No war,no peace

The armed conflict over crude petroleum oil in the Niger Delta has raged for several decades. A host of peace initiatives have been adopted by the Nigerian state to address it, but with minimal impact. The amnesty offer to repentant militias in 2009 by President Umaru Yar'Adua's administration is one of the most recent and broadest peace initiatives by the Nigerian government intended to end the general tendency to warfare and the absence of peace in the Niger Delta. This article, based on secondary sources of data, examines the components of the amnesty, its critical problems and their implications for peacebuilding in the Niger Delta. It finds that though the programme has engendered relative peace, the issues and grievances that occasioned the general tendency to warfare and absence of peace in the region – such as inequitable distribution of oil revenue, environmental degradation, and underdevelopment – are not properly articulated in the disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration components of the programme. Thus, it holds that the prevailing situation in the region largely approximates a swinging pendulum of no war, no peace.     

GENDER AWARENESS IN RESEARCH AND POLICY MAKING

Abstract

There is an assumption that we can enhance peacebuilding by improving the tools that we use for assessments, planning and evaluation. However, the focus on tools creates the impression that peacebuilding challenges are technical. Improving tools is not meaningless, but our preoccupation with tools has a negative effect when it becomes a front for avoiding dealing with the deeper inherent contradictions in peacebuilding. There are limits to our knowledge and our ability to engineer specific outcomes in complex systems. There are unrealistically high expectations of coherence, unity of purpose and cooperation among peacebuilding actors. Peacebuilding agents are interconnected, but that does not imply that they have the same objectives, mandates, principles and values. Interconnected problems call for interconnected responses, not for one coherent response. Coherence should not be about negotiating a common position, and then promoting it regardless of changing dynamics. Coherence should be about continuously managing competing interests and interdependencies. The interaction between dissention, competition for resources, and the tension between different approaches and policy choices is not only normal but necessary to ensure the optimal functioning of the system.     

South Africa's arsenal of terrorism legislation

After only ten years in existence, the African Union (AU) has already made its mark on the landscape of peace and security in Africa. This paper seeks to explore the relationship between the AU's leading collaborative interstate security policy, the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), and sustainable peace in the Horn of Africa. It examines four countries – Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Kenya – and how engaging with the APSA through early warning systems can contribute to developing the elements necessary for sustainable peace, namely regional stability, conflict management, and good governance.     

The long and winding road … to success? Unit peace operation effectiveness and its effect on mission success

Why does peacekeeping sometimes fail? How can effective peacekeepers increase the likelihood of success of a mission? The two main flaws in the current evaluations of peace operations are that they mainly rely on already concluded missions and that they make use of indicators that do not reveal micro-level dynamics. This article introduces an analytical framework relating the effectiveness of soldiers to their actual impact in their area of operation in a peace operation. The framework is called “unit peace operation effectiveness” (UPOE). Focusing on soldiers in peace operations, this article shows that: different units behave differently; emphasize different aspects of the mandate; and are effective in different ways. Ultimately, this has an actual impact on the end-state of the mission. It relies on and adapts classic security studies works to theoretically enrich the peacekeeping literature. The model is tested in an illustrative case study based on ethnographic work on French and Italian units in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2010.     

潜艇规避主动声纳浮标自主决策算法研究

主动声纳浮标可以实现对潜艇的精确定位,但易被潜艇感知采取机动规避措施,为了有效减少被主动声纳浮标发现的概率和暴露时间,提出了潜艇自主规避的决策算法,并针对一型主动声纳浮标阵探测进行仿真,分析探测概率变化规律,由此验证算法的有效性。     

The Blind Basinet: A New Interpretation of Royal Armouries IV.2

For many years a curiosity in the collection of the Royal Armouries, IV.2, or the ‘Blind Basinet’, is a fascinating example of an early 16th century great basinet not so much for what is present but for what is not. The lack of any means of seeing out of the helmet has led to a number of traditions regarding its provenance and purpose. A detailed examination of the helmet’s interior, as well as comparison with some other contemporary pieces, shows that it is an unfinished piece of armour. It was left at the stage where the sights and breaths would have been pierced, but they were left unfinished until some later modifications created a display piece, one which can still be seen at the Royal Armouries in Leeds.     

LCDP SO算法在协同空战攻击决策中的运用?

为了探索提高协同空战攻击决策算法性能的途径,将多子群粒子群优化理论用于求解协同空战攻击决策,利用生命周期粒子群模型（ LCPSO）,提出了一种生命周期离散粒子群（ LCDPSO）协同空战攻击决策算法。基于典型空战想定背景,仿真验证了算法的有效性。通过统计实验的方法,分析比较了LCDPSO协同空战攻击决策算法与多种智能决策算法的准确性、可靠性和快速性,研究结果证明LCDPSO协同空战攻击决策算法优良的综合性能。     

C~3I 系统中基于多目标决策理论的对空攻击任务分配决策问题研究

根据多目标决策理论,从系统的角度出发,提出了防御权系数问题,并在此基础上研究对空攻击任务的分配策略,给出了效度最大攻击任务分配策略和重点防护目标优先攻击任务分配策略,并引入攻击强度阀值概念,对这两种分配策略进行了改进,最后给出了具体算法。     

基于模糊多属性决策的反装甲目标战场价值评估

信息化战场反装甲目标层出不穷,指挥员决策难度增大。针对反装甲目标信息的复杂性,应用模糊多属性决策理论,提出坦克分队进攻战斗中敌反装甲目标战场价值评估的方法。并通过确定各决策因素指标值和计算加权值,构建价值评估多属性决策模型,快速有效地确定分队本级范畴内的敌反装甲目标的战场价值,有利于分队指挥员迅速果断地实现其作战指挥决策。     

水面舰艇编队防空火力分配的灰色局势决策方法

针对水面舰艇编队在防空作战时如何适时、适量地选取火力分配方案。采用定性定量相结合的方法,重点剖析了灰色局势决策方法的具体求解步骤,并将之应用于水面舰艇编队对空防御时的火力分配方案优选。最后,通过实例验证了该方法的严谨性。以此确定的最优局势更具可信性,符合军事决策的特点。