Serving in Bosnia made me appreciate living in Bristol: stressful experiences, attitudes, and psychological needs of members of the United Kingdom Armed Forces

Peacekeeping operations form an increasing part of the role of the U.K. Armed Forces. This study identified perceived needs for training before such operations, experiences of stress during deployments, beliefs and attitudes regarding psychological support and debriefing on return, general attitudes toward peacekeeping duties, and positive aspects of the peacekeeping role. Although nearly all peacekeepers were exposed to a variety of experiences, most perceived stress came from professional difficulties and frustrations with the occupational role of being a peacekeeper, rather than from dangerous situations. The exception was a significant fear of land mines. For many, peacekeeping had a positive impact on soldiers' lives, most commonly an appreciation of "things back home." Respondents' opinions about the peacekeeping experience vary greatly. Additional training addressing and exploring potential conflicts between the traditional role of the soldier and the role of the peacekeeper may be useful.

Power politics and the Indonesian military

This book, based on extensive original research, examines the role of the military in Indonesian politics. It looks at the role of the military historically, examines the different ways it is involved in politics, and considers how the role of the military might develop in what is still an uncertain future.

The politics of Indonesia

The Politics of Indonesia is the only book to provide a complete analysis of Indonesian politics, from the declaration of independence until the election of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in late 2004. The book examines the underlying themes and tensions that affect Indonesian politics, from the dichotomy between the small wealthy elite and the poverty in which most of the population live to the system of corruption and patronage within which the political system and armed forces operate. Analyzing the role and impact of the military, separatism, the media, law, and the economy on Indonesia, this book provides a topical and thought-provoking guide to one of the regions most populous countries, and the largest predominantly Muslim country in the world.

Transformational analysis of the national interest

This thesis explains the independence of East Timor by investigating the idea of "national interest". It shows how the policymakers' "national interest" calculations were opposed by a transnational solidarity movement. It concludes that the Australian government was compelled to deploy peacekeepers despite its best efforts to the contrary.

Enlistment and non-enlistment in wartime Australia : responses to the 1916 call to arms appeal

This article examines men’s responses to the 1916 ‘Call to Arms’ appeal, in which Australia’s federal government questioned military-aged male citizens on their willingness to enlist voluntarily in the armed forces for service at the front. It argues that the appeal illuminated men’s difficult negotiation of choice, in which they weighed their personal sense of obligation to the state at war, to their families, and to themselves. It shows how men not only confronted their decision, but measured their responsibilities against others’, producing a subjective order of sacrifice that paralysed recruiting. In the absence of conscription, that private decision-making was critical to the nature of Australia’s commitment to the war, as men assessed and re-assessed the limits of obligation for themselves.

A transformational analysis of the national interest

This thesis explains the independence of East Timor by investigating the idea of "national interest". It shows how the policymakers' "national interest" calculations were opposed by a transnational solidarity movement. It concludes that the Australian government was compelled to deploy peacekeepers despite its best efforts to the contrary.

Do military peacekeepers want to talk about their experiences? Perceived psychological support of UK military peacekeepers on return from deployment

Background: Little is known about what support the United Kingdom (UK) armed forces require when they return from operations. Aims: To investigate the perceived psychological support requirements for service personnel on peacekeeping deployments when they return home from operations and examine their views on the requirement for formal psychological debriefings. Methods: A retrospective cohort study examined the perceived psychological needs of 1202 UK peacekeepers on return from deployment. Participants were sent a questionnaire asking about their perceived needs relating to peacekeeping deployments from April 1991 to October 2000. Results: Results indicate that about two-thirds of peacekeepers spoke about their experiences. Most turned to informal networks, such as peers and family members, for support. Those who were highly distressed reported talking to medical and welfare services. Overall, speaking about experiences was associated with less psychological distress. Additionally, two thirds of the sample was in favour of a formalised psychological debriefing on return to the UK. Conclusions: This study suggests that most peacekeepers do not require formalised interventions on homecoming and that more distressed personnel are already accessing formalised support mechanisms. Additionally social support from peers and family appears useful and the UK military should foster all appropriate possibilities for such support. Declaration of Interest: The Stage 1 study was funded by the US Department of Defence (DoD) and the follow up study by the Medical Research Counsel (MRC). Neither the DoD nor MRC had any input into the design, conduct, analysis or reporting of the study. The views expressed are not those of any US or UK governmental organisation. We thank Mr Nick Blatchley of MOD for help in identifying the cohorts.

Banking regulation and market forces in Australia

The purpose of this paper is to use Kane's notion of the regulatory dialectic to analyse the changing nature of bank regulation in Australia. Throughout Australia's economic history, economic regulation of the Australian banking system has not been static but has responded to changes in technology, market forces, and the behaviour of regulated institutions. From this analysis, some inferences about general banking principles and policy can be made.

Convergence in the gender wage gap in Australia over the 1980s: identifying the role of counteracting forces via the Juhn, Murphy and Pierce Decomposition

The paper utilises the Juhn Murphy and Pierce (1991) decomposition to shed light on the pattern of slow male-female wage convergence in Australia over the 1980s. The analysis allows one to distinguish between the role of wage structure and genderspecific effects. The central question addressed is whether rising wage inequality counteracted the forces of increased female investment in labour market skills, i.e. education and experience. The conclusion is that in contrast to the US and the UK, Australian women do not appear to have been swimming against a tide of adverse wage structure changes.

Artificial formation forces for stable aggregation of multi-agent system

This paper introduces, a robust and stable algorithm based on artificial formation forces, for multi-agent system (MAS) aggregation in 2D space. The MAS model with artificial forces; consists of inter-member collision avoidance element, formation generation element and a velocity based damping element; is analysed for stability and convergence. Computer simulations are used to illustrate stability and convergence, and to demonstrate effectiveness of the algorithm.

Enslaved by market forces

The backlash against globalisation appears to have some sections of our business community very worried.

The impact of external forces on cartel network dynamics : Direct research in the diamond industry

This paper describes the impact of external environmental forces on cartel networks. Using a case research approach, this report examines two leading business networks within one industry, over time. The results suggest that (a) bargaining power of intermediaries increases with the advent of new and powerful actors, (b) process activities that cartels previously controlled are being outsourced to new actors sometimes based in developing countries, (c) other actors are acquiring resources once dominated by a cartel, (d) external forces triggered by the illegal diamond trade, such as international regulatory constraints, no longer favour cartels like De Beers, and (e) over time, these and additional environment factors are forcing actors like De Beers who perform rigid process activities to become more flexible. For example,forces are moving cartels which relied previously on hand-picked intermediaries in highly controlled networks to market their products to adopt a flexible market-focused expansion of operations in retail contexts.