Human-cyber Nexus: the parallels between ‘illegal’ intelligence operations and advanced persistent threats

‘Illegals’ are extensively trained individuals dispatched abroad under false identities with no observable links to their operating country. Technology has made possible a new kind of ‘virtual illegal,’ one that extends beyond the operating country’s borders without putting a human at risk. When this is done in a targeted manner by a sophisticated attacker it is called an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT). This article draws from historical illegals cases to identify parallels in the preparation, insertion, and control of malware by APTs. Ultimately, the methods for countering the two parallel phenomena can also be similar, despite their physical differences.     

Diffraction,transrational perspectives,and peace education: new possibilities

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on the theoretical lens of diffraction to conceptualize a new approach to transrational peace education theory and praxis in the post-2016 posttruth political era and Industry 4.0 economic period. The paper reviews foundational concepts and approaches from key founders of the field – Paulo Freire and Betty Reardon – before turning to two contemporary peace education scholars – Wolfgang Dietrich and Hilary Cremin – to investigate the contributions of recent scholarship toward diverse diffractive possibilities for transrational peace education. In this sense, diffraction offers pluralistic views and transformative possibilities for transrational peace education in varied contexts. Transrational peace education builds upon peace education to integrate affective and aesthetic perspectives into peace education theory and praxis. Before concluding, we offer some theoretical implications and pedagogic responses for scholars seeking to work at diffractive transrational intersections. The contribution of the paper is toward theorizing new perspectives for transrational peace education theory and praxis in the 21^st century.     

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS COMES GREATNESS

The story of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1921 is one of humble beginnings, when China was in shambles, dominated by foreigners, semi-feudalist, impoverished and run by corrupt warlords. Meeting in a traditional shikumen house in Shanghai, 13 men dedicated to the purpose of carrying out a Marxist-Leninist revolution designed to end imperialism within China and bring about both modernity and prosperity to the Chinese people, would change the course of China and the world forever. They believed that China had to change and that the Party was the instrument to achieve that change.     

Spoiling Through Performative Nonviolence: Ritualistic Funerary Practice as a Violent Dissident Irish Republican (VDR) Spoiling Tactic

This article assesses how Violent Dissident Irish Republican (VDR) groups have turned to funerary practice as a spoiling tactic in post–Good Friday Agreement Northern Ireland. In doing so it moves the lens of interrogation away from the residual violence exercised by these groups and onto other nonviolent mechanisms and strategies. Locating this discussion within the wider study of the VDR phenomenon, the article asserts that militarized and ritualized funerals possess propagandistic and mobilizational benefits that make them particularly conducive to spoiling activity in a post-conflict site that is increasingly embracing the process of normalization.     

Following in China's footsteps? The political economy of North Korean reform

Since the coming to power of Kim Jong Un in 2012, the North Korean government has recently announced, and to some degree has implemented, a new set of economic management policies known as the June 28th measures in 2012 and the May 30th measures in 2014. Both of these sets of measures seek to build upon the abandoned reforms of the early 2000s through restructuring North Korea's highly inefficient collective farm and state-owned enterprise management system. In addition, the government has intensified ongoing efforts at building special economic zones for the purpose of attracting foreign investment. As such, the country is attempting to emulate the reforms adopted by China in the late 1970s. Although the success of these efforts is by no means guaranteed, they do serve to question mainstream analyses that suggest that Juche Self-Reliance or S?n'gun Military First Politics ideologies will inhibit any genuine attempt at economic reform in North Korea. We argue, in contrast, that ongoing changes to North Korean state and society mean that, a cyclical stop and start rhythm to the reforms notwithstanding, such attempts at economic reform are likely to continue. However, we also argue that while the contemporary reform drive resembles and may indeed reproduce some of the successes of the Chinese experience, North Korea faces significantly greater challenges, including the greater decline of North Korean industry, local resistance to reform, and the dangers of inflation. Furthermore, North Korea faces a highly challenging external security environment that undermines the ability of the regime to attract investment and by extension the political standing of reformist elements within the country. Given this contrast with the international environment surrounding China's own reform experience, our analysis emphasises the importance of geopolitical context in shaping experiences of economic reform and of development more broadly.     

The anatomy of collaboration in international development practice: comparative insights from Nigeria and Ghana

Collaborative project implementation approaches are common in international development practice. This article uses a mixed-methods research design to examine the dynamics of North–South collaboration in a development setting. It studies election-monitoring campaigns in Nigeria and Ghana that involved cross-sector collaborations between several organisations. A conceptual model of cross-sector collaboration is proposed, which is then validated against two cases. Results show that while existing approaches to conceptualising collaboration provide significant insight into the empirical cases, additional factors such as resource constraints and power hierarchies should be considered when studying development collaboration in a North–South context.     

From humanitarian action to development aid in northern Uganda and the formation of a humanitarian-development nexus

The instituted order of humanitarianism is both changing and challenged. This article addresses the transition between humanitarian action and development aid in northern Uganda, which was driven by the government’s ambition to reassert its humanitarian sovereignty by discursively recasting the situation from one of crisis to one of recovery and development, regardless of the persistent humanitarian needs. In response, humanitarian actors either withdrew or moved into development aid. This bourgeoning humanitarian–development nexus questions the nature and future of humanitarianism and whether there is a hierarchy – or contradiction – between the humanitarian mandate and pragmatic approaches to save lives and protect civilians.