Fulfilment of support tasks by Host Nation Support for a purpose of allied forces movement

Jednym z kluczowych obszarów bezpieczeństwa państwa jest bezwzględnie bezpieczeństwo militarne. Jego zapewnienie wymaga szeregu różnorodnych działań o charakterze polityczno-militarnym, wśród których istotna rola przypada na realizację zdolności w obszarze państwa-gospodarza (HNS) dla przemieszczania sił i środków wojsk sojuszniczych na terytorium kraju. Wypełnienie zadań wynikających z obowiązków HNS jest istotne z punktu widzenia obronności kraju, ale także jego postrzegania na arenie międzynarodowej. Jedną z ważniejszych w tym zakresie kwestii jest udostępnianie rejonów, zabezpieczenie materiałowe i techniczne oraz infrastruktury na potrzeby ześrodkowania i zakwaterowania wojsk, co jest realizowane w oparciu o szereg inwestycji infrastrukturalnych. Z perspektywy współczesnych uwarunkowań rozbudowa i utrzymanie właściwej infrastruktury transportowej, przed wszystkim drogowej, wszystkich gałęzi transportu jest niezbędna dla zapewnienia wymaganych warunków przemieszczania się osób oraz przewozu uzbrojenia i sprzętu wojskowego, wparcia wojsk sojuszniczych, w przypadku pokoju, kryzysu lub wojny. Nowoczesna infrastruktura transportowa - drogowa, umożliwia rozwój polskiej gospodarki i wzmacnia jej powiązanie z gospodarką światową. Jest także ważnym składnikiem bezpieczeństwa w systemie obronnym państwa oraz terytorialnie zrównoważonego rozwoju kraju w obszarze inwestycyjnym. Systematyczna poprawa infrastruktury transportowej - drogowej stanowi jedno z podstawowych wyzwań dla rozwoju państwa nie tylko z perspektywy gospodarczej, ale także odgrywa priorytetową rolę w odniesieniu do bezpieczeństwa i obronności państwa oraz naszych zobowiązań sojuszniczych.

Combating the Current Pandemic and Preparing for the Next: Lessons Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic From the Perspective of Deployed Special Operations Forces

ABSTRACT The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to be a threat to global health, including the health of deployed armed forces. Servicemembers had to adjust to the “new normal” while maintaining the interests of the nation’s security as well as that of our host nation partners. This commentary examines how Special Operations Forces operating within four different regions worldwide leveraged the challenges presented by the onset of this pandemic in maintaining stability, sustaining a ready force, and operating forward deployed. Deployed forces face constant difficulties with logistical support, varied medical resources access and a medical system predominantly focused on trauma care. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic there was little guidance specific to these circumstances which required an improvised adaptation of the recommendations set by national and Department of Defense medical authorities. Plans were constantly revised to match the ever changing medical and operational environment. Strategies such as the “Bubble Philosophy” and tiered force protection measures helped our units to maintain a rigorous training cycle. New methods of communication and training with our host nation partners such as the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) platforms to survey host nation training became standard. Through these measures all of our forces were able to maintain operational capacity, protect the force, and maintain rapport with the host nations. We hope these experiences will provide a rough framework for future forces faced with a similar struggle. We also want to stress that challenges vary depending on the area of operations and the pathogen responsible for the pandemic. Any feedback and collaboration that may come from this work is appreciated and encouraged.

Brain circuity: The case of South Africa as a hub for doctoral education

The production and reproduction of knowledge are important components of national development. As student mobility increases, globally and within Africa, so does the national diversity of students as they seek to further their postgraduate studies at the limited number of research universities in Africa. Knowledge migration is inevitably a relationship between nation states because migration is driven by push factors (such as the socio-economic conditions and opportunities) in the country of origin as well as by pull factors (such as the rules and incentives for entry, participation in postgraduate education and post-study residency), which are prerogatives of the host nation. In other words, migration and development must be understood in comparative terms. The brain drain perspective on migration and development takes mainly the perspective of the origin country into consideration. Migration and the loss of high-level skills are seen as detrimental to the development prospects of the country of origin. The brain circulation perspective moves the discussion forward by suggesting that there are residual returns to the country of origin. However, relatively little attention has been given to the impact of knowledge migrants on the host nation when the host is facing its own post-colonial development challenges. This is the dilemma facing South Africa as a hub for doctoral students from the rest of Africa: attracting top doctoral students from the rest of the continent to contribute to the country’s knowledge capacity but at the expense of developing local talent, thereby setting up a complex tension between underdevelopment and development. Here we establish whether South Africa is maintaining its position as a PhD hub on the African continent and explore the extent to which the brain circulation argument holds up in the African context. We suggest that, given the current policy environment in South Africa, brain circuity is a more likely outcome, where brain circuity describes the flow of knowledge characterised by indirection and undesirable intricacy.

The infrastructures of war and peace

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the need for and develop a framework for research on the effects UN peace operation infrastructure has on a host nation. Mission infrastructure serves primarily to sustain a mission. As the mission terminates, infrastructure is often transferred to the host nation. The mission infrastructures could have both positive and negative implications for the host nation and for local communities.Design/methodology/approachExploratory approach to develop a foundation for a research agenda in an area with little existing research. Identify theoretical contributions related to infrastructures, combine with primary data from one peace operation, secondary data from five other peace operations and from the UN repositories.FindingsThis study proposes a research agenda. As such our findings relate to the identification and classification of different infrastructures and their interdependencies.Research limitations/implicationsThis framework would contribute to new ways of exploring and analysing both the effectiveness of peace operations and the impact a mission has on the development in the host nation.Practical implicationsThis study proposes a framework for research. As such, it will have implications primarily for researchers.Social implicationsUnderstanding the interdependencies between mission infrastructures and the material and social infrastructures of a host nation would help understanding what value mission infrastructure brings to a host nation and the local communities.Originality/valueAnalysing the logistics in peace support operations as networks of infrastructures bring new perspectives into humanitarian logistics.

Private Security Companies: Emerging Protectors of China’s Overseas Interests

An increasing number of Chinese enterprises and citizens are going abroad, which exposes them to risks threatening their personal safety and security of their property. With the expansion of Chinese overseas interests, traditional protection methods fall short of a demand for diverse services, revealing a major shortfall in the Chinese government’s capability to provide overseas security protection for its citizens. New service providers are therefore urgently needed, and private security company are becoming an increasingly popular choice. As this is a fairly new demand, only a small number of Chinese private security companies are operating overseas at present. Difficulties abound for them, such as absence of regulatory clarity on business operation and gun control. The presence of private security providers could also pose a challenge to host nation authority and trigger conflicts. To serve as true protectors of overseas Chinese interests, Chinese private security companies have a long way to go.

Tourism worldmaking and market post-truth: Borat’s new spirit of capitalism

The article develops a theoretical framework for the critical examination of cinematic tourist design. Considering ‘film-induced tourism’ as part of a bigger system involving the design of mobilities, it interrogates the connection between the aesthetic and ethical principles that end up informing the engineering of national hospitality in media platforms. The design, which is managed by a ‘worldmaking authority’ or network encompassing the host nation state and international tourist and media markets, conforms to the rationalised rules of what Boltanski and Chiapello termed the ‘new spirit of capitalism’, which mobilises romantic ideals of individual freedom to sell landscapes and exotic cultural characters. The phased development of such mobilities conforms to contingency and is indifferent to the welfare of particular social groups. The model is exemplified through the phased design of mobilities out of two films with virulent sexist and antisemitic content centred on the journeys of the fictional Kazakh journalist Borat to the United States.

The Somali-diaspora experience: a focus on Somali children as cultural brokers, and as ambassadors of language and culture

This paper examines the Somali-Canadian Diaspora experience, and in particular, focuses on the role children in immigrant families play as cultural brokers and as ambassadors of language and culture. Utilizing the literature on language acquisition, this paper’s aim is to include the Somali-Canadian Diaspora’s voice into the vast literature that exists, which examines the importance of bilingual children, who assist their families in integrating and settling in a host nation. The second component of this paper examines the role language has on identity, and utilizing cultural brokers’ language acquisition, investigates how cultural brokers’ identity is formed by their bilingualism. The paper posed two research questions: 1. In what ways do cultural brokers play a role as ambassadors of language and culture to assist their families in navigating the challenges of a new country? 2. In what ways do the cultural brokers’ bilingual abilities inform their identity? Keywords: Cultural Broker, Bilingual child, Acculturation, Familism, Biculturalism, Hyphen-identity, Somali-Diaspora

The Somali-diaspora experience: a focus on Somali children as cultural brokers, and as ambassadors of language and culture

This paper examines the Somali-Canadian Diaspora experience, and in particular, focuses on the role children in immigrant families play as cultural brokers and as ambassadors of language and culture. Utilizing the literature on language acquisition, this paper’s aim is to include the Somali-Canadian Diaspora’s voice into the vast literature that exists, which examines the importance of bilingual children, who assist their families in integrating and settling in a host nation. The second component of this paper examines the role language has on identity, and utilizing cultural brokers’ language acquisition, investigates how cultural brokers’ identity is formed by their bilingualism. The paper posed two research questions: 1. In what ways do cultural brokers play a role as ambassadors of language and culture to assist their families in navigating the challenges of a new country? 2. In what ways do the cultural brokers’ bilingual abilities inform their identity? Keywords: Cultural Broker, Bilingual child, Acculturation, Familism, Biculturalism, Hyphen-identity, Somali-Diaspora