An Exception in Eurasia

Author(s):  
Laurence Broers

This chapter addresses the international politics of the Armenian-Azerbaijani rivalry, arguing that it is a significant exception to the wider pattern of Russian-Western geopolitical competition in Eurasia. While other post-Soviet conflicts feature cross-border linkages reinforcing the axes of conflict, the Armenian-Azerbaijani rivalry shows patterns of multi-directional, fragmented and crosscutting linkages with a wide range of external actors. This pattern has diffused leverage potentials of external actors, accounting for the lack of decisive shifts in the direction of either conflict escalation or resolution, or (until 2018) regime renewal. The chapter examines Armenian and Azerbaijani alliance and alignment strategies, and the diffusion of the rivalry across regional and international environments. It then examines Russia’s policy towards the rivalry, arguing that while Russian policy is pluralistic and inconsistent, it is best explained as an example of ‘pivotal deterrence’, where a third party, or ‘pivot’, seeks to prevent two adversaries from going to war.

1996 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 653-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Dixon

Although agents employ a wide range of conflict management techniques in practice, scholars have evaluated only a few of these. A more complete empirical analysis of the spectrum of third-party procedures used to manage international crises reveals that two techniques in particular are most effective: mediation efforts and third-party activities to open or maintain lines of communication. The endpoints of preventing escalation and promoting peaceful settlement take into account the notion of conflict as a dynamic evolutionary process, consisting of several phases, which in turn affect the outcome of third-party management. Crisis management methods that have proved successful in a bipolar world may be similarly successful in the post-cold war environment, an issue future work must address.


This book opens a cross-regional dialogue and shifts the Eurocentric discussion on diversity and integration to a more inclusive engagement with South America in private international law issues. It promotes a contemporary vision of private international law as a discipline enabling legal interconnectivity, with the potential to transcend its disciplinary boundaries to further promote the reality of cross-border integration, with its focus on the ever-increasing cross-border mobility of individuals. Private international law embraces legal diversity and pluralism. Different legal traditions continue to meet, interact and integrate in different forms, at the national, regional and international levels. Different systems of substantive law couple with divergent systems of private international law (designed to accommodate the former in cross-border situations). This complex legal landscape impacts individuals and families in cross-border scenarios, and international commerce broadly conceived. Private international law methodologies and techniques offer means for the coordination of this constellation of legal orders and value systems in cross-border situations. Bringing together world-renowned academics and experienced private international lawyers from a wide range of jurisdictions in Europe and South America, this edited collection focuses on the connective capabilities of private international law in bridging and balancing legal diversity as a corollary for the development of integration. The book provides in-depth analysis of the role of private international law in dealing with legal diversity across a diverse range of topics and jurisdictions.


Author(s):  
Sandra Walklate

Beck (2015: 81) observes, metamorphosis ‘is proceeding latently, behind the mind walls of unintended side effects, which are being constructed as ‘natural’ and ‘self-evident’. Thus Beck’s concept of metamorphosis conceives of social change as unnoticed and unacknowledged. Such change is evident in the contemporary ever present invocation of the ‘victim’ in a wide range of different, crime-soaked circumstances. This paper is concerned to explore this metamorphosis of the ‘victim’ in reflecting on two narratives: the victim narrative and the trauma narrative. The contemporary conflation of these two narratives has led Agamben (1999: 13) to suggest that policy has proceeded as if ‘“testis” (the testimony of a person as a third party in a trial or a law suit) can be conflated with “superstes” (a person who has lived through something and can thereby bear witness to it)’. The paper makes the case that this conflation has consequences for understandings of justice.


Author(s):  
Johannes Felix Simon Brachmann ◽  
Andreas Baumgartner ◽  
Peter Gege

The Calibration Home Base (CHB) is an optical laboratory designed for the calibration of imaging spectrometers for the VNIR/SWIR wavelength range. Radiometric, spectral and geometric calibration as well as the characterization of sensor signal dependency on polarization are realized in a precise and highly automated fashion. This allows to carry out a wide range of time consuming measurements in an ecient way. The implementation of ISO 9001 standards in all procedures ensures a traceable quality of results. Spectral measurements in the wavelength range 380–1000 nm are performed to a wavelength uncertainty of +- 0.1 nm, while an uncertainty of +-0.2 nm is reached in the wavelength range 1000 – 2500 nm. Geometric measurements are performed at increments of 1.7 µrad across track and 7.6 µrad along track. Radiometric measurements reach an absolute uncertainty of +-3% (k=1). Sensor artifacts, such as caused by stray light will be characterizable and correctable in the near future. For now, the CHB is suitable for the characterization of pushbroom sensors, spectrometers and cameras. However, it is planned to extend the CHBs capabilities in the near future such that snapshot hyperspectral imagers can be characterized as well. The calibration services of the CHB are open to third party customers from research institutes as well as industry.


2021 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 03020
Author(s):  
Qian Liao ◽  
Mimi Shao

Features like the distributed ledger, consensus mechanism, asymmetric encryption technology, smart contract and Token of blockchain can lower transaction cost, enhance trust between customers and merchants, as well as eliminate false payment and consumer information leakage, problems which are common in current payment of cross-border E-Commerce platform. Based on the analysis of existing scholars, this paper studied two payment models: digital cash payment based on blockchain technology and the application of blockchain in third-party payment platform. Then the paper discussed the mechanism of blockchain in cross-border e-commerce payment platform, and creatively proposed a blockchain cross-border e-commerce payment platform, serving as reference and guidance for further development of blockchain technology in cross-border payment.1


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Winter 2021) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramazan Erdağ

This article discusses why Russia replaced the South Stream project with the TurkStream by changing its route and name, and why Turkey is involved in a project on the North-South line although it plays a vital role in the Trans-Anatolia Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project in the southern gas corridor. The article first examines the Russia-Ukraine natural gas crisis. It then moves to analyze the reasons behind Russia’s changing of the name and the route of the South Stream project. After exploring Turkey’s involvement in the project, the article concludes by arguing that both countries adopted a win-win approach toward the project that Russia has gained a significant tariff advantage and freedom from the EU third-party-access rule. The article claims that although both Russia and Turkey have different perspectives on some issues in international politics, they can develop their cooperation with a win-win approach in the TurkStream project.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelo Odetti ◽  
Federica Braga ◽  
Fabio Brunetti ◽  
Massimo Caccia ◽  
Simone Marini ◽  
...  

<p>The IT-HR InnovaMare project, led by the Croatian Chamber of Economy, puts together policy instruments and key players for development of innovative technologies for the sustainable development of the Adriatic Sea (https://www.italy-croatia.eu/web/innovamare). The project aims at enhancing the cross-border cooperation among research, public and private stakeholders through creation of a Digital Innovation Hub (DIH). The goal is to increase effectiveness of innovation in underwater robotics and sensors to achieve and maintain a healthy and productive Adriatic Sea, as one of the crucial and strategic societal challenges existing at the cross-border level. Within InnovaMare, CNR ISMAR and INM institutes and OGS, in cooperation with the University of Zagreb and other project partners, contribute to developing a solution to access and monitor extremely shallow water by means of portable, modular, reconfigurable and highly maneuverable robotic vehicles. The identified vehicle is SWAMP, an innovative highly modular catamaran ASV recently developed by CNR-INM. SWAMP is characterised by small size, low draft, new materials, azimuth propulsion system for shallow waters and modular WiFi-based hardware&software architecture. Two SWAMP vehicles will be enhanced with a series of kits, tools and sensors to perform a series of strategic actions in the environmental monitoring of the Venice Lagoon: <br>i) An air-cushion-system-kit will be designed and developed. The vehicle will become a side-wall air-cushion-vehicle with reduction of drag and increase in speed. This will also increase the payload with a reduction of draft. <br>ii) An intelligent winch kit with a communication cable for the management of underwater sensors and tools.<br>iii) A GPS-RTK kit for highly accurate positioning in the range of centimeters.<br>iv) An Autonomous programmable device for image acquisition and processing based on the Guard1 camera. This camera acquires images content and, by means of a supervised machine learning approach, recognises/classifies features such as fish, zooplankton, seabed, infrastructures. The system is conceived for autonomous monitoring activities extended in time in fixed or mobile platforms.<br>v) A Multibeam Echo-sounder (MBES) coupled with an IMU (for pitch-roll compensation). MBES data can be used, also coupled with Cameras Imagery, through image-detection techniques for reconstruction and comprehensive knowledge of underwater environment and infrastructures. Possible analyses in coastal areas are: seabed mapping also for cultural heritage, offshore structures and resources and monitoring of biodiversity, hydrocarbon, marine litter, pollution.<br>vi) An underwater Radiometer for multiple analysis: temporal dynamics of optical properties of water; temporal dynamics of water turbidity from water reflectance; submerged vegetation and water depth mapping in optically shallow water; produce reference data for validation of satellite data.<br>vii) Automatic Nutrient Analyzer for real-time nutrient monitoring. This sensor measures nitrate with high accuracy over a wide range of environmental conditions (including extremely turbid and high CDOM conditions), from blue-ocean nitraclines to storm runoff in rivers and streams. <br>The final result of this pilot action is the creation of an innovative prototype platform for sea environmental monitoring. This will be validated through the analysis of results and draw up of guidelines for the improvement of underwater conditions.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Alpert ◽  
Mark Brown ◽  
Elizabeth Ferrier ◽  
Claudia Fernanda Gonzalez-Arcos ◽  
Rico Piehler

Purpose This study aims to investigate marketing managers’ views on the existence and nature of the academic–practitioner gap in the branding domain. Design/methodology/approach Using a purposive sampling method, the researchers conduct semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 experienced marketing managers from a wide range of industries and organisations, whose roles are focussed on the planning, implementation and management of broad marketing and branding strategies. Findings Branding practitioners have little or no contact with academics and their theories-in-use with regard to brand management suggest they do not consider academic research relevant to their work. Research limitations/implications The process of describing and explaining the gap provides valuable insights into bridging the gap; it provides actionable branding strategies that include raising awareness, building relationships, improving the benefits offer and communicating more effectively. Practical implications This research has practical implications for branding academics. The interviewed practitioners confirm the gap, viewing it as academics’ (not practitioners’) problem and responsibility. They characterise it as a branding problem that academics can overcome using branding strategies, to establish themselves as credible sources of branding expertise for practitioners. Key areas for increasing collaboration stem from practitioners’ desire for independent, credible, ethical and timely third-party advice on branding issues; relevant, timely and shorter professional branding education across their organisations; and closer connections with universities to identify new branding talent and ideas. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to empirically examine and recommend solutions to the academic-practitioner gap in the branding domain by studying marketing professionals with branding responsibilities, using in-depth interviews.


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