Democratization of a Dependent State: The Case of Afghanistan

The post-Taliban democratic reforms in Afghanistan were in part a recreation of the past. Afghanistan has had six constitutions between 1923 and 1990, and most provided for national assemblies and elections in one form or other. Yet the degree of foreign involvement in the last reform process was unprecedented. The heavy foreign hand contradicted the promise of national autonomy, representation and fair process held out by the democratization agenda. By implicitly devaluing the institutions it sought to promote, the democratization process has also had potentially counterproductive effects. Moreover, while promoting democratization, Western governments simultaneously created a state so dependent on external support that it deprived the critical institution of liberal democracy – the legislature – of its meaning. The logical response of the national assembly has been to mostly engage in politics with symbolic or nuisance value. The article focuses on three areas of political reform: the structuring of the interim administration, the promulgation of a new constitution, and the establishment of the legislature

"Economic Aid to Post-conflict Countries: A Methodological Critique of Collier and Hoeffler"

This paper retests the analysis of "Aid Policy and Growth in Post-Conflict Societies," by Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler (October 2002 and forthcoming in European Economic Review). It finds that their data and analysis do not support their conclusions and policy recommendations on the optimal timing and amounts of aid. These conclusions depend on very few observations (13 for the period of peace-onset, 13 for years 4 to 7 when a growth spurt is said to make aid particularly effective, and 8 for the period when aid should taper off); are vulnerable to the same methodological misspecifications identified in the Burnside and Dollar approach on which this analysis is based; and are not grounded in any theoretical formulation about the special relation between aid and growth in post-conflict conditions. Conventional econometric procedures are often not followed; recoding the sample to exclude cases that are not civil wars reduces the effect of aid on growth in post-civil war countries to less than half of what they claim; and the difference with the relationship for "normal" countries becomes negligible (0.26 percentage points), although it depends on identification of the sample. Their claims on the poverty-efficiency of aid are assumed, not analysed. The confidentiality of their policy measure (CPIA) prevented testing the aid-policy relationship.Economic aid Post-conflict Methodology

Human Security 15 Years after Lysøen : The Case against Drone Killings

The concept of human security has evolved in two directions: (1) a comprehensive vision of security and development, and (2) a concretization of the concept tied to protection of civilians in armed conflict. This article discusses the two approaches and their relative merits. Starting with the Lysøen Declaration of 1998 and Canadas subsequent introduction of the concept of human security in the Security Council, the article argues that a concretization is necessary today. One way to do this is to link human security to campaigns for protection of civilians against the U.S. use of drones in targeted killings outside recognized war zones. This strategy would revitalize human security as a relevant policy concept, and also create greater security for people living in exposed communities

Humanitarian Assistance and Conflict: A-State-of-the-Art Report

The rapid growth of international aid allocated to "complex humanitarian emergencies" has led to parallel calls for preventive action. It is also asked how humanitarian assistance and other forms of international civilian presence can help prevent and mitigate violent conflict. The key questions raised in the report are: What do we know about how, and why, humanitarian presence may help prevent or contain conflict? What are the conditions for failure or success? Can humanitarian presence have counterproductive effects and exacerbate conflict? How can unintended consequences be avoided? The report reviews the relationship between humanitarian assistance and violent conflict. It is basically a "state-of-the-art review, supplemented with data drawn from some classic cases and interviews with Norwegian NGOs. The report is based on work carried out by Bente Hybertsen and Gro Tjore, research assistants at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, with assistance from Emery Brusset and Bruce Jones, Ph.D. students at the London School of Economics. Astri Suhrke, Senior Researcher at the. Chr. Michelsen Institute was team leader. The report was prepared with financial assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Magnetic Miniband Structure and Quantum Oscillations in Lateral Semiconductor Superlattices

We present fully quantum-mechanical magnetotransport calculations for short-period lateral superlattices with one-dimensional electrostatic modulation. A non-perturbative treatment of both magnetic field and modulation potential proves to be necessary to reproduce novel quantum oscillations in the magnetoresistance found in recent experiments in the resistance component parallel to the modulation potential. In addition, we predict oscillations of opposite phase in the component perpendicular to the modulation not yet observed experimentally. We show that the new oscillations originate from the magnetic miniband structure in the regime of overlapping minibands.Comment: 6 pages with 4 figure

IEMI Vulnerability Analysis for Different Smart Grid-enabled Devices

The smart grid concept aims to improve power systems’ robustness, efficiency, and reliability. The transition from conventional power grids to smart grids has been achieved mainly by integrating Smart Electronic Devices (SEDs) and advanced automatic control and communication systems. On the one hand, electronic devices have been integrated to make the system more decentralised from the national electrical grid. On the other hand, from the point of view of protection and control equipment, there is a growing tendency to replace arrays of analog devices with single digital units that perform multiple functions in a more integrated and efficient way. Despite the perceived benefits of such modernisation, security issues have arisen with substantial concern as electronic devices can be susceptible to Intentional Electromagnetic Interference (IEMI) [2]. The number of IEMI sources has grown significantly in recent decades. In 2014, 76 different types were reported, in which 21 sources were conducted, and 55 were irradiated. From a technical perspective, they can present different features, including band type, average / centre frequency, peak voltage (for conducted sources), or peak field (for irradiated sources) [4]. These sources also differ in technology level, associated cost, and mobility in approaching the target system. Therefore, they can be characterized by the easiness of occurrence in a given scenario and the increased probability of successful attacks on a target system. Under this perspective, a self-built jammer built with off-the-shelf components is more likely to be employed by an offender than a High-Power Electromagnetic (HPEM) source. On the other hand, despite being less probable on account of higher technological level, cost and mobility, a HPEM source may have a higher success rate to affect the target system than the self-built jammer. Coupled with this, based on the different characteristics of the IEMI sources, the electronic devices may present distinct effects, which may trigger severe impacts on a smart grid at a higher level [8]. Therefore, this study compares the IEMI vulnerability of three devices used in smart grid applications. The first device is a Wi-Fi-based smart home meter. It can read voltage and current signals of consumer units and remotely display real power, reactive power, and power factor. These measurements can be used in-house or transmitted to a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system from Distribution System Operators (DSOs). The second device is a Power Line Communication (PLC) unit, which enables data to be carried over conductors intended primarily for electrical power transmission. This technology is used in buildings to reduce the communication network’s material and installation costs and provide flexibility and faster data communication. The final device considered is a digital protection relay designed to trip circuit breakers when faults are detected. The latest digital relay units feature many protection functionalities, including overload and under-voltage/over-voltage protection, temperature monitoring, fault location, self-reclosure, among others. The three devices are subjected to self-built low-power jamming signals. As an extension, the protection relay is also subjected to a narrowband High Power Electromagnetic (HPEM) source

Effect of mammography screening on surgical treatment for breast cancer in Norway: comparative analysis of cancer registry data

Objective To determine the effect of mammography screening on surgical treatment for breast cancer

Charakterisierung eines Referenztestaufbaus für die HPEM-Normenentwicklung

Mutwillige elektromagnetische Störversuche mit Quellen hoher Leistung finden außerhalb des gesetzlichen Schutzrahmens für Emission und Immission statt und stellen Versuche zur normativen Eingrenzung vor Herausforderungen. So ist neben diversen Signalformen auch ein mehrere Größenordnungen umfassender Dynamikbereich zu berücksichtigen, unter üblicherweise limitierten Ressourcen für die Gerätequalifizierung. Beginnend im militärischen Bereich entstanden in der Vergangenheit Normenvorschriften im Bereich der High Power Electromagnetics (HPEM) [1, 4]. Seit einigen Jahren werden ergänzend auch im zivilen Bereich Regelwerke erarbeitet, die die mutwillige elektromagnetische Störung (engl. Intentional Electromagnetic Interference, IEMI) zur Grundlage haben [2, 3]. Bei deren Weiterentwicklung kommen unter anderem Alternativen zu etablierten Testumgebungen wie TEM-Wellenleiter und Modenverwirbelungskammer ins Spiel, was die Frage nach dem Transfer von Ergebnissen zwischen verschiedenen Testumgebungen aufwirft. Zudem könnten aus anderen Normentexten detaillierte Gestaltungsvorschriften für HPEM-Testaufbauten adaptiert werden. Bei der Analyse von Testverfahren ist eine Bilanzierung aller Einflussfaktoren auf das Messergebnis erforderlich. Bei Empfindlichkeitstest ist insbesondere die Beschaffenheit des Prüflings eine maßgebliche Größe, zudem beeinflussen neben Positionierung und Orientierung auch sein Betriebszustand sowie sein Vorbelastung das Verhalten. An dieser Stelle setzt die Idee eines generischen Referenztestaufbaus an. Eine solche Eigenentwicklung soll sich für die Erhebung von Empfindlichkeitsprofilen im Rahmen von HPEM-Tests eignen, also möglichst reproduzierbar bei vielen Frequenzen und jeweils den gleichen Schwellfeldstärken Fehlerbilder zeigen. Dabei sollten Direkt- und Kabelkopplung sowie eine Kombination aus binären und abgestuften Effekten für eine phänomenologisch breit aufgestellte Systemreaktion zum Tragen kommen, mit der umfängliche Vergleiche zwischen Umgebungen und Laboren möglich werden