The Logic of Vulnerability and Civilian Victimization

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Costalli ◽  
Francesco Niccolò Moro ◽  
Andrea Ruggeri
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Quality Information ◽  
World War ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Qualitative Evidence ◽  
Informational Uncertainty ◽  
High Quality Information ◽  
Key Driver

ABSTRACTWhat causes civilian victimization in conventional civil wars and in conventional wars that experience insurgencies? The authors argue that a key driver of civilian victimization is the vulnerability of the incumbent forces, specifically when the conflict’s front line is shifting. Vulnerability is a function of informational and logistical challenges: when the front line is moving, incumbents face increased informational uncertainty and unstable supply chains that augment their vulnerability. Thus, incumbents will increase the use of civilian victimization in response to a scarcity of high-quality information on the location and identity of insurgents, to limit possible information leaks, and to contain supply disruption and logistics support to adversaries. The authors support their argument using matched difference-in-differences analyses of original subnational data on Nazi-Fascist violence in World War II Italy (1943–1945) and qualitative evidence.

scholarly journals International Peacebuilding: A Theoretical and Quantitative Analysis

2000 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 779-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Doyle ◽  
Nicholas Sambanis
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Effective Capacity ◽  
Peace Operations ◽  
World War ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
International Peacebuilding

International peacebuilding can improve the prospects that a civil war will be resolved. Although peacebuilding strategies must be designed to address particular conflicts, broad parameters that fit most conflicts can be identified. Strategies should address the local roots of hostility, the local capacities for change, and the (net) specific degree of international commitment available to assist sustainable peace. One can conceive of these as the three dimensions of a triangle whose area is the “political space”—or effective capacity—for building peace. We test these propositions with an extensive data set of 124 post–World War II civil wars and find that multilateral, United Nations peace operations make a positive difference. UN peacekeeping is positively correlated with democratization processes after civil war, and multilateral enforcement operations are usually successful in ending the violence. Our study provides broad guidelines for designing the appropriate peacebuilding strategy, given the mix of hostility, local capacities, and international capacities.

Terrorism in the Context of Conflicts in the Modern World

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-132
Author(s):  
Waldemar Zubrzycki
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Islamic Fundamentalism ◽  
Regional Specificity ◽  
Global Threat ◽  
Frequent Reason

Contrary to popular expectations, armed conflicts persisted after the end of World War II. Some countries are fighting for independence, others for influence, and others are experiencing civil wars. This is determined by cultural, ethnic and religious differences. The modern world is tormented by many conflicts which, despite their regional scope, have an impact on the political and military situation on the entire globe. The functioning of formal borders that do not coincide with national borders, the low sense of nationality compared to ethnicity, poverty and political instability are also conducive to the use of terrorist methods. Terrorism is almost as old as civilisation. However, unlike in the past, today’s terrorists use violence on an unprecedented scale. Terrorism in many cases shows its regional specificity, varying according to the cultural and civilisation area in which it occurs. Reasons for resorting to terrorist methods may be a need for freedom, protection of one’s heritage, sense of harm done by the occupier, a need to express dissatisfaction with the political system or changes being made, or, finally, a mere desire to draw attention to the problems of countries and societies that have not yet been noticed or have been ignored by public opinion. Religion is also a frequent reason for resorting to terrorism. Contemporary terrorism is represented mainly by extremist Islamic fundamentalism and is based on the clash of two cultures. It is a global threat, and anyone can become its potential victim today. Numerous signals of the emergence of new, hitherto unknown organisations prove that in the future, unfortunately, the escalation of the phenomenon will have to be taken into account.

At the Front Line: Experiences of Australian Soldiers in World War II.

1998 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 293
Author(s):  
John McCarthy ◽  
Mark Johnston
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War ◽  
Front Line

POWER ENGINEERING PROBLEMS OF THE FRONT-LINE AREAS OF CENTRAL OF RUSSIA IN 1941–1945

2020 ◽  
pp. 88-96
Author(s):  
Galina A. Budnik ◽  
Tat’yana V. Korolyova ◽  
Tat’yana B. Kotlova
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Power Engineering ◽  
World War ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Industrial Enterprises ◽  
Power Plant Equipment ◽  
Plant Equipment ◽  
Labour Legislation ◽  
Line Zone

The article studies the main problems of the power engineering of the front-line areas of the centre of Russia during World War II. The details of the evacuation of power plant equipment from the centre of the country to the Urals and Siberia, the organisation in the front-line zone of uninterrupted supply of electricity to the army and industrial enterprises, and the power plants recovery on the territory liberated from the enemy are shown. The problems and diffi culties in the work of labour collectives, such as providing power plants with fuel and workforce are pointed out. The main ways to overcome them are analysed. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the fi rst time an attempt is made for comprehensive, multi aspect study of the work of the branch in 1941-1945. The most important factors contributing to the organisation of the uninterrupted operation of energy facilities are elicited. Among them is a patriotic upsurge; the advantage of planned, policy-based methods for managing the industry; tightening, in accordance with the martial laws, labour legislation; the employment of prisoners of the Gulag of the NKVD of the USSR in the construction of power plants; achievements of scientists, inventors and innovators of production. The range of issues requiring further scientifi c study is determined.

scholarly journals Severe Prenatal Shocks and Adolescent Health: Evidence from the Dutch Hunger Winter

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Conti ◽  
L H Lumey ◽  
Stavros Poupakis ◽  
Govert E Bijwaard ◽  
Peter Ekamper
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
World War ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Objective Health ◽  
Military Recruits ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Multiple Shocks ◽  
Scarring Effects

This paper investigates impacts, mechanisms and selection effects of prenatal exposure to multiple shocks, by exploiting the unique natural experiment of the Dutch Hunger Winter. At the end of World War II, a famine occurred abruptly in the Western Netherlands (November 1944 - May 1945), pushing the previously and subsequently well-nourished Dutch population to the brink of starvation. We link high-quality military recruits data with objective health measurements for the cohorts born in the years surrounding WWII with newly digitised historical records on calories and nutrient composition of the war rations, daily temperature, and warfare deaths. Using difference-in-differences and triple differences research designs, we show that the cohorts exposed to the Dutch Hunger Winter since early gestation have a higher Body Mass Index and an increased probability of being overweight at age 18, and that this effect is partly accounted for by warfare exposure and a reduction in energy-adjusted protein intake. Moreover, we account for selective mortality using a copula-based approach and newly-digitised data on survival rates, and find evidence of both selection and scarring effects. These results emphasise the complexity of the mechanisms at play in studying the consequences of early conditions.

“All That Glitters …”: Problematizing Golden-Age Narratives in Vergil’s Aeneid and the Western Film Genre

2018 ◽  
pp. 157-174
Author(s):  
Kirsten Day
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Latin Literature ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
World War ◽  
Film Genre ◽  
Trojan War ◽  
Western Film

In the first of two chapters that treat promises of an imperial golden age in Aeneid Book 6 in relation to American expansionism as portrayed in the Western film genre, Kirsten Day compares the production contexts of Vergil’s epic, during the “golden age of Latin literature” in the wake of epochal civil wars, to the Westerns produced after World War II during the “golden age” of Hollywood. So too the dramatic settings of the Aeneid, after the Trojan War, and of Westerns, after the American Civil War, enshrine these trailblazing pioneers in the pantheon of founding heroes whose struggles (re)built the nation of the narrative’s audience. Through a wide-ranging survey of many of the genre’s most famous films, such as Red River and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Day examines several key themes, including nation-building as divinely driven labor; the laconic characterization of the Western male hero and his troubling resemblance to the villain; and the sacrificial role assigned to female characters. Day concludes that these ancient and modern texts also share an undercurrent of anxiety about the moral ambiguities of these projects, which belies their superficial optimism.

GREEK SHIPPING INDUSTRY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT

2020 ◽  
pp. 615-632
Author(s):  
Aikaterini-Sotiria ARGYRIOU
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Gross National Product ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Shipping Industry ◽  
World War ◽  
Industry Cluster ◽  
Greek Economy ◽  
Key Driver

The purpose of this article is to present and discuss empirical results for the shipping sector focusing on the shipping industry in Greece and the position of Greek shipping in the international market. The methodology of the study will be based on the collection of secondary data from articles in journals, books and official websites. Conducting such a research consists of locating, studying, analyzing, criticizing and presenting views and data from published texts. Greek-owned shipping holds 16% of world commercial capacity while the percentage of Greek Gross National Product (GDP) to the world is 0.4%, which is 40 times less than the percentage of Greek-owned shipping worldwide. Greece faced the biggest economic crisis since World War II twelve years ago and continues to face it today. At the same time, today Greece is facing a new economic crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At this critical moment, the Greek shipping industry, already having a significant contribution to the Greek GDP, could be a key driver of growth by supporting the Greek economy in liquidity, employment, contribution to GDP and investment. This study was prepared in order to evaluate the economic and social benefits of the Greek shipping industry (cluster).

Making Postwar Communism

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Pittaway
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Postwar Period ◽  
World War ◽  
Front Line ◽  
International History ◽  
The North ◽  
Baltic Coast ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Precarious Situation

The Soviet Union's victory in World War II offered both Moscow and Communists in Europe the opportunity to break out of the isolation that had afflicted them during the interwar years. With the end of the war in Europe in 1945, the Soviet front line traversed Central Europe from Germany's Baltic Coast in the north to the Yugoslav–Italian border in the south. By the mid-1950s, the enhanced influence of communism had been both consolidated and contained. Explaining the paradoxical consolidation and containment of communism's influence across the continent is fundamental to grasping the contours of politics in Europe during the postwar period. The dominant strand in the historiography that approaches such an explanation is informed by the perspective of international history. The pressures of survival during the precarious situation for the Soviet Union that persisted throughout 1942 reinforced the non-participatory, bureaucratic Stalinism which emerged during 1939–1940. The launch of Barbarossa underpinned an escalation in the radicalisation of Nazism.

Civil Wars

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stathis N. Kalyvas ◽  
Paul D. Kenny
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
World War ◽  
Intrastate War ◽  
Economic Collapse ◽  
Rate Of Emergence ◽  
The One

A civil war, also known as intrastate war, is a war between organized groups within the same state or country. It is a high-intensity conflict that often involves regular armed forces. One of the reasons for the lack of consensus in the study of civil war is disagreement over what exactly civil war means. Theoretically, civil war overlaps with other categories of armed conflict, particularly revolution, political violence, ethnic conflict, and terrorism. Civil wars since the end of World War II have lasted for over four years on average, a considerable rise from the one-and-a-half-year average of the 1900–1944 period. While the rate of emergence of new civil wars has been relatively steady since the mid-19th century, the increasing length of those wars has resulted in increasing numbers of wars ongoing at any one time. Since 1945, civil wars have resulted in the deaths of over 25 million people, as well as the forced displacement of millions more, along with economic collapse. According to scholars of civil war research, the causes of civil war include economic motivations or greed, and political or social grievances. Greed-based explanations focus on individuals’ desire to maximize their profits, while grievance-based explanations center on conflict as a response to socioeconomic or political injustice. A third concept, opportunity-based explanations, talks about factors that make it easier to engage in violent mobilization.

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