The use and abuse of intelligence: An intelligence provider's perspective

There is a widely held perception that intelligence is the purloining of secret information from foreign countries, which is then used for advantage in wartime and as an aid to diplomacy and statecraft in peacetime, and the catching of foreign spies, or counterintelligence. In reality, intelligence serves a number of other purposes, such as technology development in support of other intelligence programmes, support to treaty negotiations and monitoring, arms control, and more. Several recently declassified Cold War intelligence activities are reviewed as examples of some of the other uses and benefits of intelligence gathering, and to show that leaders, policy makers and other consumers of intelligence may choose to use, abuse or ignore it, depending upon their own predilection, prejudices, biases, or political agendas, and sometimes altering the original intent of the intelligence.     

South African women: an intercultural perspective

SUMMARY

Misrepresentation of local whisky as a genuine Scotch whisky was the centre of a high-powered legal wrangle in South Africa. As South African courts tend to favour informed expertise over empirical surveys, the author was asked to act as an expert witness for the plaintiffs. Evidence focused upon brand perceptions created by the label, specifically dominant features as opposed to small print.     

Critical terrorism studies: an activist scholar perspective

This thematic analysis examines the applicability of Gustavo Correa's constructs of horizontal and vertical honour with regard to prestige as reflected in 21 statements by Osama Bin Laden (OBL) between 2002 and 2008. The relevance of Correa's theory pivots upon whether the individual is considered as the primary locus of honour, as Correa seemed to imply. There was limited support and substantial disconfirming evidence under this condition. Correa's theory appears more applicable to honour when the Ummah rather than OBL's person is considered as the primary locus of honour, with the individual's prestige a derivative of group membership. Under this condition, supported hypotheses derived from the theory include honour being rooted in divinity; vertical and horizontal aspects of honour being mutually constitutive; vertical honour being established with the creation of the Ummah through rank (insofar as the Ummah is presumed precedent above all non-Muslims), competition (including warfare) and functioning as an ideology hierarchically differentiating Muslims from non-Muslims; horizontal honour being gendered (with domination by non-Muslims situating the Ummah in a feminised position). A notable limitation of the theory is that it does not predict or account for the geospatial reification of group honour, whereby the establishment, defence, violation and exoneration of Islamic honour is discussed in terms of establishment, defence, invasion and forceful expulsion of non-Muslims from Islamic territory. Implications of honour are discussed with regard to the Islamist geospatial dichotomy of Islamic versus non-Islamic territories, efforts to encourage disengagement from terrorism and de-radicalisation within non-Islamic settings, legitimisation of complex phenomena such as jihad or suicide bombing according to frameworks of martyrdom and realistic efforts to win hearts and minds within the Islamic world.     

Fighting terrorism with nonviolence: an ideological perspective

ABSTRACT

This article explores the potential of using nonviolence as a counter-ideology against terrorism. I analyse the current scholarship on nonviolence and terrorism, highlighting that terrorist ideology is crucial but is not directly addressed by nonviolent scholars. I outline a different approach to nonviolence, one which interprets the latter as an ideology of praxis centred on the interrelatedness of life, freedom and plurality. This ideology shares with terrorist ideologies the emphasis on action and conflict to overcome a grievance, but it offers a completely different path centred on diverse citizenship, building alternative social mechanisms (going beyond the focus on institutions), and omnicracy.     

International representations of Balkan wars: a socio-anthropological approach in international relations perspective

This article introduces the socio-anthropological concept of international representations to examine the relationship between a civilizational rhetoric, the West European and the international politics of otherization and containment of Southeast Europe, and an essentialist and timeless bias in international relations theory, including both radical and constructivist trends. We first explore the different narrative perspectives on the Balkan wars from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century. Their subsequent problematization is aimed at challenging the way they have constructed commonplace and time-worn representations, which international society shares with different consequences in international affairs. This is a limited conception since international representations as a socio-anthropological concept are always socially, culturally and politically constructed, contested and negotiated. They do not neutrally refer to a reality in the world; they create a reality of their own. Moreover, this limited conception ignores the fact that how, by whom and in whose interest international representations are constructed is itself a form of power in international relations. Therefore, the way international representations are constructed can be problematized as an example of political and ideological projects that operate in the West as well as in the Southeast European countries that are the object of Western foreign policy.     

Southeast Asian cooperation in health: a comparative perspective on regional health governance in ASEAN and the EU

Globalization has led to new health challenges for the twenty-first century. These new health challenges have transnational implications and involve a large range of actors and stakeholders. National governments no longer hold the sole responsibility for the health of their people. These changes in health trends have led to the rise of global health governance as a theoretical notion for health policy making. The Southeast Asian region is particularly prone to public health threats such as emerging infectious diseases and faces future health challenges including those of noncommunicable diseases. This study looks at the potential of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a regional organization to lead a regional dynamic for health cooperation in order to overcome these challenges. Through a comparative study with the regional mechanisms of the European Union (EU) for health cooperation, we look at how ASEAN could maximize its potential as a global health actor. Our study is based on primary research and semistructured field interviews. To illustrate our arguments, we refer to the extent of regional cooperation for health in ASEAN and the EU for (re)emerging infectious disease control and for tobacco control. We argue that regional institutions and a network of civil society organizations are crucial in relaying global initiatives, and ensuring the effective implementation of global guidelines at the national level. ASEAN’s role as a regional body for health governance will depend both on greater horizontal and vertical integration through enhanced regional mechanisms and a wider matrix of cooperation.     

Understanding the workings of interstate cooperation in defence: an exploration into Franco-British cooperation after the signing of the Lancaster House Treaty

Cooperation occurs more often than conflict in the international system. However, its practicalities have been little conceptualised in International Relations. Through an empirical study of the workings of contemporary Franco-British cooperation in defence, this article offers a multidimensional analysis of interstate cooperation taking into account organisational, political, material and cognitive factors. By studying their centripetal and centrifugal effects, this article shows why each factor is relevant for understanding what favours and impedes the emergence and continuation of intergovernmental cooperation. It notably demonstrates how domestic interorganisational dynamics have an impact on relations with foreign partners. This article also shows how bridging the traditional divide between approaches based on interests and approaches based on beliefs allows us to identify the evolutionary dynamic of cooperation.     

India's look east policy: an Asianist strategy in perspective

Indian nationalist leaders developed a strong interest in Asia right from the early nineteenth century. Jawarharlal Nehru articulated an Asianist ideology based on the cultural affinities between India and China and the geopolitical interest in Greater India. This approach, which culminated in the Bandung summit, was put into parenthesis after the 1962 war. The Cold War, during which India and South East Asia were in different camps, prompted differing paths towards in emulating the economic progress of Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, and different approaches towards the development of the ASEAN. India's Asianist policy met an uneven fate but, by and large, there has been a significant rapprochement between India and East Asia. This move materialized in the investments of several Asian countries – including South Korea – in India and the entry of India in the ARF. Yet the symbiosis between India and Southeast Asia remains hindered by the rather nationalistic view of the latter region that the Hindutva movement is still propagating: like in the colonial period, Asianism remains part of an instrumentalist strategy.     

构建利益共同体:中俄区域合作的推动机制和目标选择

进入新世纪以来,中俄共同推进双方战略协作伙伴关系不断深化,两国的全方位、多领域合作取得长足进展。以中俄区域合作规划纲要为代表的一系列重大合作项目,作为"利益汇合点",反映了双方振兴区域经济、谋求共同发展的目标选择。利益共同体理念,不仅是中俄合作取得成就的重要基础,也为破解中俄合作中的困难与问题,提供了积极的理性思考和对策方案。     

Chinese medicine in an occidental perspective

This article treats the relationship between the Westerners and Chinese medicine. Firstly, the purpose is to comprehend how young Westerners have come to practice Chinese medicine in their lives and, secondly, to learn the eventual consequences of that practice on their lives and attitudes towards this medicine.

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Index-based livestock insurance for Kenyan pastoralists: an innovation systems perspective

Pastoralists in northern Kenya live with a high level of risk, including climatic shocks, disease, and insecurity. This article considers the potential role of index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) as a mechanism which pastoralists can use to manage climate-related risk. How might it complement or compete with existing risk-management practices? Is the current institutional and policy environment favourable to developing this type of product? This study uses an innovation systems perspective to explore and answer some of these questions, and to consider the strategic role of research and development actors in the development process.     

The Chinese Association For International Understanding(CAFIU) and the cooperation with The Australian Rotary

Friendship Exchange The origin of our long cooperation dates back to 1987 when CAFIU invited the Liberal Party of Australia to visit China. The then past Tasmanian State President of the Liberal Party Mr. Ian Chalk was one of the first to join the delegation to visit China.     

从国际法角度看国际恐怖主义的界定问题

“9·11”国际恐怖主义事件将联合国和整个国际社会的反对恐怖主义斗争推向了高潮。然而 ,在国际法上虽然有一些具体的打击个别恐怖主义行为的公约但却不存在一个普遍接受的国际恐怖主义的定义。这是因为国际法学界对于是否有必要做出一个综合性的“普遍同意的定义”存有较大分歧。联合国组织在与国际恐怖主义行为进行斗争的同时也尝试着界定这个概念 ,但都没有成功。界定国际恐怖主义的主要困难是它具有较强的政治性 ,一些问题 ,例如国家恐怖主义、民族解放运动等等 ,都为界定工作带来实际困难。实际上 ,没有一个综合性的定义并不妨碍对具体的国际恐怖主义行为进行打击。     

国际关系与国际法的关联性剖析

本文首先从法社会学的视角探讨了国际关系与国际法的互动关系,通过对国际关系史和国际法发展史的回顾加以论证,继而依据国际现实批判了导致二者既存矛盾的因素,最后得出了以广义国际观念和全球治理模式来应对国际社会现实的结论。