The totalitarian threat

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Caplan
Keyword(s):  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Mass Murder ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Official Ideology ◽  
The People ◽  
Massive Scale ◽  
Totalitarian Regimes ◽  
And Control

During the twentieth century, many nations – including Russia, Germany, and China – lived under extraordinarily brutal and oppressive governments. Over 100 million civilians died at the hands of these governments, but only a small fraction of their brutality and oppression was necessary to retain power. The main function of the brutality and oppression, rather, was to radically change human behaviour, to transform normal human beings with their selfish concerns into willing servants of their rulers. The goals and methods of these governments were so extreme that they were often described – by friend and foe alike – as ‘total’ or ‘totalitarian’ (Gregor, 2000). The connection between totalitarian goals and totalitarian methods is straightforward. People do not want to radically change their behaviour. To make them change requires credible threats of harsh punishment – and the main way to make such threats credible is to carry them out on a massive scale. Furthermore, even if people believe your threats, some will resist anyway or seem likely to foment resistance later on. Indeed, some are simply unable to change. An aristocrat cannot choose to have proletarian origins, or a Jew to be an Aryan. To handle these recalcitrant problems requires special prisons to isolate dangerous elements, or mass murder to eliminate them. Totalitarian regimes have many structural characteristics in common. Richard Pipes gives a standard inventory: ‘[A]n official all-embracing ideology; a single party of the elect headed by a “leader” and dominating the state; police terror; the ruling party’s control of the means of communication and the armed forces; central command of the economy’. All of these naturally flow from the goal of remaking human nature. The official ideology is the rationale for radical change. It must be ‘all-embracing’ – that is, suppress competing ideologies and values – to prevent people from being side-tracked by conflicting goals. The leader is necessary to create and interpret the official ideology, and control of the means of communication to disseminate it. The party is comprised of the ‘early-adopters’ – the people who claim to have ‘seen the light’ and want to make it a reality.

From Continent to Periphery: PLA Doctrine, Strategy and Capabilities Towards 2000

1996 ◽  
Vol 146 ◽  
pp. 464-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul H. B. Godwin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The People ◽  
Military Security ◽  
Probable Form

In the late spring of 1985, shortly after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the former USSR, the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CMC) directed a radical change in the armed forces′ training and preparation for war. The Chinese People′s Liberation Army (PLA-as all the military services and branches are collectively designated) was instructed that it was no longer necessary to prepare for an “early, major and nuclear war” with the Soviet Union. Henceforth, the PLA′s doctrine, strategy and operational concepts would be focused on preparing for the most probable form of future conflict: local, limited war (jubu zhanzheng) around China′s periphery.1 The decade following the CMC′s directive has seen the Chinese armed forces begin the transition towards a more modern, flexible military force as they′changed their organizational structure, command and control, and training to focus on possibly unexpected, potentially intensive military conflict along China′s borders and maritime territories. These changes paralleled the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which eliminated any significant military threat to China′s northern borders for at least another decade. Nevertheless, and even as Beijing′s security analysts were publicly acknowledging that China′s military security was more assured than it had been for the past 50 years, the defence expenditures of the People′s Republic entered a period of rapid growth that continues to this day.

The PLA's expeditionary potential in the context of Chinese Military strategy in the New Era

2021 ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Maxim Nikulin
Keyword(s):  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Air Power ◽  
New Era ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Military

The sustained economic development of China with integration into the world economy and the implementation of macro-regional initiatives that go beyond the traditional localization of Chinese national interests have revealed the need to expand the capabilities of the People's Liberation Army of China. Along with the creation of a strong army, China is actively building up its expeditionary potential. Such kind of military potential allows to project power into strategically important zones. The proposed article is devoted to identifying indicators of increasing the ability of the Chinese armed forces to operate outside China's borders in the «New era». The hypothesis of the study is that China is currently entering an era of development of forces capable of operating around the world, providing military protection to China's expanding global economic and political interests. In the article, the authors rely on a systematic approach that allows us to identify and analyze the main structural characteristics of the PLA’s expeditionary potential at three levels: strategic, operational and tactical. The article analyzes military doctrines, concepts of the use of the PLA and the command structure. Special attention is also paid to the peculiarities of Chinese foreign operations and the logistical capabilities of the PLA to project its power in geographical spaces far away from the Chinese territory. The authors conclude that the PLA's expeditionary potential is becoming an increasingly popular means to achieve broad political and economic goals on a global scale. The increase in naval and air power projection facilities with an emphasis on the creation of competent ground units in this plane increases the mobility of the PLA to perform specific tasks. The military-civilian integration makes it possible to fill the lack of delivery vehicles and team sites.

Research Participation Experiences of Informants of Suicide and Control Cases

Crisis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 238-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul W. C. Wong ◽  
Wincy S. C. Chan ◽  
Philip S. L. Beh ◽  
Fiona W. S. Yau ◽  
Paul S. F. Yip ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Research Participation ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Initial Contact ◽  
Psychological Autopsy ◽  
Autopsy Study ◽  
The People ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Background: Ethical issues have been raised about using the psychological autopsy approach in the study of suicide. The impact on informants of control cases who participated in case-control psychological autopsy studies has not been investigated. Aims: (1) To investigate whether informants of suicide cases recruited by two approaches (coroners’ court and public mortuaries) respond differently to the initial contact by the research team. (2) To explore the reactions, reasons for participation, and comments of both the informants of suicide and control cases to psychological autopsy interviews. (3) To investigate the impact of the interviews on informants of suicide cases about a month after the interviews. Methods: A self-report questionnaire was used for the informants of both suicide and control cases. Telephone follow-up interviews were conducted with the informants of suicide cases. Results: The majority of the informants of suicide cases, regardless of the initial route of contact, as well as the control cases were positive about being approached to take part in the study. A minority of informants of suicide and control cases found the experience of talking about their family member to be more upsetting than expected. The telephone follow-up interviews showed that none of the informants of suicide cases reported being distressed by the psychological autopsy interviews. Limitations: The acceptance rate for our original psychological autopsy study was modest. Conclusions: The findings of this study are useful for future participants and researchers in measuring the potential benefits and risks of participating in similar sensitive research. Psychological autopsy interviews may be utilized as an active engagement approach to reach out to the people bereaved by suicide, especially in places where the postvention work is underdeveloped.

The Theme of Longingness in Manju Kapur’s novels

Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1857-1861
Author(s):  
P. Nainar Sumathi
Keyword(s):  
Her Family ◽  
The People ◽  
And Control

According to Men, Women are always considering as a weaker sex. They sacrificed her whole life for her husband and children. For an example, after the long travel everyone wants to take rest. But woman is an only person goes to kitchen and arranges food for everyone. She doesn’t wants to take rest even if she tired. She always concern about the needs of everyone in her family. She has to physically satisfy her husband though she is tired. Woman is an abundant gift given to this world. They are very precious unless men know the worth. She is the only person could balance and control her mind at any point. The term feminism has not attained its goal. There are many songs and movies explained the oppression of women in the hands of men as well as women. These words are not effective as well as the dominants still following the same attitude which we cannot modify. The people minds are corrupted which cannot change through feminism movies, theories or any other effective songs. This article focuses Manju Kapur’s revolutionistic ideas, longingness, subjugations and sufferenings through different characters from her different novels

THE SOME QUESTIONS OF AUTONOMOUS MOTION AND MANAGEMENT OF LAND-MOBILE ROBOTIC COMPLEXES FOR UKRAINIAN GROUND FORCESE

2019 ◽  
pp. 53-58
Author(s):  
О. Кravchuk ◽  
V. Symonenkov ◽  
I. Symonenkova ◽  
O. Hryhorev
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Distributed Information ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Highly Effective ◽  
Information Management Systems ◽  
Robotic Devices ◽  
Principles And Standards ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Eu

Today, more than forty countries of the world are engaged in the development of military-purpose robots. A number of unique mobile robots with a wide range of capabilities are already being used by combat and intelligence units of the Armed forces of the developed world countries to conduct battlefield intelligence and support tactical groups. At present, the issue of using the latest information technology in the field of military robotics is thoroughly investigated, and the creation of highly effective information management systems in the land-mobile robotic complexes has acquired a new phase associated with the use of distributed information and sensory systems and consists in the transition from application of separate sensors and devices to the construction of modular information subsystems, which provide the availability of various data sources and complex methods of information processing. The purpose of the article is to investigate the ways to increase the autonomy of the land-mobile robotic complexes using in a non-deterministic conditions of modern combat. Relevance of researches is connected with the necessity of creation of highly effective information and control systems in the perspective robotic means for the needs of Land Forces of Ukraine. The development of the Armed Forces of Ukraine management system based on the criteria adopted by the EU and NATO member states is one of the main directions of increasing the effectiveness of the use of forces (forces), which involves achieving the principles and standards necessary for Ukraine to become a member of the EU and NATO. The inherent features of achieving these criteria will be the transition to a reduction of tasks of the combined-arms units and the large-scale use of high-precision weapons and land remote-controlled robotic devices. According to the views of the leading specialists in the field of robotics, the automation of information subsystems and components of the land-mobile robotic complexes can increase safety, reliability, error-tolerance and the effectiveness of the use of robotic means by standardizing the necessary actions with minimal human intervention, that is, a significant increase in the autonomy of the land-mobile robotic complexes for the needs of Land Forces of Ukraine.

Poland

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew A. Michta
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Territorial Defence ◽  
Eastern Flank ◽  
Security Environment ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Command And Control System ◽  
T State

This chapter analyses the adaptation of Poland’s defence policy and armed forces to the rapidly changing security environment along NATO’s north-eastern flank. First, it examines the impact of a resurgent Russia on Poland’s security calculus, especially since Russia’s seizure of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine. Next, it addresses the evolution of Warsaw’s views on the relative utility of NATO and the European Union and its efforts to return NATO to its traditional territorial defence role. It then focuses on the modernization of Poland’s armed forces, with a special emphasis on doctrinal change, the reform of the command and control system, and the creation of the Territorial Defence units. It also reviews the t state of key hardware purchases as of mid-2017. The chapter concludes with an overall assessment of the level of capabilities and the readiness of the armed forces in the changing threat environment along NATO’s north-eastern flank.

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