Mediterranean Security Revisited

At the dawn of the last century, the European and Mediterranean countries failed to reach a consensus on building a cooperative security system. This article is an attempt at revisiting the concept of the Mediterranean security system and assessing the conditions for restarting security dialogue in the region. Upon recognition of the need for taking into account the new dimension of risks along with the traditional dimension of threats, the article reviews the insecurity factors of the Mediterranean region and the lesson learned in the security dialogue of the Barcelona Process. Some proposals about rehearsing that dialogue are advanced in the concluding section.     

社会管理法治化中的社区警务——基于衢州市“公安群众工作综合体”的实证研究

公安机关社会管理是政府社会管理的重要组成部分,其管理成效直接影响到群众生活和社会稳定。一直以来,公安作为国家的专政工具,围绕着高度集权的政府行使专政与社会管理,在政治、经济、社会领域承担着管控的职能。随着服务型政府的转型,公安行政也面临着服务转型,尤其是社区警务,必须以服务社区为导向,寓管理于服务之中。“公安群众工作综合体”将社区警务嵌入社区生活,为社区警务的转型提供了有效的载体,推动了社会管理的创新。     

基于安全系统学原理的爆炸物品管理

爆炸物品管理是一个繁杂而艰巨的系统工程,运用安全系统学原理研究和指导爆炸物品管理工作是十分契合的,又是十分必要和重要的。在构建爆炸物品管理的安全系统结构模型,确定爆炸物品管理安全系统综合指标体系及其权重的基础上,提出了爆炸物品管理系统安全、科学、高效运行的措施。     

公安高校实验教学示范中心教学资源共享的探索

公安高校实验教学资源的有限性,决定了公安高校实验教学资源应当使用共享。当前这方面存在一些急须解决的问题。警务技能综合实训教学中心项目建设实践,为实施资源共享,从实验教学资源共享的规章制度和实验室管理共享平台的建设等方面入手,以实验硬件、软件资源共享为核心,资源整合为手段,对实验教学的资源进行战略重组和资源优化,以完善公安高校实验教学资源共享机制。     

略论公安学学科建设与公安实战协调发展

在对学科和公安学科建设简要分析的基础上,阐释了公安学科建设与公安实战协调发展的意义,即公安学科自身建设与发展的需要以及公安实战工作的现实诉求。进而提出了以科研为载体、改革学科、专业及课程设置、优化师资、明确人才培养模式、创新机制等加强公安学科建设与公安实战协调发展的有关建议。     

Searching for Livelihood Security: Land and Mobility in Burkina Faso

The incremental approach to land reform in sub-Saharan Africa constitutes a rapprochement between proponents of the introduction of private property regimes and their critics. The incrementalists recognise that local tenure regimes can change and that they should be the basis of any land-reform programme. This article argues that an important gap remains with regard to the dynamics of tenure arrangements observed in a highly insecure environment, because the incremental approach retains a western-type of tenure security as its ultimate goal. Geographic mobility of actors and fields is essential to the protection of livelihoods in the north-central region of Burkina Faso. This mobility not only is made possible by the prevailing land tenure regime but also underpins its flexibility and allows the merging and shifting of rights. All of this argues against the establishment of western-type tenure security and in favour of the maintenance of flexible resource tenure regimes - a model discussed in recent years in relation to pastoral land use in drylands. This would have the additional advantage of integrating understandings of, and approaches to, pastoralists' and crop-farmers' land use in regions where these population groups already intermingle.     

The International Criminal Court and the Darfur crimes: The dilemma of peace and supra-national criminal justice

ABSTRACT

The supra-national criminal prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of the alleged crimes committed in Darfur raises critical legal and conceptual issues. This article addresses the dilemma of peace, justice and reconciliation from a legal perspective, as well as the justice options that are available. The article also assesses the Sudan's criminal and military laws (both at the substantive and procedural levels) in terms of the country's ability to prosecute international crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In this respect, the article argues that these laws fall short of international criminal law standards and principles – particularly the amendments introduced after the United Nations Security Council referred the Darfur situation to the ICC. The article critically examines the Sudan government's policy of non-engagement, which ultimately led to supra-national criminal prosecution (represented by the ICC intervention under the complementarity principle of the Rome Statute). Finally, the article interrogates the report issued by the African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD), and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of its recommendations.     

Making sense of EU comprehensive security towards conceptual and analytical clarity

Abstract

European leaders frequently vaunt the European Union's distinctiveness in adopting and pursuing a comprehensive approach to security. The EU's profile as an international actor is designed to span across all dimensions of security. As a result, its security policy portfolio involves a large number of institutional actors and policies that need to be coordinated. The ambition of the EU to provide security in a comprehensive manner raises challenges at the politico–strategic level, at the level of operational and policy planning and in day-to-day implementation. So far, the field is lacking an inclusive analytical framework for the analysis of providing security through a distinctively comprehensive civil–military, economic and political organisation. This article seeks to close this gap by providing suggestions for how the wide range of issues related to comprehensive security could be structured, and by framing the matter theoretically and with reference to existing conceptual work and empirical research.     

The Third Way: the Dutch experience

The Third Way in the Netherlands rests upon the institutionalized co-operation between the trade unions, the employers' organizations and the state. During the period of high unemployment in the 1980s this co-operation led to several agreements to moderate wage costs and to reduce statutory working hours with the object of reducing unemployment. In the 1990s,when labour became scarce, new measures were agreed upon to increase participation in the labour market and to boost productivity. Critics of the agreements suggest that the policies adopted by the socio-economic partners in the 1980s, particularly the moderation of wages and the reduction of work time to create more jobs, have a negative effect on the long-term prospects of attaining higher productivity.     

Russia and the EU Ten Years On: A Relationship in Search of Definition

Russia and the EU have dramatically expanded their relationship over the last ten years ever since the 1997 Partnership Cooperation and Agreement entered into force. The four spaces of cooperation agreed upon in 2003 have provided a myriad of opportunities for dialogue and cooperation. Yet, quantity does not equal quality in a relationship that lacks a clear endgame perspective. Russia's new cockiness and the EU's internal divisions do not help bridge the strategic gap. Energy and the common neighbourhood are today the main spoilers in the relationship. They could however be turned into major opportunities in developing a strategic partnership.