Social network analysis and counterinsurgency: a counterproductive strategy?

Social network analysis has been adopted by a number of governments in their counterinsurgency campaigns. By using network analysis, security agencies claim they can render militant groups impotent by targeting ‘nodal points’ or key links in insurgent networks. The article makes three arguments on the potentially counterproductive nature of social network analysis-assisted counterinsurgency campaigns. Firstly, social network analysis may be ‘too successful’ in stripping militant movements of a cadre who could negotiate a peace accord. Secondly, social network analysis-assisted campaigns fail to address the root causes of violent conflict. Thirdly, by denuding communities of social capital and social entrepreneurs, social network analysis – as a counterinsurgency tool – may condemn communities to underdevelopment and failed post-war reconstruction. In short, the ‘magic weapon’ of social network analysis might actually prolong the conflict it is supposed to help quell. The article employs the government of Sri Lanka's social network analysis-assisted counterinsurgency campaign as a case study, though it also has application to other cases. It concludes by considering if social network analysis can be put to more constructive uses, specifically in the rebuilding of communities after violent conflict.     

Measuring Governance in Urban Innovation

Abstract

The international political science literature is ambiguous on the point if the involvement of a plurality of external actors (citizens, economic and social groups, NGOs and CSOs, Universities and experts, different public authorities at the same or at different territorial level, etc.) in governance processes is an end in itself (because it increases democracy) or it is useful in order to achieve better results in the production of public goods.

This article espouses the latter hypothesis and tries to understand if a governance perspective brings about a higher level of innovation in metropolitan areas. In order to test this hypothesis, two metrics are designed: ? In measuring innovation, the ideas are that there are four dimensions in urban innovation (agenda innovation, process innovation, product innovation and innovative communication) and that a metropolitan city has to score high in most of them in order to be considered really innovative.

? As far as governance is concerned, the analytical proposal is that the ideal governance network is at the same time complex (bringing together actors from different territorial levels and from different societal and institutional domains), dense (favouring direct interaction between the actors) and ‘focused’ (showing one or few actors able to act as focal points of the network).

Drawing from a research done in four Italian cities (Turin, Milan, Florence and Naples) through the reconstruction of 120 urban innovation processes, the article illustrates the analytical steps taken and the conclusions that can be reached.     

Privacy by design and anonymisation techniques in action: Case study of Match technology

Privacy by Design is now enjoying widespread acceptance. The EU has recently expressly included it as one of the key principles in the revised data protection legal framework. But how does Privacy by design and data anonymisation work in practise? In this article the authors address this question from a practical point of view by analysing a case study on EU Financial Intelligence Units (“FIUs”) using the Ma³tch technology as additional feature to the existing exchange of information via FIU.NET decentralised computer network. They present, analyse, and evaluate Ma³tch technology from the perspective of personal data protection. The authors conclude that Ma³tch technology can be seen as a valuable example of Privacy by Design. It achieves data anonymisation and enhances data minimisation and data security, which are the fundamental elements of Privacy by Design. Therefore, it may not only improve the exchange of information among FIUs and allow for the data processing to be in line with applicable data protection requirements, but it may also substantially contribute to the protection of privacy of related data subjects. At the same time, the case study clearly shows that Privacy by Design needs to be supported and complemented by appropriate organisational and technical procedures to assure that the technology solutions devised to protect privacy would in fact do so.     

“质”的耕耘还是“量”的拓展？——浙江上市公司连锁董事网络对企业绩效的非线性影响

本文用社会网络和统计分析方法对浙江省144家上市公司2009年的连锁董事网络进行了研究分析,发现浙江省连锁董事网络具有幂律分布的特征.在此基础上,通过NLS回归分析发现,浙江上市公司连锁董事网络的“质”中心度与企业绩效正相关,“量”中心度与企业绩效负相关,连锁董事网络的行业趋同度和地域趋同度也与企业绩效负相关,利用OLS回归分析进行稳健性检验,发现这些实证结论依然稳健.基于这些实证结果,本文在理论上的贡献在于：证明了连锁董事网络具有异质性特征;连锁董事网络中心度,在“质”和“量”上对企业的绩效贡献迥异;上市公司要发挥连锁董事网络实质性的绩效贡献,宜强化“质”的耕耘、而非“量”的拓展,力求构建异质网络、避免过度嵌入与趋同.     

论公安机关应对网络流行语的舆情引导策略

网络流行语往往与社会重大公共事件相伴相生,折射出深刻的社会背景,一定程度地反映了我国社会转型期人们的心理状况,对网络舆论的走向起着推波助澜的作用。网络流行语具有触发性、速成性、反讽性、易煽动性和短暂性等特征,具有正负两方面的社会效应。公安机关作为代表国家行使公安职权和履行公安职责的国家机关,应积极关注网络流行语的动态,把握网络流行语的形成特点及产生发展规律,切实转变工作方式,畅通公众沟通渠道,坚持公平、公正、公开原则,正确引导网络舆论。     

网络信息安全与社会主义核心价值观

社会主义核心价值观明确了国家、社会、公民三个层面的价值目标、价值取向、价值准则,培育和弘扬社会主义核心价值观,关系国家长治久安和社会和谐稳定。网络信息时代,社会主义核心价值观与网络信息安全密切相关,从国家层面来看,网络信息安全是维护国家意识形态的技术保障,有助于巩固社会主义核心价值观的主导地位。从社会层面来看,网络信息安全是维护社会和谐稳定的有效路径,有助于发挥社会主义核心价值观的引领作用。从个体层面来看,网络信息安全是保障公民网络信息权利的基本前提,有助于扩大社会主义核心价值观的认同空间。     

UNDERSTANDING DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION: AN ACTOR‐NETWORK PERSPECTIVE

Development projects are central to international development, yet the actual practice of their implementation is under‐researched. In particular, we know little about how practice affects project performance and about how politics is enacted within such projects. This paper investigates these knowledge gaps through analysis, using actor‐network theory (ANT), of a donor‐funded reform project in the Sri Lankan public sector. By analysing, using mobilisation, interaction and disintegration of the local and global actor‐networks that typically surround such development projects, the paper explains the project's trajectory. These actions represent the practice of politics that must, in turn, be understood in relation to network actor power: not through a static conception of ‘capacitive power’ but through the dynamic enacted concept of ‘associative power’. The paper concludes by reflecting on the contribution and limitations of ANT's local/global networks component in analysing development projects, and in providing insights for development project practice. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cross-border metropolitan governance: the multi-faceted state power

Metropolitan regions have become one of the most appropriate scales to define efficient governance networks for economic and territorial development. The state still is the key actor of these partnerships. Yet the question remains whether cross-border metropolitan regions represent a new point of reference that puts state power in question or whether they only reorganize it. The centrality of state power will be examined by looking at two networks of actors (public transport and territorial marketing) working at the Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai. The results reveal that a triple-faceted state power has emerged to define and organize cross-border metropolitan management.     

网络环境中公民参与的时代价值及路径选择

以互联网为核心的信息网络技术革命更加凸显了公民参与的时代价值,同时也给公民参与带来了许多困境。全面分析网络环境中公民参与的尴尬局面,寻求摆脱这些困境的路径选择,对于引导中国公民理性地进行参与活动,促进中国公民参与的有序化发展具有重要的理论和现实意义。