International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
This work explores the changes that took place in the 1960s in the Spanish Armed Forces. The aim is to analyse the nature of such changes and transformations and to what extend there was an influence or assimilations of the development in such field beyond our borders. The main sources are the writings, works, essays and speeches that have come out of the hands of the militaries of the three armies thanks to an abundance of unpublished documentation under-explored.
Topic:
Security, Armed Forces, Military Affairs, and History
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Modern armies and societies are facing a crisis that affects their organizational structure, doctrine and, above all, the identity of their professionals. In the horizon of what is possible they must maintain the undesirable scenario of a symmetrical conflict. However, they have to cope with the demands of the uncertainty of asymmetric conflicts. The armies remain national but increasingly act in joint and integrated organizations where they must achieve success in a defined objectives diffused. The effectiveness of these international groups and contingents is recognized, but the identity and sense of belonging remain national. Armies are complex institutional organizations that cannot be explained in dichotomous terms. The doubts that arise when managing this crisis are present directly in the opinions of the military. They assume contradictions, ambivalences, even eccentricities at an important cost in the personal, family and professional spheres.
Topic:
International Organization, Military Affairs, Crisis Management, and Army
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Bearing in mind the technological context in which the action of global society revolves around and the influence that the digital age has on human daily life, it can be inferred that the technological component has become an influential factor within social phenomena, according to the search for structural social changes and at the same time can produce some concerns and risks to the stability of the ruling systems of government, for which this research has been proposed, in order to demonstrate the actions and factors that make these facts tangible, which are exposed above.
Topic:
Social Movement, Revolution, Insurrection, and Identity
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
The article analyzes the complex Afghan political situation that the international community found when the fall of the Taliban happened in December 2001 and how it was reached. It describes how the Afghan Islamism developed during the eighties in its various interpretations to reach the emergence of the Taliban movement, and the contradictions that this ideology represents to come to constitute an element of national integration. It is argued that precisely has been the lack of understanding of the Afghan political sociology by many countries that have formed part of the international effort to rebuild the Afghan state, which has determined the animadversion to meddle in specific regeneration projects and integration of a fragmented elite after more than twenty years of war.
Topic:
Politics, Religion, Sociology, Ethnicity, and Conflict
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Globalization has introduced rapid changes in the social, political and economic realms of life. It has provoked perturbing and turbulent effects and has challenged established and rooted notions of identity. Globalization has also changed the essence of religion and its role in international affairs. Religion is growing in countries with a wide variety of religious traditions and levels of economic development. Islam is also experiencing a genuine revival. Salafism is a primarily theological movement in Sunni Islam concerned with purifying the faith. Islamic Salafism, as other major religious movements of today, has become universal and less affiliated with any one territory, and more personal and private, increasingly embodying a spiritual search for self-fulfilment. Salafism has also evolved from being a non-political ideology to develop into a political force.
Topic:
Globalization, Politics, Religion, Salafism, and Islamism
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
This paper will examine two theoretical perspectives about International Security, through the theoretical framework of IR (International Relations) Debates. The focus will be on “thin cosmopolitarianism” and offensive liberalism. Both approaches emphases the linkage between international security and human rights as the core of ideas and practices in the field.
International Security has a central role in IR contemporary debates and within them has emerged proposals that pursue the aim of presenting innovative forms and contents for security. Among those approaches experts highlights critical views of cosmopolitarianism and a specific form of liberalism called offensive or interventionist, usually associated with USA security policies. Particularly, this last perspective has not received enough attention in Spanish IR literature. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to review, to compare and to call into question both perspectives, considering that as a basis for analyze international security-human rights relationship.
Topic:
International Relations, Human Rights, International Security, and Liberalism
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 Group become a reality at the beginning of 2016, with the Iranian engagement on declaration and reduction of her nuclear capabilities, for a temporary period. Parallel to the agreement accomplishment, Iran has increased her power towards her geopolitical enlargement area in the Mesopotamia and Levant region. Iran´s resurgence has caused a conventional weapons´ proliferation, where ballistic missiles are the main stress´s source. At international level, Iran has achieved better business opportunities, although her economic evolution is still slow, mainly due internal power´s dynamics. At global order level, the agreement has brought main actors power´s redesign in Middle East and other global areas. Inside Iran, the agreement has reinforced institutional authority and at the same time it is opening up the way for hope and for a better future for the Iranian people.
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation, Treaties and Agreements, Sanctions, and Nuclear Power
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
The civil war in Syria has become a classic example of proxy war, in which different regional and global powers defend their interests through third parties. That explains its long duration and the high level of violence without reaching exhaustion. This article describes the motivations of the different external actors in the conflict and the strategic lines they follow to achieve their objectives.
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
A paradox in the study of violent radicalization is that while each of the empirical findings can be explained with multiple theories, very few theories can explain a relevant number of these findings simultaneously. This paper conducts a functional behavior assessment of violent radical behavior, investigating the factors responsible for its initial learning and subsequent maintenance. Specifically, a model of radicalization is proposed that can explain a wide range of observed phenomena, accommodate apparent exceptions, and obtain testable consequences. It also challenges some firmly rooted ideas, as the alleged existence of aggressive influence practices, or brainwashing. Finally, the model can also provide valuable predictions for subsequent research, such as those related to the reversibility of the process of radicalization.
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
The article reviews the U.S. contemporary Defense planning to establish the continuity patterns that exist between the Revolution in Military Affairs developed in the 1970s under the Second Offset Strategy, matured in the 1990s and succeeded during the War on Terror; and the Third Offset Strategy that will guide its Defense planning until 2030 and capable of inspiring a new revolution.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Armed Forces, Military Affairs, History, and War on Terror