Counter-COIN: Counterinsurgency and the Preemption of Strategy

The notion of “counterinsurgency” (COIN) has for some years been the central concept driving military operations in Afghanistan, and before that, in Iraq. It constitutes the dominant idea influencing much current military planning of the major Western powers. This study questions the assumptions and relevance of the thinking behind counterinsurgency doctrine. It suggests that the ultimate effect of its dominance is to reduce the highly contingent nature of war to a list of techniques, the application of which are regarded as a sufficient precondition whenever states deem that they are confronted by conflicts that can be described as an “insurgency.” Such assumptions are both arbitrary and risk crowding out necessary, although by their nature very difficult, political judgments that are required for the effective construction and implementation of strategies that seek to ensure that the ends sought are proportional to the means employed.     

The Changing Business of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art: Markets,Audiences, Artists,and the Large Art Fairs

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the relationship between the growth of large Australian Aboriginal art fairs and shifts in the fine art market and state policies; audience and art insiders' experiences; and the implications of art fair participation for artists and art centers. In contrast to the traditional gallery model, the art fairs draw buyers and artists together in regional centers, along with families, managers, curators, commentators, administrators, and politicians. Using the assemblages concept, we analyze the emergence of a new engagement that prioritizes social, cultural, and interpersonal aspects of art making and where buyers consume “relational goods” linked to their purchasing context.     

Police GPS Surveillance on Vehicles and the Warrant Requirement: “For a While I’ve Been Watching You Steady”

The global positioning system (GPS) has become ubiquitous to modern American life. The system supplies direction for travel through navigation systems as well as employee monitoring capabilities (Rosenberg Washington Journal of Law, Technology, and Arts 6:143–154, 2010). Law Enforcement has also found GPS to be a valuable tool. The technology provides a relatively cheap and highly effective way to monitor a suspect’s movement. Depending on the device, travel data can be reported in real time or be retrieved from the implanted device at intervals (Shah Journal of Law, Technology, and Policy 2009:281–294, 2009). This paper will first explore the core foundational Fourth Amendment cases that shape the use of GPS devices by law enforcement. Next, the federal circuits and state supreme courts’ decisions that have addressed the use of GPS will be reviewed. Third, the case of U.S. v. Jones (2012), which was recently decided by the United States Supreme Court, will be examined. Last, the policy implications of the current legal landscape regarding the use of GPS by police will be discussed.     

How do psychiatric patients on prison healthcare centres differ from inpatients in secure psychiatric inpatient units?

Abstract

Mentally ill prisoners have consistently been highlighted as a group with complex needs. However, it is not clear what these needs are, how effective prison health services are in meeting the needs of this vulnerable group, and whether there would be any benefit to transferring them to psychiatric facilities. This study compared the characteristics and needs of mentally ill patients in prison healthcare centres (HCC prisoners) with patients in forensic medium secure psychiatric units (MSU inpatients) in the UK. HCC prisoners and MSU inpatients were in fact very similar. Where they did differ, though, was that MSU inpatients were significantly more likely to be of non-white ethnicity, diagnosed with psychotic or substance use disorders, and have recorded histories of drug misuse. HCC prisoners and MSU inpatients reported the same number of needs overall, according to the CANFOR-S (Camberwell Assessment of Need Forensic Short Version), but HCC prisoners reported significantly higher levels of unmet need. The need for transfer to alternative services was common in both groups, with bottlenecks evident at all levels. The high level of unmet need reported in the HCC prison sample is of particular clinical concern and highlights the need for improved assessment and treatment services in this setting.     

Shaping Citizen Perceptions of Police Legitimacy: A Randomized Field Trial of Procedural Justice

Exploring the relationship between procedural justice and citizen perceptions of police is a well‐trodden pathway. Studies show that when citizens perceive the police acting in a procedurally just manner—by treating people with dignity and respect, and by being fair and neutral in their actions—they view the police as legitimate and are more likely to comply with directives and cooperate with police. Our article examines both the direct and the indirect outcomes of procedural justice policing, tested under randomized field trial conditions. We assess whether police can enhance perceptions of legitimacy during a short, police‐initiated and procedurally just traffic encounter and how this single encounter shapes general views of police. Our results show significant differences between the control and experimental conditions: Procedurally just traffic encounters with police (experimental condition) shape citizen views about the actual encounter directly and general orientations toward the police relative to business‐as‐usual traffic stops in the control group. The theorized model is supported by our research, demonstrating that the police have much to gain from acting fairly during even short encounters with citizens.     

The Effect of Image Alterations on Identification Using Palmar Flexion Creases

Palmprints are identified using matching of minutia points, which can be time consuming for fingerprint experts and in database searches. This article analyzes the operational characteristics of a palmar flexion crease (PFC) identification software tool, using a dataset of 10 replicates of 100 palms, where the user can label and match palmar line features. Results show that 100 palmprint images modified 10 times each using rotation, translation, and additive noise, mimicking some of the characteristics found in crime scene palmar marks, can be identified with a 99.2% genuine acceptance rate and 0% false acceptance rate when labeled within 3.5 mm of the PFC. Partial palmprint images can also be identified using the same method to filter the dataset prior to traditional matching, while maintaining an effective genuine acceptance rate. The work shows that identification using PFCs can improve palmprint identification through integration with existing systems, and through dedicated palmprint identification applications.     

A Review of: “Brynjar Lia. Architect of Global Jihad: The life of Al-Qaida Strategist Abu Mus'ab al-Suri.”

During the quarter century before the First World War, anarchist terrorism was often blamed on the impact of anarchist agitators on naïve immigrants. This article seeks to investigate the truth of this claim, focusing particularly on Italian emigrants, but also looking at some examples of Spanish, French, and Russian emigrants. My conclusion is that, with a few exceptions, radicals emigrated, but emigration did not create radical terrorists. A particularly good example of this can be found by examining the large Italian emigration to Argentina. At most, the emigrant experience may have heightened a pre-existing radicalism or given more precise configuration to its violent expression.     

Aid as an encounter at the interface: the complexity of the global fight against poverty

International development discourse has recently shifted its focus from top‐down economic adjustment to participative anti‐poverty policy. This shift hints at an acknowledgement of the local complexities within the poverty process and at a need to listen to and develop actions with the ‘poor’. But, whereas the mainstream argument remains couched in a technical framework, we argue that the fight against poverty is inevitably political. Conceptualising the aid industry as a set of global–local interfaces, it follows that a closer look at ‘participation’ in anti‐poverty interventions is needed to come to grips with the political issues involved. Four issues are discussed: the complexity of local ‘participation’, given the ‘polycephalous’ character of third world societies; the power biases in the aid chain; the potential problem of ‘false consciousness’; and the ambiguities of the role of local development brokers. We conclude that anti‐poverty policy is in need of ‘interface experts’, who, through ‘provocation’ can beget ‘participation’.     

From the Executive Board to the Classroom. What Debt Relief Means for Education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

ABSTRACT

This analysis re-assesses the IMF’s decision to grant debt relief to the DRC in 2010 based on the country’s poverty reduction and growth performance: would the IMF come to the same conclusion given the current knowledge available about the impact of the debt relief process on public governance and service delivery? First, it shows that, whereas the direct resource effect of this aid modality was minimal, the indirect effect was more significant: the conditionalities attached to the process helped to stabilize the economy and increased the overall budget of the Congolese state. This increased resource availability also sustainably percolated to the education sector. Second, however, the impact on social development was minimal: school enrolment increased but was hardly accompanied by extra budget per pupil, whereas more complicated challenges like disparities in access or quality of schooling were left untouched. The government’s strategy was also partly short-circuited by the electoral process.     

ASEAN Initiatives to combat Haze pollution: An assessment of regional cooperation in public policy‐making

Over the last 25 years, Southeast Asia had been affected by significant smoke pollution (commonly referred to as the haze), which has mainly emanated from the widespread burning of forests and scrubs by smallholders and plantation operators within Indonesia. The haze has seriously affected air quality in the neighbouring countries. The article will consider the concerted efforts of the states of ASEAN to deal jointly with the problem, through various initiatives culminating in the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution of 2002. The article will then assess the design and impact of these initiatives, and will argue that their success will depend particularly on the standards of governance and administration in Indonesia.