Suchergebnisse

An exploration of state violence in Brazil draws on interviews conducted in 1993 with 14 police officers who had engaged in torture &/or murder during Brazil's military period, including Sergio, a Sao Paulo official whose four decades of police service covered years in intelligence. The various branches of Brazil's civil & military police forces are described. Sergio's emphatic denial of personally carrying out torture & his contention that the bad behavior of police officers can be controlled by rational officials illustrates the complex moral assumptions involved. He justified torture carried out under his command by suggesting that it was acceptable if it was controlled by a competent police official &/or performed for a "just cause," such as saving a child's life. Four key explanations came out in interviewee accounts of torture in which they participated: diffusing responsibility to other official bodies; blaming victims or perpetrators; citing just causes for the actions; & citing professional imperatives. The relationship of discursive content to societal conditions is discussed. Excerpts from the interviews are included. 1 Table. J. Lindroth

The institutional framework implemented by the National Resistance Movement to combat corruption in Uganda is scrutinized to determine why corrupt behavior remains prevalent. The role of several government agencies (eg, the Ministry of Ethics & Integrity, the Inspector General of Government, & the Public Accounts Committee) & the press in fighting against corruption between 1986 & 1998 is reviewed. Measures taken by government agencies in reforming Uganda's framework for combating corruption during the late 1990s are discussed; & changes in economic policy, military programs, & the press are noted. Recommendations for improving the nation's anticorruption framework include the need to better coordinate anticorruption agencies, the empowerment of civil society, & the creation of a political will. 17 References. J. W. Parker

Examines legal & ethical objections to humanitarian intervention that dominate the international relations debate. It is contended that the most compelling arguments are those that stress the consequences for international order. Special attention is given to the ethical position of pluralism & concerns about "neo-imperialism" articulated by non-Western states. It is suggested that humanitarian intervention can be legitimized in extreme cases if a limited notion of "sovereignty as responsibility" is retained & the temptation to combine the protection of human rights with the right to liberal democracy is avoided. However, there is a strong consensus in both Western & non-Western states that the state is still the best agent to promote & protect human rights. Emphasis is placed on the need to improve the representativeness & effectiveness of the UN Security Council in order to reduce growing concerns about who represents the international community. The situation in Kosovo showed that humanitarian intervention can have complicated & unforeseen consequences; therefore, more attention must be paid to non-military means of operationalizing sovereignty as responsibility. J. Lindroth

Considers Chechnya's quest for independence & the justification for the two wars fought. Some historical background is provided, asserting that the parallel postcommunist state-building trajectories of Russia & Chechnya resulted in the former's inadequate response to the latter's crisis. It is argued that despite competing sovereignty claims, war was not inevitable; however, personality clashes prevented any negotiated political regularization of the conflict. The first Chechen war, Chechnya's period of de facto independence, 1996-1999, & the second Chechen war are chronicled. An examination of the ethics of secession from the perspective of just war theory does not provide normative support for Chechen secession. In addition, while Russia may have had just case for the 1994 military intervention, it does not necessarily mean it fought a just war. Further, the Chechen case illustrates the importance of the nature of leadership in determining the violence level in new republics & their secessionist regions. The possibility of a resolution to the crisis that accommodated Chechnya & Russia is contemplated. J. Zendejas

"Gegenwärtig arbeiten die U.S.-amerikanischen Streitkräfte an einem umfassenden Transformationsprozess, dessen programmatisch avanciertestes und einflussreichstes Konzept 'Network Centric Warfare' lautet. Das Konzept propagiert, wie man in Anlehnung an Luc Boltanskis und Ève Chiapellos Diagnose vom 'neuen Geist des Kapitalismus' formulieren kann, einen 'neuen Geist des Krieges'. In diskursanalytischer Beobachtung erweist sich dieser neue Geist in nicht unerheblichem Maße durch Naturvorbilder und naturwissenschaftliche Denkfiguren geprägt. Die Vordenker in den amerikanischen Stabs- und Beraterstellen lesen das Verhältnis von Natur und Krieg unter der Maßgabe komplexitätstheoretischer Konzeptualisierungen von Naturzusammenhängen und bestimmen es über drei Schlüsselkonzepte: Nichtlinearität, Ko-Evolution, Schwärmen. Mit diesen Konzepten wird ein radikaler Wandel des Kriegsverständnisses und des militärischen Selbstverständnisses motiviert. Nichtlinearität stellt die Konfliktanalyse, die Kriegs- und Feindmodellierung auf eine neue Dynamik des geostrategischen Feldes und der militärischen Operationen ein. Ko-Evolution mobilisiert für eine tiefgreifende, eben netzwerkförmige, Reform der Rüstungs-, Organisations- und Operationsprinzipien, um einem unterstellten permanenten Wandel der Operationsfelder adäquat zu begegnen. Mit dem taktischen Ideal des Schwärmens wird die an Bienenschwärmen ebenso wie an neuen Gegnern bewunderte Fähigkeit zur Selbstorganisation Maßgabe militärischer Doktrin und Disziplin; sie wird mithin zur Leitlinie der Formung eines neuen Soldatentypus. Der Rekurs auf Natur leitet folglich eine programmatische Rekonfiguration des Denkens des Krieges, der Organisationskultur und des einzelnen Soldaten an. In kultursoziologischer Lektüre erweist sich das Netzwerkkonzept in seinem militärischen Gebrauch weniger als analytisch-deskriptives Instrument, denn als Mobilisierungsmetapher. Eine Metapher, die nicht allein eine Anpassung an die, nun dynamisch gefasste, Natur des Krieges propagiert. Netzwerkförmige Rekonfiguration, so eine zentrale These des Vortrags, bedeutet, Organisationsstrukturen, Operationsweisen und Kohäsionsformen der neuen Gegner zu imitieren."