Civilian casualties – do we really care? The failure of the revolution in military affairs of non-lethal weapons in the U.S., Russia and Israel

Causing civilian casualties during military operations has become a much politicised topic in international relations since the Second World War. Since the last decade of the 20th century, different scholars and political analysts have claimed that human life is valued more and more among the general international community. This argument has led many researchers to assume that democratic culture and traditions, modern ethical and moral issues have created a desire for a world without war or, at least, a demand that contemporary armed conflicts, if unavoidable, at least have to be far less lethal forcing the military to seek new technologies that can minimise civilian casualties and collateral damage. Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW) – weapons that are intended to minimise civilian casualties and collateral damage – are based on the technology that, during the 1990s, was expected to revolutionise the conduct of warfare making it significantly less deadly. The rapid rise of interest in NLW, ignited by the American military twenty five years ago, sparked off an entirely new military, as well as an academic, discourse concerning their potential contribution to military success on the 21st century battlefields. It seems, however, that except for this debate, very little has been done within the military forces themselves. This research suggests that the roots of this situation are much deeper than the simple professional misconduct of the military establishment, or the poor political behaviour of political leaders, who had sent them to fight. Following the story of NLW in the U.S., Russia and Israel this research focuses on the political and cultural aspects that have been supposed to force the military organisations of these countries to adopt new technologies and operational and organisational concepts regarding NLW in an attempt to minimise enemy civilian casualties during their military operations. This research finds that while American, Russian and Israeli national characters are, undoubtedly, products of the unique historical experience of each one of these nations, all of three pay very little regard to foreigners’ lives. Moreover, while it is generally argued that the international political pressure is a crucial factor that leads to the significant reduction of harmed civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure, the findings of this research suggest that the American, Russian and Israeli governments are well prepared and politically equipped to fend off international criticism. As the analyses of the American, Russian and Israeli cases reveal, the political-military leaderships of these countries have very little external or domestic reasons to minimise enemy civilian casualties through fundamental-revolutionary change in their conduct of war. In other words, this research finds that employment of NLW have failed because the political leadership asks the militaries to reduce the enemy civilian casualties to a politically acceptable level, rather than to the technologically possible minimum; as in the socio-cultural-political context of each country, support for the former appears to be significantly higher than for the latter.

Rediscovery and redescription of the type of Philodryas laticeps Werner, 1900 and the taxonomic status of P. oligolepis Gomes, 1921 (Serpentes, Colubridae)

Philodryas laticeps Werner, 1900 was previously known only from the holotype, which was believed to be lost during the World Wars. We found the holotype to be housed in the Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin and here redescribe it and report on three additional specimens from the collections of the Instituto Butantan, Sao Paulo and Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin. We conclude that Philodryas oligolepis Gomes, 1921 and P. affinis Muller, 1928 are junior synonyms of Philodryas laticeps Werner, 1900. All specimens share the presence of a black mucosa surrounding the larynx and trachea in the floor of the mouth and distal rows of middle sized spines disposed in a typical ""V-shaped"" configuration on the asulcate surface of the hemipenial body, two uniquely derived features absent in all other species of the genus Philodryas. Intraspecific variation of external morphology, hemipenes, and coloration are documented.

Oljudens musik : En revolution i kompositionsteknik?

Noise music is created around sounds not often welcome in a musical context. Since the birth of electronic music in the 1950s a new perspective on composing has emerged. In electronic music, sounds and their timbre are as much important as melody, harmony and rhythm. This composing perspective is not often observed. Therefore I have examined a musical genre that stretches the boundaries of what we consider music, sound, noise, beautiful and terrible. The aim of this thesis is to investigate what aesthetic ideals noise musicians have when they create music. I examine the composing processes of three noise musicians, by asking the following questions: Do you compose in advance or do you improvise, how do your control of sound look like, how do you use the human voice and how do you categorize sound? The thesis is constructed around interviews I have made with the musicians and an extensive historical background concentrated on the alternative composing techniques that has led to the development of noise music. Among the results I found that these noise musicians always improvise with material, but the real essence of noise music is the character of the sounds, not their origins or material. Composing in advance for sound is a lot more difficult than traditional composing. Another result is that these noise musicians have extensive control of their instruments and can produce the sounds they wanted. They point out the importance of instruments that produce sound not directly controlled by themselves, something that create a musical quality that they aspire.

Borgerlighetens ideal – arbetarnas verklighet. : En studie om Stora Tuna barnavårdsnämnds arbete 1903-1917.

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att studera hur barnavårdsnämnden i Stora Tuna verkställde lagstiftningen om uppfostran åt vanartade och i sedligt avseende försummade barn. För att uppnå syftet med studien har barnavårdsnämndens ledamöter undersökts, lika så de anmälda barnen. Vad anmäldes de för, vilka blev konsekvenserna och vilka var det som stod för anmälningarna? Resultaten jämförs med tidigare forskning från andra platser. Huvudsakligen har protokoll från barnavårdsnämndens sammanträden mellan 1903 och 1917 använts för att besvara frågeställningarna.Resultatet visar att en klar majoritet av nämndens ledamöter representerade medelklassen eller överklassen, endast ett fåtal kom från arbetarklassen. Men de barn som anmäldes kom nästan uteslutande från arbetarklassen. Detta är något som den tidigare forskningen också framhåller. Pojkar anmäldes i betydligt högre utsträckning än flickor, men de flickor som anmäldes dömdes betydligt hårdare än pojkarna. Flickorna anmäldes främst på grund av de bristande hemförhållanden och påföljderna blev oftast att de skiljdes från hemmet till fosterhem eller till barnhem. Pojkarna anmäldes främst för stöld och den vanligaste påföljden blev en allvarlig varning. Polisen var den grupp som anmälde flest barn till nämnden.

Nykter bildning : En undersökning över IOGT, NTO och TO:s folkbildningsverksamhet i Dalarna 1921-1939

This study contents a research of the Swedish temperance movements IOGT, NTO and TO:s adult education in Dalarna between 1921 and 1939. A theory that is used in this essay is the publicity theory of Jürgen Habermas. A theory in this essay is that the adult educational work of the temperance movements could bee seen as an alternative publicity because the courses that the temperance movement held in general contents a great part of the movements own literature, the participants in the courses held their own lectures to each other and it was mostly only members of the temperance movements who could join the courses. The main subject of the courses was history in literature, English, Esperanto, and knowledge about local democracy. Not many courses content the drinking issue in Sweden at this time, even thought a national referendum was held in the issue during the research period of this essay. The lack of courses in the drinking issue illustrates of the fact that the courses only was held for the members of the temperance movement, and they don’t drink alcohol in any case. It was not a big difference in the contents of the course between the organisation in the temperance movements and between different years in this research.

Att välja döden : en komparativ självmordsundersökning för Kyrkefalla och Linköping under åren 1800-1921

Syftet med den här studien är att studera självmordet komparativt mellan Kyrkefalla i Västra Götaland och staden Linköping mellan åren 1800-1921. Den här tidsperioden var en mist sagt händelserik period i svensk historia. Man gick mot en allt högre sekularisering, demokratisering samt en folkökning. Självmordet kom dessutom att avkriminaliseras 1864 vilket kan vara en av annledningarna till att allt fler självmord uppmärksammas i kyrkböckerna. Vidae visar den här studien att självmordens frekvens tenderar att öka under tidens gång, både i Kyrkefalla och i Linköping. Det är under den här tidsperioden mestadels män som självaväljer att avsluta sina liv. För Kyrkefallas del 94% medan det för Linköping handlar om 86,5%. Majoriteten av de som väljer den här vägen för sig själva tillhörde den så kallade arbetarklassen och de vanligaste metoderna för detta ändamål var at antingen hänga sig eller dränka sig. Män valde oftast det första alternativet medan kvinnor föredrog det andra.

More than Just the Final Straw: Stolen Elections as Revolutionary Triggers

Stolen elections are triggering events that overcome barriers to revolutionary action against electoral authoritarian regimes. They mobilize ordinary citizens, strengthen the opposition, and divide the regime. As neo-institutionalist theories of revolution suggest, the relative openness of electoral authoritarianism inhibits mass protest. But when elections are stolen, regimes undergo “closure,” increasing the probability of protest. The failure of other potential revolutionary precipitants underlines that stolen elections are not merely replaceable final straws. Stolen elections have not only been crucial for the emergence of revolutionary situations, they have shaped outcomes as well. Linking popular mobilization to fraudulent elections has become part of the repertoire of contention of democratic revolutionaries.

The sustainability revolution : A societal paradigm shift - ethos, innovation, government transformation

The Sustainability revolution: A societal paradigm shift – ethos, innovation, governance transformation This paper identifies several key mechanisms that underlie major paradigm shifts. After identifying four such mechanisms, the article focuses on one type of transformation which has a prominent place in the sustainability revolution that the article argues is now taking place. The transformation is piecemeal, incremental, diffuse – in earlier writings referred to as ”organic”. This is a more encompassing notion than grassroots, since the innovation and transformation processes may be launched and developed at multiple levels through diverse mechanisms of discovery and development. Major features of the sustainability revolution are identified and comparisons made to the industrial revolution.

Towards Presidential Rule in Ukraine : Hybrid Regime Dynamics under Semi-Presidentialism

This article sets out to analyse recent regime developments in Ukraine in relation to semi-presidentialism. The article asks: to what extent and in what ways theoretical arguments against semi-presidentialism (premier-presidential and president-parliamentary systems) are relevant for understanding the changing directions of the Ukrainian regime since the 1990s? The article also reviews the by now overwhelming evidence suggesting that President Yanukovych is turning Ukraine into a more authoritarian hybrid regime and raises the question to what extent the president-parliamentary system might serve this end. The article argues that both kinds of semi-presidentialism have, in different ways, exacerbated rather than mitigated institutional conflict and political stalemate. The return to the president-parliamentary system in 2010 – the constitutional arrangement with the most dismal record of democratisation – was a step in the wrong direction. The premier-presidential regime was by no means ideal, but it had at least two advantages. It weakened the presidential dominance and it explicitly anchored the survival of the government in parliament. The return to the 1996 constitution ties in well with the notion that President Viktor Yanukovych has embarked on an outright authoritarian path.

The “Lunatic Fringe” -- Barry Goldwater and the Conservative Revolution of the 1960s --

How did conservatives, who had become effectively ostracized by their party following the Great Depression and the societal reforms of the New Deal, regain leverage within the GOP during the 1960s? My hypothesis is two-fold. First, I contend that a small group of conservative activists led by F. Clifton White, in spite of a dearth of resources and manpower, managed to infiltrate Republican infrastructure and “hijack” the delegate- selection process. The distinctly conservative and recalcitrant disposition of the Goldwater delegates demonstrates that these activists succeeded. Second, I argue that in addition to temporarily overpowering the national convention in 1964, conservatives thereafter retained control of the party insofar as subsequent GOP candidates were obliged to garner the support of conservative pockets of the country in order to win the presidential nomination. The resulting rightward shift of the Republican Party following the 1960s is a direct corollary of the conservative takeover outlined in this study.

Tatler (Volume 15 1917)

The Winthrop yearbook was published from 1898 to 2002. It has been known as the Tatler since its inception except for 1904 (Lang Syne) and 1918 (Tatler a la Guerre). No yearbook was published in 1900, 1902, 1903, 1905,1906.