CIAO DATE: 03/2012
Volume: 10, Issue: 4
Fall 2011
The Correlation Between Non-State Actors and Weapons of Mass Destruction (PDF)
Reshmi Kazi
The probability of non-state actors acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction against vulnerable non-combatants has remained a worrisome threat since the turn of the century. However, the watershed event of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on 11 September 2001 has signifi cantly raised concerns regarding the availability of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons
and their probable usage. The reasons for increased concerns are varied.
Udo Michel
Environmental changes will have an impact on global and regional security communities.
This article will examine the security challenges posed by the melting of the polar ice cap in the High North. Many NATO and EU members have manifest interests in this region, and parts of the Arctic belong to the NATO treaty area. Offi cial documents, political statements, and actions already taken show that the most of the Nordic countries address the effects of climate change on their region’s security in specifi c policies and national security concepts. Moscow has sparked concerns in the West with displays of its will and capabilities—for example, fl ying strategic bomber patrols over the Arctic, or the hoisting the Russian fl ag on the sea bed below the North Pole. Despite a high degree of media awareness and intensive public discussions about spheres of infl uence and a possible return to classical geopolitics, both NATO and the EU try to avoid sending signals that would indicate that they regard regional security questions in the Arctic as a matter of deep concern or urgency. The motivation behind this article is to investigate this disconnect, to explain it, and to
draw conclusions that argue for or against changes in the present posture. If their affected members states do not securitize the threats and vulnerabilities related to the
melting polar ice cap in the High North within the organizations, NATO and the EU
will lack the incentive and legitimacy to adapt their security policies and strategies in
order to address the evolving situation.
The Emergence of Organized Criminal Networks as Extralegal Authorities (PDF)
Priscilla de Oliveira
Globalization and the contemporary global order have facilitated the emergence of
new aspects of governance within, between, and across the state scale. The re-articulation and re-scaling of the state involves the devolution of specifi c aspects of governance capacities to supra- and sub-state scales, constituting a vast transglobal arena where a bewildering array of private, non-state actors, networks and polities take on roles previously performed by the state. This reconfi guration of the position of the nation-state transcends the Westphalian “territorial trap,”1 when it comes to produce new sites of power, new forms of authority and regulation through a reshuffl ing of traditional sociopolitical relationships.
The Essence of Crosscultural Security Education (PDF)
Andrzej Pieczywok
This article presents the main factors that affect the preservation of peace and
security among human beings. It treats these categories as the most important goal of the education of modern man, as the basis of its performance in the world today. The core values that most signifi cantly affect human existence are structured around three basic concepts: security, peace, and education.
Yury Barmin, Grace Jones, Sonya Moiseeva, Zev Winkelman
Cyberspace infl uences nearly every human being in the world, as well as virtually
every area of government, industry, commerce, and education. The developments of the revolution in information technology have been a source of tremendous innovation, but as the world has increased its dependency on technology for its most basic functions, it has also become more exposed to the underlying vulnerabilities in cyberspace. These vulnerabilities continue to be probed and exploited at an increasing rate, and as a result, cyberspace has become not only a major area of concern for international security, but also a new de facto military arena. The United States and Russia both possess signifi cant capabilities in this realm, and their cooperation is essential to international safety and security in the era of the information revolution.
Distance Learning in the Bundeswehr: Skills Are More Than Knowledge (PDF)
Manuel Schulz, Andrea Neusius
As it is a military force that often conducts operations, the German Bundeswehr must always be prepared to cope with new tasks and challenges. This holds true not only for the organization as a whole, but also for each soldier and civilian employee. The diverse nature of these challenges imposes new and complex requirements on the Bundeswehr, requirements that must be met primarily through the competent action of Bundeswehr soldiers and staff. Therefore, the fi eld of training holds a central position in the organization’s diverse processes. The success of the overall organization in all fi elds depends heavily on the competence of its staff. As a result, it becomes clear that training that is appropriate in terms of tasks and their complexity has a considerable infl uence on the force’s success at all levels and across the entire spectrum of tasks.
The Arab Spring: Challenges, Obstacles and Dilemmas (PDF)
Graeme Herd
On the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union, long-standing authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen have fallen, Libya is in the fi nal stages of a civil war that toppled the forty-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi , and the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria may be tottering on the brink of implosion. Through 2011, demonstrations in Bahrain and Iran have been met with force, while Morocco, Jordan, Djibouti, Iraq, Oman, and Algeria have all reported protests. The Arab Spring has not been confi ned to the Middle East and North Africa; rather, its effects have gone global, with analysts drawing attention to its ripples, ramifi cations, and the potential of “revolutionary contagion” through the greater Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, Russia and Eurasia, as well as China and East and South East Asia. Although there is broad agreement among experts and commentators who have studied the Arab Spring itself as to the scale and importance of revolutionary change in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, its causes are contested, and there is little consensus as to its likely consequences and strategic effects. As Prince Hassan of Jordan noted, “The outcome of this tectonic realignment is not just unpredictable, but unknowable.