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62. Send the Reserve! New Ways to Support NATO through Reserve Forces
- Author:
- Guillaume Lasconjarias
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- NATO Defense College
- Abstract:
- In a January 2012 publication, the NATO Military Committee revised its Framework Policy on Reserves: "As many nations increasingly make use of professional soldiers in their Regular Forces, whilst simultaneously reducing them in size, the need for Reservists will be even greater." This reflects a position shared across NATO, where most member states recognize the need for volunteer-part-time Defense Forces able to deliver significant capability when needed. In a challenging security environment, whilst the Regular Forces are largely reduced and professionalized Reserve Forces act as a pool to support, reinforce, enhance and improve their regular counterparts. They provide a surge of personnel that can be drawn upon.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, and Military Strategy
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Iraq
63. Afghan Narcotrafficking: A Joint Threat Assessment
- Author:
- Jacqueline McLaren Miller
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- More than a decade after the United States and allied troops began military operations in Afghanistan, the country remains a major conflict zone. Afghanistan's continuing instability constitutes the largest security issue in the region. The country's role as the center of global opiate production contributes heavily to this instability. The grave social, economic, political, and security implications of the trafficking of the Afghan opiates extend beyond the regions of South, Southwest, and Central Asia. The opium economy in Afghanistan has become deeply entrenched and shows no signs of declining. Inside Afghanistan, narcotrafficking contributes to insecurity and feeds corruption, warlords, and insurgents. All this vastly complicates the prospects of the Afghan central government consolidating its power and effectively governing. Compounding these issues is the scheduled withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2014 and the ongoing drawdown of U.S. troops.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, War on Drugs, Counterinsurgency, and Narcotics Trafficking
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, and Central Asia
64. Inherent Governmental Functions and Areas of Further Security Privatization in the Czech Republic
- Author:
- Oldřich Bureš
- Publication Date:
- 06-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Obrana a strategie (Defence & Strategy)
- Institution:
- University of Defence
- Abstract:
- This study analyzes the limits and further areas of possible privatization of security in the Czech Republic in the context of a growing number of private security companies (PSCs). With reference to the recent foreign studies of security privatization and interviews conducted with the owners and/or managers of PSCs operating in the Czech Republic, this study shows that the process of security privatization is not taking place somewhere outside the structures of the Czech state because the very (in)activity of its components in providing security, along with the understandable efforts of PSCs to maximize their profits by offering new services, or extending the range of the existing ones, represents one of its key determinants. By outlining possible further areas as well as limits of security privatization in the Czech Republic, this study has the ambition to be the basis for not only an academic, but also a political debate about the ways of ensuring the safety of the citizens of the Czech Republic in the foreseeable future.
- Topic:
- Security, NATO, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Europe, Iran, Middle East, Asia, France, and Arabia
65. The role of French private military companies in the security privatization sector: Specific features of the French approach and a comparison with Anglo-Saxon private military companies
- Author:
- Zdeněk Ludvík
- Publication Date:
- 06-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Obrana a strategie (Defence & Strategy)
- Institution:
- University of Defence
- Abstract:
- The realm of privatization of security and the consequent existence of private military companies is an important constitutive element of security with regard to international relations. This phenomenon is most strongly developed in the Anglo-Saxon world. However, in the case of the French Republic, we can observe significant developmental and functional disparities. This paper examines externalization processes in the context of the French approach to the legitimacy, legality and territoriality of the privatization of security functions of the state and explains the different causes of their development. It discusses the main aspects of externalization, defines the typical activities of French private military companies, describes their strengths and weaknesses and outlines the problems and possible solutions that lie before the French, which cannot be ignored in the future. Finally, this paper describes the most important French private military companies and their characteristics.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, NATO, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Europe, Iran, Middle East, Asia, France, and Arabia
66. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and Its Relevance for the Global Security
- Author:
- Daša Adašková and Tomáš Ludík
- Publication Date:
- 06-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Obrana a strategie (Defence & Strategy)
- Institution:
- University of Defence
- Abstract:
- The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is one of important international nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament measures. One of its pillars is the verification mechanism that has been built as an international system of nuclear testing detection to enable the control of observance of the obligations anchored in the CTBT. Despite the great relevance to the global non-proliferation and disarmament efforts, the CTBT is still not in force. The main aim of the article is to summarize the importance of the CTBT and its entry into force not only from the international relations perspective but also from the perspective of the technical implementation of the monitoring system.
- Topic:
- Security, NATO, International Law, United Nations, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, China, Iran, Middle East, India, Asia, France, and Arabia
67. Security Cooperation in SADC: SADC on the Way to Security Community?
- Author:
- Linda Piknerová
- Publication Date:
- 06-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Obrana a strategie (Defence & Strategy)
- Institution:
- University of Defence
- Abstract:
- This text aims to analyze security cooperation in the Southern African Development Community. The article is based on two theoretical approaches, the first one is a concept of security community, the second one is a human security. Both theories have become widely accepted in the early 1990s because of their ability to cover wider international changes. The Southern African Development Community is seen as a regional integration plan which aspires to become a security community in Karl Deutsch's sense. Beside the both mentioned theories, the text deals with the history of security cooperation in the south of Africa and its changes. The main discussed question is wheher the SADC could be understood as a newly emerging security community.
- Topic:
- Security, NATO, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Africa, Iran, Middle East, Asia, France, and Arabia
68. Afghanistan – Order of Battle
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for the Study of War
- Abstract:
- This document describes the composition and placement of U.S. and other Western combat and advisory forces in Afghanistan down to battalion level. It includes the following categories of units: maneuver (i.e. infantry, armor, and cavalry) units, which in most cases are responsible for advising or partnering with Afghan troops in particular districts or provinces; artillery units; aviation units, both rotary and fixed-wing; military police units; most types of engineer and explosive ordnance disposal units; and "white" special operations forces. It does not include "black" special operations units or other units such as logistical, transportation, medical, and intelligence units or Provincial Reconstruction Teams.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, and International Security
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and United States
69. Implementing the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda in Afghanistan
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University
- Abstract:
- The Women, Peace, and Security agenda of the United Nations Security Council is considered one of the landmark achievements in its thematic work. In its resolution 1325 (2000), the Council addressed for the first time the impact of armed conflict on women and recognized the under-valued and under-utilized contributions women make to conflict prevention and peace processes. The thematic work initiated by resolution 1325 has been reinforced and expanded by follow-up resolutions 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), and 1960 (2010), which together form the Women, Peace and Security agenda of the Council. At the same time, integrating this agenda into the country-specific work of the Council has proven very challenging, despite the Security Council's continued political recognition that gender is indeed central to lasting and sustainable peace and security. The implementation of the WPS agenda on the ground is thus lagging far behind the ambitious conceptual framework that the Council has created over the past decade.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Gender Issues, Peace Studies, and War
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and United Nations
70. The Afghan War: Creating the Economic Conditions and Civil-Military Aid Efforts Needed For Transition
- Author:
- Anthony H. Cordesman, Sean T. Mann, and Bryan Gold
- Publication Date:
- 09-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- In a little over two years the US and its allies plan to hand over security and other responsibilities to the Afghan government as part of a process labeled “Transition.” Afghanistan is still at war and will probably be at war long after 2014. The political, governance, and economic dimensions of this Transition, however, will be as important as any developments in the fighting.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, and Asia