Terrorismo, Yihadismo y Crimen Organizado en la Estrategia Global de Seguridad de la Unión Europea

El terrorismo es considerado en la Estrategia Global para la Política Exterior y de Seguridad de la UE como una de las principales amenazas a la seguridad de la Unión Europea. La lucha contra el terrorismo ha dado sus frutos en los últimos quince años, pero este artículo analiza la nueva Estrategia y se pregunta si será suficiente para responder con eficacia a esta amenaza y si se están empleando todos los medios necesarios para atajarla.

L'Asse Tripartito Italia-Germania- Giappone e la Cina

Germany, Italy and Japan were engaged in China from the turn of the 20th century to WWII. However, they formed an anti-Chinese alliance only at the final stage of their presence there, when Japan assumed an undisputed role of leader in the region. Despite its alliance with the Axis powers, Japan never implemented racial laws against the Jews in China. All of them took part in the Boxer Upraising suppression and received as a consequence extraterritorial rights and concessions. Moreover, Japan won the war against China in 1895 and transformed itself from a tributary country of China into an imperialistic power. It took possession of Taiwan and in the 1930s established a puppet government in Manchuria.Germany followed different route obtaining as indemnity for the murders of two missionaries the control of the Shandong province, which was later expanded thanks to the anti-Boxer coalition's victory. However, Germany lost all possessions when China entered WWI. The issue of Shandong was finally resolved at the Conference for Disarmament hold in Washington in 1921-2. Japan failed to gain ex-Germany territories. Finally, Italy arrived in the Far East at the turn of the century but was not very interested in the oriental colonialism to the same extent it was interested in Africa. Tianjin was its only concession in China, and it took almost a decade before a subvention to arrive from the Italian government for its development.In the 1920s and 1930s Germany and Italy engaged in successful diplomatic, commercial and military relationships with China. In fact, both were considered China's partners thanks to their experts at the service of the Chinese government. On the other hand, Japan position was opposite to them, because of its plans of aggression towards China which was to be transformed into “the natural extension” of the mainland. In 1935 Italy declared war on Ethiopia and abandoned the seat at the League of Nations. China interpreted the Italian aggression as the endorsement of Japan's politics towards China in Manchuria, and the relations between the two countries were broken off. After that Italy supported Wang Jingwei's puppet government during the Japanese occupation of China. Germany followed the same path in 1937, when it was evident that the Japanese were playing the leading role in the region, and decided to ally with Wang Jingwei too. Both Italy and Germany decided also to recognise the Manzhuguo and established diplomatic relations, definitively turning their backs on the old Chinese ally.The Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis sealed the alliance among the three countries, and it confirmed Japan as the leading power in the region. Nevertheless Japan did not apply the racial law against the Jews in China.

Resolução de conflitos internacionais: estudo com militares em missões de paz

Tese de Doutoramento em Psicologia na área de especialidade em Psicologia Comunitária

Combate ao terrorismo em Portugal : Da estratégia à cooperação no quadro das Forças e Serviços de Segurança

A presente investigação, subordinada ao tema “Combate ao Terrorismo em Portugal: da estratégia à cooperação no quadro das Forças e Serviços de Segurança”, tem como objetivo geral compreender de que forma a legislação sobre o combate ao terrorismo e a resposta conjunta e cooperada das forças e serviços de segurança que dela deriva concorrem, atualmente, para o combate desta ameaça em Portugal. A metodologia empregue segue uma matriz dedutiva, focando-se no estudo de caso da Unidade de Coordenação Antiterrorista, e visando, com recurso à análise documental e a inquéritos por entrevista e por questionário, o desenvolvimento de uma cadeia de raciocínio em ordem descendente, de análise do geral para o particular, para chegar a uma conclusão. O estudo compõe-se em três capítulos essenciais, devidamente delineados e interligados pela seguinte sequência lógica: no primeiro (abordagem conceptual), fazemos um breve estudo do terrorismo e do enquadramento legal sobre a temática do combate ao terrorismo; no segundo (enquadramento metodológico), explicamos de forma pormenorizada a metodologia adotada, bem como os métodos e materiais utilizados; e, por fim, no terceiro capítulo (abordagem empírica) procedemos à apresentação, análise e interpretação dos resultados, procurando estabelecer uma ligação entre a vertente legislativa e a vertente operativa do combate ao terrorismo em Portugal. Concluímos que o enquadramento legislativo permite um desenvolvimento eficaz do combate ao terrorismo, ainda que possa ser aprofundado em determinadas áreas. Mas mais do que um quadro legislativo completo, deve haver uma preocupação ao nível da sensibilização das estruturas e dos próprios profissionais das forças e serviços de segurança para a luta contra o fenómeno terrorista, sendo ainda notória alguma precariedade ao nível da partilha de informações e do culto das informações em Portugal, pois só assim conseguiremos que a resposta conjunta e cooperada das forças e serviços de segurança se alinhe com os propósitos estabelecidos pela lei.

Guantánamo : o desafio democrata

O artigo trata da eleição presidencial dos Estados Unidos. Aborda o desafio dos democratas em reformar o sistema prisional destinado ao combate do terrorismo. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT

Post-Revolutionary Post-Modernism: Central American Detective Fiction by the Turn of the 21st Century

Contemporary Central American fiction has become a vital project of revision of the tragic events and the social conditions in the recent history of the countries from which they emerge. The literary projects of Sergio Ramirez (Nicaragua), Dante Liano (Guatemala), Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador), and Ramon Fonseca Mora (Panama), are representative of the latest trends in Central American narrative. These trends conform to a new literary paradigm that consists of an amalgam of styles and discourses, which combine the testimonial, the historical, and the political with the mystery and suspense of noir thrillers. Contemporary Central American noir narrative depicts the persistent war against social injustice, violence, criminal activities, as well as the new technological advances and economic challenges of the post-war neo-liberal order that still prevails throughout the region. Drawing on postmodernism theory proposed by Ihab Hassan, Linda Hutcheon and Brian MacHale, I argued that the new Central American literary paradigm exemplified by Sergio Ramirez’s El cielo llora por mí, Dante Liano’s El hombre de Montserrat, Horacio Castellanos Moya’s El arma en el hombre and La diabla en el espejo, and Ramon Fonseca Mora’s El desenterrador, are highly structured novels that display the characteristic marks of postmodern cultural expression through their ambivalence, which results from the coexistence of multiple styles and conflicting ideologies and narrative trends. The novels analyzed in this dissertation make use of a noir sensitivity in which corruption, decay and disillusionment are at their core to portray the events that shaped the modern history of the countries from which they emerge. The revolutionary armed struggle, the state of terror imposed by military regimes and the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, are among the major themes of these contemporary works of fiction, which I have categorized as perfect examples of the post-revolutionary post-modernism Central American detective fiction at the turn of the 21st century.

27th International Police Executive Symposium, Washington DC, USA, Urban Security: Challenges for 21st Century Global Cities

Goncalo de Melo Bandeira Counter-Terrorism, State of Emergency and Human Rights. In the global cities, the fight against terrorism is a way forward. Prevention of terrorism is another possible way. There are legal systems where the prevailing idea is combating terrorism. Fight, because is possible: life imprisonment or informal death penalty or even torture. While other jurisdictions only follow the prevention of terrorist crime: the retribution and positive general prevention and the resocialization. There may be extreme cases also in restorative justice. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris on 11.13.2015 have shown to the different types of police several problems. Some of those are: the declaration of State of emergency and the consequent restriction of human rights as the privacy of human communication or the liberty of travel by local city citizens or foreign citizens or the public entertainment shows, the problem of money laundering and the restriction of the business as usual, the vicious circle of more isolation from some urban communities, v.g. muslims, and other citizens also; and, brevitatis causa, the criminological problem of the causes and consequences of terrorism.

Existencia del derecho penal del enemigo en el derecho penal internacional

Sin duda alguna, el debate sobre el derecho penal del enemigo es una cuestión que está revolucio­nando el mundo del derecho, en general, y el derecho internacional en particular. Es un debate de actualidad que está llamando la atención de la comunidad académica, en tanto se plantea y se avizora un problema de fondo, en cuanto a la efectiva protección de los derechos humanos, por encima de un discurso de seguridad, que se viene planteando como eje central en la comunidad internacional, en la lucha contra el terrorismo y como estrategia jurídico-política al interior de Estados que dicen llamarse democráticos. Esta situación está revolucionando desde cualquier punto de vista la concepción tradicional del derecho, violentando flagrantemente la dignidad humana como eje central del Estado Social de Derecho, al poner en práctica lo que Jakobs denomina “dere­cho penal del enemigo”, práctica que también se viene fortaleciendo y traspasándose del ejercicio del ius puniendi de los Estados, como manifestación de soberanía, al derecho penal internacional.Abstract Without any doubt, the debate about the penal right of the enemy is a question that is revolutionizing the world of law in a general level, and international right in particular. It is a current debate that is drawing the attention of the academic community, as it poses as a basic problem: the effective protection of the human rights, over a security discourse which is presented as central in the international community in the fight against terrorism, and as a legal-political strategy to the interior of the so called democratic States. This situation is revolutionizing, from different points of view, the traditional conception of law, flagrantly violenting the human dignity as the central axis of the Social State of Right, putting in practice what Jakobs denominates “Criminal law for the enemy”. This practice is being fortified and transferring from the exercise of ius puniendi of the States, as manifestation of sovereignty, to the international penal right.

Terrorism as war by other means: national security and state support for terrorism

The conventional approach in the discipline of International Relations is to treat terrorist organizations as "non-state" actors of international relations. However, this approach is problematic due to the fact that most terrorist organizations are backed or exploited by some states. In this article, I take issue with the non-stateness of terrorist organizations and seek to answer the question of why so many states, at times, support terrorist organizations. I argue that in the face of rising threats to national security in an age of devastating wars, modern nation states tend to provide support to foreign terrorist organizations that work against their present and imminent enemies. I elaborate on my argument studying three cases of state support for terrorism: Iranian support for Hamas, Syrian support for the PKK, and American support for the MEK. The analyses suggest that, for many states, terror is nothing but war by other means.

Military empowerment and civilian targeting in civil war

Civilians constitute a large share of casualties in civil wars across the world. They are targeted to create fear and punish allegiance with the enemy. This maximizes collaboration with the perpetrator and strengthens the support network necessary to consolidate control over contested regions. I develop a model of the magnitude and structure of civilian killings in civil wars involving two armed groups who Öght over territorial control. Armies secure compliance through a combination of carrots and sticks. In turn, civilians di§er from each other in their intrinsic preference towards one group. I explore the e§ect of the empowerment of one of the groups in the civilian death toll. There are two e§ects that go in opposite directions. While a direct e§ect makes the powerful group more lethal, there is an indirect e§ect by which the number of civilians who align with that group increases, leaving less enemy supporters to kill. I study the conditions under which there is one dominant e§ect and illustrate the predictions using sub-national longitudinal data for Colombiaís civil war.

Reply to Christine Sylvester, “Terro rWars: Boston Iraq”: An examination of differences between counter-terrorism and war as seen through the Iraqi experience of occupation

This response examines what is overlooked in Sylvester’s analysis of similarities between the US police security response to the Boston marathon bombings (2013) and Kevin Powers’ fictionalized account of the US war operations in Al Tafar, Iraq (2004) and evaluates the consequences for our understanding of contemporary war. This is done by highlighting differences between the experience of residents in Boston and the (real) town of Tal Afar, key among them the insecurity, fear and calamity that result from the distinct political realities in these locations. The experience of war from the perspective of the victims adds an important dimension to the debate over the changing nature of war. At a time that is marked by an unprecedented level of technologization and visual mediation, it brings into focus the fragmentary and often one-sided evidence on which our knowledge of contemporary war is based. It reminds us to ask not only what we know about war, but how we know it.