More than political tools

This paper examines how the Kenyan police responded to the 2007/08 crisis of post-election violence. It provides a critical re-evaluation of the well-known argument of the police being political instruments of the regime of the day. In addition, it develops the argument that the view of the police as mere tools of the political leadership is too limited an explanation of police conduct in responding to ethnic and election violence. It suggests that even with the limited available knowledge of the operations of African police organisations there is room to introduce more variables and complexity in explanations of their conduct.     

Linking a throughput simulation to a systems dynamics simulation to assess the utility of a US Navy foreign humanitarian aid mission

The success of any humanitarian aid mission is generally measured by the timeliness of critical supplies that are delivered to the affected area. However, a more interesting analysis may be to determine the effect of the aid on the overall satisfaction of the local population. The authors' research focused on the delivery of humanitarian aid to a notional region that was decimated by flooding with ships, landing craft and security personnel provided by the US Navy and Marines. While the research effort addressed naval force structure, the focus of the research was: (1) to assess different delivery methods for the aid; and (2) to determine how the aid delivery impacted the overall satisfaction of the local population. To examine both concerns, two simulation models were developed, with one examining the throughput of aid delivered during the operation, and the other the satisfaction of the population based on the humanitarian aid effort.     

武警院校后勤应急保障社会化方式运用研究

武警院校在处突维稳、抢险救灾等应急任务中发挥着重要作用,但在实践中存在着后勤应急保障能力不足问题.分析武警院校应急保障社会化方式运用的必要性,提出具体运用对策和应注意的问题,以利于武警院校抓好应急保障能力建设,推动应急任务高质量完成.     

切实推动武警院校教育向部队靠拢

为实现中国梦和强军梦,全军和武警部队正在掀起进一步推动部队训练向实战靠拢、院校教育向部队靠拢的热潮。对于武警院校来讲,就是要紧紧扭住“能打仗、打胜仗”这个强军之要,通过提高认识、创新指导理念、健全机制,切实推动院校向部队靠拢。     

构建警种部队应急救援信息系统向“能打仗、打胜仗”聚焦

随着建设现代化武警部队的逐步推进,各警种部队信息化装备不断发展,引进和研发了许多不同类型、不同规模的信息系统。如何合理整合运用这些系统使之尽快生成应急救援能力,是当前部队和院校面临的重大课题。建设警种部队应急救援信息系统,发挥信息系统优势向“能打仗、打胜仗”聚焦,是实现统一指挥、快速反应、科学用兵、科学施救、密切协同的根本保证。     

构建武警任职教育院校学科体系的思考

学科体系建设是院校建设发展长远性、战略性工程。武警任职教育院校处于转型起步阶段,建设学科体系有利于增强开展学科前沿研究能力,有利于实现学科资源的配置优化。对此,武警任职教育院校要认清建设学科体系的重大意义,找准建设方法,力争形成具有武警特色的优势学科。     

以发展先进军事文化为目标扎实搞好武警期刊全面建设探析

以发展先进军事文化为目标,搞好武警期刊全面建设,就要提高认识,确立崭新的思想观念;就要充分发挥武警期刊的关键性作用;就要加强武警期刊体系建设;就要坚持科学发展思想。     

Impact of tax reduction policies on consumer purchase of new automobiles: An analytical investigation with real data‐based experiments

We investigate and compare the impact of the tax reduction policies implemented in the United States and China to stimulate consumer purchase of new automobiles and improve manufacturers' profits. The U.S. policy provides each qualifying consumer with a federal income tax deduction on state and local sales and excise taxes paid on the purchase price (up to a cutoff level), whereas the Chinese policy reduces the vehicle sales tax rate for consumers. We observe that these policy designs are consistent with the tax management system and the economic environment in the respective country. We analytically determine the effects of the two tax reduction policies on the automobile sales and the manufacturer's and the retailer's profits. Numerical examples are then used to provide insights on the importance of certain factors that influence the effects of the two policies. Finally, a numerical experiment with sensitivity analysis based on real data is conducted to compare the merits and characteristics of the two policies under comparable conditions. We find that the U.S. policy is better than the Chinese policy in stimulating the sales of high‐end automobiles, whereas the Chinese policy is better than the U.S. policy in improving the sales of low‐end automobiles. The U.S. policy is slightly more effective in increasing the profitability of the automobile supply chain; but, in general, the Chinese policy is more cost effective. The methodology developed herein can be used to evaluate other tax reduction policies such as those related to the purchase of energy‐saving vehicles and to serve as a decision model to guide the choice of alternative tax reduction policies. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 61: 577–598, 2014     

Introduction: Exploring the jungle of terminology

When twentieth-century authors wrote about ‘partisan warfare’, they usually meant an insurgency or asymmetric military operations conducted against a superior force by small bands of ideologically driven irregular fighters. By contrast, originally (i.e. before the French Revolution) ‘partisan’ in French, English, and German referred only to the leader of a detachment of special forces (party, partie, Parthey, détachement) which the major European powers used to conduct special operations alongside their regular forces. Such special operations were the classic definition of ‘small war’ (petite guerre) in the late seventeenth and in the eighteenth centuries. The Spanish word ‘la guerrilla’, meaning nothing other than ‘small war’, only acquired an association with rebellion with the Spanish War of Independence against Napoleon. Even after this, however, armies throughout the world have continued to employ special forces. In the late nineteenth century, their operations have still been referred to as prosecuting ‘la guerrilla’ or ‘small war’, which existed side by side with, and was often mixed with, ‘people's war’ or popular uprisings against hated regimes.     

谈公安职业化教育的重点与教育训练体系的设计

公安部明确指出：公安教育要立足构建大教育、大培训工作体系,公安院校要适时调整职能定位和办学重心,紧密结合警务实战,积极推进落实＂三项建设＂,院校的学历教育要逐步向职业化教育转变。因此,在公安职业化教育趋势已然明朗的情况下,明确公安教育今后的工作重点和对职业化公安教育训练体系进行恰当的构建和设计,是当前公安院校应当着力研究和亟待解决的首要问题,更是公安高等教育发展面临的挑战与机遇。