Pub Date : 2021-10-01DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1941
Abdul Rahman Yasa
Civic space, an imperative to a democratic society where citizens can exercise their basic rights, is now under attack in Afghanistan. The fall of the Islamic Emirate in 2001 by a coalition of the U.S.-led military intervention grounded the rise of a vibrant environment for civil society and human rights defenders (HRDs). Promoting and safeguarding democratic values, mainly freedom of speech, assembly, and association, enshrined within a progressive constitutional framework, had turned to the topic of the day. The heavy presence of foreign troops with the money influx put strong support behind the nascent Afghan CSOs, HRDs, and democracy advocates to speak up for the many repressed Afghans. However, the drawdown of foreign troops proceeded by protracted political infighting between Afghan leaders over power-sharing, shaped a grim milestone for civic space and human rights in 2014. The Afghan security forces had learned but not enough to take full security responsibility. Meanwhile, the Afghan leaders were wrestling over power in Kabul while an emboldened Taliban was threatening civic space by making more territorial gains in provinces. Consequently, the security situation deteriorated dramatically, triggering widespread public protests. To respond, the government resorted to the use of force against protesters, and democratic advocates and introduced legal restrictions to prevent any prospective unrest. Finally, the U.S. military withdrawal has doubled concerns over the loss of the rights under civic space. Therefore, the United States should stay, not forever, but until the Afghan peace negotiations succeed.
{"title":"Shrinking Civic Space for Human Rights Defenders in Afghanistan Following the U.S. Military Drawdown in 2014","authors":"Abdul Rahman Yasa","doi":"10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1941","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1941","url":null,"abstract":"Civic space, an imperative to a democratic society where citizens can exercise their basic rights, is now under attack in Afghanistan. The fall of the Islamic Emirate in 2001 by a coalition of the U.S.-led military intervention grounded the rise of a vibrant environment for civil society and human rights defenders (HRDs). Promoting and safeguarding democratic values, mainly freedom of speech, assembly, and association, enshrined within a progressive constitutional framework, had turned to the topic of the day. The heavy presence of foreign troops with the money influx put strong support behind the nascent Afghan CSOs, HRDs, and democracy advocates to speak up for the many repressed Afghans.\u0000 However, the drawdown of foreign troops proceeded by protracted political infighting between Afghan leaders over power-sharing, shaped a grim milestone for civic space and human rights in 2014. The Afghan security forces had learned but not enough to take full security responsibility. Meanwhile, the Afghan leaders were wrestling over power in Kabul while an emboldened Taliban was threatening civic space by making more territorial gains in provinces. Consequently, the security situation deteriorated dramatically, triggering widespread public protests. To respond, the government resorted to the use of force against protesters, and democratic advocates and introduced legal restrictions to prevent any prospective unrest. Finally, the U.S. military withdrawal has doubled concerns over the loss of the rights under civic space. Therefore, the United States should stay, not forever, but until the Afghan peace negotiations succeed.","PeriodicalId":37950,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Strategic Security","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46724690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-01DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1977
D. Sibila
{"title":"Insurgent Women: Female Combatants in Civil Wars. By Jessica Trisko Darden, Alexis Henshaw and Ora Szekely. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2019.","authors":"D. Sibila","doi":"10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1977","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1977","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37950,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Strategic Security","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44058733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-01DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1942
Julien Theron
The rapidly changing global security environment requires to constantly adapt our understanding of threats. The findings of this paper confirm that threats interact with each other on three levels. Security, conflict, war, and strategic studies converge to build a new qualitative theoretical framework for threat analysis. Shaping the global security environment, threats communicate on three levels. Firstly, the interconnection of agents with similar ideological and/or strategic motivations connects threats. Secondly, interaction exacerbates incidental threats through cooperation, competition, and convergence. Thirdly, intermediation occurs between antagonistic threats trying to achieve common intermediary objectives. These networks are driven by agents maximizing their impact and reveals the autonomization and socialization of threats. Tackling these networks requires a global approach and the mobilization of collective security.
{"title":"Networks of Threats: Interconnection, Interaction, Intermediation","authors":"Julien Theron","doi":"10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1942","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1942","url":null,"abstract":"The rapidly changing global security environment requires to constantly adapt our understanding of threats. The findings of this paper confirm that threats interact with each other on three levels. Security, conflict, war, and strategic studies converge to build a new qualitative theoretical framework for threat analysis. Shaping the global security environment, threats communicate on three levels. Firstly, the interconnection of agents with similar ideological and/or strategic motivations connects threats. Secondly, interaction exacerbates incidental threats through cooperation, competition, and convergence. Thirdly, intermediation occurs between antagonistic threats trying to achieve common intermediary objectives. These networks are driven by agents maximizing their impact and reveals the autonomization and socialization of threats. Tackling these networks requires a global approach and the mobilization of collective security.","PeriodicalId":37950,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Strategic Security","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41412966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-01DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1924
Tegg Westbrook, T. Schive
As cities and crowded areas increasingly become targets of terrorist plots and attacks, there is ample demand for risk assessment tools that consider proportional measures that reduce the threat, vulnerability, and possible impacts, whilst providing ‘security returns’ for those investments. There is a risk in this process of over- or under-fortifying places based on practitioners’ subjective biases, experiences, dead reckoning and conflicting agendas. Currently, risk assessments rely on qualitative tools that do not consider proportionality that removes these inherent biases. Critiquing well-known urban design strategies and national risk assessments, this article therefore seeks to develop a supplementary assessment tool – an equation for proportionality – that is more objective and is created to help practitioners make good choices, in particular on: (1) reducing the threat, (2) vulnerability, (3) impact, (4) accepting risk, and (5) measuring a security measure’s ability to deter, delay or stop an attack. It concludes that while no assessment is truly objective, the equation works to remove as much subjectivity as possible when assessing proportional urban security.
{"title":"Urban Security and Counterterrorism: An Approach to Proportionality","authors":"Tegg Westbrook, T. Schive","doi":"10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1924","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1924","url":null,"abstract":"As cities and crowded areas increasingly become targets of terrorist plots and attacks, there is ample demand for risk assessment tools that consider proportional measures that reduce the threat, vulnerability, and possible impacts, whilst providing ‘security returns’ for those investments. There is a risk in this process of over- or under-fortifying places based on practitioners’ subjective biases, experiences, dead reckoning and conflicting agendas. Currently, risk assessments rely on qualitative tools that do not consider proportionality that removes these inherent biases. Critiquing well-known urban design strategies and national risk assessments, this article therefore seeks to develop a supplementary assessment tool – an equation for proportionality – that is more objective and is created to help practitioners make good choices, in particular on: (1) reducing the threat, (2) vulnerability, (3) impact, (4) accepting risk, and (5) measuring a security measure’s ability to deter, delay or stop an attack. It concludes that while no assessment is truly objective, the equation works to remove as much subjectivity as possible when assessing proportional urban security.","PeriodicalId":37950,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Strategic Security","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44172269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-01DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1964
Fox, Sarah Jane
his year, 2021, marks the 20th anniversary since 9/11, recorded as the ‘day that changed the world.’ Security remains an area where governments and airlines are continuously struggling to stay ahead, but since 9/11 there have been other challenges to the air transport industry – not least Covid-19. This research primarily critically reviews the actions taken in the aftermath of 9/11 from the US and EU perspective, before consideration is given to the current/present situation, the new, and emerging challenges being faced. The research is undertaken through a legal/policy perspective. The findings are that internationally and regionally, society is not prepared for another attack and that there remain a number of challenges that stand to impact aviation; ultimately, more collective action is needed to mitigate for such risks going forward.
{"title":"Past Attacks, Future Risks: Where Are We 20-years After 9/11?","authors":"Fox, Sarah Jane","doi":"10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1964","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.3.1964","url":null,"abstract":"his year, 2021, marks the 20th anniversary since 9/11, recorded as the ‘day that changed the world.’ Security remains an area where governments and airlines are continuously struggling to stay ahead, but since 9/11 there have been other challenges to the air transport industry – not least Covid-19.\u0000 This research primarily critically reviews the actions taken in the aftermath of 9/11 from the US and EU perspective, before consideration is given to the current/present situation, the new, and emerging challenges being faced. The research is undertaken through a legal/policy perspective.\u0000 The findings are that internationally and regionally, society is not prepared for another attack and that there remain a number of challenges that stand to impact aviation; ultimately, more collective action is needed to mitigate for such risks going forward.","PeriodicalId":37950,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Strategic Security","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70478582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-01DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1910
A. Speckhard, Molly Ellenberg, Jesse Morton, Alexander Ash
This article represents the largest ever primary data-based study of involuntary celibates (incels), previously studied nearly exclusively through analysis of online postings. The incel movement has been characterized by some as a radical ideology, with mass murderers such as Elliot Rodger, Alek Minassian, and Chris Harper Mercer being portrayed as prototypical of the movement. However, there is a dearth of research through direct questioning of incels and therefore very little nuanced understanding of the community, its shared grievances, and its opinions regarding violence in its name. The present study of over 250 self-identified incels demonstrates that although the majority of incels are non-violent and do not approve of violence, those who consider themselves to be staunch misogynists are likely to endorse a desire to commit violence and are also likely to become more misogynistic through participation on incel web forums, which validate their views. The study also finds that while many incels report experiencing a variety of psychological symptoms, they are loath to seek help from mental health professionals. This implies that the threat of violence from a subset of incels should not be ignored, but promotion of compassionate and understanding psychological may be more broadly beneficial to the community.
{"title":"Involuntary Celibates’ Experiences of and Grievance over Sexual Exclusion and the Potential Threat of Violence Among Those Active in an Online Incel Forum","authors":"A. Speckhard, Molly Ellenberg, Jesse Morton, Alexander Ash","doi":"10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1910","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1910","url":null,"abstract":"This article represents the largest ever primary data-based study of involuntary celibates (incels), previously studied nearly exclusively through analysis of online postings. The incel movement has been characterized by some as a radical ideology, with mass murderers such as Elliot Rodger, Alek Minassian, and Chris Harper Mercer being portrayed as prototypical of the movement. However, there is a dearth of research through direct questioning of incels and therefore very little nuanced understanding of the community, its shared grievances, and its opinions regarding violence in its name. The present study of over 250 self-identified incels demonstrates that although the majority of incels are non-violent and do not approve of violence, those who consider themselves to be staunch misogynists are likely to endorse a desire to commit violence and are also likely to become more misogynistic through participation on incel web forums, which validate their views. The study also finds that while many incels report experiencing a variety of psychological symptoms, they are loath to seek help from mental health professionals. This implies that the threat of violence from a subset of incels should not be ignored, but promotion of compassionate and understanding psychological may be more broadly beneficial to the community.","PeriodicalId":37950,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Strategic Security","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42187938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-01DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1959
Campbell, Howard
{"title":"Border Policing: A History of Enforcement and Evasion in North America, Edited by Holly M. Karibo and George T. Díaz. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 2020. ISBN 978-1-4773-2067-9. 288 pages, $42.75 (Kindle e-book) $45.00 (hardback).","authors":"Campbell, Howard","doi":"10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1959","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1959","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37950,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Strategic Security","volume":"14 1","pages":"130-132"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44758252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-01DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1903
Max Z. Margulies, Leah Foodman
Expanding mandatory selective service registration in the United States to include women would seem to be good public policy that increases national security and reduces gender bias. Despite the recent recommendation of a congressionally-mandated commission, recent efforts to implement this important reform have repeatedly stalled. Why? In this article, we explain the failure of selective service reform through the lens of American political institutions. Neither the composition of the Supreme Court, nor the institutional incentives facing legislators, are conducive to movement on this issue. Building on the legislative entrepreneurship literature, we argue that recent trends in congressional representation and the adoption of new issue framings are the most likely factors that will increase the probability of selective service reform. The absence of selective service reform in the United States reveals important facts about agenda-setting in defense policy and how political institutions shape the relationship between the public and the military.
{"title":"Suboptimal Selective Service: An Analysis of the Obstacles to Selective Service Reform in American Political Institutions","authors":"Max Z. Margulies, Leah Foodman","doi":"10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1903","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1903","url":null,"abstract":"Expanding mandatory selective service registration in the United States to include women would seem to be good public policy that increases national security and reduces gender bias. Despite the recent recommendation of a congressionally-mandated commission, recent efforts to implement this important reform have repeatedly stalled. Why? In this article, we explain the failure of selective service reform through the lens of American political institutions. Neither the composition of the Supreme Court, nor the institutional incentives facing legislators, are conducive to movement on this issue. Building on the legislative entrepreneurship literature, we argue that recent trends in congressional representation and the adoption of new issue framings are the most likely factors that will increase the probability of selective service reform. The absence of selective service reform in the United States reveals important facts about agenda-setting in defense policy and how political institutions shape the relationship between the public and the military.","PeriodicalId":37950,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Strategic Security","volume":"14 1","pages":"74-88"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47398088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-01DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1956
Peters, Mark
Recommended Citation Peters, Mark , PhD. "Energy’s Digital Future: Harvesting Innovation for American Resilience and National Security by Ann Myer Jaffe, Columbia University Press, 2021. ISBN 9780231196826, Photographs. Notes. Sources cited. Index. Pp., 246. $35.00." Journal of Strategic Security 14, no. 2 (2020) : 126-129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1956 Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol14/iss2/7
{"title":"Energy’s Digital Future: Harvesting Innovation for American Resilience and National Security by Ann Myer Jaffe, Columbia University Press, 2021. ISBN 9780231196826, Photographs. Notes. Sources cited. Index. Pp., 246. $35.00","authors":"Peters, Mark","doi":"10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1956","url":null,"abstract":"Recommended Citation Peters, Mark , PhD. \"Energy’s Digital Future: Harvesting Innovation for American Resilience and National Security by Ann Myer Jaffe, Columbia University Press, 2021. ISBN 9780231196826, Photographs. Notes. Sources cited. Index. Pp., 246. $35.00.\" Journal of Strategic Security 14, no. 2 (2020) : 126-129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1956 Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol14/iss2/7","PeriodicalId":37950,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Strategic Security","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44322299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-06-01DOI: 10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1885
Marco Nilsson
One of the intractable debates in the study of international conflict is the linkage between polarity and magnitude of interstate warfare. Speculations about the effects of the structure of the international system can be traced back to the Treaty of Westphalia. This article revisits this debate with a focus on war duration, which has received little attention in the literature, and presents the first theoretical discussion of the connection between polarity and war duration. It also uses a hazards model to statistically test whether five different measures of polarity are associated with war duration (1816-1992). The results provide initial support for the hypothesis that an increase in the number of poles in the state system is associated with longer wars on average. The empirical analysis and the theoretical discussion are important for understanding the consequences of the declining U.S. hegemony.
{"title":"The Magnitude of Warfare Revisited – System Polarity and War Duration","authors":"Marco Nilsson","doi":"10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1885","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.14.2.1885","url":null,"abstract":"One of the intractable debates in the study of international conflict is the linkage between polarity and magnitude of interstate warfare. Speculations about the effects of the structure of the international system can be traced back to the Treaty of Westphalia. This article revisits this debate with a focus on war duration, which has received little attention in the literature, and presents the first theoretical discussion of the connection between polarity and war duration. It also uses a hazards model to statistically test whether five different measures of polarity are associated with war duration (1816-1992). The results provide initial support for the hypothesis that an increase in the number of poles in the state system is associated with longer wars on average. The empirical analysis and the theoretical discussion are important for understanding the consequences of the declining U.S. hegemony.","PeriodicalId":37950,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Strategic Security","volume":"14 1","pages":"25-46"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46846046","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}