Producing airpower : the rise and fall of neo-liberalism’s defence agenda

Neo-liberalism stands out as one of the most potent contemporary political philosophies. Neo-liberal governments re-fashioned states’ economies and neo-liberal ideas came to dominate international financial organizations. Perhaps nowhere are the challenges of translating neo-liberal theories into policy more apparent than in defence. The existing institutions and practices whereby states produce military power are often anathema to neo-liberal concepts of efficiency. Bureaucratic armed forces and national champion defence firms, within this context, clash with neo-liberalism’s ideological hostility to hierarchical-bureaucratic systems and belief that market mechanisms generate efficiency. Neo-liberal governments therefore developed policies for applying the philosophy’s economic formulae to defence. Two broad categories of reforms—enhancing inter-firm competition for contracts and outsourcing activities to the private sector—emerged as central to the neo-liberal defence agenda. Surprisingly, in light of neo-liberal policies’ adoption by militarily active states, no study has systematically examined these reforms’ content and impact. My article fills this lacuna by examining the state—the United Kingdom—that most consistently enacted neo-liberal defence reforms. To preview the conclusion, neo-liberalism did not prove the panacea that proponents espoused. This agenda’s internal logic nevertheless drove policymakers, from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s regime (1979-90) onwards, to compensate for the negative externalities generated by one set of neo-liberal reforms by introducing further market mechanisms. Neo-liberal policies’ initially disappointing outcomes thus resulted in further neo-liberal reforms rather than a reassessment of the philosophy’s suitability to this domain. Nevertheless, each of the neo-liberal defence agenda’s two pillars suffered from internal contradictions that ultimately stymied their application.PostprintPeer reviewe

Preserving power after empire : the credibility trap and France's intervention in Chad, 1968-72

France’s 1968–72 intervention in Chad constitutes a forgotten turning point in the Fifth Republic’s foreign relations. Interconnected institutions and treaties gave France a disproportionate influence over its African ex-colonies. French security guarantees underscored this system, however, whereby francophone African leaders continued to accept French economic and political leadership. French leaders discovered in Chad, however, that they had fewer choices and needed to dedicate more resources to fulfilling these commitments than President Charles de Gaulle had intended. Prosperous ex-colonies’ leaders judged French commitments’ value according to how France responded to crises in its least-valued ex-colonies. Thus, although French analysts viewed intervening in Chad as irrational from a cost–benefit perspective, they found themselves pressured into it.PostprintPeer reviewe

Dynamics of insurgent innovation : how Hezbollah and other non-state actors develop new capabilities

Few issues are more important to security-studies scholars than understanding how violent non-state groups innovate. To shed new light on this subject, we examine Hezbollah’s innovations and the underlying processes that produced them. Based on this case, the most successful violent non-state groups are arguably those that systematically pursue incremental innovation. Although less dramatic than their discontinuous counterparts, a commitment to steadily improve an organizations' tactics and techniques can have dramatic effects. Indeed, even Hezbollah’s remarkable performance during the 2006 Lebanon War is attributable to the perfection of techniques utilized since the organization's inception. While innovations were incremental in character, a bottom-up process of learning and experimentation by field commanders was critical to generating most of these innovations. If generalizable to other violent non-state actors, these findings suggest that the most formidable insurgent and terrorist groups will actually be those that relentlessly pursue incremental innovations in a bottom-up fashion.PostprintPeer reviewe

Association of Heart Failure With Outcomes Among Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease: Insights From EUCLID.

Background Peripheral artery disease (PAD) and heart failure (HF) are each independently associated with poor outcomes. Risk factors associated with new-onset HF in patients with primary PAD are unknown. Furthermore, how the presence of HF is associated with outcomes in patients with PAD is unknown. Methods and Results This analysis examined risk relationships of HF on outcomes in patients with symptomatic PAD randomized to ticagrelor or clopidogrel as part of the EUCLID (Examining Use of Ticagrelor in Peripheral Arterial Disease) trial. Patients were stratified based on presence of HF at enrollment. Cox models were used to determine the association of HF with outcomes. A separate Cox model was used to identify risk factors associated with development of HF during follow-up. Patients with PAD and HF had over twice the rate of concomitant coronary artery disease as those without HF. Patients with PAD and HF had significantly increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (hazard ratio [HR], 1.31; 95% CI, 1.13-1.51) and all-cause mortality (HR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.19-1.63). In patients with PAD, the presence of HF was associated with significantly less bleeding (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.45-0.96). Characteristics associated with HF development included age ≥66 (HR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.18-1.40 per 5 years), diabetes mellitus (HR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.41-2.43), and weight (bidirectionally associated, ≥76 kg, HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.64-0.93; <76 kg, HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.07-1.16). Conclusions Patients with PAD and HF have a high rate of coronary artery disease with a high risk for major adverse cardiovascular events and death. These data support the possible need for aggressive treatment of (recurrent) atherosclerotic disease in PAD, especially patients with HF

Association of Heart Failure With Outcomes Among Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease: Insights From EUCLID

Background Peripheral artery disease (PAD) and heart failure (HF) are each independently associated with poor outcomes. Risk factors associated with new-onset HF in patients with primary PAD are unknown. Furthermore, how the presence of HF is associated with outcomes in patients with PAD is unknown.Methods and Results This analysis examined risk relationships of HF on outcomes in patients with symptomatic PAD randomized to ticagrelor or clopidogrel as part of the EUCLID (Examining Use of Ticagrelor in Peripheral Arterial Disease) trial. Patients were stratified based on presence of HF at enrollment. Cox models were used to determine the association of HF with outcomes. A separate Cox model was used to identify risk factors associated with development of HF during follow-up. Patients with PAD and HF had over twice the rate of concomitant coronary artery disease as those without HF. Patients with PAD and HF had significantly increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (hazard ratio [HR], 1.31; 95% CI, 1.13-1.51) and all-cause mortality (HR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.19-1.63). In patients with PAD, the presence of HF was associated with significantly less bleeding (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.45-0.96). Characteristics associated with HF development included age >= 66 (HR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.18-1.40 per 5 years), diabetes mellitus (HR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.41-2.43), and weight (bidirectionally associated, >= 76 kg, HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.64-0.93; Conclusions Patients with PAD and HF have a high rate of coronary artery disease with a high risk for major adverse cardiovascular events and death. These data support the possible need for aggressive treatment of (recurrent) atherosclerotic disease in PAD, especially patients with HF.</p

Anarchy's anatomy : two-tiered security systems and Libya’s civil wars

No issue deserves more scrutiny than the mechanisms whereby popular unrest unleashes civil wars. We argue that one institution — two-tiered security systems — is particularly pernicious in terms of the accompanying civil war risk. These systems’ defining characteristic is the juxtaposition of small communally stacked units that protect regimes from internal adversaries with larger regular armed forces that deter external opponents. These systems aggravate civil war risks because stacked security units lack the size to repress widespread dissent, but inhibit rapid regime change through coup d’état. Regular militaries, meanwhile, fracture when ordered to employ force against populations from which they were recruited.PostprintPeer reviewe

Pose-informed deep learning method for SAR ATR

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images for automatic target classification (automatic target recognition (ATR)) have attracted significant interest as they can be acquired day and night under a wide range of weather conditions. However, SAR images can be time consuming to analyse, even for experts. ATR can alleviate this burden and deep learning is an attractive solution. A new deep learning Pose-informed architecture solution, that takes into account the impact of target orientation on the SAR image as the scatterers configuration changes, is proposed. The classification is achieved in two stages. First, the orientation of the target is determined using a Hough transform and a convolutional neural network (CNN). Then, classification is achieved with a CNN specifically trained on targets with similar orientations to the target under test. The networks are trained with translation and SAR-specific data augmentation. The proposed Pose-informed deep network architecture was successfully tested on the Military Ground Target Dataset (MGTD) and the Moving and Stationary Target Acquisition and Recognition (MSTAR) datasets. Results show the proposed solution outperformed standard AlexNets on the MGTD, MSTAR extended operating condition (EOC)1, EOC2 and standard operating condition (SOC)10 datasets with a score of 99.13% on the MSTAR SOC10

Armaments after autonomy : military adaptation and the drive for domestic defence industries

State investments in domestic defence industries are one of the most puzzling trends in international relations. Economists contend that these investments waste resources, while political scientists claim that armaments’ resultant overproduction fuels arms races. Why then do governments cultivate defence industries? I draw on cases from Israel, South Africa and Iraq to argue that the answers to these questions are distinct. Fears about supply security frequently spur states to begin developing arms industries, and elites’ techno-nationalist beliefs often sustain their defence-industrial investments. Defence industries’ primary national security value, however, lies in their hitherto unappreciated contribution to states’ military adaptation capacity.PostprintPeer reviewe

Exploring the Iran-Hezbollah Relationship: A Case Study of how State Sponsorship affects Terrorist Group Decision-Making

<p><span><em>Understanding the impact of state sponsorship on the decision-making of violent non-state actors is among the more important issues to scholars of security studies. This article addresses the issue by examining the relationship between Iran and Lebanon&rsquo;s Hezbollah. To preview its conclusions, there are two main perspectives to consider with regard to the terrorist group &ndash; state sponsor relationship. First, state support has a powerful, yet indirect effect on violent non-state actor decision-making by shaping the options available to groups&rsquo; leaders.&nbsp; Second, state sponsors can also directly leverage their aid to shape the strategic decisions of armed non-state actors, forcing their clients to either expand or restrict their activities. Because of inevitable lacunae and contradictions amongst published accounts, this study relies heavily upon primary sources and data collected during field research in Lebanon, including interviews with leaders from Hezbollah, the Lebanese Army, the United Nations' Peacekeeping Mission in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the rival Shia organization, Amal.</em></span></p><div><span><em><br /></em></span></div

Arms production in the global village : options for adapting to defense-industrial globalization

Few issues are more important to international relations scholars than understanding how globalization is shaping the production of armaments. Within this context, this article examines both whether and how small and medium states can maintain defense-industrial bases capable of contributing to their national security. To preview the conclusion, although defense-industrial self-sufficiency has become an illusion for most states, even small and medium states can develop defense-industrial capabilities that enhance both their ability to autonomously employ their armed forces and secure access to foreign armaments. Moreover, governments possess a range of options for achieving these objectives, including a fundamental choice between accepting foreign direct investment and pursuing unrestrained arms exports. Governments unwilling to sanction foreign ownership of their defense industries can have recourse to unrestricted exports; alternatively, states uncomfortable with liberal exports can encourage foreign direct investment. With this in mind, a lasting diversity is likely to persist in even similarly endowed states' defense industries and defense-industrial policies