Oligopolies of Violence in Post-Conflict Societies

In post-conflict societies, security is provided by a broad range of actors including the state as well as various non-state formations. The paper identifies three types of post-conflict societies and analyses dynamics of the security market in cases where international troops have intervened. A comparison of seven countries shows that intervention forces were able to establish themselves as market leaders when a disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) program was successfully conducted in the immediate post-conflict period. Such a program should be embedded in an inclusive peace agreement that is backed up by a credible and robust troop commitment from the international community.Post-conflict societies, security market, oligopoly of violence, international intervention, disarmament

The Territorialization of the Global Commons: Evidence From Ocean Governance

The international system of states displays an inherent drive to territorialize the global commons. But territorialization is not a continuous process - it occurs in episodes. In this article, I use one case from ocean governance, the expansion of territory into near-shore areas of the seas, to advance a twofold argument about the nature of these episodes. First, I argue that the root causes of this drive to territorialize "empty space" are located in global politics, norms, and economics. Second, a territorializing episode occurs when there are impelling economic incentives, and when great powers are unable or unwilling to oppose territorialization. However, this can lead to different outcomes: sovereign territories, functional territories, or internationalized territories. Oceanic space has seen a series of these territorializing episodes since the end of the Second World War and functional territorialization has become more prevalent over time

Oligopolies of Violence in Post-Conflict Societies

In post‐conflict societies, security is provided by a broad range of actors including the state as well as various non‐state formations. The paper identifies three types of post‐conflict societies and analyses dynamics of the security market in cases where international troops have intervened. A comparison of seven countries shows that intervention forces were able to establish themselves as market leaders when a disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) program was successfully conducted in the immediate post‐conflict period. Such a program should be embedded in an inclusive peace agreement that is backed up by a credible and robust troop commitment from the international community.In Nachkriegsgesellschaften gibt es neben dem Staat eine Vielzahl von Akteuren, die für ihre Klientel Sicherheit anbieten. Dieses Papier unterscheidet drei Typen von Postkonfliktgesellschaften und analysiert die Dynamiken auf dem Sicherheitsmarkt in Ländern, in denen es zu einer internationalen Intervention kam. Ein Vergleich von sieben Fällen zeigt, dass sich internationale Truppen dann als Marktführer etablieren konnten, wenn ein Entwaffnungs‐ und Demobilisierungsprogramm erfolgreich durchgeführt wurde. Ein derartiges Programm muss in ein inklusives Friedensabkommen eingebettet sein, welches durch eine robuste Interventionsstreitmacht abgesichert wird

Integrating UAS Flocking Operations with Formation Drag Reduction

Craig Reynolds, in the seminal research into simulated flocking, developed a methodology to guide a flock of birds using three rules: collision avoidance, flock centering, and velocity matching. By modifying these rules, a methodology was created so that each aircraft in a flock maintains a precise position relative to the preceding aircraft. By doing so, each aircraft experiences a decrease in induced aerodynamic drag and increase in fuel efficiency. Flocks of semi-autonomous aircraft present the warfighter with a wide array of capabilities for accomplishing missions more effectively. By introducing formation drag reduction, overall fuel consumption is reduced while range and endurance increase, expanding war planners\u27 options. A simulation was constructed to determine the feasibility of the drag reduction flock in a two-dimensional environment using a drag benefit map constructed from existing research. Due to both agent interaction and wind gust variability, the optimal position for drag reduction presented a severe collision hazard, and drag savings were much more sensitive to lateral (wingtip) position than longitudinal (streamwise) position. By increasing longitudinal spacing, the collision hazard was greatly reduced and a 10-aircraft flock demonstrated a 9.7% reduction in total drag and 14.5% increase in endurance over a mock target

Temporal analysis of political instability through descriptive subgroup discovery

This paper analyzes the Political Instability Task Force (PITF) data set using a new methodology based on machine learning tools for subgroup discovery. While the PITF used static data, this study employs both static and dynamic descriptors covering the 5-year period before onset. The methodology provides several descriptive models of countries especially prone to political instability. For the most part, these models corroborate the PITF’s findings and support earlier theoretical works. The paper also shows the value of subgroup discovery as a tool for developing a unified concept of political instability as well as for similar research designs

Informasjonsinnholdet i samtidige utbytte- og resultatannonseringer

I denne utredningen gjennomfører vi en begivenhetsstudie der vi tester hvorvidt uventede utbytte- og resultatendringer, for selskaper notert på Oslo Børs, er forbundet med abnormal avkastning. Vi finner at uventede utbytteøkninger, approksimert ved utbytteendringer, er forbundet med signifikant positiv abnormal avkastning, noe som er konsistent med signalteorien. Ved å gjøre annonseringene betinget på både utbytte og resultat finner vi samspilleffekter mellom utbytte- og resultatannonseringene. Resultatet avhenger ikke av estimeringen av parametrene i markedsmodellen, som brukes til å finne normale avkastninger, og synes robust overfor ulike måter å dele inn utvalget etter endringer i resultat. Resultatet er i liten grad drevet av ekstremverdier, men holder ikke for et utvalg der begivenheter med andre annonseringer i begivenhetsvinduet er utelatt. Vi betrakter analyser for ulike utvalg gruppert etter forskjellige karakteristika. Vi prøver også å lage en modell for forventet utbytte. Videre analyserer vi den abnormale avkastningen forbundet med annonseringene ved hjelp av regresjonsanalyse. Vi finner at en bedrifts Marked Bok -forhold har forklaringskraft ut over de overraskende endringene i utbytte og resultat

Legitimate oligopolies of violence in post-conflict societies with particular focus on Liberia and Sierra Leone

"During post-conflict periods, institutions and patterns of action are challenged and renegotiated – processes that have long gone largely unrecognized. There continues to be a lack of empirical research on the constellations of authority following the cessation of conflict. This lack corresponds to deficiencies on the level of policy-making: It appears that Western donors, until today, base their approaches to post-conflict reconstruction on the wholly unchallenged assumption that the state is the only legitimate actor in this area. This research project focused on core questions in post-conflict security provision by and beyond the state. The central question of the project was to determine which actors (such as traditional authorities, the remnants of state security organs, private entrepreneurs, international peacekeeping missions etc.) provide security in a situation of fragmented authority, i.e. sanctioning violence and crime. Moreover, the project sought to analyze under which conditions these actors are considered legitimate by different groups within society: some actors might protect specific groups among the population while representing a threat to others. These questions were addressed in empirical case studies of Liberia and Sierra Leone. The project worked under the basic assumption that oligopolies of violence exist in periods directly preceded by conflict, comprising a limited number of actors that produce violence and provide security, who both compete and cooperate with each other. It was also assumed that oligopolies exhibited significant variation, with one important sub-type being an 'oligopoly with market leader'. (...)" (author's abstract)"In Postkonfliktsituationen werden Institutionen, aber auch Handlungsmuster überprüft und neu ausgehandelt, Prozesse, die lange wenig Beachtung gefunden haben. Es gibt immer noch einen Mangel an empirischer Forschung zu den Konstellationen von Herrschaftsbeziehungen nach Beendigung von Gewaltkonflikten. Dem entsprechen auch Defizite in der praktischen Politik. Bis heute gründen westliche Ansätze zu post-konfliktivem Wiederaufbau auf der Annahme, dass der Staat der einzige legitime Akteur im Sicherheitsbereich sei. Die zentrale Frage dieses Projekts war demgegenüber, welche Akteure (traditionelle Autoritäten, der Rumpfstaat, private Unternehmen, internationale Friedensmissionen etc.) in einer Situation fragmentierter Autorität Sicherheit gewährleisten, d.h. Gewalt real kontrollieren. Darüber hinaus ging es um die Analyse, wie legitim solche Akteure in den Augen unterschiedlicher sozialer Gruppen sind – dies auch unter der Annahme, dass sie bestimmte Bevölkerungsgruppen beschützen können, gleichzeitig aber eine Bedrohung von anderen darstellen mögen. Diese Fragen wurden zunächst in Fallstudien zu Liberia und Sierra Leone untersucht. Das Projekt arbeitete unter der Grundannahme, dass Gewaltoligopole in unmittelbaren Postkonfliktsituationen bestehen, die eine begrenzte Anzahl von Gewaltakteuren/Sicherheitsproduzenten umfassen, und die untereinander konkurrieren und kooperieren. Hierbei wurden erhebliche Variationen einer solchen Konstellation angenommen, wobei eine wichtige Variante das 'Gewaltoligopol mit einem dominanten Marktführer' sein würde. (...)" (Autorenreferat

Formação permanente de professores de química da EJA na perspectiva dialógico-problematizadora freireana

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Científica e Tecnológica, Florianópolis, 2013.Esta pesquisa de doutorado versa sobre a formação permanente de professores de química do ensino médio que atuam na Educação de Jovens e Adultos. Nela é realizada a investigação das possibilidades, dos avanços e das dificuldades da formação permanente fundamentada nos princípios dialógico-problematizadores anunciados por Paulo Freire; e verificada se a formação nessa concepção contribui para possíveis mudanças na forma de conceber o ensino de química para alunos da EJA, implicando em mudanças metodológicas. Além dos fundamentos freireanos, esta pesquisa também utiliza a epistemologia de Ludwik Fleck como referencial analítico para elucidar como se organiza o conhecimento e como ele se dissemina e se transforma a partir das categorias: Estilo de Pensamento, Coletivos de Pensamento, Circulação Inter e Intracoletiva de Ideias, Complicações no Estilo de Pensamento. Analisa, ainda, como elemento empírico da pesquisa, um curso de extensão universitária ministrado para professores de química da EJA que atuam na rede pública estadual do Paraná. O curso foi organizado a partir do referencial freireano e das pesquisas realizadas, sobretudo, por Antônio F. Gouvêa da Silva, apresentadas em sua tese defendida, intitulada "A construção do currículo na perspectiva popular crítica das falas significativas às práticas contextualizadas", na qual ele analisa a orientação da formação docente realizada em distintas redes públicas da educação municipal e/ou estadual no Brasil. Nesse momento empírico da tese, os professores participantes do curso tiveram que realizar o estudo da realidade local com os alunos da EJA, investigar falas, propor temas geradores, elaborar aulas na perspectiva dialógico-problematizadora e desenvolvê-las com os alunos da EJA. Para a análise, é utilizado como corpus os materiais produzidos pelos participantes durante o curso, os registros dos professores em diário de bordo, os registros do pesquisador, a gravação em vídeo das apresentações das aulas desenvolvidas nas escolas e o grupo focal sobre a formação desenvolvida. A partir da Análise Textual Discursiva dos materiais, são apontados os possíveis avanços em relação à formação permanente de professores, sejam eles os dialógicos, os metodológicos, os epistemológicos, os político-pedagógicos; assim como os limites, sendo eles os estruturais, os organizacionais, os procedimentais, os conceituais, os dialogais e os do orientador da formação permanente para professores de química da EJA, organizada a partir da concepção dialógico-problematizadora freireana. Como conclusão, são apresentadas algumas propostas para superar tais limites, pensando na sua factibilidade, tendo em vista os problemas estruturais que a escola vivencia. Abstract : This dissertation focuses on permanent education of Chemistry high school teachers who work in adult education centers. It investigates possibilities, advances and difficulties of permanent education programs based on Paulo Freire's dialogic problem posing principles, and it verifies if the formation based on those conceptions can contribute for changes in the way we conceive Chemistry teaching methodologies for adult students. Beside Freirean theoretical background, this study uses Ludwik Fleck's epistemology as an analytical framework to elucidate how knowledge is organized and how it spread and transforms from these categories: thought style, thought collective, intercollective and intracollective communication, thought-styles problems. This work takes a specific university extension course as the empirical element of the research. The theoretical basis of that course are Paulo Freire's ideas and the studies conducted specially by Antônio F. Gouvêa da Silva, presented in his thesis intitled "The Curriculum Construction From The Critical Popular Perspective: From The Significant Speeches To The Contextualized Practices", in which he analyzes the guidelines for teacher education in distinct municipal and state Brazilian public education networks. On that empirical moment, the teachers attending the course had to make a study on the local reality of adult education students ? analyzing utterances, proposing generating themes, planning classes based on the dialogic problem-posing perspective and putting them into practice with adult education students. The corpus of the analysis is composed by the materials developed along the course by those attendants, records on teachers logbooks, notes of the researcher, video tapes with the records of lectures given in schools and the focus group on the formation given. With the textual discourse analysis of those materials, possible advances in relation to permanent formation of teachers are pointed out, whether dialogical, methodological, epistemological or political-pedagogical. We also point out the limits, whether related to structure, organization, procedures, concepts, dialogue or those of the teacher who guided the permanent formation for Chemistry adult education teachers, organized on Freirean dialogical problem-posing conception. This text concludes presenting some proposals to overcome such limitations, focusing on feasibility, in view of the structural problems that schools face

Sicherheitsmärkte in Postkonfliktgesellschaften: Implikationen für Interventionen

"Am 31. Juli 2007 hat der UN-Sicherheitsrat beschlossen, eine 26.000 Mann starke Friedenstruppe nach Darfur zu entsenden, die dort eine Mission der Afrikanischen Union ablöst. Das sind 9.000 Mann mehr als bei der bisher größten UN-Friedenstruppe in Afrika, der Mission de l'Organisation des Nations Unies en République Démocratique du Congo (MONUC) in der DR Kongo. Seit 1989 hat die Zahl internationaler Militärinterventionen in Postkonfliktgesellschaften drastisch zugenommen. Zu den Zielen dieser Interventionen gehört auch immer eine Unterbrechung der Kampfhandlungen. Dies geschieht dann, wenn es den Interventionstruppen gelingt, den Sicherheitsmarkt zu monopolisieren. Dafür stehen die Aussichten gut, wenn alle Konfliktparteien einem Friedensabkommen und einem Entwaffnungsprogramm zugestimmt haben. Das ist aber längst nicht immer der Fall. Die Erwartungen an Interventionsstreitkräfte sollten nicht überfrachtet werden. Bestenfalls ist eine kurzfristige Befriedung möglich, die die Grundlage für eine langfristige Transformation der Gewaltstrukturen bietet. Auf dem Sicherheitsmarkt treten Interventionskräfte parallel zu einheimischen Akteuren auf, die für die Bürger wichtige Schutzgaranten darstellen könnten. Ein inklusives Friedensabkommen ist eine Grundvoraussetzung für eine gewaltfreie Postkonfliktordnung. Liegt dies nicht vor, ist eine deutlich stärkere militärische Präsenz notwendig, um die Konfliktparteien abzuschrecken. Wo Friedensabkommen oder Entwaffnungsprogramme fehlen, können Interventionstruppen den Konflikt bestenfalls 'einfrieren', jedoch nicht überwinden. Spätestens nach ihrem Abzug wird der Konflikt erneut ausbrechen." (Autorenreferat

Mission as church with others : an interdisciplinary study on the relevance of the concept of inclusion as a contribution to a theology of mission

German textDas Ziel dieser Masterarbeit ist, das gesellschaftlich aktuelle Thema der Inklusion in einen missionstheologischen Kontext einzuordnen und Folgerungen für die kirchliche Praxis zu ziehen. In einem ersten Schritt wird der interdisziplinäre Forschungstand zum Thema Exklusion und Inklusion in Deutschland diskutiert sowie dargestellt wie komplex und schwierig überwindbar Exklusion ist. In der biblisch-theologischen Einordnung wird aufgezeigt, dass die inhaltliche Ausrichtung der aktuellen „Inklusionsdebatte“ in biblischen Texten und Motiven wiederzufinden ist und Jesus im Neuen Testament ein Beispiel für Inklusion gegeben hat. Inklusion wird dabei als Konzept zur Transformation gesellschaftlicher Bezüge und Strukturen verstanden, mit dem Ziel Exklusion zu verhindern und gesellschaftliche Teilhabe zu ermöglichen. Zur theologischen Reflexion und Einordnung dieses Themenkomplexes werden die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse missionstheologisch ausgewertet und Überschneidungen mit weiteren biblischtheologischen und missionstheologischen Konzepten dargestellt. Auf diesem Fundament werden abschließend Ansätze entwickelt, wie Inklusion heute in Kirche und Mission praktisch verortet werden kann.This dissertation aims at relating the societal issue of inclusion into the context of a theology of mission. It asks which conclusions can be drawn for church life. Firstly, the interdisciplinary state of research on exclusion and inclusion is discussed within a German context. It is shown how complex exclusion is and how difficult to overcome. Biblical contrasting shows that the current topical focus of inclusion is found in biblical texts and motifs and that Jesus has set an example for inclusion. Here, ‘inclusion’ is understood as transforming structures and societal relations to prevent exclusion and enable partaking in social life. Theological reflection and justification are achieved by analysing the results from a theology of mission’s perspective and identifying shared grounds to other theological concepts and ones from a theology of mission. On the basis of this foundation, approaches are developed how to live inclusion in church and misson today.Christian Spirituality, Church History and MissiologyM. Th. (Missiology