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In The Military Balance 2014, launched on 5 February, opening essays examine developments in armed conflict and the world of military technology and doctrine. This yearʹs "Conflict analysis and conflict trends" essay considers lessons learnt from the ten years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the role of state and non-state adversaries, commonalities and continuities between modern conflicts, and possible capability requirements. This is followed by "Unmanned systems: capabilities develop amid continuing policy questions". In this piece, the development and deployment of land, maritime and aerospace systems are discussed, as well as the problems of contested airspace, and the future for unmanned systems as a result of developments in autonomous technology. Finally, an essay on "Measuring cyber capability" discusses factors by which we might begin to measure statesʹ abilities to operate in the cyber domain, and possible indicators of cyber warfare capability. -- Publisher description.

Entitled "Damage, Fear, and Transformation: International Currency Systems and Postwar Japan's Currency Policies," my dissertation sheds light on how economic damage/loss arouses fears of politicians, monetary authorities, economic experts, and business groups and how those fears can propel changes in the economic system. This can be seen through a case study of Japanese currency policy since 1945. We are accustomed to the paradigm that regards economic changes as largely the consequence of people's proactive and voluntary actions as embodied in entrepreneurship, challenge spirit, and profit-seeking, but my research shows that another large factor affecting the economic system is reactive actions driven by fear of losing accumulated wealth. Although researchers have examined the immense impact that damages and fear can cause to an economic system, they treated such damage and fear not as persistent factors but as temporary factors that emerged only during or after the time of emergency when the preexisting system became dysfunctional. In contrast, a proactive entrepreneurial spirit has been thought by many as having always been the engine of economic change from ancient times to the present. The reason the role of damage/loss and fear has been seen in such a limited way is that earlier studies mostly focused on realized economic damage, and not on the potential scale of unrealized economic damage and people's fear of it. This fear of potential economic damage has exerted a persistent influence on economic systems even in times of prosperity. What is potential economic damage? Potential economic damage expands in tandem with economic growth because we come to have more things to lose as we attain larger economic scale and property (scale of accumulation, transaction, etc.). And why does potential damage/loss consistently affect an economic system? As economic scale expands, the preexisting economic system gradually becomes unsuitable for the overgrown scale of the economy. Since such an unsustainable state destabilizes the containment of potential loss that has been growing along with economic expansion, the fear of losing accumulated wealth becomes increasingly widespread, leading both decision-makers and businesspeople to seek the fortification or transformation of the preexisting system. Demonstrating such a relationship, the dissertation argues that damage/loss and fear were not intermittent external causes, but consistent prime movers of economic change. To support the argument, the dissertation focuses on potential and realized losses related to currency, and their influence on the currency system, especially in Japan. Because a country's currency rate affects its products' overseas price and because trade had high importance for Japan, fear of economic damages that would result from a destabilization of the currency system and foreign exchange market attained massive proportions in Japan. Therefore, through the case of Japanese currency policy, we can relatively easily discern the interrelation between fear of potential/realized economic damage and systemic change. Specifically, the interrelation can be found in the following phases where potential economic damage and fear of it propelled Japanese politicians, monetary authorities, economic experts, and the business community to fortify the fixed exchange rate system until the early 1970s, replace it with the floating exchange rate system between 1971 and 1973, and fortify the floating exchange rate system since 1974. To test this argument I have examined a large number of primary sources such as documents issued by the officials of the Japanese government and the central bank, as well as newspapers and economic magazines issued at each phase. Such extensive archival work confirmed that people's fear of potential economic damage/loss played a large role in defending or altering the preexisting currency system.

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the antecedents and outcomes of international opportunity identification (IOI) in export-manufacturing firms. The fundamental question addressed in this research is: How does dynamic managerial capability (DMC) of entrepreneurs contribute to IOI and success of the firms?Design/methodology/approachThe research model was tested through structural equation modeling among the readymade garment manufacturing firms in the least developed country, Bangladesh. A survey was conducted with a random sampling approach and responses were collected from 390 firms.FindingsThe salient findings are: DMC has direct and indirect impacts through IOI on financial and non-financial performance; IOI mediates the relationship between managerial social capital and non-financial performance and between managerial cognition and non-financial performance; IOI has a negative relationship with the financial performance of the firms; and scope of accelerated internationalization positively moderates the relationship between IOI and financial performance of firms.Originality/valueThis paper notably shows that DMC of export-manufacturing entrepreneurs leads to the identification of the right kind of opportunities, which, in turn, generate better performance. It is advantageous for this type of firm to operate a business in multiple countries.

AbstractThis discussion focuses on the content of the responsibility to protect the norm. It specifically addresses the historical roots and development of the norm by describing its fundamental differences from the doctrine of humanitarian intervention. The legal heart of the responsibility to protect concept and questions of when and how the norm is engaged are also examined. Finally, the discussion explores the role that the UN institutions can play in interpreting and applying the norm, as well as the mechanisms of cooperation in protection available to the international community.