THIS ARTICLE SURVEYS POTENTIAL POINTS OF CONFLICT AND TERRORISM IN THE POST-COLD WAR WORLD. IT FINDS THAT WHILE CONFLICTS ABOUND, THE NEW STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA ALLOWS FOR GREATER UNITED NATIONS PARTICIPATION IN THE MEDIATION AND RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS. STILL, GREATER UN INVOLVEMENT IS NOT A PANACEA FOR ALL CONFLICTS. OTHER PREREQUISITES FOR AN EFFECTIVE PEACE PROCESS INCLUDE: SUFFICIENT WILL AMONG BOTH PARTIES IN THE CONFLICT TO INITIATE AND SUSTAIN A PEACE PROCESS; COMMITTED, CAPABLE AND DYNAMIC INDIVIDUAL LEADERS; PATIENCE AND A SPIRIT OF COMPROMISE; AND, A MINIMAL DEGREE OF BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR A PEACE PROCESS.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MORE POWERFUL GLOBAL AVIATION SECURITY REGIME WOULD REQUIRE A DEGREE OF CONSENSUS AMONG THE MEMBER STATES OF ICAO, AND MANY STATES WOULD STRONGLY RESIST ANY ATTEMPT TO LIMIT THEIR SOVEREIGNTY IN AVIATION SECURITY MATTERS. FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE, PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO MAKE DO WITH IMPROVING NATIONAL AVIATION SECURITY STANDARDS AND BILATERAL AND REGIONAL C0-OPERATION. IN THE NEW WORLD DISORDER, GOVERNMENTS, REGULATORY AGENCIES AND THE AVIATION INDUSTRY ARE MORE LIKELY TO TRY TO MUDDLE THROUGH, RESPONDING TO EACH CRISIS AS IT COMES. DISJOINTED INCREMENTALISM RATHER THAN COHERENT GLOBAL REGIME BUILDING IS THE ORDER OF THE DAY.
THE AUTHOR BEGINS BY CHALLENGING MICHEL WIEVIORKA'S DISMISSAL OF THE CLAIM THAT THERE IS A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TERRORISM AND THE MEDIA. TERRORISTS' MANIPULATION AND EXPLOITATION OF THE MEDIA IS SHOWN TO PLAY A CRUCIAL PART IN THEIR PROPAGANDA WAR. THE ARTICLE CONCLUDES BY ARGUING THAT VOLUNTARY SELF-RESTRAINT AND SELF-REGULATION BY THE MEDIA ARE THE BEST POLICY OPTIONS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY IN REGARD TO THE MEDIA'S RESPONSE TO TERRORISM, BUT THAT THE MASS MEDIA NEED TO WORK HARDER AT DEVISING MEASURES OF SELF-RESTRAINT THAT ARE BOTH APPROPRIATE AND EFFECTIVE.
IN THE CONTINUING QUEST TO COMBAT TERRORISM, BOTH HOME-GROWN AND FOREIGN THREATS, THE ROLE OF THE MILITARY ARM OF DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES IS EVALUATED. WHILE THERE IS AN ABSOLUTE DETERMINATION TO DEFEAT TERRORISM WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE RULE OF LAW AND THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS, IT IS VERY SENSITIVE ONCE THE MILITARY BECOMES INVOLVED. AN INTENSIFIED EFFORT TO BRING TERRORISTS TO JUSTICE BY PROSECUTION AND CONVICTION BEFORE COURTS OF LAW, HOWEVER, SOMETIMES NECESSITATES THESE DRASTIC MEASURES TO BE TAKEN.
THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES SPRINZAK'S THEORY OF "SPLIT DELEGITIMIZATION" AND FINDS THAT THIS THEORY'S MAJOR WEAKNES IS THAT IT FAILS TO EXPLAIN THE EMERGENCE AND LONG-TERM SURVIVAL OF MASS PARTIES OF THE EXTREME RIGHT. THE ARTICLE THEN BRIEFLY SURVEYS SOME OF THESE MASS PARTIES AND FINDS THAT THERE IS NO CLEAR CORRELATION BETWEEN THE ELECTORAL SUCCESS OF EXTREME-RIGHT MASS PARTIES AND THE LEVEL OF TERRORISM AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE FROM SMALL EXTREME-RIGHT GROUPS. HOWEVER, THE AMBIVALENCE OF MASS PARTIES OF THE FAR RIGHT TOWARDS VIOLENCE, AND INTENSIFICATION OF THE PROPAGANDA OF VIOLENCE, RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA ARE CLEARLY CONDUCIVE TO VIOLENCE AND TERROR FROM THE EXTREME RIGHT.
THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR AN EFFECTIVE AVIATION SECURITY SYSTEM, INCLUDING BRIEF REFERENCE TO THE PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC INFORMATION AND WARNING ARE EXAMINED IN THIS ARTICLE. PREREQUISITES FOR THE SECURITY SYSTEM ARE IDENTIFIED AS: (1) CAPABILITY TO OBTAIN, PROPERLY EVALUATE, AND UTILIZE HIGH-QUALITY INTELLIGENCE; AND (2) THE ABILITY TO KEEP ITS OWN INTELLIGENCE, COMMAND, CONTROL AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS FULLY SECURE. IT CONCLUDES THAT IF THE MAJOR AVIATION COUNTRIES CAN ACHIEVE THIS SECURITY THAT THEY WILL BECOME MODELS FOR OTHER STATES AND ORGANIZATIONS.
BACKGROUND: There is wide agreement that there is a lack of attention to health in municipal environmental policy-making, such as urban planning and regeneration. Explanations for this include differing professional norms between health and urban environment professionals, system complexity and limited evidence for causality between attributes of the built environment and health outcomes. Data from urban health indicator (UHI) tools are potentially a valuable form of evidence for local government policy and decision-makers. Although many UHI tools have been specifically developed to inform policy, there is poor understanding of how they are used. This study aims to identify the nature and characteristics of UHI tools and their use by municipal built environment policy and decision-makers. METHODS: Health and social sciences databases (ASSIA, Campbell Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Scopus, Social Policy and Practice and Web of Science Core Collection) will be searched for studies using UHI tools alongside hand-searching of key journals and citation searches of included studies. Advanced searches of practitioner websites and Google will also be used to find grey literature. Search results will be screened for UHI tools, and for studies which report on or evaluate the use of such tools. Data about UHI tools will be extracted to compile a census and taxonomy of existing tools based on their specific characteristics and purpose. In addition, qualitative and quantitative studies about the use of these tools will be appraised using quality appraisal tools produced by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and synthesised in order to gain insight into the perceptions, value and use of UHI tools in the municipal built environment policy and decision-making process. This review is not registered with PROSPERO. DISCUSSION: This systematic review focuses specifically on UHI tools that assess the physical environment's impact on health (such as transport, housing, air quality and greenspace). This study will help indicator producers understand whether this form of evidence is of value to built environment policy and decision-makers and how such tools should be tailored for this audience. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: N/A.
Muller, H.: Proliferation of conventional armament and weapons of mass destruction: the security risks. - S.5-12. ... Gere, F.: La contre-proliferation: les options politiques de l'Europe occidentale. - S.19-24. Wikinson, P.: The changing international terrorist threat. - S.25-37. Baron Crespo, E.: Le terrorisme comme instrument des "rogue states" et "non state actors": la response politique de l'Europe occidentale. - S.39-42. Rocard, M.: Terrorisme et proliferation: Mythe ou realite? - S.43-55
This paper reports results from the monitoring part of a recent UK Department of Health funded project investigating carbon monoxide (CO) levels in homes during the winter of 2002/2003. In all, 56 homes were monitored for carbon monoxide in 3 cities across the UK. The homes were selected as part of the UK government Warm Front evaluation programme (aimed at reducing fuel poverty) and might be expected to have a higher incidence of problem gas appliances emitting higher than average amounts of CO than the general population. However the ventilation rate of these homes might also be expected to be higher. Measurements of CO were taken at 15-minute intervals in a representative location in the main living area of each home. Thirteen or 23% of the homes were found to exceed the WHO guideline values for ambient CO concentrations. In each home that exceeded the guidelines an assessment of source concentration of each appliance was made by an expert gas engineer, it was found that old, poor quality gas appliances caused a large proportion of exceedances seen.
Dwellings are a substantial source of global CO2 emissions. The energy used in homes for heating, cooking and running electrical appliances is responsible for a quarter of current total UK emissions and is a key target of government policies for greenhouse gas abatement. Policymakers need to understand the potential impact that such decarbonization policies have on the indoor environment and health for a full assessment of costs and benefits. We investigated these impacts in two contrasting settings of the UK: London, a predominantly older city and Milton Keynes, a growing new town. We employed SCRIBE, a building physics-based health impact model of the UK housing stock linked to the English Housing Survey, to examine changes, 2010-2050, in end-use energy demand, CO2 emissions, winter indoor temperatures, airborne pollutant concentrations and associated health impacts. For each location we modelled the existing (2010) housing stock and three future scenarios with different levels of energy efficiency interventions combined with either a business-as-usual, or accelerated decarbonization of the electricity grid approach. The potential for CO2 savings was appreciably greater in London than Milton Keynes except when substantial decarbonization of the electricity grid was assumed, largely because of the lower level of current energy efficiency in London and differences in the type and form of the housing stock. The average net impact on health per thousand population was greater in magnitude under all scenarios in London compared to Milton Keynes and more beneficial when it was assumed that purpose-provided ventilation (PPV) would be part of energy efficiency interventions, but more detrimental when interventions were assumed not to include PPV. These findings illustrate the importance of considering ventilation measures for health protection and the potential variation in the impact of home energy efficiency strategies, suggesting the need for tailored policy approaches in different locations, rather than adopting a universally rolled out strategy.
