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NEW PERSPECTIVES ON FUNDAMENTAL STATE INSTITUTIONALISATIONS

Author(s): Georgel Rusu / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2012

To fulfil the roles undertaken in front of its own nation/population, as well as international actors, the state uses instruments of power. Their subordination/coordination and control are established by law and they benefit from public management and must cooperate and collaborate with other institutions. Historically speaking, as the author mentions, the instruments of power of a state appeared with the state itself (the fundamental ones), and in the modern age they increased as the standards regarding the state recognition/qualification evolved (the instruments: information, peace enforcement ones and especially emergency situations management are newer notions, which are related to the assurance of good governance).

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NOT GONE – BUT NOT AS STRONG

Author(s): Jason Burke / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2012

The author reviews the evolution of al-Qaeda, especially over recent years, writing that over the 24 years since the formation of al-Qaeda, four phases can be distinguished. Each helps us in different ways to understand the nature of the threat from radical Sunni Islamic extremism today, particularly when it comes to so-called homegrown terrorism. By 2003 or 2004, new security arrangements made it impossible to insert large groups of foreign operatives in target countries. The vanguard was replaced by the “network of networks”. For several years, there have been an increasing number of so-called “lone wolf” attackers, inspired by but in no way linked to al-Qaeda. Significant though the death of bin Laden himself was, analysts largely agree that the al-Qaeda core leadership had been getting weaker for some time before the death of their leader.

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LEGITIMACY OF PURPOSE AND LEGALITY OF MEANS IN CURRENT ARMED CONFLICTS (II)

Author(s): Ionel Hornea / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2012

In the second part of the article, the author deals with the issue of war in opposition to peace from the perspective of the second most important school in the theory of international relations – liberalism, noting that those who advocate this trend have avoided considering war as a means to regulate the issues between states that are liberal democracies. Then, he approaches the same issue from the standpoint of the sociological school, mentioning that, in the context of the development of social-humanistic sciences, sociological explanations have gained more and more importance. In the end of this part, the author writes about the Romanian contribution to the issue of peace and war, pointing out the work of Dimitrie Gusti, more precisely two of his excellent studies on war sociology.

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SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING – NECESSITY AND BENEFITS FOR THE MILITARY SYSTEM –

Author(s): Vasile Roman,Mirela Claudia DRACINSCHI / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

This article aims to promote social and emotional learning in the military system, identifying the major benefits and the implied changes. After a short introduction regarding the roots of social and emotional learning in the social context, the authors try to define this educative component and its outcomes for a deeper understanding of the domain. A generous space is dedicated to the concepts of social and emotional learning and competencies. In the second part of this article, the authors seek to identify some of the most relevant aspects concerning the integration of the social and emotional learning in the human resources management of the national defence system. They conclude with some recommendations and warning signs regarding the harmonisation of the military theory and practice with the social and educational challenges.

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THE CONCEPTION OF RESERVE FORCES TRAINING IN CERTAIN MODERN ARMED FORCES

Author(s): Adrian Bălălău / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

Today, defence, as defined in the basic laws, encompasses more than just traditional national defence against a conventional attack, which previously solely determined the structures of the Ministers of Defence but no longer corresponds with the current security policy requirements. It must be ensured that the ability to conduct national defence operations against a conventional attack can be reconstituted within a foreseeable, albeit prolonged, period. This new orientation of the majority of modern armed forces determines the organisation, training, assignment and availability of male or female reservists. The obligation to provide assistance in a state of tension or defence emergency and the performance of basic military service as basic principles will remain. Modern training opportunities for reservists, increased use of their civilian qualifications, close communication with the employers and individually tailored military service are the keys to success.

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FIFTH GENERATION WARFARE – A SF CONCEPT OR AN INEVITABLE PERSPECTIVE? –

Author(s): Vasile Maier,Eugen Marvis / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

Fifth Generation Warfare may include, in the authors’ opinion, a kinetic or non-kinetic attack on the political, social and military structures of the enemy in order to achieve the established strategic goals. Fifth Generation Warfare pushes the known boundaries of conflicts between different international actors in a manner that cannot be fully described using established paradigms yet. However, it is likely that, despite the preponderance of non-kinetic strategies, which will include, for example, cyber warfare, physical attacks will probably remain just as relevant as they are today. This is demonstrated by the use of improvised explosive devices that can cause a damage that is as massive and effective as a cyber attack.

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LEGITIMACY OF PURPOSE AND LEGALITY OF MEANS IN CURRENT ARMED CONFLICTS (I)

Author(s): Ionel Hornea / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

The persistence of armed conflicts in the history of the humankind has been an evil, to some extent, necessary to the human being and the world on their way to progress. In this case, the evil is the war with all its bad consequences and the good is peace and international law applicable in armed conflicts. In the author’s opinion, it is not at all true what Cicero said that laws must be silent when weapons speak, because war is not a simple fight for existence and survival, but remains, in its essence, a human action. That is why the possibility of legal regulation of armed conflict situations arises from the ancient principle of “ubi societas ibi jus” so that, being an action decided and carried out by the members of an organised human society, the armed conflict has also available a legal reflection through which the rights and duties of belligerents are established.

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10 YEARS OF ACTION ON SMALL ARMS: WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Author(s): Sarah PARKER / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

The 2001 UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA) celebrated its tenth anniversary in the summer of 2011. On this occasion, the author asked herself what difference has this programme made. First, she defines this programme and reviews the wide range of areas covered by it. Then, she writes about the progress made in its implementation, detailing some of the factors that hinder the implementation as well as several developments in the PoA process. To conclude, the author points out the need to go beyond the text of national reports to fill in missing details of implementation and, further, verify the information they contain.

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CONTINUOUS WARFARE. CULTURAL CONFRONTATION (VI)

Author(s): Mihail Orzeaţă / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

Culture and civilisation used to be considered synonymous notions by most philosophers, sociologists and other scientists. Cultural confrontation is not necessarily violent, but it has been and will most probably continue to be part of the humankind history as long as the world exists. Religion is one of the most active battlefields in the cultural confrontation domain. Political leaders used and will perhaps continue to use arts for promoting their personal interests. Culture can be compared with a double-edged sword because it can both serve noble purposes and instigate people to take actions with very bad consequences for other human beings.

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NATIONAL SUPPORT ELEMENT – MISSIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES –

Author(s): Cozmin MARINESCU / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2011

The Allied Joint Movement and Transportation Doctrine defines the national support element as a primarily logistic unit, temporarily established, to support national forces acting in a NATO multinational operation. According to this doctrine, the mission of the national support element is to ensure the necessary conditions for receiving, deploying to the area of operations and returning to the country the national forces and their coordination with the host country and the NATO commander of the respective operation. The organisation and responsibilities of the national support element are assigned to the country that participates with forces in the multinational operation. Even if the new approaches to the logistic processes of modern armed forces attach more and more importance to multinational logistic solutions, the current evolutions and estimates still provide the national support element with a significant role in the medium term in the theatre of operations.

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LESSONS LEARNED - AN APPEAL TO HISTORY AND SYMBOL –

Author(s): Danut VACARIU / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2011

History shows that “lessons learned” have represented a major concern of all historians from days of yore to the scientific steps taken today in different armed forces. In order for us to understand the state of a certain system at a given moment, we can resort to history or discover the things on our own and, in this case, everything will seem extremely complicated. The coat of arms of lessons learned is composed of the symbolic badge and the descriptive blazon, linked through a ring. This is also the logo of this field of activity of the lessons. The symbolism of the two heraldic elements suggests the lessons learned resulted following the after-action analysis carried out after the fight.

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MULTILATERALISM AT WAR - DEFENDING “NATIONAL CAVEATS” –

Author(s): Daniel Petrescu / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2011

The author approaches the issue of national caveats, their role and impact in coalition warfare as well as some suggestions regarding the way the latter could be mitigated by NATO. First, he mentions some balanced official views and recommendations regarding the influence of the national caveats. Then, he writes about some public statements and urges to eliminate national caveats. The author considers that it is counterproductive to push towards elimination of national caveats, concluding that all the views presented can be criticised and mentioning that fair understanding shown to different contributor’s caveats could help the strategic effort of the coalition and mean the difference between multilateralism and unilateralism.

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PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF TERROR - FROM TERRORIST PROFILE TO ANTITERRORIST FIGHTER SELECTION MANAGEMENT -

Author(s): Nicolae Radu / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2011

The need to know as many details as possible regarding terrorists’ psychological, physical and specialised training that is generated by terrorist groups’ intention of brain washing the new recruits and religiously indoctrinating based on models inspired by The Big Encyclopaedia of Jihad, The letter from an al-Qaeda member and How to withstand and to confront special services’ investigators requires now, more than ever, a special focus on understanding terrorist groups re-configuration and a new approach to antiterrorist fighters’ training. Al-Qaeda (“Qaidat al-Jihad”), after merging, in June 2001, with al-Jihad (the Egyptian Islamic Jihad), holds training bases spread over the South, South-East Asia and Middle East. Beside these bases, it is a well-known fact that the terrorist group is very active through its European cells called White al-Qaeda or “the terrorists with white skin”. This group reunites around 800 Bosnian Mujaheddin and its purpose is to expand al-Qaeda in Europe with the final aim of accomplishing the “Pan-Islamic Caliphate” worldwide.

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NETWORK-CENTRIC WARFARE AND NETWORK-ENABLED CAPABILITY IMPLICATIONS FOR C4ISR-TYPE INFORMATION NETWORKS IN THE ROMANIAN ARMED FORCES

Author(s): Cristea Dumitru / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2011

The past two decades have marked the humankind evolution towards the Information Age, a new stage of societal development in which modern society is affected, among other factors, by explosive technological changes. Within this context, technology represents the main changing drive. To be more specific, small innovations that have appeared in the information technology and communications are considered to be responsible for the global transformations in the structure of economy, politics or culture. This assertion also extends its validity over the military phenomenon, which is just another human behaviour. The large-scale use of information technology and communications has led to a cybernetic battlefield and to changes in the philosophy of waging war, involving the emergence of new concepts that better describe the new reality: Network Centric Warfare and Network Enabled Capabilities.

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HUNGARIAN PEACEKEEPERS IN AFRICA AND A HUNGARIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE UN MISSION IN MOZAMBIQUE

Author(s): János Besenyő / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2011

The significance of the NATO/EU and UN missions in the life of Hungarian Defence Forces is well known. Most of the people know that 1 000 officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers can serve abroad at the same time. There is a training centre in Szolnok, where applicants can prepare for international service, yet, there still can be noticed some deficiencies as far as training is concerned. Although there is a huge number of experienced people from various missions, there are not enough manuals or pieces of information based on the experience about Africa. In this article, the author shares some information about the UN mission in Mozambique where 23 Hungarian Army officers and 20 police officers served under the UN flag as peacekeepers. The UN Mission in Mozambique (ONUMOZ) was one of the most successful second generation peacekeeping efforts in the ’90s.

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CONTINUOUS WARFARE WHAT FUTURE WARFARE LOOKS LIKE (I)

Author(s): Mihail Orzeaţă / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2010

The most powerful catalyst for international relations has been and will further be represented by interests and that is why the confrontation among states seems to never disappear, however, it will focus on its non-military components. War has shaped humankind history and will most probably continue to do so in the future. The future war is the continuous one and the so-called new types of war are in fact its components, which could be described as new ways of achieving the same goal: imposing one’s will on others through grabbing more power, seizing new territories or markets, increasing political and economic influence etc. The most preferred way of waging war is the hidden one, utilising non-military components: policy, economy, psychological influence and information.

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THE LEVEL OF AMBITION – BETWEEN DESIRE AND OBJECTIVE –

Author(s): Cătălin Tomiţă Tomescu,Claudiu GROSU / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2010

The socio-economic reality or, more accurately, the limited resources and the decreasing democracies’ appetite for the military instrument have caused interesting evolutions at the political level. One of them concerns the way in which the final aspirations of the defence efforts are defined by states and relevant multinational organisations. These final aspirations are known, in most cases, as the level of ambition. In this respect, defining the USA level of ambition can be considered as a complete theoretical model, which includes all the elements that are necessary for dimensioning and improving an extremely complex and broad security instrument.

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A NEW CONCEPT REGARDING A DEPLOYABLE COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEM AT OPERATIONAL LEVEL –

Author(s): Craisor-Constantin Ionita / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2010

The principle of using C2 in military operations includes making certain NATO command and control arrangements at all levels of command in NATO missions. Considering the importance of the relations of coexistence, the multinational nature as well as the short time available for deployment, the author believes that the DJSE accomplished in the NCS may be one of the initial options that the Alliance has available in order to prove the effective use of NCS. Once deployed in theatre, the DJSE does not represent a level of command per se, because the commanders of tactical components remain directly subordinated to the operational level commander.

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NRF - AN ESSENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE ROMANIAN LAND FORCES DEVELOPMENT

Author(s): Stefan Preda / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2010

Defence Capabilities Initiative has sought to narrow the differences between the European allies and the USA, through focusing the European defence procurement, efforts and budgets on five main critical directions: mobility and deployment; sustainment; effective (efficient) engagement; survival and communications interoperability. In this context, in the allies’ vision, the accomplishment of the NRF is the main effort in the transformation process, the way in which a nation itself can participate meaning the transformation of the entire national armed forces. The main missions NRF can fulfil are: embargo operations; consequence management; non-combatants evacuation; show of force; antiterrorist operations; crisis response operations; initial entry operations.

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Book review - On Disinformation. How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy

Author(s): Eduard-Claudiu Gross / Language(s): English Issue: 49/2024

Book review - Lee McIntyre - On Disinformation. How to Fight for Truth and Protect DemocracyThe MIT Press, 2023, ISBN 9780262546300 Lee McIntyre’s book manages to encapsulate the essence of fighting disinformation in a pocket-sized manual. We live in a world where epistemic truth is constantly under siege, and it is our duty to do everything in our power to defend the essence of democracy. This book captures only a small part of the author’s efforts who has written before about what post-truth means and how we can dialogue with a science denier. The book is divided into six chapters, which explain what a truth killer is. [...]

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