Towards effective security governance in Africa: African and European actors in peacekeeping and peacebuilding: partners or competitors?

"Although prospects for peacekeeping and peacebuilding in Africa have significantly improved since the end of the East-West conflict, creating the conditions for lasting peace nevertheless remains a challenge. While liberal peace as ideological frame and strong regional security organisations (RSOs) account for positive impacts and great potential, their effectiveness remains a hope, rather than a given. This report contributes to the debate on the effectiveness of peacekeeping/ peacebuilding on the African continent by analysing the policies and activities of the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) as well as some of its member states regarding two global norms: a) Protection of Civilians (POC) as one task of peacekeeping operations and b) Security Sector Reform (SSR). Based on the examples of Darfur, Chad, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe, the report finds that the similar interpretation of doctrines is promising and can be considered an indicator that a layered system of global security governance based on strong and connected RSOs could be both effective and legitimate. However, this alignment of doctrines remains fragile and does not always translate into increased effectiveness at the local level due to three classes of frictions the report identifies." (author's abstract)"Obwohl sich die Aussichten für die Friedenssicherung und Friedenskonsolidierung in Afrika seit dem Ende des Ost-West-Konflikts erheblich verbessert haben, bleibt die Schaffung der Voraussetzungen für einen dauerhaften Frieden dennoch eine Herausforderung. Während die gemeinsame ideologische Grundlage des liberalen Friedens und starke regionale Sicherheitsorganisationen (RSO) großes Potential aufweisen, bleibt deren Wirksamkeit lediglich eine Hoffnung. Diese Arbeit analysiert die Politik und die Maßnahmen der Afrikanischen Union (AU) und der Europäischen Union (EU) sowie einige ihrer Mitgliedsstaaten in Bezug auf zwei globale Normen: a) Schutz von Zivilpersonen (POC) als eine Aufgabe der friedenserhaltenden Operationen und b) Reform des Sicherheitssektors (SSR). Damit soll ein Beitrag zur Debatte über die Wirksamkeit der Friedenssicherung / Friedenskonsolidierung auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent geleistet werden. Anhand der Beispiele Darfur, Tschad, Sierra Leone und Simbabwe stellt der Bericht fest, dass eine ähnliche Interpretation von Doktrinen vielversprechend ist und als ein Indikator für ein System der globalen Security Governance auf Basis starker und vernetzter RSOs gewertet werden könnte, welches sowohl effektiv als auch legitim ist. Allerdings bleibt diese Auslegung von Doktrinen fragil und bedeutet nicht immer eine entsprechend effektive Umsetzung auf lokaler Ebene. Dies liegt in drei Spannungsfeldern begründet, die die Untersuchung ebenfalls identifiziert." (Autorenreferat

The Perils of Ruxit: Russia's Tension-Ridden Dissociation from the European Security Order

Why have relations between Russia and the West experienced such a dramatic downturn despite already hitting what seemed to be rock bottom in 2014? The dissociation model offers a novel approach to analyse the conflict between the two sides and its tragic development. According to this approach, Russia#s dissociation from the pan-European social order contributed to the outbreak of hostilities in 2014 and to Russia's war of aggression in February 2022. Signs of Russia’s dissociation - intentional distancing from the core rules and norms of this order - were evident long before the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but the developments that followed marked a culmination of this process. The paper asserts that during the dissociation process, the foregrounding of ideational factors as opposed to material factors aggravated tensions and contributed to the radicalisation of relations between Russia and the West. Specifically, the study demonstrates how the fallout of institutional breakdown precluded management of the territorial security conflicts, resulted in the securitisation of the energy sector and overall polarisation of the relationship, and accelerated Russia's authoritarian turn, preventing any attempt to repair bilateral and multilateral relations with the West after 2014

Drifting Apart: Examining the Consequences of States' Dissociation from International Cooperation - A Framework

Dissociation from international institutions, i.e., states turning away from international cooperation and organizations, is a widespread phenomenon today. It often leads to significant tensions between the states that turn away and those that remain committed to an institution. This introduction to a forum on dissociation from international institutions reviews the state of the art and develops a framework for analyzing the impact of dissociation on relations between departing and remaining states. It centers on the hypothesis that dissociation leads to two types of conflicts between states, ideational and distributive, with ideational conflicts more likely to increase tensions between states. The article then reviews the five cases of dissocia-tion examined in the other contributions to the forum and summarizes their main individual and comparative findings. Taken together, the five cases suggest that dissociation can exacerbate broader structural conflicts between states; that how parties perceive of conflict during the dissociation process matters for its effects on interstate relations and that an emphasis on ideational conflict leads to more confrontational relations; and that domestic politics matter greatly not only for whether dissociation occurs but also for its effects on interstate relations

Ethics in the Selling of Financial Products

The author examines the existence of unethical behaviour of the employees of financial institutions. This paper is based on studies carried out with the aid of the ‘mystery shopper’ method in Warsaw. Based on the survey, the author wanted to check whether a client is well informed about the real costs of credit and whether a client is asked for an opinion about credit insurance. The outcomes have been compared with the findings of Robert Rogowski published in ʿThe moral dimension of the economic crisis’

A Call for a Change in Policy Regarding the Necessity for SDE Tests to Validate the Veracity of the Outcome of Enantioselective Syntheses, the Inherent Chiral State of Natural Products, and Other Cases Involving Enantioenriched Samples

We wish to draw attention to an important issue concerning scientific practice with regard to enhancing the quality of publications in Molecules (as well as for other journals) [...

Construction Hybrid immunoglobulin All Four Dengue serotype Using Mesenchymal Stem

The dengue virus is a member of vector-borne diseases that causes zoonotic disease and spreads rapidly in the world. No single treatment or vaccine yet is available that is recommended and there is no correlation with protectiveness against this disease. The heavy chain (VH) and light chain (VL) variables are molecules of immunoglobulin G (IgG) is the smallest part of the antibody. Although the part-time domain variable is short, it can be used as a long-term and rapid immune booster in the immune system. In this study we tried to clone an encoding gene that was able to influence the adaptive immune response to dengue 1-4 by using MSC as a gene carrier. The target scFv-IgG gene has been successfully integrated into the plasmid. Plasmids that we have linearly transfected into the MSC. From the cDNA synthesis results continued with PCR synthesis with primer FGHV and RGHA obtained bands in accordance with the target of 404 bp. The scFv gene encoding IgG can be integrated with MSC Keywords: immunetherapy; dengue; hybrid; scFv-IgG; mesenchymal

Die Regime zur Kontrolle nuklearer, biologischer und chemischer Waffen

Die Regime gegen Massenvernichtungswaffen erfüllen wichtige sicherheitspolitische Funktionen und tragen dazu bei, Terrorismus mit diesen Waffen zu verhindern. Eine regimetheoretische Analyse zeigt für alle drei Regime stabilisierende und destabilisierende Tendenzen sowie eine Spaltung zwischen Nord und Süd. Im nuklearen Nichtverbreitungsregime wirkt die Diskriminierung zwischen Kernwaffen- und Nichtkernwaffenstaaten in Verbindung mit der mangelhaften Umsetzung der Abrüstungsverpfl ichtung destabilisierend. Das Biowaffen-Regime zeigt eine neue Dynamik zum Thema Biosicherheit, aber auch anhaltende Konfl ikte um Technologieaustausch und Verifikation. Obwohl das CWÜ derzeit am stabilsten erscheint, gilt es, drohende Probleme z.B. im Bereich Verifi kation und Abrüstung abzuwenden. Wenn die Regime ihrer Aufgabe effektiv nachkommen sollen, müssen die strukturellen Defizite bearbeitet sowie jeweils die Abrüstungs-, Nichtverbreitungs- und Kooperationsbestimmungen gleichermaßen vollständig und ausgewogen umgesetzt werden