The better angels of our digital nature? Offensive cyber capabilities and state violence

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Florian J. Egloff ◽  
James Shires
Keyword(s):  
Technological Development ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Digital Networks ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Lethal Effects ◽  
Technological Capacity ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Digital Nature

Abstract Transformations in state violence are intimately associated with technological capacity. Like previous era-defining technologies, global digital networks have changed state violence. Offensive cyber capabilities (OCCs) appear to constitute a major technological development that offers the potential for reducing state violence. This article asks: are OCCs really the better angels of our digital nature? Current scholarship in strategic studies, adopting a narrow definition of violence, conceives of OCCs as largely non-violent. This ignores how technology has given rise to new forms of harm to individuals and communities, particularly in the context of violent state repression. We propose using an expanded definition of violence, including affective and community harms, and argue that OCCs relocate, rather than reduce, state violence towards non-bodily harms. Even though their lethal effects are limited, OCCs are not, as is supposed, a non-violent addition to state arsenals. This conclusion has important implications for international affairs, including re-orienting defensive cybersecurity efforts and altering calculations around the perception of OCCs by adversaries.

scholarly journals Different Forms of Violence – Selected Issues

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 103-118
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Mikołajczuk
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Violent Behaviour ◽  
The Public ◽  
Macro Scale ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Media ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Forms Of Violence

Violence has been part of the human history since its very beginning. As some believe, it is “Cain’s sin” that determines violent human behaviour. Though this belief is obviously simplified, it reflects the nature of man. We are eager to seek evil in others, in individuals and in social structures. It is not just the family that is oppressive. Violence is ubiquitous; it is inflicted by peer groups, social classes, organisations, and by the state. Violence is commonly defined as social behaviour against someone or something, the aggressor being on one side and the victim on the other. Usually, a narrow definition of violence is used; i.e., violence is understood as the use of force to obtain from others what they are not willing to give or what they do not want to do. However, violence is a more complex phenomenon. Some forms of violence are sophisticated and difficult to discern, not only in the behaviour of others but also in our own actions. Violence occurs on a micro-scale in the form of pressure, extortion, inducement, or restrictions, and on a macro-scale – as wars, crises, terroristic acts, or revolutions. Violence is not only physical and psychological; it may also be personal, structural, hidden, explicit, emotional, and rational. What follows, it takes place in a wide array of spaces: in culture, sport, politics, the media, in the public space and at home. Therefore, the narrow definition of violence fails to include many of its aspects, and as such it is not practical. Using such a definition, we are left with extreme cases, so in fact we define pathologies. A serious difficulty in defining violence is connected with defining human rights in a unified way. These vary from culture to culture and have been evolving throughout history. Violation of these rights constitutes the essence of what is referred to as violent behaviour. Each society defines and attempts to prevent violence differently, and also in its own way indicates those who judge the perpetrators of prohibited acts.

A Further Dilemma for British Divines

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay T. Collier
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
International Trends ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
Reformed Churches ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Church

Chapter 5 continues to investigate the Montagu affair by surveying adjacent doctrines related to the perseverance debate. For instance, Dort’s more narrow definition of perseverance caused difficulties for those holding a more traditionalist view of baptism and regeneration. After looking at Montagu’s baptismal argument against perseverance of the saints, the chapter evaluates published responses to Montagu’s advocacy of baptismal regeneration as well as more private debates where John Davenant and Samuel Ward tried to reconcile a form of baptismal regeneration with Dort’s determination on perseverance. This survey shows division on the efficacy of baptism even within the pro-Dortian party, with readings and receptions of Augustine factoring in. It also reveals further evidence of how a broad-church approach to being Reformed set the Church of England at odds with the international trends of the Reformed churches.

Private Water, Public Good

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeline Baer
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Public ◽  
Strong State ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
State Interventions

Chapter 4 provides an in-depth case study of water policy in Chile from the 1970s to present, including an evaluation of the outcomes of water policy under the privatized system from a human rights perspective. The chapter interrogates Chile’s reputation as a privatization success story, finding that although Chile meets the narrow definition of the human right to water and sanitation in terms of access, quality, and price, it fails to meet the broader definition that includes citizen participation in water management and policy decisions. The chapter argues that Chile’s relative success in delivering water services is attributable to strong state capacity to govern the water sector in the public interest by embedding neoliberal reforms in state interventions. The Chile case shows that privatization is not necessarily antithetical to human rights-consistent outcomes if there is a strong state role in the private sector.

Medical Care as a Public Accommodation: Moving the Discussion to Race

2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 381-394
Author(s):  
Joel Teitelbaum ◽  
Sara Rosenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Ethnic Minority Groups ◽  
Health Quality ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Federal Assistance ◽  
Racial And Ethnic Minority

This Article explores the concept of public accommodation in a civil rights context and presents an argument for revising the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Act) to extend public accommodation obligations to private healthcare providers and the healthcare industry as a whole, regardless of their participation in federally assisted programs. To the extent that the Act currently reaches healthcare conduct within a relatively narrow definition of “federal assistance,” this view has been eclipsed by the evolution of social attitudes toward the community-wide obligation of healthcare providers, U.S. civil rights policy at both the federal and state levels, the enormity of the federal investment in the U.S. health system and changing concepts of basic health quality. This analysis begins with a brief overview of the current structure of U.S. civil rights law in the context of racial and ethnic minority groups’ access to healthcare.

Devotio and human sacrifice in archaic Italy and Rome

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 363-398
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Sacrifice ◽  
Roman Religion ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Mona Island ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Father And Son ◽  
Very High

Abstract The Roman father and son of the same name, P. Decius Mus, became paragon heroes by deliberately giving their lives in battle that Rome might win over a fierce enemy. Both engaged in a special ritual called devotio (from which our word “devotion” derives) to offer themselves to the gods of the Underworld, with whom regular people have very little interaction and to whom they rarely sacrifice. While the Mus family is the most famous for this act, it turns out the willingness to sacrifice oneself for Rome frequently occurs within stories of great patriots, including the story of Horatius Cocles, Mettius Curtius, Atilius Regulus, and even the traitors Coriolanus and Tarpeia. Romans regarded self-sacrifice as a very high, noble endeavor, whereas they loathed and persecuted practitioners of human sacrifice. It is therefore quite amazing to read that the Romans thrice engaged in state-sponsored human sacrifice, a fact they rarely mention and generally forget. The most famous enemy practitioners of human sacrifice were the Druids, whom the Romans massacred on Mona Island on Midsummer Night's Eve, but the Carthaginians, the Germans, the Celts, and the Thracians all infamously practiced human sacrifice. To Romans, the act of human sacrifice falls just short of cannibalism in the spectrum of forbidden practices, and was an accusation occasionally thrown against an enemy to claim they are totally barbaric. On the other hand, Romans recognized their own who committed acts of self-sacrifice for the good of the society, as heroes. There can be no better patriot than he who gives his life to save his country. Often the stories of their heroism have been exaggerated or sanitized. These acts of heroism often turn out to be acts of human sacrifice, supposedly a crime. It turns out that Romans have a strong legacy of practicing human sacrifice that lasts into the historic era, despite their alleged opposition to it. Numerous sources relate one story each. Collecting them all makes it impossible to deny the longevity of human sacrifice in Rome, although most Romans under the emperors were probably unaware of it. The paradox of condemning but still practicing human sacrifice demonstrates the nature of Roman religion, where do ut des plays a crucial role in standard sacrifice as well as in unpleasant acts like human sacrifice. Devotio was an inverted form of sacrifice, precisely because it was an offering to the gods of the Underworld, rather than to Jupiter or the Parcae. Romans may have forsaken devotio, but they continued to practice human sacrifice far longer than most of us have suspected, if one widens the current narrow definition of human sacrifice to include events where a life is taken in order to bring about a better future for the commonwealth, appease the gods, or ensure a Roman victory in battle.

On the Very Idea of Civilisation

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-321
Author(s):  
Luke O’Sullivan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Technological Development ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Alternative Definition ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Western Imperialism ◽  
Clash Of Civilisations ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Contemporary Liberalism ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The concept of civilisation is a controversial one because it is unavoidably normative in its implications. Its historical associations with the effort of Western imperialism to impose substantive conditions of life have made it difficult for contemporary liberalism to find a definition of “civilization” that can be reconciled with progressive discourse that seeks to avoid exclusions of various kinds. But because we lack a way of identifying what is peculiar to the relationship of civilisation that avoids the problem of domination, it has tended to be conflated with other ideas. Taking Samuel Huntington's idea of a “Clash of Civilisations” as a starting point, this article argues that we suffer from a widespread confusion of civilisation with “culture,” and that we also confuse it with other ideas including modernity and technological development. Drawing on Thomas Hobbes, the essay proposes an alternative definition of civilisation as the existence of limits on how we may treat others.

How to Scale Factional Divisions in Conflict Situations

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonius C.G.M. Robben
Keyword(s):  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Methodological Problem ◽  
State Violence ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
Research Population ◽  
Formal Power ◽  
Gain Access

In conducting fieldwork among perpetrators of state violence, it is a major methodological problem to gain access to competing factions within the research population. Ethnographers often succeed in finding access to at least one faction but this successful rapport might then immediately close off other factions that mistrust the ethnographer’s politics, intentions, or alleged sympathies. The ethnographic challenge is to find intermediaries or switchboard operators, as they are called in this article, who have established informal channels of communication between hostile factions. Switchboard operators have the following characteristics: discretion, neutrality, lack of formal power, disinterestedness, trustworthiness, and they act as a conduit of communication. This article describes how switchboard operators were located in Argentina, and how they played a crucial role in my fieldwork among a broad spectrum of military perpetrators who had terrorized the Argentine people between 1976 and 1983 with enforced disappearances and state repression.

scholarly journals Charting a course to an emerging field of 'research engagement studies': A conceptual meta-synthesis

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jude Fransman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Development ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Research Engagement ◽  
The Past ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Education Science

The past decades in the UK have witnessed renewed interest by policymakers, research funders and research institutions in the engagement of non-academic individuals, groups and organizations with research processes and products. There has been a broad consensus that better engagement leads to better impact, as well as significant learning around understanding engagement and improving practice. However, this sits in tension to a parallel trend in British higher education policy that reduces the field to a narrow definition of quantitatively measured impacts attributed to individual researchers, projects and institutions. In response, this article argues for the mobilization of an emerging field of 'research engagement studies' that brings together an extensive and diverse existing literature around understandings and experiences of engagement, and has the potential to contribute both strategically and conceptually to the broader impact debate. However, to inform this, some stocktaking is needed to trace the different traditions back to their conceptual roots and chart out a common set of themes, approaches and framings across the literature. In response, this article maps the literature by developing a genealogy of understandings of research engagement within five UK-based domains of policy and practice: higher education; science and technology; public policy (health, social care and education); international development; and community development. After identifying patterns and trends within and across these clusters, the article concludes by proposing a framework for comparing understandings of engagement, and uses this framework to highlight trends, gaps and ways forward for the emerging field.

‘Irishness’, the 1937 Constitution, and Citizenship: A Gender and Ethnicity View

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronit Lentin
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Feminist Studies ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
Limited Access ◽  
Central Factor ◽  
Irish Women ◽  
Narrow Definition ◽  
The Republic ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Definition Of

This paper argues that ‘Irishness’ has not been sufficiently problematised in relation to gender and ethnicity in discussions of Irish national identity, nor has the term ‘Irish women’ been ethnically problematised. Sociological and feminist analyses of the access by women to citizenship of the Republic of Ireland have been similarly unproblematised. This paper interrogates some discourses of Irish national identity, including the 1937 Constitution, in which difference is constructed in religious, not ethnic terms, and in which women are constructed as ‘naturally’ domestic. Ireland's bourgeois nationalism privileged property owning and denigrated nomadism, thus excluding Irish Travellers from definitions of ‘Irishness’. The paper then seeks to problematise T.H. Marshall's definition of citizenship as ‘membership in a community’ from a gender and ethnicity viewpoint and argues that sociological and feminist studies of the gendered nature of citizenship in Ireland do not address access to citizenship by Traveller and other racialized women which this paper examines in brief. It does so in the context of the intersection between racism and nationalism, and argues that the racism implied in the narrow definition of ‘Irishness’ is a central factor in the limited access by minority Irish women to aspects of citizenship. It also argues that racism not only interfaces with other forms of exclusion such as class and gender, but also broadens our understanding of the very nature of Irish national identity.

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