1,720,982 research outputs found
Power, value, and the individual exchange: towards an improved conceptualization of terrorist finance
No full textThis thesis finds that the term ‘terrorist financing’ is a misnomer in that much of the activity encompassed by that term involves neither terrorism nor money. Instead, terrorist financing more accurately refers either to the flow of economic and material value to ‘terrorist’ actors or specific material expressions of support to ‘terrorism,’ however that contested term is defined. This finding not only directly challenges the dominant ways terrorist finance is now conceptualized, but also provides the first unified coherent conceptual framework capable of supporting systematic analysis of the topic. This thesis arrives at this conclusion by first critically examining the various – and often contradictory or incoherent – normative, legal, and political contexts that dominate ‘orthodox’ thinking on terrorism and terrorist finance, and then relocating the financing of terrorism squarely in context of the everyday realities of how terrorism and terrorist actors interact with global and local political economies. This thesis goes beyond existing critical works on terrorist financing, and constructs the necessary conceptual foundation for a vastly more coherent, systematic, and ultimately useful understanding of the financial and economic dimensions of terrorism
An ethic of care in the dialogical space : what do NGOs learn from their conversations with states? : case studies from Scotland and Zambia
No full textThe increase in the presence and influence of Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs) locally and internationally is having a noticeable effect on the policy process at a
national level. While the NGO sector is more commonly examined at an international level,
its impact at the state and sub-state level remains unexplored. This gap in the literature is
addressed as a primary problem in this thesis. By exploring the relationship between the
NGO and the state, the significance of this relationship is emphasised as a necessary
inclusion in International Relations literature.
The NGO sector presents civil society with a road into, and in some cases an
alternative to, traditional modes of political advocacy. This increases civil society’s ability to
impact the policy process by creating, what is identified in this thesis as, a dialogical space.
The dialogical space allows for an exchange of ideas and thus influences the decision-making
process of the state, if and when it is explored. Furthermore, the dialogical space facilitates,
as is shown here, learning through the conversations that take place between NGOs and the
state. This thesis asks ‘what do NGOs learn from their conversations with states?’ and
presents the ‘lessons learned’ from Scottish and Zambian case studies.
NGOs are identified here as civil society in organisation and have a particular
relationship with the communities they represent. This relationship is empirically examined
and presented here in the Scottish and Zambian case studies. This thesis examines the
relationship between the NGO and civil society, and most importantly the relationship
between the NGO and the state using the ethic of care as a theoretical lens. Conclusions are drawn from the interviews conducted during the fieldwork. The ethic of care is located in
practice and used as a theoretical lens to examine what the local NGOs learn from their
interactions with the state. Both case studies confirm that an ethic of care is a prevalent
ethic in NGO practice, as identified by the NGO workers interviewed. Furthermore, when
used as an analytical lens the ethic of care is shown to be used as a tool by NGOs to nurture
an ethic of care in statesmanship.
The thesis specifically highlights that NGOs have learned from their conversations
with states and that, through the creation and use of the dialogical space, an ethic of care in
practice can be traced. The greater significance of this thesis is that it addresses the
relationship between the NGO and the state at a local and national level; a topic which is
lacking in current IR literature, despite being of crucial value for understanding the state’s
interaction with non-state actors, in this case local NGOs. Furthermore, through the use of
the ethic of care both as an exploratory lens and in its identification as a practical ethic, this
thesis highlights the importance of an ethic of care in theory and practice
International organized crime : godfathers on the Riviera : the international reach of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the mechanism to combat it
Full text linkThe organised crime industry on a whole generates an estimated gross criminal product of $800 billion USD annually generated from traditional crime industries like money laundering, cigarette and narcotics trafficking and prostitution. As a result of the new, globalised world, organised crime is diversifying its activities, penetrating legal sectors and further corrupting political systems. In general, it has been quick to adjust to the new economic opportunities and new technologies that this global village has to offer, and has been far more efficient in exploiting every available opportunity than its police and justice counterparts in preventing it from doing so. The face of international organised crime has changed to include new, sometimes smaller, often more dangerous actors, and has seen the traditional crime families metamorphose to keep up with the new environment. Diversification, penetration, legitimisation are the new guiding motto. The Sicilian Cosa Nostra has sought alternative ways to generate additional profits whilst reducing the risk factor. In order to branch-out, escape prosecution and yet remain within a pivotal and strategic position, the Cosa Nostra has chosen, amongst other havens, the French Riviera. Today, political and popular mobilisation and interest in combating organised crime is minimal, largely relegated to folklore status, crime annals, and the cinema industry. However, no judicial tool or innovation can have concrete and effective applications if the political will is not predominant and if concerted international co-operation is not enforced. The risk, should this trend continue, is that organised crime will become a dominant and decisive actor in State affairs, may continue to take over unstable micro-states and pervert the democratic process and the rule of law around the world. The threat is not so much to stand by and wait as crime develops further, but how long this lack of reaction can continue before it becomes irreversible
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The application of database technologies to the study of terrorism and counter-terrorism : a post 9/11 analysis
Full text linkData and information of the highest quality are critical to understanding and
countering acts of terrorism. As a tool, database technologies are becoming integral
to the field of terrorism studies. The intelligence failings of September 11th 2001
illustrate the need for timely, relevant and accurate data, derived from a plethora of
complex intelligence sources.
This thesis will argue that, at least until 9/11, the academic study of terrorism and
counter-terrorism databases has been limited and that the subject lacks an overall
coherency and direction. The thesis asks: what is the quality and practical value of
database technologies in the field of terrorism and counter-terrorism post 9/11? The study will provide a cross-disciplinary approach, specifically from the disciplines of political science and computer science. It will present an understanding of the
conceptual, design, operation, strengths and weaknesses of terrorism and counterterrorism
databases. The ramifications of post 9/11 and its impact upon the intelligence community, and the areas of security, privacy and emerging technologies in data mining and terrorism informatics are assessed. This study will examine mainly open source information on terrorism and counterterrorism databases. The research methodology will be carried out using a series of case studies, from the ITERATE, RAND/MIPT, WITS, and GTDB data sets. Primary
sources, for example, codebooks, and secondary source materials such as Library of
Congress and GAO reports are used. A comparative sampling of relational databases
and terrorism data sets is undertaken.
The thesis will illustrate that with increased federal funding, new terrorism database technologies, post 9/11, operate under sophisticated schemata, requiring complex and systematic synthesis. In addition, issues of data sharing, fusion, interoperability and ethical concerns will be addressed.
Implications for future terrorism database technologies will be articulated. These
require rigorous design methodologies be adopted, while safeguarding ethical and
privacy concerns. The thesis provides a coherent systematic analysis of terrorism and
counter-terrorism databases, from what to date has been a disaggregated subject
field
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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