尽快提出深度信息化建设发展战略是我军下一步信息化建设的核心任务。     

基于粗糙集理论的军队代储应急物资品种选择

从军队对应急物资的需求特点及应急物资的特征属性出发,构建了军队代储应急物资品种选择的指标体系。在此基础上,通过部队调研和专家经验获得了一组军队代储应急物资品种选择的样本数据并形成了决策表,运用基于可辨识矩阵的属性频率约简算法对决策表进行属性约简,并对约简属性集进行属性值约简,提取出军队代储应急物资品种的选择规则。提取的规则简洁合理,能够为军队代储应急物资品种选择提供决策支持。     

Kinetic responses to global terrorism: Lessons from Africa

This essay recalls the immediate and longer-term responses of the US and its allies to the events of 9/11. It contends that the die for contemporary developments in transnational terrorism was cast in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 – in particular the launching of sustained ‘anti-terrorist’ military combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and more covert ‘kinetic’ operations elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa. The essay seeks specifically to expose the counter-productivity of using military operations as the primary antidote to transnational terrorism. Focusing on the African ‘laboratory’ and the spread of transnational terrorism and Islamic militancy, particularly in West and East Africa, the essay concludes that radical Islamists have mastered the ‘battle of the narrative’ and that the Western penchant for dispensing a kinetic brand of medication is feeding rather than fighting the virus of global terrorism.     

构建我国军事赔偿法律制度的基本思路

我国军事法学界应当吸收《国家赔偿法》修订的理论成果,将军事赔偿法律制度构建成为一项独立的、科学的权利保障型法律制度,为国家的军事赔偿立法铺平道路。     

美军PBL理论及对我军装备保障的启示

美军和其他一些西方国家实践证明:实施PBL(Performance Based Logistics)策略可提高武器系统的完好率,改进任务可靠度,节约保障资源,缩短保障反应时间,因此其理论及实践受到了国内外研究者及许多军队的重视。结合国内外理论研究成果及美军在PBL方面的实践,对PBL概念、实施步骤、实践应用进行了综述。结合实际,从保障理论研究、组织结构转型、合同商保障法规、教育训练等方面进行了思考,为落实武器系统全寿命周期管理、提高装备保障性能提供思路。     

军事行政区主轴线空间节点秩序构建

结合营区规划实例,以军事行政区主轴线为研究对象,在分析现阶段军事行政区主轴线空间节点设计中比较集中存在的几个问题基础上,提出了构建军事行政区主轴线空间节点秩序及应遵循的一般原则,并以常见的入口区—广场区—办公区—训练区的轴线构成为例,对军事行政区主轴线各空间节点的秩序构建进行了空间、尺度及人性化等设计方法的探讨,为推动营区规划的正规化、现代化建设提供一些思路和方法。     

机组动态过程分析中处理转子运动的方法

分析军用便携式发电机组在单机供电及并联供电情况下的动态过程有利于提高其供电质量.采用有限元法计算电机动态过程需要在电机电磁场计算时实现转子的自由转动.从运动导电媒质中的电磁场方程出发,分析了固定坐标系求解方法及移动坐标系求解各方法的特点.针对军用便携式发电机组单机供电及并联供电情况下动态过程的特点分析,对各种处理转子运动的方法进行了比较,得出的结论对于研究军用便携式发电机组单机供电及并联供电情况时处理转子运动的方法选取具有理论指导意义.