Boko Haram’s increasingly sophisticated military threat

ABSTRACT

This paper evaluates Boko Haram’s military capabilities and details the process of how its standing army, driven by these capabilities, came to pose a phased threat between 2013 and 2015 in particular. This was a period when military fighting dominated the insurgency in north-east Nigeria. Whereas there is an abundance of literature on Boko Haram’s histories and the impact of its insurgency on north-east Nigeria, analysis of Boko Haram’s military campaigning is still deficient. Attempting to fill this gap, this paper uses field findings and battlefield case studies from north-east Nigeria to highlight how Boko Haram’s overt front – its standing army – came to supplant its guerrilla operations as the main security threat to the frontier area.

This pivot towards military fighting, for a group initially composed of a few ragtag combatants, on the surface might seem surprising. Yet, whereas Boko Haram may lack the popular support required for ‘people’s war’, classic insurgency theories nevertheless hold some explanatory power for this deliberate shift: away from guerrilla warfare as the expedient of the weaker side, and towards the use of a large standing army of locals to swarm, and sometimes successfully overrun, state forces.     

From small wars to counterinsurgency: C.W. Gwynn, ‘Imperial Policing’ and transformation of doctrine

ABSTRACT

The complicated problematic of Imperial Policing in many respects still comes down to the principle of minimum force, and much of what we consider an integral part of the modern doctrine of counterinsurgency, is perceived as by-product of post-1945 colonial experience. Charles Gwynn wrote about it in his still underestimated text-book on internal security, ‘Imperial Policing’. As a result, there is a lack of clear understanding how colonial (based on local experience) knowledge was transformed into the expert (universal, transferable) knowledge in confronting rebellions at the doctrinal level. This article examines the work of Gwynn as part of a transitional stage from the age of global empires to the age of nuclear superpowers within the context of internal security doctrine. Adaptation to the new realities during the interwar period and after the World War II – reconfiguration of the British army epistemological system in confronting insurgencies – was a hard process. In this sense, the question about transformation of colonial knowledge into expert knowledge onto the field of internal security is a part of a more general and sensitive question about transition from colonialism to the post-colonial age.     

消防员心理健康量表的初步编制

通过因素分析建立消防员心理健康量表,包括幸福感和快乐感、冲动、抑郁与焦虑、躯体化、社交退缩、信任与自信、孤独、性心理障碍、猜疑、社交攻击10个一级因素,心理幸福和心理痛苦2个二级因素.经检验分析,该量表符合心理测量学标准,适合用于对我国消防员心理健康状况的评定.     

浅析军事医学语言的现实意义

军事医学语言是军事语言学的一个分支学科。古今中外的军事医学实践表明,军事医学语言在医学工作中发挥着重要作用,有时对医疗效果起着决定性作用。我国古代十分重视运用军事医学语言保障部队提高医疗效果的作用。但是,军事医学语言学科还不成体系,严重影响着军事医学工作科学效能的发挥。加快军事医学语言学科体系建设,已经成为当前巩固和提高部队战斗力中一个不可忽视的课题。     

中国特色社会主义事业发展布局的创新与发展

十八大首次将经济、政治、文化、社会和生态五大建设并列,强调“五位一体”建设中国特色社会主义。由此,中国特色社会主义发展布局历经四个阶段,即：“一个中心,两个基本点”的战略布局,“三位一体”发展布局,“四位一体”发展布局,“五位一体”发展布局。“五位一体”总体布局是一个相互联系、相互协调、相互促进、相辅相成的有机整体,对于开创中国特色社会主义事业新局面意义重大,为到本世纪中叶基本实现社会主义现代化,提供了有力支撑。     

军事指挥类期刊对军事学术研究的透视

军事指挥类期刊主要依靠各级军事指挥员,服务于部队全面建设。在军事学术研究队伍不断发展壮大的今天,军事指挥类期刊为部队“能打仗、打胜仗”军事理论研究服务,但军事学术研究存在着研究群体优势和合成作战理论优势发挥不够的问题。因而,要高度重视军事学术研究人才培养,加大经费投入,强化军兵种之间合成作战理论研究的力度。     

文化安全视角下的新疆高校网络舆情管理探究

文化安全的关键在意识形态,意识形态领域中的关键问题是价值观掌控问题。作为文化传播的主要组成部分,网络舆情对文化安全的表层和深层结构都有重要影响。本文从文化安全视角下切入,结合新疆高校网络舆情调研,分析了文化安全面临的冲击与挑战,并提出了基于文化安全保障下的新疆高校网络舆情有效管理方式和路径。     

终身体育的形成与人的可持续发展

现代终身教育内容包涵终身体育教育,终身体育是现代终身教育的重要组成部分,是社会高露发展的要求,是现代生活方式的迫切需要。人的可持续发股是人的个性连续不断地发展和完善,其终极国标是人的自由与全面发展。本文从终身教育和终身体育的观点挂;发,分析丁终身体育观的形成在人的可持续发展中的锋用,论述了终身体育将髓云为改善人的生活方式、提高人的健康水平和生活质量及促进经济发展的重要途径和手段。     

The Demand for Military Spending in Egypt

Egypt plays a pivotal role in the security of the Middle East as the doorway to Europe and its military expenditure reflects its involvement in the machinations of such an unstable region, showing considerable variation over the last 40?years. These characteristics make it a particularly interesting case study of the determinants of military spending. This paper specifies and estimates an econometric model of the Egyptian demand for military spending, taking into account important strategic and political factors. Both economic and strategic factors are found to play a role in determining military burden/spending, with clear positive effects of lagged military burden, suggesting some sort of institutional inertia, plus negative output and net exports effects. The strategic effect as a result of the impact of Israel’s military burden is mostly positive and significant, though its impact is reduced when the impact of important strategic events are taken into account. The military spending of Egypt’s allies Jordan and Syria generally seems to have had no effect on Egypt’s spending. These results are consistent over a range of econometric techniques.     

One size does not fit all: personalized incentives in military compensation

A critical element in implementing a compensation scheme including nonmonetary incentives (NMIs) is recognizing that preferences vary widely across Service members. There are at least three sources of variability: across different population classes, across individuals within a population class, and across NMI packages for a particular individual. Surveys across different military communities, ranks, and years of Service show the difficulty of identifying any NMI that has significant value for even 50% of the active duty force. At the same time, approximately 80% of the surveyed Service members expressed a significant positive value for at least one NMI. Therefore, one-size-fits-all incentive packages will not be nearly as effective as more personalized incentive packages. The authors discuss variability in Service member NMI preferences and outline an approach to implementing personalized NMI packages in military compensation through a sealed-bid reverse auction, where Service members select individual NMIs from a “cafeteria-style” menu of options.