The Privatization of Security: Lessons from Iraq

Images of private forces in Iraq—killed and mutilated in Fallujah, implicated in prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, and shooting up civilian vehicles—have provided a dramatic illustration of the role private security companies (pscs) now play in U.S. military operations. Though the United States’ use of contractors on the battlefield is not entirely new, the increased number of contractors deployed and the use of private security forces to perform an escalating number of tasks has created a new environment that poses important trade-offs for U.S. policy and military effectiveness and for U.S. relations with other states. This article outlines the history of U.S. contractors on the battlefield, compares that with the use of private security in Iraq, discusses the benefits and risks associated with their use, and proposes some trade-offs that decision-makers in the United States should consider while contemplating their use in the future.     

社会保障私有化:智利经验

在智利,参加社会保障的雇员必须将月工资的10%存入储蓄账户,由高度规范的养老金管理公司管理。每家养老金管理公司只管理一支基金,并提供遗属和伤残保险。除了10%的缴费外,雇员还要向养老金管理公司缴纳管理佣金,其中一部分用于伤残和遗属保险费用,剩余部分用于弥补养老金管理公司的管理成本,并为其提供利润来源。在达到领取养老金资格时,雇员可以选择分期领取或者转化为终身年金。同时,智利社会保障系统还有一个由政府提供的最低养老保障金,其数额也是很可观的。与在保险公司购买的年金不同,这种最低养老金不是指数化的,而是由政府适时调整的。智利社会保障改革因制度能有效抵御政治风险和对资本积累、资本市场运行的积极影响而备受褒扬;但同时也在保险供给和管理成本上饱受指责。私有化的社会保障制度运行成本之高,甚至超过了它所取代的无效率的传统社会保障制度,这或许是智利改革最令人感到意外的事情。据瓦尔德斯-普列托(Valdes-Prieto)估算,1991年每个有效成员平均每年支付的管理费用是89.10美元,相当于应税总收入的2.94%,接近于强制储蓄率的3/10。虽然人均成本与其他国家私人管理的养老金制度(如美国的待遇确定型私人养老金)相比差距不大,但比起运行良好的政府统一管理的制度,管理成本上的劣势却较为明显。显然,基于私人市场的管理效率才是问题的关键所在,而不在于智利社会保障制度的高成本问题。     

Taking Your Academic Expertise Public: Lessons Learned Responding to the 11 September Crisis

The advantage of academic life is that society allows us to spend years reading things no one else reads, writing articles and books almost no one else reads, and traveling to places no one else travels to. But in times of crisis, when the totally unexpected becomes reality, society understandably expects that we serve our communities with knowledge, explanation, insights, and policy alternatives. The days, weeks, and months following the attacks of 11 September were such an occasion and many academics experienced sudden demands for public commentary and analysis. As international studies scholars, we have insights and knowledge that our communities require and desire, most notably in times of crisis. By responding to the best of our abilities, we are able to return something to society and help people understand more clearly the world in which we live. In this essay, we discuss how we handled this challenge in the wake of 11 September and the lessons we have learned through that process.     

"9.11"事件后东北亚安全形势与中韩合作

"9.11"事件后,东北亚地区安全形势呈现出总体相对稳定、但隐患依然存在的特征.在这种背景下,加强中韩的全面合作将对维护朝鲜半岛、东北亚地区的安全与稳定具有深远的意义.     

"9.11"事件对世界战略形势和中国安全环境影响

"9.11"事件宣告了全球化政治时代的来临,将对世界历史进程产生深远的影响."9.11"事件后,美国的扩张势头进一步加剧,这将使我国周边安全环境中的不确定因素明显增多,但也为我们提供了重大的战略机遇.     

“9·11”后的俄罗斯军事安全战略实践探索

“9.11”事件后,俄罗斯军方针对世界安全形势发生的新变化,对其军事安全战略实践从四大方面做出重大调整,即:研发新一代核武器,确保“现实遏制”的核战略;加速武器装备现代化建设进程;增加学习,提高军队作战指挥能力;加强独联体军事一体化,加强与周边大国的军事交流。但俄罗斯军事安全战略实践调整成功与否最终将取决于俄罗斯综合国力的变化。围绕国际政治问题的外交斗争是以军事力量的强弱决定着胜败。从目前来看,实现俄罗斯的战略目标,既有不少有利条件,也存在现实困难,俄罗斯在实现其军事安全目标的道路上不会一帆风顺。     

"9.11"事件后的印巴关系与南亚地区安全

“9. 11”袭击事件及其后续发展对南亚的地区安全产生了重要影响 ,印度与巴基斯坦间的争端成为美国在阿富汗的反恐怖主义战略必须考虑的重点。随着印度遭到两次严重恐怖袭击 ,印度进行了大规模军事调动准备报复 ,印巴对抗的升级和核冲突的危险使克什米尔问题再度成为全球关注的热点。由于印巴两国在克什米尔问题上立场不同 ,南亚的反恐怖主义成为一个错综复杂的难题。近期在印度的压力和国际社会促使下 ,巴采取了积极措施打击国内教派极端主义和越界恐怖主义势力 ,骤然变化的局势也为印巴之间采用政治方式解决克什米尔问题提供了难得的机会。     

India,Pakistan and the Legacy of September 11th

While the physical effects of the attacks on the United States and the corresponding 'war on terrorism' seem to be the most direct consequences of September 11th, the most noteworthy consequence is, in fact, the changing world order and the newly emerging concepts of security. India and Pakistan, based on their geography, politics, and domestic experiences, are two key participants to this war on terrorism. By reviewing the regional relationships, economic impacts, and the Kashmir situation since September 11th, it will be possible to see that the success of this new security order in South Asia is contingent on India and Pakistan's cooperation. The leaders of these two countries will have to balance their domestic challenges and the demands of the international community.     

权力·安全·女性主义

权力与安全是国际关系学的两个重要概念,更是现实主义理论范式追求的两大核心价值。女性主义在批判国际关系学中严重存在的社会性别歧视过程中,对这两个概念进行了认真的反思,在揭露女性在相关问题上遭受的不公正待遇的同时,提出了自己有关权力与安全的见解。     

US foreign policy,public memory,and autism: representing September 11 and May 4

In this article, we examine the social production of autism in US foreign policy discourse. Autism, we argue, is evident in the active forgetting of US foreign policy and its consequences, both in the US and abroad. It is this forgetting, promoted by the US state, that enabled many Americans to respond to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with the question ‘Why do they hate us?’ The explanation for the social production of an autistic attitude in US foreign policy, we argue, lies in the relations between institutional power and competing narratives and articulations of US foreign policy and domestic politics. The argument is illustrated through analysis of the politics of public memory at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where, on May 4, 1970, 13 students were shot, four fatally, while protesting the US invasion of Cambodia.     

The Struggle for Sea Power: Lessons from the Great War

The history of the contest for naval mastery during the Great War has particular resonance for today because the United States now faces a serious threat from China's increasing capabilities to wage war at sea. China's naval challenge calls into question America's continued command of the maritime commons. The stakes at risk for the United States in today's contest are just as high as they were a hundred years ago for Britain. Defeat at sea would wreck American global leadership in the twenty-first century just as surely as it would have meant the collapse of British power in the twentieth. What, then, can we learn from past struggles for sea power and America's entry into the First World War that offers guidance for understanding our current strategic predicament?     

Hegemonic order, September 11, and the consequences of the Bush revolution

The striking feature of contemporary world politics continuesto be the disproportionate power position of the United States.U.S. officials consider stability in East Asia to be of vitalimportance, and they have adopted a hegemonic strategy to promoteregional order and serve U.S. interests. U.S. officials arelikely to find the management and completion of hegemony moreproblematic in the years ahead. U.S. power, particularly military,will remain unchallenged. But changes in U.S. foreign policyafter September 11, developments in the world economy, and developmentsin East Asia suggest that the exercise of U.S. power and U.S.relations with states in this all-important region will becomeincreasingly complex and will demand more creative diplomaticefforts.     

Towards an Acceptable Level of Violence: Institutional Lessons From Northern Ireland

Institutional and economic development has recently returned to the forefront of economic analysis. The use of case studies (both historical and contemporary) has been important in this revival. Likewise, it has been argued recently by economic methodologists that historical context provides a kind of “laboratory” for the researcher interested in real world economic phenomena. Counterterrorism economics, in contrast with much of the rest of the literature on terrorism, has all too rarely drawn upon detailed contextual case studies. This article seeks to help remedy this problem. Archival evidence, including previously unpublished material on the DeLorean case, is an important feature of this article. The article examines how an inter-related strategy, which traded-off economic, security, and political considerations, operated during the Troubles. Economic repercussions of this strategy are discussed. An economic analysis of technical and organizational change within paramilitarism is also presented. A number of institutional lessons are discussed including: the optimal balance between carrot versus stick, centralization relative to decentralization, the economics of intelligence operations, and tit-for-tat violence. While existing economic models are arguably correct in identifying benefits from politico-economic decentralization, they downplay the element highlighted by institutional analysis.     

Against Food Security: On Forms of Care and Fields of Violence

This article addresses recent changes to the policy landscape on global food security. It argues that a new consensus is emerging on how to tackle (or more hubristically “end”) global hunger and spur agricultural development. The consensus I speak of is evident in recent briefings by the World Economic Forum (especially its “New Vision for Agriculture”), the “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition”, initiated by the G-8 (now G-7), the Grow Africa network, the US government's “Feed the Future” programme, the philanthropy-led Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, not to mention the many flagship reports emanating from the international financial institutions as well as key statements from global food retailers and leading agribusinesses. The article argues that this “new vision” for global agriculture is deeply problematic. Indeed, the projected “solutions”—in so far as they aim to radically transform agricultural life, especially in Africa—may well cause more harm than good. To put this argument more forcefully: what today is commonly called “food security” is perhaps better seen as a way of subjugating the poor under the pretence of doing them good.     

Reflections on Globalisation,Security and 9/11

The study of globalisation carries important conceptual insights into the contemporary security agenda following the events of September 11th 2001 ('9/11'). This article argues that globalisation can be defined in a variety of ways, ranging from liberalisation to Westernisation, and can also be extended into concepts of supra-territorialisation. In combination, these definitions help to explain the generation of 9/11 style-conflict by providing the political-economic motivation for hyper-terrorism, by facilitating the political identities and activities of non-state actors; and by creating an environment for the global reach of terror movements. Additionally, the interconnection between globalisation and security can be seen in the response of the United States to 9/11 and its striving to project military power on a global scale with declining reference to time and geographical distance, and the varied ability of sovereign states to respond to the challenge of trans-sovereign security problems in the future.     

Teaching International Studies from a Regional Perspective: An ISP Symposium on Power, Wealth and Global Order: An International Textbook for Africa

Thanks to a suggestion made by Tim Shaw (Dalhousie University), the Editors of ISP decided about a year ago to commission a discussion of the textbook Power, Wealth and Global Order: An International Relations Textbook for Africa. This symposium aims at increasing our understanding of the different, regionally specific perspectives that can be brought to bear when studying international relations outside of North America and Western Europe. We want to thank Prof. Donald Gordon for the time he spent on examining the volume at hand and for his insightful analysis of the contribution made by the editors and authors of the textbook. Based on this discussion, we then asked four other authors from diverse areas of the world (Venezuela, Korea, Slovenia, and Russia) to read Prof. Gordon's analysis and respond to a set of questions we posed to them. Those questions and their comments follow Prof. Gordon's essay. We would also like to invite other ISA members from anywhere in the world to comment on this subject, as a continuing effort to engage important pedagogical topics in the pages of ISP.     

Singing Our World into Existence: International Relations Theory and September 11

This paper focuses on the relationship between International Relations theory and ethics. It poses the question of the complicity of the discipline in the events of September 11, 2001. The paper begins with a discussion of Weber's notion of science as a vocation, and links this to the commitment in the discipline to a value-free conception of social science, one that sharply separates facts from values. The paper then examines the role of ten core assumptions in International Relations theory in helping to construct a discipline that has a culturally and historically very specific notion of violence, one resting on distinctions between economics and politics, between the outside and the inside of states, and between the public and the private realms. Using the United Nations Human Development report, the paper summarizes a number of forms of violence in world politics, and questions why the discipline of International Relations only focuses on a small subset of these. The paper then refers to the art of Magritte, and specifically Velazquez's painting Las Meninas, to argue for a notion of representation relevant to the social world that stresses negotiation, perspective, and understanding rather than notions of an underlying Archimedean foundation to truth claims. In concluding, the paper asserts that the discipline helped to sing into existence the world of September 11 by reflecting the interests of the dominant in what were presented as being neutral, and universal theories.