A view from the ground : human security threats to irregular migrants across the Mediterranean

Lutterbeck, D. (2014). A view from the ground : human security threats to irregular migrants across the Mediterranean. In O. Grech, & M. Wohlfeld (Eds.), Migration in the Mediterranean : human rights, security and development perspectives (pp. 124-131). Msida: Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studiespeer-reviewe

The Paradox of Gendarmeries

This paper describes and explains the evolution of gendarmerie-type forces, i.e. police forces with a military status, over the past three decades. It focuses on their institutional features and functions, including material and human resources, and uses case studies from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa to illustrate these characteristics in different contexts. The overall development of gendarmeries has been a somewhat paradoxical one. On the one hand, most of these forces have witnessed a considerable expansion, and come to assume an increasingly prominent role in addressing many of the currently most important security challenges, ranging from border control and counterterrorism to public order tasks in international peace operations. On the other hand, there has also been a trend towards the demilitarization of gendarmeries, which in some European countries has ultimately led to their dissolution and integration into the civilian police. The paper suggests an explanation of these seemingly contradictory developments with reference to two broad â and at least partly opposing â trends: the convergence of internal and external security agendas, which to a large extent is a post-Cold War phenomenon; and the demilitarization of internal security, which is a more long-term historical trend and part of the more general democratization process. Based on this analysis, the paper predicts that in the long run gendarmeries are likely to be further demilitarized, eventually losing their formal military status, although in the context of international peace operations militarized gendarmerie forces are expected to play an increasingly significant part

Arab Uprisings and Armed Forces

Since late 2010, an unprecedented wave of protests has swept across much of the Arab world. The aim of this paper is to examine the role of the armed forces when confronted with anti-regime uprisings that demand greater political freedoms or even regime change. Drawing on the cases of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria, it argues that the degree of institutionalization of the armed forces and their relationship to society at large can account for different responses to pro-reform uprisings

An improved method for the determination of dissolved nitric oxide (NO) in seawater samples

Nitric oxide (NO) is a short-lived intermediate of the oceanic nitrogen cycle, however, due to its high reactivity, measurements of dissolved NO in seawater are rare. Here we present an improved method to determine NO concentrations in discrete seawater samples. The set-up of our system consisted of a chemiluminescence NO analyser connected to a stripping unit. The limit of detection for our method was 5 pmol NO in aqueous solution which translates into 0.25 nmol L−1 when using a 20 mL seawater sample volume. Our method was applied to measure high resolution depth profiles of dissolved NO during a cruise to the eastern tropical South Pacific Ocean. Our method is fast and comparably easy to handle thus it opens the door for deciphering the distribution of NO in the ocean and it facilitates laboratory studies on NO pathways

Pragmatism rather than backlash : Moroccan perceptions of Western democracy promotion

Democratisation has been the stated goal of many Western states’ policies in the Arab world since the end of the cold war.1 This aim became something of a foreign policy mantra after the Al Qaeda attacks of 11 September 2001 in New York: this and subsequent attacks in Madrid and London led Western governments to stress democratization in Arab countries as one way of addressing the “root causes” of terrorism. The West has not applied its democratizing zeal evenly across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, however. Morocco, as one of the most liberal regimes of the region and, simultaneously, both a victim of terror and the country of origin of some terrorists ac- tive in Western Europe, has been a main target of Western democracy promotion in recent years. Whether democracy promotion – including support for civil society, political parties and independent media, assistance to the parliament and the judiciary, electoral observation missions, positive and negative conditionalities, and public praise and criticism – has had any effect has been widely debated, within and outside the region.peer-reviewe

Security Systems in Francophone and Anglophone Africa

This article analyses the commonalities and differences between African anglophone and francophone security systems in the context of security sector reform. Although each country has a distinct political history and tradition, similarities in the security apparatus, rooted in its inheritance from the colonial and post?colonial periods, can be found in both sets of countries. Identifying better ways to harmonise the SSR programmes being implemented all over the African continent requires a deep understanding of the similarities and differences which exist between African countries that belong to different linguistic areas and inherited from colonial rule. Security governance has been improving in an important number of anglophone countries over the last few years, while Francophone African countries are usually presented as not having experienced any significant transformation in security governance. Influencing factors of relative success or failure include institutional patterns; decision?making structures; type of defence and police forces; and training capacities

A long-lasting controversy : Western democracy promotion in Jordan

Since the end of the cold war and, in particular, the Al Qaeda attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States, Western governments have in their rhetoric stressed democratization in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as a key policy goal. 1 The EU, the US and other Western countries have developed and extended their democracy promotion activities in the region, in particular democracy assistance to civil society, independent media, the judiciary, parliament and political parties. 2 Such assistance has at times been complemented with public criticism of perceived non-democratic behaviour and political conditionalities, i.e. making democratic reform a precondition for granting favours such as trade deals and development assistance.peer-reviewe

Forking, Scratching und Re-Merging : Ein informatischer Blick auf die Rechtsinformatik

Der Beitrag zeichnet die Entwicklung der Rechtsinformatik seit 1970 nach. Unter Zuhilfenahme von Methoden und Einsichten des modernen Software-Engineering wird ein bestimmter Strang der Entwicklung genauer betrachtet: das «Forking», die frühe Abspaltung eines Zweiges der Rechtsinformatik in 1974. Aus diesem Strang der Entwicklung ist inzwischen eine eigenständige Berliner Regulationstheorie entstanden. Die Autoren geben diesem Ansatz den Arbeitsbegriff «Neue Rechtsinformatik» (NRI). Ein Teil der Arbeiten führt über den Umweg der USA wahrscheinlich in den Kern der juristischen Wissenschaften zurück. Dies ist ein Beispiel eines erfolgreichen Re-Merging. Ob der in der Informatik verbliebene Strang der Regulationstheorie auch in Zukunft ertragreich ist, ist natürlich nicht abzusehen. Der Beitrag eröffnet Evidenz (am Beispiel von IT-Sicherheit und Datenschutz), dass ohne die Hereinnahme der «Neuen Institutionenökonomik» (NIE) eine wie auch immer konzipierte «Rechtsinformatik» nicht überlebensfähig wäre. Das Neue der NRI ist die Anerkennung von Code als eigenständiger Modalität der Regulation. Die drei Teile des Beitrags, für die je verschiedene Autoren zuständig waren, sollen deren unterschiedliches Lebensalter, die unterschiedlichen Qualifikationen und Lebenssituationen widerspiegeln: Teil 1 behandelt die vergangene Zeit von den Anfängen bis ca. 1995, Teil 2 die Gegenwart mit der neuen Entität Internet, Teil 3 zeigt eine mögliche Zukunft auf. Zusammenfassend ist es evident, dass die von Steinmüller begründete Schule der Rechtsinformatik erfolgreich war. Dazu hat das Forking der Rechtsinformatik von 1974 maßgeblich beigetragen