Northern Ireland's Flags Crisis and the Enduring Legacy of the Settler-Native Divide

The upsurge of unrest in Northern Ireland in December 2012 was unexpected as it ran counter to the prevailing assumption that the settlement of the conflict embodied in the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998 had finally taken root. Prior to the Belfast City Council's decision to limit the flying of the Union flag to designated days, Northern Ireland's political dispensation seemed completely secure. Indeed, arrangements for Northern Ireland's governance were being widely touted as a model for the resolution of ethnonational conflicts. The crisis has given resonance to an older interpretation of the problem in terms of settlers and natives.     

JOE SPENCER’S RATCATCHERS: BRITISH SECURITY INTELLIGENCE IN OCCUPIED PERSIA

During the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Persia (Iran), the Tehran-based Defence Security Office was responsible for protecting from Nazi subversion and sabotage three potential strategic targets: the vital oilfields, pipelines, and refineries of Khuzistan; the Lend-Lease supply route between the Persian Gulf and the Soviet Union; and the security of the Persian polity itself. Against all odds, under the command of Lt Col E.L. ‘Joe’ Spencer, this small but effective British/Indian security-intelligence unit succeeded in neutralising the Nazi threat, in capturing all German operatives on Persian soil, and in maintaining the security of a territory five times the size of Britain.     

Carbon Flows between the EU and Eastern Europe: Baselines, Scenarios and Policy Options

We develop baseline data and an analytical framework for understanding the role that flows of carbon between the Former Soviet Union/Commonwealth of Independent States (FSU/CIS) and the European Union (EU) may have in enabling the EU to meet major reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the medium-term future. The paper sets out an analysis of contemporary flows of carbon between the EU, EU Candidate Countries and the FSU/CIS, and outlines two scenarios for investigating how flows may develop in the future under different assumptions about climate and energy policy. The 'trading' scenario assumes unconstrained trade in tangible (mainly gas) and intangible (tradable emissions permits) flows of carbon from the FSU/CIS to the EU. The 'autonomy' scenario assumes limits to carbon flows and a subsequent requirement for high levels of domestic de-carbonisation in the EU (e.g. energy efficiency and indigenous energy sources). We conclude that neither scenario is feasible or desirable, but that even a combined approach, which sees trade complemented by tough domestic action, still requires far greater efforts than are currently planned.     

Attitudes to corruption amongst Russian police officers and trainees

The police are perceived by overseas agencies to play a key role in thedevelopment of democratic states. In the Russian Federation, the promotion of trust between the police and the public has been hampered by the fact that police are perceived by the public, and reported by the media, to be open to using their positions at work to obtain money, goods or services. Survey research about beliefs and values concerning corruption was conductedamongst students and serving officers attending a police institute, whichprovides the most promising Russian police recruits with a four-year higher education leading to the rank of ``officer'. From these ranks will come those police who are likely in future to shape both policy and institutional values. The data provided evidence that ``fast-streamed' police recruits think that corruption is often justifiable and/or morally acceptable underparticular circumstances, or for particular goals.