A estratégia militar e as relações bilaterais nas Forças Armadas

O presente estudo tem como objetivo avaliar o posicionamento de Portugal no desenvolvimento de relações bilaterais em matéria de estratégia militar. Para tal, analisou-se, quer o processo de decisão político-estratégico conducente à implementação de relações bilaterais no domínio da defesa, quer os papéis da política externa portuguesa e da ação externa da defesa nacional no envolvimento português, ao nível militar, na República Centro-Africana, país com quem Portugal assinou, recentemente, um acordo de cooperação bilateral no domínio em apreço. Como metodologia, utilizou-se o raciocínio indutivo, baseado numa estratégia qualitativa, e o estudo de caso como desenho de pesquisa. Da investigação resultou que o processo de decisão político-estratégico, ancorado num conjunto de documentos orientadores, assenta, tanto (ou mais) em mecanismos informais, como formais, estando, contudo, assegurado o princípio da unidade da ação externa do Estado. Resultou, ainda, que o envolvimento militar de Portugal naquele país africano, incluindo no âmbito bilateral, decorre, primordialmente, da importância atribuída por Portugal ao multilateralismo, enquanto eixo fundamental da sua política externa. Concluiu-se, pois, que no quadro das relações bilaterais no domínio da defesa, a posição de Portugal privilegia, sobremaneira, a sua crença multilateralista, visando salvaguardar os respetivos interesses estratégicos, prioritariamente, no seio das Organizações Internacionais onde atua.This study aims to assess Portugal's position in the development of bilateral relations in matters of military strategy. To this end, one analysed both the political-strategic decision process leading to the implementation of bilateral relations in the field of defence, and the roles of Portuguese foreign policy and of the external action of national defence in Portuguese involvement in the Central African Republic, a country with which Portugal recently has signed a bilateral defence cooperation agreement. As a methodology, an inductive reasoning was used based on a qualitative investigation. As regards the research design, the case study was the option chosen. It emerged from the investigation that the political-strategic decision process, anchored in a set of guiding documents, is based, both on informal and formal mechanisms. However, the principle of unity of the State's external action is ensured. It also showed that Portugal's military involvement in the above-mentioned African country, including within the bilateral framework, arises, primarily, from the importance granted by Portugal to multilateralism, as a fundamental axis of its foreign policy. It was assessed, therefore, that concerning the policy on bilateral defence relations, Portugal´s position gives priority to its multilateralist belief, aiming to safeguard its strategic goals, primarily within the International Organizations where it operatesN/

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved