(De)Securitisation Theory and Regional Peace: Some Theoretical Reflections and a Case Study on the Way to Stable Peace

Critically taking on the premises of securitisation theory, this paper seeks to establish a dialogue between the theory of (de)securitisation and the theories of stable peace. In order to do this, I study the connection between the processes of (domestic) desecuritisation of regional relations, and stabilisation and consolidation of (regional) peace. I argue that these two seemingly distinct developments in fact constitute two aspects of a single parallel process. The paper focuses on regions that were once zones of negative peace, yet in which states underwent processes of desecuritisation, and succeeded in improving the quality of regional peace. This highlights the existence of different types—qualities—of peace as well as several stages of the process of positive peace construction. I claim that the sequence security?desecuritisation?asecurity constitutes the domestic transformation of intersubjective perceptions of threat, whose external complementation is often the sequence fragile/unstable peace?cold peace?positive peace (stable peace and pluralistic security community), which refers to a bilateral or regional relationship. However, I notice that this correlation, though likely, is not necessary. I identify two stages in this ‘desecuritisation/peace’ process. The first phase is about regional peace stabilisation and the first few steps towards domestic desecuritisation. The second phase involves peace consolidation, expansion of mutual desecuritisation, and growth of mutual trust. Explanations of the mechanisms triggering the process of desecuritisation/stabilisation of regional peace, and those of the expansion of the solidity of this peace are, I argue, of a different nature. The paper explains how the resort to realist International Relations (IR) theory hypotheses and to social constructivist hypotheses helps us to understand the development of these two phases. It also highlights the role of mutual trust in determining the type of peace of a dyad or region. The paper uses the case of Argentina and Brazil to illustrate these theoretical claims.security/external; international relations

Political uses of educational assessment systems: The case of Argentina

This article focuses on the political dimension of assessment systems, taking as its case study the Argentinean Assessment System of Education Quality (SINEC) from 1993 to the present. The author assumes that assessment systems are not just policy-relevant but also political instruments in the sense that, beyond their declared aims, they often pursue non-declared aims related to political endeavours that are interlinked with the control and steering of education systems. Based on this assumption, actions taken by the Argentinean Ministry of Education are analyzed related to the results from each assessment round, aiming to understand how the Ministry used its assessment system and what functions were effectively intended, irrespective of the declared intentions. The article shows how the uses and functions of the assessment were driven in different periods by diverse short-run political tensions and interests rather than by policy aims. (DIPF/Orig.)Die Autorin zeigt auf Basis einer Diskursanalyse und exemplarischer Interviews mit Personen aus der Bildungsverwaltung, dass seit den 1990er Jahren im Lauf der Zeit wechselnde Evaluationsformen Anwendung fanden. Dafür untersucht sie insbesondere die unterschiedliche Verwendung und Verbreitung der Daten und Informationen aus den Evaluationen. Sie zeichnet nach, wie zunächst eine Bildungsreform durch die Evaluation unterstützt wurde, die Evaluation seit dem Jahr 2000 aber nur noch eine symbolische Funktion erfüllt und vorherige Strategien aufgegeben wurden. (DIPF/Orig.

The Democracy of Nature

The close connections between Danish art and politics in the 19th century were not limited to the period of the adoption of Denmark’s first democratic constitution and the story years that followed, up to the country’s defeat in the Second Schleswig War in 1864. From around 1800, landscape art became in many ways a mirror of the political situation in the country. The first half of the 19th century offers a wide range of artistic testimonies to the political inclinations and preferences in relation to landscape art. In the words of Jens Juel (1745–1802), C. W. Eckersberg (1783–1853), J. Th. Lundbye (1818-1848), P. C. Skovgaard (1817–1875) and Vilhelm Kyhn (1819-1903), we can make out the emerging contours of a new political and artistic agenda. This article focuses on a number of case studies from the Danish Golden Age that will be used to discuss the relationship between art and politics in this period

Resonance at the Rabi frequency in a superconducting flux qubit

We analyze a system composed of a superconducting flux qubit coupled to a transmission-line resonator driven by two signals with frequencies close to the resonator's harmonics. The first strong signal is used for exciting the system to a high energetic state while a second weak signal is applied for probing effective eigenstates of the system. In the framework of doubly dressed states we showed the possibility of amplification and attenuation of the probe signal by direct transitions at the Rabi frequency. We present a brief review of theoretical and experimental works where a direct resonance at Rabi frequency have been investigated in superconducting flux qubits. The interaction of the qubit with photons of two harmonics has prospects to be used as a quantum amplifier (microwave laser) or an attenuator.Comment: This paper is the extended version of the talk given by one of the authors at the Conference On Nuclei And Mesoscopic Physics, 5-9 May 2014, Michigan State University, East Lansing, US