Digital Peacekeepers, Drone Surveillance and Information Fusion: A Philosophical Analysis of New Peacekeeping

In June 2014 an Expert Panel on Technology and Innovation in UN Peacekeeping was commissioned to examine how technology and innovation could strengthen peacekeeping missions. The panel\u27s report argues for wider deployment of advanced technologies, including greater use of ground and airborne sensors and other technical sources of data, advanced data analytics and information fusion to assist in data integration. This article explores the emerging intelligence-led, informationist conception of UN peacekeeping against the backdrop of increasingly complex peacekeeping mandates and precarious security conditions. New peacekeeping with its heightened commitment to information as a political resource and the endorsement of offensive military action within robust mandates reflects the multiple and conflicting trajectories generated by asymmetric conflicts, the responsibility to protect and a technology-driven information revolution. We argue that the idea of peacekeeping is being revised (and has been revised) by realities beyond peacekeeping itself that require rethinking the morality of peacekeeping in light of the emergence of \u27digital peacekeeping\u27 and the knowledge revolution engendered by new technologies

Always in control? Sovereign states in cyberspace

For well over twenty years, we have witnessed an intriguing debate about the nature of cyberspace. Used for everything from communication to commerce, it has transformed the way individuals and societies live. But how has it impacted the sovereignty of states? An initial wave of scholars argued that it had dramatically diminished centralised control by states, helped by a tidal wave of globalisation and freedom. These libertarian claims were considerable. More recently, a new wave of writing has argued that states have begun to recover control in cyberspace, focusing on either the police work of authoritarian regimes or the revelations of Edward Snowden. Both claims were wide of the mark. By contrast, this article argues that we have often misunderstood the materiality of cyberspace and its consequences for control. It not only challenges the libertarian narrative of freedom, it suggests that the anarchic imaginary of the Internet as a ‘Wild West’ was deliberately promoted by states in order to distract from the reality. The Internet, like previous forms of electronic connectivity, consists mostly of a physical infrastructure located in specific geographies and jurisdictions. Rather than circumscribing sovereignty, it has offered centralised authority new ways of conducting statecraft. Indeed, the Internet, high-speed computing, and voice recognition were all the result of security research by a single information hegemon and therefore it has always been in control

Hybrid Warfare Challenges to the Armed Forces: Realities and the Way Ahead

With the recent landmark changes in the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), a whole new era has been ushered in. A state which was, unfortunately, the test-bed of Pakistan's nefarious agendas for decades has now been subjected to a bold, exigent, and logical step. The dissonance in decision-making has finally given way, laying the fresh ground for renewed endeavors. With “Hybrid Warfare Challenges to the Armed Forces: Realities and Way Ahead” being the subject of scrutiny, a certain degree of factual clarity needs to be brought in right away. Three fundamental queries need to be answered at the outset

NATO's 2022 Strategic Concept: Analysis and implications for Austria

Das längst überfällige neue Strategische Konzept der NATO, das auf dem Madrider Gipfel im Juni 2022 angenommen wurde, bietet mittelfristig klare Leitlinien für das Atlantische Bündnis. Der Krieg in der Ukraine hat den Alliierten einen starken Impuls gegeben, die Identität der NATO, ihre Kernaufgaben sowie ihren Blick auf Russland und China zu überdenken. Der neue abschreckungs- und verteidigungszentrierte Ansatz der NATO hat bereits zu einer großen Veränderung unserer Sicherheitsarchitektur geführt, insbesondere an der Ostflanke Europas. Ohne seine historische Neutralität zu untergraben, könnte Österreich sie angesichts des "Neustarts" der NATO neu interpretieren und diese Gelegenheit nutzen, um seine Partnerschaft mit dem Bündnis neu zu beleben.Adopted at the Madrid Summit in June 2022, the long-overdue NATO's new Strategic Concept provides a clear set of guidelines for the Atlantic Alliance in a mid-term perspective. The war in Ukraine has provided the Allies with a powerful catalyst to reconsider NATO's identity, core missions, as well as their vision of Russia and China. NATO's new deterrence and defence-centric approach has already entailed a major shift in our security architecture, especially on Europe's eastern flank. Without undermining its historical neutrality, Austria might reinterpret it in light of NATO's "reset" and use this opportunity to reinvigorate its partnership with the Alliance

Global Risks 2012, Seventh Edition

The World Economic Forum's Global Risks 2012 report is based on a survey of 469 experts from industry, government, academia and civil society that examines 50 global risks across five categories. The report emphasizes the singular effect of a particular constellation of global risks rather than focusing on a single existential risk. Three distinct constellations of risks that present a very serious threat to our future prosperity and security emerged from a review of this year's set of risks. Includes a special review of the important lessons learned from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear crisis at Fukushima, Japan. It focuses on therole of leadership, challenges to effective communication in this information age and resilient business models in response to crises of unforeseen magnitude

Tackling strategic simultaneity: What NATO could do to adapt to the new multitude of threats

NATO is facing an unprecedented geostrategic environment characterized by simultaneous threats: Russian revisionism, the rise of China, the related problem of coping with threats in the cyber domain, and persistent challenges emanating from the southern flank. This article applies insights from the literature on organizational ambidexterity to provide a fresh perspective on how NATO could adapt to strategic simultaneity. Exisiting organizational ambidexterity literature focuses on the corporate challenge of striking a balance between exploiting existing markets and technologies, and exploring new ones altogether. In essence, strategic simultaneity demands that NATO do the same. NATO must cope with well-known and less-known threats and strike the right balance between effectiveness in handling known problems and innovation in coping with new ones. The article extracts three key categories from the strategic ambidexterity research: unified senior leadership; separate organizational units for exploitation and innovation; and a strategic approach to pursuing innovation through external partnerships. Applying these to NATO, it argues that, in order to become more ambidextrous, the organization’s major countries must unite around a vision that both places simultaneity at the center and is conducive to a balanced investment in tackling all four major challenges. While Allied Command Transformation (ACT) must be maintained as a distinct organizational unit, much stronger bridges must be built between ACT and the other commands. Further, NATO Centers of Excellence and external partnerships must be used in a more targeted way as sources of innovation and new ideas.publishedVersio

A National Veterans Strategy: The Economic, Social and Security Imperative

This publication details the foundational logic supporting a call to action, related to a broad-based effort to articulate and institutionalize a National Veterans Strategy. We argue that coordinated, "whole-of-government" action toward this end is essential to meet the nation's most important economic, social, and security obligations. Furthermore, we contend that the second Obama administration, working in close collaboration with executive agencies, Congress, and the private sector, is well-positioned to act on what we perceive to be a historic opportunity -- capitalizing on both the foundations of veteran-focused policy and progress enacted over the past decade and the overwhelming public support for returning veterans and military families -- to craft and institutionalize a National Veterans Strategy.Our purpose is to provide a researched and logically-developed case for action that is grounded in this nation's social and cultural traditions and attuned to the practical realities of our contemporary economic and political climate