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121. Private Security Companies and the Imperfect Reach of the United States Criminal Justice System

Author:
Christopher M. Kovach
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
Mercenaries are dangerously unreliable. According to Machiavelli, employing mercenaries or foreign troops “limited freedom of action and created dependence on other powers.” Yet for the first time in its history, and despite cautionary words against condottieri, the United States is relying heavily on private firms to provide security services in an unstable environment. In fact, not since the seventeenth century has there been “such a reliance on private military actors to accomplish tasks directly affecting the success of military engagements.” But military excursions to foreign soil raise perennial issues related to the imposition of order, discipline, and training, the foundations upon which commanders traditionally build successful campaigns.
Political Geography:
United States and Iraq

122. Small States and (In)Security: A Comparison of Ireland and Slovenia

Author:
Daniel R. Sweeney and Joseph L. Derdzinski
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
This article compares the defense and security policies of two of Europe's smallest states: Ireland and Slovenia. The Irish military has a relatively small permanent force, based in part on their being sequestered from any major threat due to their island location, but there is also the precedent against a large military stemming from the nation's long occupation by the British military. The Slovene military evolved concurrent with the Slovene state: a small, homogenous entity that embraced Western institutions and values. Despite a relative lack of experience in democratic civil-military relations, Slovenia has tenaciously promoted its place in the world, and developed an active and professional military within a democratic state. This essay aims to add to the theoretical understandings of the major security decisions—especially with respect to the civil- military dynamic—that small states make. This comparison is key in understanding overall patterns of democratic governance and civil-military relations.
Political Geography:
Europe, Ireland, and Slovenia

123. The Evolution of Russian Conceptual and Political Models of High Technology Cooperation

Author:
Ivan V. Danilin
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
International cooperation in the area of high technology—in design and development, manufacturing, and distribution—is one of the most important features of the current state of innovation around the world. Outsourcing, the ability to search for talent globally, the lowering of costs by transferring production facilities to developing countries, the evolution of global supply chains, venture capitalists' tireless search for fresh ideas all over the world—all these and numerous other processes combine to shape the reality of modern highly internationalized, collaborative, and interconnected activities involved in developing innovative new technologies. Even during the recent global economic crisis, these trends persisted. In spite of the fact that Western multinational corporations (MNCs) dominate the market and still are key players in these processes, companies from China and other developing nations are actively joining the game. Russia, which has declared its intention to regain (on a new footing) its former leader- ship role in science and technology, is also looking at international cooperation in the area of high technology as a powerful and important instrument for the development of national networks of innovation and a strong innovative economy, in hopes of securing a significant future market share in global sales of high-technology goods and services. But unlike many other nations, Russia's path, strategies, and modes of cooperation are still in transition, and are affected not only by the logic of the globalized economy, but also by different political and economic challenges inherited from previous decades, as well as by the political visions of different groups of national elites.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
Russia and China

124. Evolving Insurgency and India's Counter-Insurgency Options

Author:
Shantanu Chakrabarti
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The end of the Cold War was celebrated in many circles as marking an end to a pattern of global relations that was determined largely by conflict, a shift that was thought to augur an era of greater cooperation and peace. However, these hopes were soon seen to be mistaken. While the number of inter-state conflicts has certainly come down in the post-Cold War years, externally induced factors, as well as the rising incidence of collapsing internal institutions, helped spur the rise of intra-state conflicts of various types. One is perhaps forced to acknowledge at least the partial validity of John Mearsheimer's 1990 prophecy that the world would soon miss the order of the Cold War era as we leap into “untamed anarchy.” In cases of such internal conflicts, the most alarming fact has been the increasing incidence of states' failure to ensure the supply of public goods to their citizens – most critically the failure to ensure security.
Topic:
Cold War
Political Geography:
India

125. The Comprehensive Approach: An Effective Tool in the Pursuit of National Security and Defense Interests?

Author:
Stanislav Križovský, Pavel Nečas, Miroslav Kelemen, and Lucia Mesárošová
Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The "Comprehensive Approach" represents a new methodology of planning and performing military operations. The selection of actions is subject to an evaluation of the cumulative effects to reach the desired final condition: an entity that represents an asymmetric opponent in peace and war. The control over the process of continuous entity changes has to be directed toward the goal by fulfilling partial aims and by the transition through a set of intermediate stages defined in the decision process. At the same time, we can use the methodological apparatus of general system theory to modify the SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats); a holistic approach can also be used to evaluate an asymmetric opponent within a complex adaptive system.
Topic:
War

126. GAO Report on Afghanistan Drug Control

Publication Date:
04-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
The US counternarcotics strategy has changed emphasis across program areas over time to align with the overarching counterinsurgency campaign. The 2005 US counternarcotics strategy focused on five program areas: elimination/eradication, interdiction, justice reform, public information, and alternative livelihoods. Since then, US Department of Defense policy and rules of engagement were changed to allow greater military involvement in Afghanistan counternarcotics efforts due to the ties between traffickers and insurgents. Furthermore, the US counternarcotics strategy has shifted to align more closely with counterinsurgency efforts by de-emphasizing eradication, focusing more on interdiction efforts, and increasing agricultural assistance.
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and United States

127. EU-Russia Energy Diplomacy: 2010 and Beyond?

Author:
Irena Dimitrova
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
There are three major players in the arena of European energy security: the European Union, its individual member states, and Russia, which is currently the EU's most important energy supplier. Other concerned parties include candidates for EU membership and those nations that aspire to candidacy. Countries through which Russian gas must travel en route to markets in Western Europe, possible gas suppliers from the Caucasus and Central Asia, and the United States also have significant roles to play. This essay focuses on researching the nature of the European Union's energy relations with Russia in terms of natural gas supply, from the perspective of the member states.
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, and Central Asia

128. China's Strategic Growth Sustainment: Accidental Leader?

Author:
Zdzislaw Sliwa
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
One country survived the recent economic turmoil and became stronger economically. China's economy kept growing and her GDP in 2009 reached 8,7 % despite the crisis. The role of China in the world economy was clearly visible in 2009 not only because of her economic growth. In April 2009 Chinese importance in the world was under- lined during the G-20 Summit in London as the first face-to-face meeting between Presidents Barrack Obama and Hu Jintao was the most important event of the summit. Mr. Obama said that bilateral relations between the countries have become extremely constructive,... and strong ties are not only important for citizens in both countries but also help to set the stage for how the world deals with new challenge.
Topic:
Disaster Relief
Political Geography:
China, America, and London

129. In the Shadow of Great Powers: A Comparative Study of Various Approaches to Regionalism in Central Asia

Author:
Xu Zhengyuan
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
Alongside the rapid development of globalization, the post-Cold War era has witnessed the expansion of various forms of regional cooperation in many areas of the world. Regionalism, therefore—both in reference to the construction of a regional identity (“soft regionalism”) and the building of regional cooperative institutions (“hard regional- ism”) —has become a salient ongoing process worldwide, involving the participation of both states and non-state actors as a response to globalization. Different from the “old regionalism” that arose immediately after World War II, which underscored the economic and security dimensions of regional integration and the dominant role of external power or even hegemony in it, the “new regionalism” that is increasingly wide-spread nowadays emphasizes spontaneous regional cooperation in a variety of areas, including politics, economy, security, culture, etc.
Topic:
Security, Cold War, and Culture
Political Geography:
Central Asia

130. Modeling Defense Acquisition Strategy

Author:
Venelin Georgiev
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Connections
Institution:
Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes
Abstract:
Defense acquisition policy is one of the most important aspects of defense policy, and requires an efficient and effective strategy for implementation. As a universal method, modeling provides an opportunity for many different approaches to defense acquisition strategies to be developed and analyzed in order to select the best or most appropriate method, depending on a nation's current economic conditions. Variables that can be included in modeling the process of defense acquisition strategy include specific defense acquisition instrumental policies and their parameters; typical strategies currently in use in different defense acquisition domains; and strategic management tools, such as the strategic card (SC) and the balanced scorecard (BSC). In the end, the options for defense acquisition strategy that are developed through modeling are assessed based on the extent to which they appear likely to develop the set of desired military capabilities and implement the defense missions and tasks that have been set forth in the nation's defense policy, and remain in line with the level of ambition, budget resource restrictions, and level of associated risk.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe