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Begin New Search Political Geography Global Focus Content Type Research Paper Publication Year within 10 Years Publication Year within 5 Years Publication Year within 25 Years

1. Modelling Nuclear W Modelling Nuclear Weapon E eapon Effects in W ects in Wargaming Using Monte gaming Using Monte Carlo Simulations

Author:
Tyler Guetzke
Publication Date:
05-2023
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Department of Social Sciences at West Point, United States Military Academy
Abstract:
The United States Army’s interpretation of nuclear weapon effects needs change and modernization. Wargaming exercises are commonplace in today’s military, however, despite the growing threat of non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNW), little has been done to inform battlefield commanders on their true effects. Our research seeks to develop a tool for commanders to easily interpret quantifiable effects of a NSNW. Utilizing Monte Carlo simulation, we are developing a new methodology to analyze NSNW effects. Our model allows a commander to calculate the expected unit strength following a NSNW strike which will aid in their operational decision making ability. The Monte Carlo simulation method for analyzing nuclear effects offers a novel approach to account for variation while giving the commander an analytically interpretable output as descriptive statistics that avoids probabilities.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Nuclear Weapons, Military Strategy, and Command and Control
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. Assessing military cyber maturity: strategy, institutions and capability

Author:
Greg Austin and Jason Blessing
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
International Institute for Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Few governments have reached an enduring consensus on just how quickly and how deeply reforms to their military cyber forces must be made. While consensus points have been reached, these are usually tested within a short period of time by international circumstances and technological trends. The main dilemma is whether military cyber strategies and capabilities need more than routine development as just one more element of military power, or whether they warrant radical development pathways and a higher priority than others. One of the most profound influences on the evolution of a country’s military cyber forces and strategies is politics. This paper offers insights into how the governance and organisational factors of domestic politics facilitate or inhibit the dissemination of cyber concepts and capabilities throughout military forces beyond the main signals or cyber intelligence agency. There are at least three reasons to analyse military cyber maturity. The countries currently pursuing such capabilities are not satisfied with the development levels in policy and strategy they have so far reached. There is increasing potential for crippling cyber attacks on key elements of military capability or supporting infrastructure. And no country has yet succeeded in the broad dissemination of cyber capabilities through its armed forces in ways that leading military planners would like. Few governments have reached an enduring consensus on just how quickly and how deeply reforms in the armed forces must be made to satisfy national security needs. While consensus points have been reached, these are usually tested within a short period of time by inter-national circumstances and technological trends. The main dilemma is whether military cyber strategies and capabilities need more than routine development as just one more element of military power, akin to artillery or submarines; or whether they are sufficiently transformative of military power to warrant radical development pathways and a higher priority than others. This paper provides an impact matrix which can be used by governments, their armed forces and research analysts to understand the ways in which military cyber reforms can be facilitated or inhibited by governance and organisational processes.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Science and Technology, Military Strategy, Cybersecurity, and Digitization
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Military ambitions and competition in space: the role of alliances

Author:
Greg Austin, Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, and Tim Wright
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
International Institute for Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Emerging trends in space ambitions and capabilities of major state actors have given renewed urgency to efforts by NATO and other coalitions to build stronger alliance relations to secure shared interests in space. This report reviews the military ambitions, operations and capabilities of leading and aspiring space powers in order to assess their likely impact on alliances, partnerships or other national-security coalitions. China wants to overtake Russia as a space power by 2035 and become at least a co-equal with the United States by 2045. For its part, Russia is determined to maintain its standing as a space power. Both are testing the boundaries of the existing order in space through various actions, including weapons testing, and both are keen to demonstrate that they now have the capabilities to attack adversary space assets. Partly in response to this, in 2020 the US declared its intention to radically reshape the operating environment of space to better meet its interests, while its allies and partners have announced new space ambitions as well. India and Japan are setting new strategic goals for space policy in response to China’s threatening behaviour. France is positioning itself to climb higher up the ladder of military space power, while the United Kingdom and Germany have set new aspirations for economic gain and further influence on the diplomatic aspects of space. In this environment, military alliances have become more prominent in shaping space policy. The US has stepped up its engagement with other governments, either through existing alliances or new partnerships, to secure its interests. China and Russia, which have few allies of relevance, except perhaps each other, are concentrating on constraining the effectiveness of the United States’ alliances. The three space powers harbour renewed fears of technological surprise by their rivals, and this makes sharing research on space warfare among allies more important than ever. For example, testing of the most visible space weapons, direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) missiles, is escalating – and this is now only one of more than 20 forms of attack on space assets being tested or already in place. But there remain questions about how to achieve scale and military effect using all these methods for wartime operations, including kinetic ASAT weapons: would China or Russia be able to launch successful attacks against the entire military satellite fleet of the US (all 173 units) in the opening stages of a war? Assuming they could not, what proportion of the fleet would have to be disabled for the attack to have a positive military or strategic effect for the attacker?
Topic:
Security, Military Strategy, Conflict, Space, Strategic Competition, and Territory
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Tracking Funding for VAW Research In LMICS

Author:
Sexual Violence Research Initiative
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative
Abstract:
Violence against women (VAW) is a global phenomenon that undermines the fundamental human rights of women, causes irreparable physical and emotional harm, even death, and impacts individuals and communities. While the prevalence of VAW has been widely acknowledged - with the introduction of international and country- specific condemnations and law reform - the question is whether the investment into addressing VAW and understanding what works and what doesn’t matches its severity and ubiquity. Existing literature indicates that, despite the prevalence of VAW, it is often deprioritised as a funding issue (Equality Institute, 2019). Furthermore, where funding is being provided, research and programmes addressing VAW are disproportionately funded, conceptualised and carried out by institutions in high-income countries (HICs) (Amarante, et al 2021; Olufadewa et al 2021; Chersich et al 2016). This ultimately means that low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), who are largely donor dependent, are beholden to wealthier countries, with a resultant scarcity of knowledge production from and for LMICs in addressing country-specific VAW issues. Moreover, little consideration appears to be given to both the importance of and the investment in research as essential to addressing VAW. To effectively prevent and respond to VAW, dedicated qualitative and quantitative research is required to understand the phenomenon, building an evidence-base to underlie efficacious interventions. The research funding ecosystem for research and development is highly inequitable, favouring HIC based researchers and this situation is not helped by the fact that investments in research and development by LMICs governments are low (Erondu et al, 2021). The question is then, does the status of funding for research on VAW mirror the status of funding for research and development in LMICs more broadly? This study thus seeks to provide an overview of the funding flows allocated towards research in the field of VAW in LMICs from key donors as well as national governments. In doing so, the study underscores the inequitable distribution of resources and the lack of prioritisation of VAW - and research in particular - as a funding issue.
Topic:
Gender Based Violence, Violence, Sexual Violence, and Equality
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. TOSSD Data for 2020: An overview of key trends in the data in support of sustainable development

Author:
Brian Tomlinson
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Data on total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD) take a recipient perspective, in contrast to official development assistance (ODA) data, which take a donor perspective. The TOSSD metric captures development resource flows that are not included in donors’ reports to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee, and are intended to link resource flows to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For 2020, 98 donors reported TOSSD data, an increase of six donors from 2019. Reported net disbursements totaled $291 billion, including $62 billion reported only to TOSSD. The top five sectors in TOSSD reporting, accounting for 65% of net disbursements, were energy, donor administrative costs, in-donor refugee costs, health, and government and civil society. For those disbursements linked to one or more of the SDGs, 61% went to the Health, Poverty Eradication, Climate Change, support for Decent Work and Sustainable Economic Growth, Ending Hunger, and Partnerships SDGs. The gender equality SDG was allocated just 4.5% of total net disbursements. TOSSD data provided a foundation of activity level detail to enable further research on allocations to SDGs. The picture that TOSSD data provide could be more complete if additional donors submitted reports to TOSSD, and if all donors reported on links to SDGs.
Topic:
Development, Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainability, and Gender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2022

Author:
Jo Walker, Matthew Martin, Emma Seery, Nabil Abdo, Anthony Kamande, and Max Lawson
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index is the first detailed analysis published looking at governments’ policies and actions to fight inequality during the first two years of the pandemic. This fourth edition of the CRI Index reviews the spending, tax and labour policies and actions of 161 governments during 2020–2022. COVID-19 has increased inequality worldwide, as the poorest people were hit hardest by both the disease and its profound economic impacts. Yet the CRI 2022 Index shows clearly that most of the world’s governments failed to mitigate this dangerous rise in inequality. Despite the biggest global health emergency in a century, half of low-and lower-middle-income countries saw the share of health spending fall during the pandemic, half of the countries tracked by the CRI Index cut the share of social protection spending, 70% cut the share of education spending, while two-thirds of countries failed to increase their minimum wage in line with gross domestic product (GDP). Ninety-five percent of countries failed to increase taxation of the richest people and corporations. At the same time, a small group of governments from across the world bucked this trend, taking clear actions to combat inequality, putting the rest of the world to shame.
Topic:
GDP, Inequality, Tax Systems, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. Fostering constructive relations Approaches to trust-building in peacebuilding interventions

Author:
Viktoria Budde and Karoline Eichhoff
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Berghof Foundation
Abstract:
The international community is currently facing a dilemma: although building trust between representatives of state institutions and the population is one of the fundamental components of cooperation between donors and recipient countries of support services in the security sector, we are observing worldwide that trust in state institutions fades. Confidence-building initiatives between citizens and, for example, the police and the military obviously do not always contribute to improvement. Therefore, basic assumptions about the role of trust and how trust-building works in conflict societies must be questioned.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Conflict, Social Order, and Trust
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. The State of Local Humanitarian Leadership: A learning report on a series of LHL online convenings held in Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa, the Pacific, and West Africa

Author:
Janice Ian Manlutac
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
From May 2021 to January 2022, Oxfam, in partnership with Sejajar Indonesia, the Tamdeen Youth Foundation in Yemen, and the Palestinian Agricultural Development Association (PARC) in Palestine, convened a total of 10 learning series through online convenings on local humanitarian leadership (LHL). Approximately 450 people participated, of whom 60% were from local and national NGOs representing approximately 30 countries. This document offers a snapshot report on the state of LHL across the four regions based on discussions, insights, and materials shared by the resource persons and audience members who participated in the series.
Topic:
Leadership, Humanitarian Intervention, Decolonization, and Local
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. Beyond Consultation: Unpacking the most essential components of meaningful participation by refugee leaders

Author:
Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:
03-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Research on forced displacement reveals a wide gap between policy processes and the people that such processes seek to assist. This paper proposes actionable recommendations on how to operationalize the concept of ‘meaningful refugee participation’ in decision-making processes that affect the lives of refugees. There is a need to go beyond tokenistic participation and to genuinely empower refugees to have influence over the design, implementation and evaluation of refugee-focused programmes. The contributions of refugees themselves must also be enhanced in ways that can help contribute to a paradigmatic shift in the global infrastructure of refugee governance.
Topic:
Migration, Governance, Refugees, and Displacement
Political Geography:
Global Focus

10. Caring in a changing climate: Centering care work in climate action

Author:
Seema Arora-Johnson, Maeve Cohen, and Sherilyn MacGregor
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The global care crisis is being exacerbated by the global climate emergency, with interlocking impacts that threaten lives and livelihoods in all parts of the world. These impacts are particularly severe among rural livelihoods in low-income countries. Climate change intensifies the work involved in caring for people, animals, plants, and places. It reduces the availability and quality of public services in marginalized communities and directly compounds the unfair distribution of unpaid care work that sustains gender inequality. Yet the intersections of climate change and care work have been overlooked in the development literature. Strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation have paid relatively little attention to how care work is affected by climate impacts, nor have they considered whether interventions improve or intensify the situation of carers. Instead, when designing “gender-sensitive” climate actions, the focus has been largely on women’s economic empowerment as opposed to alleviating or transforming existing distributions of care work. The aim of this report is to fill a knowledge gap by examining the points of interaction between climate change impacts and the amount, distribution, and conditions of unpaid care work. We focus on care workers rather than those who are cared for, while stressing the relational nature of care and acknowledging that carers too require care.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, and Migration
Political Geography:
Global Focus