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"Military Effectiveness" published on by Oxford University Press.

The air balance in the Indian subcontinent is particularly important since the air forces of both India and Pakistan have become critical to resolving the defense dilemmas that have afflicted both countries since independence. While the Indian Air Force (IAF) displays a numerical superiority as far as the absolute balance is concerned, India's greater defense density, its two front commitments, and the IAF's offensive orientation in any future subcontinetal conflict attenuate the advantages of marginal numerical preponderance. The offensive orientation, as exemplified by the IAF's changing internal architecture, was devised as a deterrent against any future Pakistani adventurism. But its growing puissance has disconcerted Pakistan, which embarked on a defensive strategy based not on competitively increasing combat aircraft strenghts as much as on upgrading its air defense ground environment with multiple, redundant sensors, including new airborne warning and control systems. This competitive dialectic will continue in the foreseeable future. (Internat. Political Science Association)

As empires are reorganized into national states people are inevitably stranded on the wrong side of new borders. Rogers Brubaker (Nationalism Reframed) has examined the case of national minorities separated from their larger, external "homelands" by national boundary-making, generating persistent problems between adjacent nation-states. Robert Cribb and Li Narangoa examine a different kind of case, in which the numerical preponderance is reversed, such that the national minority is larger than its external "homeland" population. The instances discussed in the paper are the Inner Mongolia region of China, containing many more Mongols than the Mongolian Republic of the former USSR; the Laos of Thailand, more numerous than those of Laos itself; and the Malays in Indonesia, more numerous than those of Malaysia. "Orphans of empire" of this kind follow a different path; they are not the source of endless conflicts between neighboring states, but tend to draw apart from one another on either side of the boundary. In this case boundaries seem to have their way, making transnational identities impossible to maintain in the long run and creating, thereby, new ethnic identities.

As empires are reorganized into national states people are inevitably stranded on the wrong side of new borders. Rogers Brubaker (Nationalism Reframed) has examined the case of national minorities separated from their larger, external "homelands" by national boundary-making, generating persistent problems between adjacent nation-states. Robert Cribb and Li Narangoa examine a different kind of case, in which the numerical preponderance is reversed, such that the national minority is larger than its external "homeland" population. The instances discussed in the paper are the Inner Mongolia region of China, containing many more Mongols than the Mongolian Republic of the former USSR; the Laos of Thailand, more numerous than those of Laos itself; and the Malays in Indonesia, more numerous than those of Malaysia. "Orphans of empire" of this kind follow a different path; they are not the source of endless conflicts between neighboring states, but tend to draw apart from one another on either side of the boundary. In this case boundaries seem to have their way, making transnational identities impossible to maintain in the long run and creating, thereby, new ethnic identities.

The long hold of the idea that 'India is the land of villages' on the imaginations of politicians, policy makers and scholars alike was a result not just of the numerical preponderance of the village, but because it represented the space of an organic, unsullied authenticity. Needless to say, in many accounts, well into the late twentieth century, the authenticity was only made possible by relinquishing a claim to the turbulence of history, and indeed on 'modernity' itself. The Indian city in the period of colonial rule, on the contrary, became a heaving, undisciplined monster, the site of a corrupting modernity, illegitimate and even unauthentic in its form. Apart from the monumental cities of Delhi or Lucknow, and some attention to 'temple' towns, most monographs on modern Indian cities written in the last 60 years remained without a legible past and were the work largely of geographers or sociologists. Those early pioneers who explored the history of the modern Indian city on its own terms, such as Narayani Gupta, Mariam Dossal or Veena Oldenburg, were lonely outcrops in a vast field of historical works that were largely rooted in the countryside. The peasant and the village, rather than the worker and the city, occupied centre-stage in the most important phases of post-independence Indian historiography. Since the history of Indian nationalism gripped the scholars of the immediate post-independence years, and economic history powered by Marxism informed the next phase of writing (both of which were enormously productive lines of enquiry), the Indian city was embedded in works that traced either the fate of anti-colonial nationalism or the broader trajectories of labour and capital. The innovative approaches of the Subaltern Studies collective from the early 1980s drew historiographic attention once more to the rebellious peasant and rural communities or mentalities.

The increased focus on counterinsurgency warfare and US nation building efforts after the attacks of 11 September 2001 reignited interest in military advising within military and other government organizations, private think tanks, and defense related contractors. Most studies on the subject, based on the chronological scope and numerical preponderance of ground advising missions, has quite naturally focused on these past efforts. Less attention has been given to air or naval advisory missions. This work seeks in part to help redress this current imbalance by examining a number of historical case studies dealing with air advisory efforts. By examining a number of historical case studies, this volume analyzes the challenges and opportunities inherent in aerial advisory efforts and offers insights into the methods by which such missions succeed or fail. Air advisory missions date almost to the first days of powered flight. Air advisory efforts have a number of unique elements based on the fundamental role of advanced technology and the extensive resource requirements associated with aviation operations. For example, air advisory efforts are profoundly influenced by the types of aircraft involved and the types of mission flown. Likewise, the issues of maintenance support and the infrastructure needed for these missions plays a key role in determining capabilities available to the host nation. In the case of infrastructure, airfields, fuelling depots, maintenance and repair facilities, and radar and communications equipment offer a few of the most obvious requirements to support flight operations. The early history of advisory efforts reveal issues that remain relevant today, including questions related to the nature of aerial technology to be shared, the type of training to be provided, and the potential economic benefits that might accrue to the donor nation as a result of the sale of aviation technology to the host country. In many respects, air advisory efforts raise a number of profound strategic questions for the donor nation. Among others, these questions relate to the type of technology to be shared, the nature of training to be given, the role of foreign advisors in operations, the issue of infrastructure development and auxiliary training programs, the preparation of foreign advisors for their duties, and perhaps most significantly the development of the type of capabilities required to address the host nation's security environment. Via a series of ...

In many ways, a democracy can almost be defined in terms of the existence of an effective opposition. The complex relationships between political parties will do much to determine the quality, and indeed the stability, of the political order. In fragile democracies, both the ruling and the opposition parties may have the capacity to destroy democracy itself. Thus both the balance of political forces and the respective party strategies will be critical in shaping political developments. At the same time, it has long been recognized that the political system is only partly autonomous and that it is located in a context that may be more or less favourable to the establishment or consolidation of democracy. Any discussion of political opposition must therefore be contextualized. In the ideal world of democratic theory, based largely upon the western experience, we use as our model a polity in which the political forces are reasonably balanced and dynamic: at least a significant minority of the electorate is uncommitted to any party and will tip the balance periodically and thus make a change in government possible. Two threats to democracy are eliminated by this definition. The first is a society which is based upon ethnic communities whose loyalty is to their group, and where there is the probability of ethnic censuses in which elections produce permanent winners and permanent losers. The second is the existence of a long-term imbalance that provides one party with a long-term numerical preponderance. In the South African context there are several key questions that must be explored if we wish to generate insights into the consequences of political parties and broader issues of democracy and accountability. First, what are the social forces that underpin party alignments and shape mass political behaviour? Secondly, what is the relationship between the ruling party – the African National Congress (ANC) – and the consolidation of democracy? Are the ANC's policies and actions towards other players, including the opposition, going to make a viable democracy more or less likely? And thirdly, are the actions and strategies of the opposition parties likely to impact positively or negatively on the prospects for democratic consolidation? These issues are clearly too ambitious to be answered adequately within the constraints of a short account. None the less, the comments which follow are designed to serve as an introduction.

Background: Cooled Radiofrequency ablation is a newer technique for management of chronic knee pain in osteoarthritis. The aim of the study is to evaluate the clinical outcomes in patients with chronic osteoarthritis in terms of pain scores for first six months of cooled radiofrequency ablation using ultrasound guidance. Methods: A cross-sectional study with retrospective review of database was evaluated to analyze the change in the Numerical Rating Scale from baseline scores at 1 day, 1 month and 6 months after the Cooled Radiofrequency ablation of genicular nerves around knee in patients with chronic knee osteoarthritis. Results: Median age was 71 years [ 61-73 years (IQR: 25-75)] with more female preponderance. Numerical Rating Scale (Mean ± S.D.) was significantly less at 1 day (1.87 ± 1.22), 1 month (3.03 ± 0.99) and 6 months (3.37 ± 1.098) from baseline values (6.77 ± 1.00). No soreness and numbness were noted.Conclusions: Cooled Radiofrequency using Ultrasound guidance for management of knee pain in chronic osteoarthritis is promising and reduces Numerical Rating Score significantly from baseline at 1 month and 6 months respectively.Keywords: Cooled radiofrequency ablation; genicular nerve; numeric rating scale

There are 4 major ethnic or linguistic groups comprising the population of Ghana. Immediately after independence in Mar 1957, Prime Minister Nkrumah attempted to break the violent ethnic struggles within the country & unite the population through a citizen-soldier/soldier-citizen ideology. Ethnic imbalance within the military & a preponderance of foreign officers to control, were slowly countered with large numerical increases of the underrepresented & deconcentration (through distribution) of forces throughout the country. Nkrumah's efforts followed 3 phases, the 2nd of which had the widest possibility. He attempted, by radical means, to develop an 'individual-nationality' based on use of the army as a civic integrator, & hoped to achieve success comparable to that in Israel after independence. Israeli assistance was solicited for developing military & quasimilitary training programs. Ideological reeducation was attempted with existing army members, regular army units began taking an expanded sociopolitical role (community development, mass literacy campaigns, Ru reconstruction, etc), & Nkrumah began shifting toward the militarization of politics through comprehensive plans to organize society. Eventual political insecurity forced the failure of these efforts, but it remains impressive that Nkrumah attempted to reject ethnic exclusiveness as an organizing principle & realized that the best military organization for the country was a unified central force. 1 Figure. T. Babitsky.