The technological gap: Proposals and documents

ABSTRACT

The gap between discourse and practice which has so far prevented the EU and China from implementing the ambitious security agenda developed within the framework of their strategic partnership is caused by two main sets of impeding factors: practical, stemming from existing policies, and normative, deriving from fundamental divergences regarding the nature of an actor’s role in the international arena. Moreover, obstacles to EU-China security cooperation also stem from and are magnified at the EU member states level. Key member states lack normative and practical synergy in their understanding of security policy and the role the EU and China play in it, thus severely complicating any attempt at bridging the discourse/practice gap.     

The mechanics of democracy promotion tools: bridging the knowledge-to-practice gap

By drawing upon the literature that diagnoses the gap between academics and practitioners, this article categorises and describes the traditional democracy promotion tools developed by international governmental and non-governmental organisations to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice. Further, it examines the utility of ICTs in promoting and upholding democratic change. The findings inform considerations and specific recommendations offered to the tool developers on how to converge traditional and new democracy promotion tools. These are intended to assist in focusing tool design and development efforts, and promoting standardisation and innovation.     

Military frameworks: technological know-how and the legitimization of warfare

It is the elusive target of policymakers, ethicists and military strategists: the target of a ‘just war’. Since the advent of precision-guided munitions in the mid-1970s, commentators claimed that surgical-strike technology would advance the cause of jus in bello, ending the longstanding tension between effective military engagement and morality. Today, many policymakers accept that the ethical dilemmas that arise in the ‘fog of war’ can be negotiated by the technical precision of weaponry. This is, at best, only partially accurate. At worst, its misplaced optimism risks numbing the moral sense of strategists and, just as importantly, the sensibilities of the general populace. We argue that the development of precision guided munitions (PGM), stand-off weaponry and military robotics may force policymakers and strategists to experience new ethical tensions with an unprecedented sensitivity and may require them to make specific policy adjustments. In the move toward more quantitative approaches to political science and international affairs it is often forgotten that military ethics, and the ethics of military technologies, turn on the question of human judgment. We argue that the ethical implications of revolution in military affairs (RMA) are best investigated by way of a detailed discussion of the tenuous relationship between ethical decision-making and the workings of military technology.     

'Makeweight in the balance': Italian diplomatic documents, 1893-95

I Documenti Diplomatici Italiani, seconda seria, 1870-1895, vol.xxvi (Dec. 1893-March 1895), edited by Ministero degli Affari Esteri. Rome: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 1999. lxxvii + 751 pp. Price not obtainable.     

Eisenhower, arms control and disarmament: United States diplomatic documents, 1958-60

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958-60: Volume III, Microfiche Supplement, National Security Policy; Arms Control and Disarmament, Washington, DC: Department of State, 1998.     

两种主张的较量与战后德国经济发展

战后德国经济是在左和右,即主张国家干预和自由经济,这两股社会和政治势力交互作用下发展起来的。前者主要由社民党体现,后者由基民盟/社民盟主张。最初这两股势力形成了有效互补,使得德国社会和经济进入高发展期,后来由于这两股势力彼此抗衡过度,失落了有效互补,社会体制失去活力,经济和社会进入发展低迷期。如今,德国经济一直挣扎在这样的发展困境中。     

中国与中亚国家经贸合作现状、问题及建议

中亚国家,无论从地缘战略还是经贸发展来说,对中国意义重大.由于中亚各国与中国国经济互补性强,冷战后,中国国与中亚各国双边经贸关系一直保持着良好的态势.双方在能源、技术以及一些非资源领域的合作取得了显著的进展.但基于中亚各国经济结构、开放程度等问题,双方在合作进程中依旧面临不少挑战.在未来,中国将抓住机遇,深化与中亚各国在各方面的合作.同时,中国也将积极主动地扩展合作的新领域与新渠道,为地区的经贸合作制度化安排做出贡献.     

打造软实力，把握和平统一的每一个机会——对台问题建议

在台湾问题上,2004年3月20日是一个关键的日子.台湾大选和"公投"在留有许多诡谲的悬念和一方的悲愤中结束了,它的后续验票和枪击案的调查都没能改变已经发生的投票结果.历史走到今天,很多相互作用而发生变化的情势逐渐开始明朗起来.对于这些逐渐明朗的情势需要认真分析、重新整合,从而获得最佳结果--和平统一台湾.孙子兵法:"知彼知己,百战不殆."(<谋攻篇>).按孙子兵法的排序,首先应该"知彼".由于中国这一年多发生了很大的变化,这些变化对两岸统一会产生影响,因此笔者把"知己"放在本文分析的第一部分.     

Bridging the hunger gap with cash transfers: experiences from Malawi

Food shortages have become a chronic feature of many sub-Saharan countries, not just because of bad weather but also because of increasing poverty levels. In economies that do not have government social-security programmes, humanitarian relief and safety-net initiatives are imperative to prevent mass starvation. This article discusses the implementation of a cash-for-work programme designed to bridge the hunger gap in Malawi, highlighting its value and drawing lessons for practitioners with regard to the various components of the programme such as design, targeting, and timing, as well as challenges.     

Endogenous development in Somalia: bridging the gap between traditional and Western implementation methodologies

This practical note examines the implementation approach of African Development Solutions (Adeso) in Somalia, a country which is recovering from over two decades of conflict. It discusses how their endogenously derived targeting method, known as ICBT, is implemented and the way it challenges social norms for positive outcomes. Cash-based response is analysed as a recovery method as well as a way to engage community participation, particularly with marginalised groups. Implementation challenges are highlighted to explore the relationship between traditional and globalised (Western) values.     

Bridging the gap between negotiating experience and analysis

This article describes a teaching approach aimed at helping students to develop the skills needed to understand the negotiation research literature as well as make them more sensitive observers of negotiation processes. The approach consists of moving from the students' specific experiences to a general framework which is used to analyze cases of international negotiation. Students then attempt to reconceptualize their experiences in terms of the framework's analytical categories. This approach is recommended as an alternative to role-play exercises for integrating experience and analysis in graduate courses on negotiation.In addition to teaching the course on negotiation processes (the subject of this article), he teaches courses on research methods in George Mason's doctoral program. Among recent projects, he just completed an analysis of diplomatic communications sent among the kingdoms during the Bronze Age.     

Entente Neo-Coloniale?: Ernest Bevin and the Proposals for an Anglo-French Third World Power, 1945-1949

Ernest Bevin made the Third World Power project his own. He sought an imperial grouping led by Britain and France with economic and defence components and social-democratic values. It was to be a way to access raw materials and bolster European economies, and in time to create a global, strategic space between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Bevin's alternative vision failed, in part because the demands of cold war bipolarity trumped the Third World Power concept. The project was also poorly conceived and badly managed, and did not stem antagonism between Britain and France. France, unlike Britain, was also soon able to upgrade its imperial commercial interests through the European Communities.