European–Mediterranean Security and the Arab Spring: Changes and Challenges

The policy of the European Union (EU) toward the Mediterranean has undergone two main metamorphoses during the last 25 years. In 1995, it started from a collective security idea with the Barcelona Process, but due to the poor success of this collective approach, it underwent a “realist turn” with the creation of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2004. The Arab Spring in 2011, by questioning authoritarianism, influenced the perception of what is recognized as a security problem and who can define it. The authoritarian rulers and their supporting security forces are now challenged by their populations, and societal circumstances are so unstable that nearly every domestic problem can be politically given a spin to become a security risk. Aside from this, violent conflicts and civil wars demand an answer from the EU. In this situation, the EU's answer to the Arab Spring does not directly respond to the changing security situation in the Mediterranean. It emphasizes domestic democracy and civil society but does not take up the potential risk discourses. Concerning violent conflicts, the EU as a community is not at all active in the region but leaves this field to its member states, NATO, the Arab League, and the United Nations. Thus, the perceptions, ideas, and needs of Mediterranean security between the EU and the Southern partner states still differ harshly and seem to disregard the risk dimension of the Mediterranean security problems in this period of Arab transition.     

The Relevance of Security Sector Reform in Humanitarian Intervention: The Case of the European Union in the Mediterranean

Security sector reform (SSR) is a new concept that was adopted by international institutions at the end of the 1990s as a relevant and critical part of development and stabilization processes. It consists of reforming the security sector in those states in which security structures are not able to protect citizens from security challenges facing developing and transitional societies. It includes a large spectrum of services and is strongly based on the abandoning of the classical conception of security as strictly connected with the territorial integrity of a state and the adoption of the broader concept of security and a security agenda that considers the well-being of populations and the respect of human rights. This article aims at analyzing the relevance of SSR in the security relations between European Union (EU) and Mediterranean countries. In the first part, a definition of SSR will be developed. In the second part, the EU's definition of SSR will be stressed, and its links with the security concept as it has been developed in EU external action. In the third part, the EU missions in Mediterranean countries will be analyzed in order to verify if SSR is included in the aims of the missions.     

The Arab Uprisings and the EU's Migration Policies—The Cases of Egypt,Libya, and Syria

The article analyzes the European Union's (EU) migration strategies toward the Arab states in the light of the Arab uprisings in a comparative context. Going through migratory processes related to Egypt, Libya, and Syria, the article discusses Middle Eastern migration and its diverse manifestations, critically assessing the relevance of the EU's migration policy ambitions vis-à-vis the different challenges in the Mediterranean region. In its theoretical approach, the article draws on the concept of non-traditional security, demonstrating that migration constitutes an anarchistic element in the relations between states, which goes beyond traditional foreign policy means. The article characterizes recent EU initiatives concerning migration and demonstrates that despite the fact that the EU has declared migration “one of the strategic priorities in the external relations of the Union,” it seems apparent that the EU has not been able to develop adequate new approaches regarding migration. Many of the suggested initiatives within the framework of the new EU foreign policy setup have not been established yet—they remain preliminary works in progress, projects in different stages or legislative procedures under negotiation between EU institutions. Summing up the cases of Egypt, Libya, and Syria, the article concludes that the migration phenomenon since the start of the Arab unrest in early 2011 constitutes a highly important issue in European–Middle Eastern relations, regarding which, the EU foreign and security measures seem to be relevant only to some degree.     

The meanings,origins and implications of 'the Howard Doctrine'

This article examines the background to the so-called 'Howard Doctrine' of 1999 in response to the problems that Australian diplomacy and defence policy encountered during the East Timor crisis. The article begins by examining the critical reaction both in Australia and abroad to the doctrine which appeared to imply Australia's increased reliance on the 'special relationship' with the US and its role as a 'deputy' of its ANZUS partner in the East Asia region. The article then demonstrates the historical origins of the doctrine's thinking in Australia's reliance since the post-war period on a system of serial bilateralism and special relationships with first the UK, the US and then Indonesia. However, the article also points out the essential vulnerabilities inherent in this type of serial bilateralism and its relative inability to respond effectively to the East Timor crisis. Finally, the article considers the systemic risk in Australian policy as manifested in the doctrine, and the future viability of serial bilateralism in dealing with Australia's regional diplomatic and security agenda.     

制度选择的逻辑——我国食品安全监管体制的演变

运用戴维斯和诺斯有关制度变迁的理论,结合我国的公共行政实践,构建了一个食品安全监管体制变迁的解释框架,并且利用这一解释框架提供的视角,对我国食品安全监管体制制度变迁过程中的逻辑进行分析.认为,在食品安全体制的演变过程中,制度变迁的收益与成本的考量是其背后的支配性因素,制度环境所提供的机遇窗口使制度变革得以可能,外部性与部门机会主义行为是制度变革的主要关注点,而路径依赖是制度变革的重要约束力量. 可以预期,我国食品安全监管体制的未来演变方向,将是制定更加完善的食品安全法律规范体系,更加清晰地界定监管部门之间的权责配置,从而降低监管的外部性;将监管权限恰当集中,减少监管部门的数量,从而降低协调的成本,尽量避免机会主义行为;建立起更加强势的部门间协调机构,甚至在国家层面设立专门的食品安全委员会;引入政府之外的力量,比如行业协会、消费者权益保护团体以及其他的一些民间团体,建立起所谓的"火警"机制,以补充由政府主导的食品安全监管体制.     

东亚安全:现实主义和自由主义的视角评析

东亚地区日益成为21世纪国际政治的中心舞台之一,有关该地区的安全问题也逐渐被人们提上了议事日程。时至今日,该地区仍尚未形成一种稳定的国际关系格局。不同学者对于东亚地区未来安全的前景也存在多种解读,本文从国际关系理论的两大流派———现实主义和自由主义的不同视角,综合分析对东亚安全的不同解释,并提出东亚安全面临的现实挑战及可能选择。     

基于分布式感应器的公安无线网络入侵检测模型

目前无线网络面临众多安全威胁,公安无线网络在构建初期就要充分考虑其安全性。公安网络安全问题应在公安无线网络自身特点基础上,对已有无线网络入侵检测系统进行比较分析;基于分布式感应器的公安移动自组网入侵检测模型,并对警用通信设备的安全性提出要求。     

从多层次到多支柱:养老保障体系改革再思考

在对多层次养老保险体系反思的基础上,从多支柱理论和我国现实国情出发,构建了以多支柱为核心特征的养老保障体系。零支柱:以低收入者和农民为对象的普惠制国民养老金,旨在防止老年贫困。第一支柱:以正式就业者为对象,由基本养老保险社会统筹部分改造而来的基本养老金,目标在于保障就业者退休后的基本生活,突出社会再分配。第二支柱:以正式就业者为对象,由基本养老保险个人账户部分和企业年金计划合并而来的职业年金计划,使退休职工生活水平比单一的第一支柱有所改善,同时有助于应对老龄化危机。第三支柱:自愿性的个人养老储蓄计划,为有较高需求的高收入者提供的更高层次的保护。     

Prospects for Solving the Cyprus Problem and the Role of the European Union

Although the Cyprus problem is basically an international questionand a geopolitical issue, the problem's domestic aspects aredirectly related to its international dimension. Resolutionof the problem's domestic aspects, within the framework of afederal constitutional arrangement based on the high-level agreementsof 1977 and 1979, the relevant United Nations resolutions, andthe provisions of the European Union acquis communautaire isperhaps possible. A federal system is a compromise between aunitary state, as initially desired by the Greek Cypriot majority-community,and a confederation, as currently pursued by the Turkish Cypriotminority-community with the support of Turkey. Nevertheless,even though federation is the agreed framework for a solution,a sizable proportion of Greek Cypriots express misgivings abouta federal solution because they fear that what is actually beingdiscussed is a system lying between federation and confederation.A viable federal solution would create a pluralist democraticstate with a market-oriented economy in the Eastern Mediterranean.Given that the Republic of Cyprus is on its way to joining theEU, the EU could play a substantive role in promoting such anoutcome. From a geopolitical perspective, a united Cyprus, asa member of the EU, would be an asset to the EU and also contributeto stability and security in the Eastern Mediterranean.     

Weapon of Mass Distraction: New Zealand’s National Security System

The New Zealand’s National Security System (NSS) document is presented as the central framework for New Zealand’s whole of government approach to national security and crisis management. This article asserts that the NSS fails to be the central framework it purports to be and proposes the true objective of the NSS is to establish clear lines of authority within New Zealand’s national security architecture. The New Zealand government’s exercise of political authority within the security sector aligns with Weber’s theory of “charisma of office” for public acceptance. Using the legitimacy of charisma of office, the New Zealand prime minister can exert significant influence over New Zealand’s national security discourse and blur the lines of it liberal democratic institutions.     

Naming the Pacific

Abstract

A conventional explanation for the establishment of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) holds that it was an attempt on the part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to maintain US military engagement in Asia while tactically promoting cooperative relations with China in the post-Cold War era. This line of argument is associated with realism and neoliberalism. This article maintains that such an explanation is unsatisfactory, and seeks to offer a sounder explanation by employing a constructivist perspective. It argues that the interests and policies of the ASEAN countries which had led them to initiate the ARF were defined by what can be regarded as a norm of security cooperation in Asia. This norm contains two sets of ideational elements. The first is common security thinking fostered in the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Such thinking emphasizes efforts to achieve the security of the whole region through multilateral security cooperation, on the basis of the view that regional security is indivisible. The second element is a set of diplomatic norms associated with the ASEAN Way of diplomacy, which underline the Southeast Asian countries' commitment to the habit of dialogue and consultation. Today, the nature of the ARF may be disputed. Critics of the ARF assert that it is a mere ‘talking shop’ in which no significant measure to achieve security has been carried out. Yet only by understanding thoroughly the establishment process of the forum can a fair assessment be made of its significance. The research in this article concludes that the ARF should be seen as an arena for the development and practice of norms – in other words, a ‘norm brewery’.     

Emerging trends in Asia‐Pacific security: The role of Japan

A multi‐faceted approach, including the efforts (a) to maintain existing security arrangements, (b) to enhance security at the sub‐regional level in Northeast and Southeast Asia, (c) to enhance mutual reassurance among the countries in the region and (d) to deepen region‐wide economic cooperation, is vital for Asia‐Pacific security. Trends in these directions are emerging in the post‐cold war conditions. Japan‐US cooperation will continue to be the key element for the success of this approach. Changes in Japan will have positive implications for it.     

The Judicial Role in Defining National Security and Access to Information in South Africa

This article argues that judicial and other institutions concerned with legal interpretation are playing an increasing role in regulating and defining the concept of national security for South Africa, particularly in the realm of national security information. Part I surveys the post-apartheid evolution of accountability of South Africa’s national security agencies with particular attention to the treatment of national security information. Starting from a low base, intelligence agencies in South Africa have become more accountable, in part through the greater degree of access to national security information. Part II portrays the placement of access to national security information within South Africa’s legislative framework, taking into account the keys laws underpinning both secrecy and disclosure regulation. Here, with no definition of national security on the secrecy side, it is on the disclosure side of South Africa’s legislative framework that the judiciary and other legal actors are crafting an operative definition of national security. Part III covers three recent developments, arguing that they demonstrate the increasingly important regulatory role played by the judiciary and other legal institutions. These include two key Constitutional Court decisions and an ongoing legislative reform effort.     

Reimagining civil society in conflict: Findings from post-2001 Afghanistan

What is the meaning and role of civil society in Afghanistan? And what contribution could civil society actors make to promoting peace and political reform? Drawing on a research and dialogue project conducted in 2009–2012, this article explores local understandings and practices of civil society in Afghanistan, and examines their relationship to security and social change. It argues that studying civil society can help shed light on the changing dynamics of political authority and security in the country, as well as offer new avenues for promoting progressive change. The article addresses some of the conceptual and analytical limitations of dominant narratives about civil society in conflict-affected environments, demonstrating how they tend to neglect certain forms of agency that have the potential to be transformative.     

公共对话式政策执行及其支持性维度分析

顺应当前的行政民主化浪潮,政策执行中引入对话协商,即公共对话式政策执行,代表了政策执行领域的一种对话性转向,具有重要的理论与现实意义。公共对话式政策执行的支持性维度包括:动机性维度——利益偏好,保障性维度——行动与信任合作,政治性维度——话语民主,情境性与能动性维度——社会建构。这些支持性维度与公共对话式政策执行之间存在着双向的促进作用,共同推动实现政策执行过程的合法性与有效性。公共对话式政策执行这一议题是一个初始性研究,存在诸多有待进一步思考与分析的问题,但公共对话本身所蕴含的巨大潜力,表明其将有着良好的发展前景。     

Identity and security in Korea

The summit meeting between the two Korean heads of state, which took place in Pyongyang in June 2000, constitutes a major turning point in the peninsula's history. As the effects of the meeting are gradually unfolding, a period of détente no longer seems impossible. But major difficulties remain unsolved and Korea will continue to be one of the world's most volatile areas. The task of this essay is to identify and analyse some of the entrenched political patterns that will challenge policy-makers in the years ahead. To do so it is necessary to portray the conflict in Korea not only in conventional ideological and geopolitical terms, but also, and primarily, as a question of identity. From such a vantage-point two components are essential in the search for a more peaceful peninsula. Substantial progress has recently been made in the first realm, the need to approach security problems, no matter how volatile they seem, in a cooperative and dialogical, rather than merely a coercive manner. The second less accepted but perhaps more important factor, revolves around the necessity to recognize that dialogue has its limits, that the party on the other side of the DMZ cannot always be accommodated or subsumed into compromise. Needed is an ethics of difference: a willingness to accept that the other's sense of identity and politics may be inherently incompatible with one's own.     

Mussolini's Secret War in the Mediterranean and the Middle East: Italian Intelligence and the British Response

Little is known of the history, structure and operations of the Italian intelligence services in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The challenge brought by Fascist Italy to the security of the British and French imperial systems is at the heart of this article, which sets out to assess not only the imperial dimension of Fascist intelligence but also the response provided by Britain's and France's colonial authorities to Mussolini's ambitions in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. An examination of British and French intelligence archival material sheds new light upon perceptions of power and threat afforded by British and French policy-makers keen to maintain political control over their colonial and client states. The paper suggests that despite comprising a multitude of competing agencies, the Fascist services could rely on the work of motivated individuals and on the support of Italian diplomatic representatives overseas. Their ability to establish relations – although short-lived – with Arab nationalist leaders and their intense activities in British colonies, protectorates and mandates generated concern within the British Foreign and Colonial Offices. Meanwhile, poor intelligence coordination and assessment coupled with misguided assumptions about the nature of Arab nationalism hindered Britain's response to the challenge mounted by Mussolini's regime.     

公安院校法学课程案例教学探讨

源于英美法系国家的案例教学法,以实践中的真实案例为基础,着重培养学生的法律思维和动手能力,对法学教育改革具有十分重要的意义。从公安院校法学专业的培养目标出发,旨在探索建立适合我国国情和公安法学教育特点的案例教学法。     

A Brief Survey of Democracy Promotion in US Foreign Policy

Democracy promotion has been a centerpiece of US foreign policy for over half a century. This article explores the evolution of democracy promotion in US foreign relations from 1821 to 2014. While the quantity and quality of US democracy promotion policy evolved in a nonlinear fashion, US presidents varied the ways and means of democracy promotion as a way to achieve national security objectives. There is signification variation among US presidents on the specific linkages between democracy and security, resulting in divergent policy applications and technical approaches.     

Enhancing the redistributive capacity of the Chinese state? Impact of fiscal reforms on county finance

This article seeks to test the degree to which ASEAN has been able to develop a security identity based on its collectively held norms. The article begins by isolating two norms that are central to ASEAN, namely non-intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states and non-use of force. The article then seeks to determine how consistently these norms have been upheld within ASEAN by analysing the policies of member states during two major crises where these norms were threatened: the 1979 Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia (Kampuchea) and the 1995 Chinese occupation of Mischief Reef. If member states pursued policies which upheld the norms in question (even where alternative unilateral policies may have been more beneficial to them), then this would suggest such a security identity existed. On the other hand, should unilateral interests take precedence over the will to uphold these collective norms, questions must be raised over the strength of ASEAN'60 Col No: 189;s security identity, both then and now.