Digital Commons Network^™

Landmine And Land Rights In Conflict Affected Contexts, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

This policy brief describes the important linkages between land rights and landmines in conflict-affected contexts. Its purpose is to deepen awareness within the broader mine action and development communities about these linkages, and provide guidance on how to effectively mainstream land rights issues into mine action operations.

Rape As A Weapon Of War In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Carly Brown

Social Sciences

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been appropriately acknowledged as "the rape capital of the world." While the country has been trapped in conflict, the use of rape as a weapon of war has been rampant and unyielding. The sexual violence inflicted upon women has been nothing less than brutal and destructive, physically, socially, and psychologically. This paper analyzes the use of rape as a weapon of war in the Congo, taking into context the ongoing war, cultural and social situations that facilitate its existence, and the many consequences the victims are forced to endure.

The Immigrant Experience: Mexico And Central America To The United States, Shannon R. Nelson

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Sidestepping Deference: How United States V. Ressam Encourages Overly Stringent Review Of Sentencing Decisions, Joseph Leavitt

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Financial Arm Of The Farc: A Threat Finance Perspective, Thomas R. Cook

Journal of Strategic Security

The FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) transformed from a traditional guerrilla group into a full-fledged insurgency because of its ability to effectively convert the proceeds derived from illegal narcotic trafficking into operational funds. Those financial capabilities allowed the FARC to challenge government authority in large swathes of the Colombian state. The FARC moved into the drug trade, initially controlling production territory and subsequently engaging in trafficking, which allowed the organization to increase its war-fighting capabilities. This paper only scratches the surface of the mechanism by which the FARC utilized its coca revenue in …

The Nuclear (And The) Holocaust: Israel, Iran, And The Shadows Of Auschwitz, Shmuel Nili

Journal of Strategic Security

The main thesis of this article is that the Holocaust is indispensable for understanding Israel’s treatment of what it perceives as the greatest current threat to its security - the Iranian nuclear program. The Holocaust’s impact deviates in crucial ways from established teaching regarding balance of power in general and nuclear deterrence in particular. Mutually Assured Destruction, the distinction between capabilities and intentions, and even linkage politics - all of those basic concepts are profoundly altered in the Israeli case by the (often conscious) presence of the Holocaust. The Holocaust’s influence is evident in the Israeli belief that deterring Iran …

Cover & Front Matter

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Former Soviet Bloc Locales In Africa's Illicit Arms Trade Network, David Todd Kinsella

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Small arms and light weapons are the primary cause of death in the violent conflicts raging today, but the small arms trade is difficult to track, and the illicit trade in small arms is doubly so. Nevertheless, information is available and research institutes like the Small Arms Survey and the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers are at the forefront of efforts to collect and distribute this information. This paper focuses on the illicit arms trade and draws on a database I am developing, the Illicit Arms Transfer Database, which systematizes information contained in journalistic reports on illicit small arms …

Lanthorn, Vol. 45, No. 43, February 17, 2011, Grand Valley State University

Volume 45, July 8, 2010 - June 9, 2011

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

The Cresset (Vol. Lxxiv, No. 3, Lent), Valparaiso University

The Cresset (archived issues)

No abstract provided.

World War Ii Technology That Changed Warfare - Radar And Bombsights, Sean Foley

Academic Symposium of Undergraduate Scholarship

This presentation introduces the viewer to two forms of technology, radar and bombsights, and how each one changed the way air warfare was conducted. The Second World War was the testing ground for numerous advancements in military technology; and the contribution made through radar and bombsights created a level of strategic warfare never before experienced.

Mainstreaming Gender In Rule Of Law Initiatives In Post-Conflict Settings, Eve M. Grina

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

And They Were There -- Reports Of Meetings, Ramune K. Kubilius

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Constraints On State-Level Foreign Policy: (Re) Justifying, Refining And Distinguishing The Dormant Foreign Affairs Doctrine, Matthew Schaefer

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

A reassessment of United States' constitutional constraints on state-level foreign policy is sorely needed. State engagement in foreign policy was rarely significant until the 1960s. Since that time, state involvement has rapidly expanded in both sheer magnitude and the types of activities undertaken. The most prominent and problematic among these state and local activities in the past fifty-plus years has been three waves of state and local sanction initiatives targeting countries ruled by regimes with repugnant human rights policies. In the mid-1980s, over half of the states and at least 100 localities adopted sanctions legislation against South Africa, most often …

Determinants Of Interpersonal Trust, Organizational Commitment For Performance Within Kyrgyz National Police, Erlan Bakiev

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Improving organizational performance is an essential goal for any type of organization. This process involves varieties of methods, polices and strategies. One of the important elements of organizational performance is trust-building process which deeply depends on leadership efforts of ranked employees and managers. Literature has enough empirical evidence on influence of trust and trusted work environment on organizational performance. Aftermath of recent riots and clashes in Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz National Police (KNP) officers are demoralized by the actions of both previous and current governments which bear corruption, bribery and clan type of ruling. These facts led to untrustworthy environments and relationships …

Fish From Afar Marine Resource Use At Caracol, Belize, Smith Petra Cunningham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ancient Maya had strong ties to the sea. The trade, transportation and use of marine resources were important not only to coastal Maya communities, but also to the heavily populated cities that lay many miles inland. A review of zooarchaeological evidence recovered from excavations at the inland site of Caracol, Belize suggests that the inhabitants imported marine fish for food, marine shell for working into trade items, and sharks teeth and stingray spines for ritual use. This thesis examines the manner in which fish and other marine resources were used, procured and transported from the coast to the site …

Mothers And Infants In The Prehistoric Santa Clara Valley: What Stable Isotopes Tell Us About Ancestral Ohlone Weaning Practices, Alan M. Leventhal, Karen S. Gardner, Rosemary Cambra, Eric J. Bartelink, Antoinette Martinez

Faculty Publications, Anthropology

Breast-feeding and weaning are a part of childhood in all human populations, but the exact timing of these milestones varies between groups. As infants incorporate the nutrients from breast milk into their growing bones, chemical evidence is captured in the form of higher stable nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values. This study interprets δ15N values in the bone collagen of children (n = 24) buried at the Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38), in Santa Clara County, California. Radiocarbon dates for this site span 2200-250 B.P., but primarily fall during the Late period (740-230 B.P.). In the one probable mother-infant pair available for study, a …

How We Think: Thinking Critically And Creatively And How Military Professionals Can Do It Better, Richard Mcconnell, Leonard Lira, Ken Long, Mark Gerges, Bill Mccollum

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Donorship To Ownership? Evolving Donor-Government Relationships In Rwanda, Haley Swedlund

Political Science - Dissertations

Over the course of the last decade there has been an increasing emphasis on recipient-country ownership, or the "effective exercise of a government's authority over development policies and activities, including those that rely...on external resources" (OECD 2007), within the international development community. This new emphasis is not only rhetorical but has resulted in a host of new aid programs promising increased ownership. Broadly speaking, these aid programs are supposed to change the institutional relationships between donors and recipient-country governments and allow aid beneficiaries to have a say over the development policies that impact their daily lives. However, despite their prevalence, …

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 52, Number 3, Winter 2010, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

14 - GOOD LIT By Alicia K. Gonzales '09 and Steven Boyd Saum. It's time to light 10 candles on the birthday cake for SCU's California Legacy Series. To date: 43 books, 500 radio broadcasts, and a handful of movies. What's next? Something big.

16 - SHAPING THE FUTURE by Adolfo Nicolas, S.J. What can Jesuit universities do-together-to make the world a more humane, just, and sustainable place? It starts with imagination, an unequaled global network, and a conference in Mexico City- where Jesuit Superior General Adolfo Nicolas takes stock of challenges to Jesuit higher education today.

24 - A …

Anthropologists And Two Spirit People: Building Bridges And Sharing Knowledge, Sandra Faiman-Silva

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Stretching The Parameters Of Diplomatic Protocol: Incursion Into Public Diplomacy, Shahidul Alam

Exchange: The Journal of Public Diplomacy

The end of the Cold War saw the United States retrenching its public diplomacy program. However, as the sole remaining superpower, it saw the opportunity to spread its values and ideals – particularly those of liberal democracy, human rights, and the free market economy – to those countries that were lacking in them. Paradoxically, intense public diplomacy efforts were required in pursuit of that objective. Traditional diplomats then began to take on public diplomacy functions, but, in so doing, often violated Article 41 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. They were mostly from the United States, while the …

Beyond Our Borders: The Future Of Foreign Reporting, University Of Montana--Missoula. School Of Journalism

Montana Journalism Review

Freelancing: the bottom line -- In Cairo -- Mehrdad Kia on foreign reporting -- Advantages of being a female foreign correspondent -- The risks of being a female foreign correspondent -- Embedded reporting: asset or liability? -- A drowning rice bowl -- The world of Al-Jazeera English -- Anonymous in Burma -- Risky business -- From quarterbacks to quakes -- Against the wall: reporting on China -- Lessons on foreign reporting: Marcus Brauchli -- Pack your bags and go -- Beyond conflict: reporting in occupied Palestine -- The Pearl Project -- Practicing journalism in a smaller, riskier world -- Revolutions …

The Growing Mexican Cartel And Vigilante War In Cyberspace: Information Offensives And Counter-Offensives, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This short essay blends traditional Mexican cartel analysis indicative of earlier Small Wars Journal writings by this author with advanced (5th dimensional) warfighting concepts. These concepts have utility for engagement with non-state (new warmaking) entities. They are being increasingly discussed now that cyberspace and ‘dual dimensional’ operations are more frequently breaking out in the Mexican conflict.

Criminal (Cartel & Gang) Insurgencies In Mexico And The Americas: What You Need To Know, Not What You Want To Hear, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

We need this basic premise to be clear—that Mexico is facing something way beyond an organized crime threat. With this as the premise from which it starts, this congressional testimony will posit that the Mérida Initiative as it stands is too myopic in nature given the on-the-ground realities currently present in Mexico. These two contentions will herein be discussed in more detail and their merits supported by evidence from my own work and that of other area and subject specialists. Of necessity, therefore, the testimony will focus upon the broader security environment and the policy and strategic levels of analysis. …

Extreme Barbarism, A Death Cult, And Holy Warriors In Mexico: Societal Warfare South Of The Border?, Robert J. Bunker, John P. Sullivan

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This short essay is about impression—gut feelings combined with a certain amount of analytical skill—about recent trends taking place in Mexico concerning the ongoing criminal insurgencies being waged by the various warring cartels, gangs, and mercenary organizations that have metastasized though out that nation (and in many other regions as well). The authors spent over eight hours sequestered together about a month ago on a five-hundred mile ‗there and back again road trip‘ to attend a training conference as instructors for the Kern County Chiefs of Police. Our talks centered on Mexican Drug Cartels, 3rd Generation Gangs, 3rd Phase Cartels, …

The Projected Al Qaeda Use Of Body Cavity Suicide Bombs Against High Value Targets, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This work is initially derived from a non-public disclosure series of early warning presentations, first delivered in September 2006, by the author on the projected terrorist use of body cavity suicide bombs against high value targets. Subsequent terrorist use of such a device, in August 2009 in Saudi Arabia by an Al Qaeda operative, has allowed for this body of research (along with post-incident analysis) to now be published in an open venue. The work provides a historical overview of the use of suicide bombs by military forces and terrorists; addresses the co-evolution of suicide bombs and countermeasures by security …

Artifacts Of Exchange: A Multiscalar Approach To Maritime Archaeology At Elmina, Ghana, Andrew T. Pietruszka

Anthropology - Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the excavation and interpretation of two European ships discovered at Elmina Ghana, the coastal site of the first and largest European fort in sub-Saharan Africa. Discovered in 2003, the first vessel, located 1.5 miles offshore of the castle, is largely comprised of remnants of cargo exposed on the seafloor. European trade wares recovered from the site suggest a mid-seventeenth century vessel, most likely of Dutch origin. AMS radiocarbon dates obtained from several fragments of wood recovered in cores taken at the site support this assumption. The second vessel was discovered by accident during the 2007 dredging …

The Relation Of Theories Of Jurisprudence To International Politics And Law, Anthony D'Amato

Faculty Working Papers

In this essay we shall be concerned with the real world relevance of theories of international law; that is, with the question of the theories themselves as a factor in international decision-making. To do this it is first necessary to review briefly the substance of the jurisprudential debate among legal scholars, then to view some basic jurisprudential ideas as factors in international views of "law," and finally to reach the question of the operative difference a study of these theories might make in world politics.