Militancy and the Arc of Instability

Militancy and the Arc of Instability
Author: Jennifer G. Cooke
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 37
Release: 2016-10-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1442279699

An arc of instability stretching across Africa’s Sahel region, an area of strategic interest for the United States and its allies, is plagued by violent extremist organizations (VEOs). These organizations, including Boko Haram, al Qaeda, and other terror groups, have metastasized and present a serious threat to regional stability. Now these VEOs are transitioning. Under sustained pressure from French and regional security forces, and reeling from the loss of senior leaders, many of these groups feel backed into a corner. Despite setbacks, these groups continue to plague the region. To enhance policymakers’ understanding of these threats and how to respond to them, CSIS experts from the Africa Program and Transnational Threats Project conducted field-based and scholarly research examining the broad range of factors at play in the region. This research provides little ground for optimism. Chronic underdevelopment, political alienation, failed governance and corruption, organized crime, and spillover from Libya help foster and sustain violent extremists throughout the Sahel.

'Arc of Instability'?

'Arc of Instability'?
Author: Ronald James May
Publisher:
Total Pages: 88
Release: 2003
Genre: Melanesia
ISBN:

This book comprises six informed contemporary narratives and historical commentary by a group of distinguished regionals scholars writing in the context of growing concern about an emerging "arc of instability" in the Southwest Pacific region.

A Savage Order

A Savage Order
Author: Rachel Kleinfeld
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 496
Release: 2018-11-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1524746878

The most violent places in the world today are not at war. More people have died in Mexico in recent years than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. These parts of the world are instead buckling under a maelstrom of gangs, organized crime, political conflict, corruption, and state brutality. Such devastating violence can feel hopeless, yet some places—from Colombia to the Republic of Georgia—have been able to recover. In this powerfully argued and urgent book, Rachel Kleinfeld examines why some democracies, including our own, are crippled by extreme violence and how they can regain security. Drawing on fifteen years of study and firsthand field research—interviewing generals, former guerrillas, activists, politicians, mobsters, and law enforcement in countries around the world—Kleinfeld tells the stories of societies that successfully fought seemingly ingrained violence and offers penetrating conclusions about what must be done to build governments that are able to protect the lives of their citizens. Taking on existing literature and popular theories about war, crime, and foreign intervention, A Savage Order is a blistering yet inspiring investigation into what makes some countries peaceful and others war zones, and a blueprint for what we can do to help.

African Military Politics in the Sahel

African Military Politics in the Sahel
Author: Katharina P. W. Döring
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2023-10-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1009362259

Based on extensive empirical research, Katharina P.W. Döring analyses the politics surrounding military deployments in the Sahel since 2012 and stresses the agency of regional organizations in African-led military interventions. Drawing on insights from critical geography, she considers the role that space plays in the power dynamics of the region.

Counter-Terrorism Laws and Freedom of Expression

Counter-Terrorism Laws and Freedom of Expression
Author: Téwodros Workneh
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2021-06-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1793622175

As nations have aggressively implemented a wide range of mechanisms to proactively curb potential threats terrorism, Counter-Terrorism Laws and Freedom of Expression: Global Perspectives offers critical insight into how counter-terrorism laws have adversely affected journalism practice, digital citizenship, privacy, online activism, and other forms of expression. While governments assert the need for such laws to protect national security, critics argue counter-terrorism laws are prone to be misappropriated by state actors who use such laws to quash political dissent, target journalists, and restrict other forms of citizen expression. The book is divided into three parts. Part I deals with the politics and discourse of counter-terrorism laws. Part II focuses on the ways counter-terrorism laws have impacted journalistic practice in different countries, with effects ranging from imprisonment of reporters to self-censorship. Part III addresses how counter-terrorism laws have been used to target everyday citizens, social media activists, whistleblowers, and human rights advocates around the world. Together, the chapters address how counter-terrorism laws have undermined democratic values in both authoritarian and liberal political contexts. Scholars of political science, communication, and legal studies will find this book particularly interesting.

Exploring the Dark Side of FinTech and Implications of Monetary Policy

Exploring the Dark Side of FinTech and Implications of Monetary Policy
Author: Ahmed, Sheraz
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2023-03-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1668463830

FinTech has revolutionized the way financial services are delivered and consumed in the modern world and the use of central bank digital currencies is gaining traction. With these new advancements, further study is required to ensure they are utilized appropriately and reach their full potential. Exploring the Dark Side of FinTech and Implications of Monetary Policy examines recent advancements in central bank digital currency and many FinTech applications and discusses FinTech trends, possibilities, and challenges as well as different moral, ethical, and social issues. Covering key topics such as digital economy, monetary policy, and sustainability, this reference work is ideal for managers, industry professionals, business owners, entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Full Spectrum Dominance

Full Spectrum Dominance
Author: Maria Ryan
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2019-09-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1503610667

America's war on terror is widely defined by the Afghanistan and Iraq fronts. Yet, as this book demonstrates, both the international campaign and the new ways of fighting that grew out of it played out across multiple fronts beyond the Middle East. Maria Ryan explores how secondary fronts in the Philippines, sub-Saharan Africa, Georgia, and the Caspian Sea Basin became key test sites for developing what the Department of Defense called "full spectrum dominance": mastery across the entire range of possible conflict, from conventional through irregular warfare. Full Spectrum Dominance is the first sustained historical examination of the secondary fronts in the war on terror. It explores whether irregular warfare has been effective in creating global stability or if new terrorist groups have emerged in response to the intervention. As the U.S. military, Department of Defense, White House, and State Department have increasingly turned to irregular capabilities and objectives, understanding the underlying causes as well as the effects of the quest for full spectrum dominance become ever more important. The development of irregular strategies has left a deeply ambiguous and concerning global legacy.

The Dynamics of Conflict-Related Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

The Dynamics of Conflict-Related Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
Author: Sara E. Davies
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2024-08-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3111320863

Due to the international importance attached to the reporting of conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) over the last two decades, scholars have been able to examine the magnitude of the problem across different situations and types of conflict. But what changes to intensity and type of violence occur during different phrases of conflict intensity? Is reporting consistent across different conflicts and different regional experiences of conflict-related SGBV? This book examines different conflict situations in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia over the past decade, 2010–2020. The chapters in the book use a mixed-method approach to explore the patterns of violence in situations of one-sided violence, state-led violence, non-state-led violence, low intensity violence, terrorism and fragility. They investigate the trajectory of international and prevention efforts, and the development of country-level responses to reports of sexual and gender-based violence in these various conflict situations. The book explains how and why these responses were mobilised in response to reports and considers the conditions for effective reporting in real time considering the patterns and the structural root causes of the violence.

Proceedings of the Forty-eighth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, Jurica, Mexico, 29 September-4 October 1998

Proceedings of the Forty-eighth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, Jurica, Mexico, 29 September-4 October 1998
Author: Joseph Rotblat
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2001
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9789812810212

In this book, scientists who are pre-eminent in their fields focus on the crucial role of science in the transition away from a culture of war towards the construction of peace based on a capacity to anticipate and prevent destructive conflicts. The subject matter, wide-ranging and of great concern to people everywhere, includes the progress and prospects for a nuclear-weapon-free world; non-nuclear threats to peace and security; the building of legitimate world institutions; conflict resolution and the construction of peace; the local and global environmental dimensions of peace; the health hazards of nuclear chemical and biological weapons; and the interactions between health problems and poverty. Contents: Chiapas: Politics or War (R Benitez-Manaut); Nuclear Disarmament: Is This as Good as It Gets? (M M Bosch); The Future of Nuclear Weaponry and our Civilization (F Calogero); Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones and Non-Proliferation (O M Sukovic); Technology and the Prevention of Genocide (D Andersen & A Moden); Asian Financial Crisis and China (Z-Q Xie); Ethnic Identity and Border Disputes in the Balkans (N Behar); Water Security in Southern Africa (N Dippenaar); Poverty, Disease and War (J Avery); Poverty, Public Health and Peace: A Southern African Perspective (R A Mogotlane); and other papers. Readership: Graduate students in social sciences.