Defeat In War Research Articles

"Ich, die Dichterin von Arabien"

In early twentieth-century Germany, Orientalist imagery and stereotypes provided an important and successful repertoire for the entertainment industries. Cruel colonial practices such as ethnological exhibitions appeared side by side with dreamy art and narratives in the style of the Arabian Nights. Meanwhile, antisemitism was on the rise, particularly following Germany’s defeat in World War I. In the same decades, a certain taste for Jewish mysticism, namely the Kabbalah, appeared, along with the rise of esotericism and vitalism. This article considers Else Lasker-Schüler, a German-Jewish multimedia artist whose works comprise poems and prose as well as graphically elaborate letters, arabesque drawings, and performances in Orientalist settings within this historical context. Inspired by the surrounding Orientalist entertainment industry, Lasker-Schüler’s imageries and story worlds prove exceptional among German Orientalist initiatives because of the way she claims them for herself. Using the logic of mystification, alienation, and commercialization, Lasker-Schüler creates a certain image of herself as artist that allows her to become the other not only in terms of content but also through formal expressions.

The Geopolitical Imaginaries in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale and Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick

This paper explores the geopolitical imaginaries in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851) and in the Japanese science fiction animation titled Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick (1997-1999) by the Japanese animation artist Osamu Dezaki. Although it is an adaptation of Moby-Dick, the setting of Hakugei has been creatively changed from the sea to space. In the mid-nineteenth century, when Melville chose the sea as the setting of his quest novel, the sea was inextricably intertwined with the nineteenth-century myth of U.S. expansionism. Melville presents a double vision of imaginary islands in the South Sea and the actual geopolitical relationships between existing transatlantic countries. Yet in the second half of the twentieth century, especially in the wake of Transpacific tensions, the sea as a place of quest among Japanese writers could not be delineated in the same kind of prefigurative language used by Melville, such as by drawing on symbolism. Instead, the animation reflects a Cold War psychology that was prevalent among Japanese after the defeat of World War II. As this paper suggests, Hakugei displays both fear and hope for the geopolitical transformation of the Pacific Rim countries and their future safety by choosing outer space as a site for the fable. It is in this way that the Japanese animator Dezaki draws on Melville’s Moby-Dick as a source text by engaging geopolitics, anti-war psychology, and uneasiness toward expansionism. Melville’s pacifism can be argued for as major transcultural influence, at the very least, driving Hakugei’s anime characterization. In fact, going beyond drawing on certain characters, including Ahab, Dezaki retains Melville’s anxiety over the proximity of creation and destruction in yet another era of increasing concern for world peace.

Texas Coastal Defense in the Civil War by William N. Fox (review)

Texas Coastal Defense in the Civil War by William N. Fox (review)

Disjointing state and war: defence policy as hauntology

ABSTRACT This paper examines the relationship between state and war in defence policy. To do so it develops a hauntological vocabulary of spectrality, conjuring, and the messianic in close conversation with Derrida’s Specters of Marx. This allows for paying attention to the tensions of statehood and state–war relations, and to how they are determined. Specifically, the paper identifies three aporias signalled in Max Weber’s definition of the state—legitimate violence, community, and territory—and traces how they are addressed in two post-Cold War defence policy paradigms—expeditionary force and territorial deterrence—through two Swedish Defence Bills (2009 and 2020). The main claim concerns how these paradigms, despite their differences, disjointed the state from war by transposing questions of force and violence to the limits of the international order and by subordinating defence to instrumentalism. Traditional spectres of society, state, and the international were dislocated to domains outside statist conceptions of politics. Thus, the paper complements conventional understandings of security and defence as central to statehood by indicating a different function of defence policy and what is at stake in inheriting received political imaginations.

State Formation and Bureaucratization: Evidence from Pre-Imperial China

This paper studies the relationship between military conflicts and state-building in pre-imperial China. I develop an incomplete contract model to examine rulers’ and local administrators’ incentives in conflict. Defensive wars drive decentralization: landowning local administrators have more to gain from a successful defense and are therefore more committed to it. Offensive wars drive centralization: the landowning ruler has personnel control over the non-land-owning local administrator and can therefore force the latter to participate in less lucrative attacks. Model predictions are corroborated with empirical evidence and historical case studies, and offer broader implications for the political divergence between China and Europe.

Reduction in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure in Beijing following China’s clean air actions

Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the Chinese population was among the highest globally and associated with various adverse effects. This study examines the impact of China’s two-phase clean air initiatives, namely the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (APPCAP) in 2013–2017 and the Blue-Sky Defense War (BSDW) in 2018–2020, on PAH levels and human exposures in Beijing. To evaluate the effects of APPCAP, we measured 16 PAHs in 287 PM2.5 samples collected in Beijing and 9 PAH metabolites in 358 urine samples obtained from 54 individuals who traveled from Los Angeles to Beijing between 2014 and 2018. The concentration of PM2.5-bound benzo[a]pyrene equivalents (BaPeq) decreased by 88.5% in 2014–2018 due to reduced traffic, coal, and biomass emissions. PAH metabolite concentrations in travelers’ urine decreased by 52.3% in Beijing, correlated with changes in PM2.5 and NO2 levels. In contrast, no significant changes were observed in Los Angeles. To evaluate BSDW’s effects, we collected 123 additional PM2.5 samples for PAH measurements in 2019–2021. We observed sustained reductions in BaPeq concentrations attributable to reductions in coal and biomass emissions during the BSDW phase, but those from traffic sources remained unchanged. After accounting for meteorological factors, China’s two-phase clean air initiatives jointly reduced Beijing’s PM2.5-bound BaPeq concentrations by 96.6% from 2014 to 2021. These findings provide compelling evidence for the effectiveness of China’s clean air actions in mitigating population exposure to PAHs in Beijing.

Spatial source, simulating improvement, and short-term health effect of high PM2.5 exposure during mutation event in the key urban agglomeration regions in China

Air quality in China has significantly improved owing to the effective implementation of pollution control measures. However, mutation events caused by short-term spikes in PM2.5 in urban agglomeration regions continue to occur frequently. Identifying the spatial sources and influencing factors, as well as improving the prediction accuracy of high PM2.5 during mutation events, are crucial for public health. In this study, we firstly introduced discrete wavelet transform (DWT) to identify the mutation events with high PM2.5 concentration in the four key urban agglomerations, and evaluated the spatial sources for the polluted scenario using Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Additionally, DWT was combined with a widely used artificial neural network (ANN) to improve the prediction accuracy of PM2.5 concentration seven days in advance (seven-day forecast). Results indicated that mutation events commonly occurred in the northern regions during winter time, which were under the control of both short-range transportation of dirty airmass as well as negative meteorology conditions. Compared with the ANN model alone, the average band errors decreased by 9% when using DWT-ANN model. The average correlation coefficient (R) and root mean square error (RMSE) obtained using the DWT-ANN improved by 10% and 12% compared to those obtained using the ANN, indicating the efficiency and accuracy of simulating PM2.5, by combining the DWT and ANN. The short-term mortality during mutation events was then calculated, with the total averted all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory deaths in the four regions, being 4751, 2554, and 582 persons, respectively. A declining trend in prevented deaths from 2018 to 2020 demonstrated that the pollution intensity during mutation events gradually decreased owing to the implementation of the Three-Year Action Plan to Win the Blue Sky Defense War. The method proposed in this study can be used by policymakers to take preventive measures in response to a sudden increase in PM2.5, thereby ensuring public health.

From Chinese food to Japan’s Hokkaido heritage: The transformation of the grilled mutton or lamb dish ‘Jingisukan’

Jingisukan is a dish in which mutton or lamb and vegetables are grilled using a uniquely shaped pan with a convex center. It originated from the popular Chinese dish ‘Kao Yang Rou’ (grilled mutton), which was discovered by Japanese individuals in Beijing and underwent modifications, leading to the creation of the distinctive name ‘Jingisukan.’ This dish was then introduced to the Japanese in Northeast China, specifically known as ‘Manchuria,’ and gained fame as a specialty of ‘Manchukuo,’ being highly valued even by the Japanese army. Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, Jingisukan became a local dish in Hokkaido and was recognized as a ‘Hokkaido Heritage’ in 2004. The widespread popularity of this dish in Japan can be attributed to its association with Genghis Khan. This study views Jingisukan as a type of ‘colonial cuisine’ and elucidates its dissemination by comparing it with examples such as British curry. Furthermore, it considers this cuisine a ‘difficult heritage’ to evaluate, examining how people in post-World War II Japan perceived the history of Jingisukan’s association with imperialism and how they transformed it into a local dish in Hokkaido. Jingisukan became widely popular after World War II and was initially perceived as a Chinese dish. This association evoked nostalgia for mainland China, where the Japanese Empire had expanded its influence before and during the war. In Hokkaido, Jingisukan became particularly favored for outdoor dining. By the 1960s, it gained nationwide recognition, with mutton imported from overseas. Simultaneously, Jingisukan has been actively promoted as a tourist attraction in Sapporo and throughout Hokkaido.

Discovery flows from mapping for conservation planning: the case of finding and mapping of Second World War British Hong Kong defence structures

This article develops MacEachren’s summary of contemporary approaches to cartography as communication as a one-way flow of map information. The Hong Kong experience shows that large-scale government survey maps can be used by non-specialists to (re)discover and identify, for conservation planning purposes, very small Second World War defence structures not annotated on those maps. By accumulating information and field studies, non-specialists can produce specialist maps as a contribution to conservation planning. The issues of a market for military heritage buildings and the actual role the government cartographer played in conservation mapping are discussed. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .

Bridging the Chasm in the Holy Lands: The Antithesis of Islamic Law to Warfare in the Middle East

The present article scrutinizes the intricacies surrounding defensive warfare aimed at reclaiming territories perceived by Muslims as under non-Muslim occupation through the lens of the four Sunni schools and Twelver Shia perspectives. In Shia jurisprudence, in the absence of the twelfth Imam, the concept of defensive war does not extend to reclaiming Islamic territories per se; rather, Muslims are not sanctioned to engage in warfare solely for territorial defense. Instead, the imperative for Muslim involvement in armed conflict arises only when the fundamental tenets of Islam face jeopardy. According to Shia’s legal interpretation, jeopardizing the core principles of Islam implies a scenario where the erasure of Prophet Muhammad’s legacy and the utter annihilation of Sharia law are imminent. Such a predicament is not contingent upon the occupation of Islamic lands. However, Sunni jurisprudence posits a prerequisite for Muslims to engage in warfare, even in defense, necessitating a certainty of prevailing in the conflict. Consequently, given the contemporary milieu, wherein the requisite conditions for assured victory remain unattainable and are likely unattainable, defensive warfare for territorial reclamation is deemed impermissible. The findings of this inquiry propose an Islamic legal framework that advocates abstention from resorting to warfare concerning the mentioned territories in current circumstances, absolving Muslims of any obligation in this regard. Closing the avenue of armed conflict thereby paves the way for alternative avenues such as negotiation, reconciliation, and peace-building. It underscores Islam’s reverence for human life, prioritizing it over territorial concerns.

The Differences Between Wars in Ancient China and Ancient Greece--The Analysis Based on The Book of Songs and Ancient Greek Mythology

This paper aims to analyze the different views of war in ancient China and ancient Greece, based on The Book of Songs and Ancient Greek Mythology. The comparisons are divided into three parts: the distinction of background, views in The Book of Songs, and attitudes towards war in Ancient Greek Mythology, and finally conclusion will be drawn. In the first part, the geography factors will be given, and then the analyses of lifestyles, personalities and beliefs that are influenced or shaped by the natural environment follow, also including the comparisons. The second part is on the views of war in The Book of Songs where four typical examples are given which represent four genres that indicate four different attitudes towards war in ancient China, also with analyses. Part three is based on Ancient Greek Mythology, the Trojan War especially, which fully exemplifies the western view of war. The analyses of the culture of offensive war and individual heroism follow. Finally, in the last part, some suggestions for nowadays diplomacy will be given based on the analyses and comparisons above. Also, the culture of defensive war and patriotism, as the two most distinct and significant beliefs, are worth highlighting separately, for they still deeply affect nowadays Chinese.

How does the impact of a two-stage air pollution control policy on air quality different? Evidence from 258 cities in China

Air pollution control has become a core task in the construction of China's “ecological civilization”. From 2013 to 2020, the Chinese government successively implemented two consecutive environmental management policies targeting air pollution, namely the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (APPCAP) and the Blue Sky Defense War (BSDW). To compare and analyze the effects of these two consecutive policies on air pollution control and their differences in governance mechanisms, this paper employs daily air pollution data from 258 cities in China from January 2013 to September 2020 for empirical analysis. We examines the direct impact of the two-stage policies on air pollution and explores the impact mechanisms from three aspects: technological effects, structural effects, and scale effects. The results indicate: (1) Both APPCAP and BSDW significantly reduced AQI, PM2.5, PM10, SO2, nitrogen dioxide, and CO. (2) Compared to APPCAP, BSDW had a stronger effect on reducing nitrogen dioxide and managed O3 in coordination. (3) APPCAP did not have significant impacts on technology, scale, and structure effects, whereas BSDW significantly promoted technological innovation and industrial restructuring but significantly suppressed the scale effect. Our work provides new empirical evidence for the policy heterogeneity in air pollution control and offers useful policy implications for improving air quality and coordinated pollution control.

Likelihood of Success, the Science of War, and the False Security of a Technical Principle

I argue that it may be time to abandon the likelihood of success principle, a relative newcomer to the just war tradition. First, I am unconvinced of the normative value of the concept, especially when applied to states participating in defensive wars. Second, and more pragmatically, our lack of knowledge about what determines the outcomes and durations of wars, the application of a scientific-sounding concept to what is essentially a judgment of art may distort our moral reasoning. Estimating the chance that a particular war (or use of force) will generate the outcomes one hopes for is fiendishly difficult, and to be accurate, requires a knowledge of military and political science that few theorists possess. In its current form, the likelihood of success principle serves to reify existing power disparities and to render defensive wars apparently illegitimate.

Field Artillery in the defensive war of Ukraine 2022-2023. Part II. Methods of task implementation

This article is a continuation of the considerations regarding the use of field artillery in Ukraine’s defensive war in the period from 24th February 2022 to the 2023 summer offensive of the Ukrainian army. Artillery in this armed conflict is used by both sides with great intensity and is an essential means of fire support, often decisive for the success of the implemented operations. The aim of the second part of the article is to present ways of using field artillery units in selected operations of the Ukrainian war. As before, the subject of the research is the missile forces and artillery of the warring parties, but in this case, above all, the way they carry out their tasks. In his research, the author wants to answer the following problematic questions: How did the field artillery units of both parties involved in the conflict carry out combat tasks in selected phases of the war? What conclusions can be drawn from this for the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, which are currently increasing their capabilities, especially their artillery capabilities, as well as for other NATO armies? The Author, an artillery officer by education and currently a military academic teacher academically involved in the issue of state military security, based his academic analysis largely on his personal academic achievements and conclusions gained from participating in military exercises, conversations, and workshops conducted with Ukrainian officers before the outbreak of the war, as well as on the latest academic studies and reports on the course of warfare.

Da and its mothers of the martyred: meaning and contest in an Iranian war memoir

ABSTRACT Zahra Husayni’s war memoir Da (2008) is widely recognized as one of the most successful productions of Hawzah-yi Hunari’s Holy Defence oral history project. Focusing on this work and by using a combination of paratextual analysis and close reading, the present article explores the dynamics of meaning-making as a contested phenomenon within the propagandist messaging of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The analysis hinges on the fact that despite the official promotion of this memoir as a tribute to the mothers of martyrs of the Iran-Iraq War, the narratives of these mothers are surprisingly marginalized within the text. Approaching the Holy Defence discourse as a Lyotardian grand narrative, this article raises the question whether in light of this discrepancy, a counter-discursive reading of Da is possible. Exploring this question provides insight into the construction and propagation of meaning in the Holy Defence war memoirs industry in Iran.

일본 향토박물관의 지역문화 전시재현과 지역사회 참여

This study aimed to examine the reproduction of local history and the participation patterns of residents in exhibitions at local Japanese museums. According to data from the Agency for Cultural Affairs under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, there are more than 5,700 museums in Japan. Japan's rapid growth after its defeat in World War II accelerated the establishment of museums that store local history and folklore materials. Around 1993, 452 local museums with history and folklore themes were built. This can be interpreted as a measure to respond to the standardization of existing centrally oriented museums due to the triggering of awareness of issues such as local population decline and regional crises. Unlike central or tourism-oriented museums, museums established in local areas tend to focus on residents living in the area. The local museum examined in this study also considers local ‘people’, who put the concept of ‘hometown’ at the forefront, as a significant element of museum operation, and their participation becomes the basis of the local museum's identity. As the leading case covered in this paper, the Urayasu City Local Museum promotes citizen participation by turning the results from various local participation programs, such as collaboration with local schools, student curator system, and regional competitions to transmit local cultural heritage, into exhibition contents. Japanese local museums provide many implications for today's Korean society, especially in the current era where there is talk of local extinction due to population decline, the direction in which the ‘region’ should move, and the social role that museums should take.

일본의 독도 고유영토론 고찰

It is said that the inherent territory theory was invented by Japan. Japan, which lost a lot of territory after its defeat in World War II, began to raise claims of ‘inherent territory’ in order to recover such territory. The first time the claim of ‘inherent territory (固有の領土)’ was used for the two islands, Habomai and Shikotan, on the border with Russia. Afterwards, in 1956, Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu stated in a speech to the National Assembly that Dokdo was also Japan's inherent territory. In general, ‘inherent territory’ means ‘national territory that has never historically become the territory of another country’ or ‘unique national territory that has not been newly acquired through the mode of territorial acquisition.’ It is distinguished from ‘territory possessed since the establishment of a modern state’ or ‘territory possessed ab origine at the time of the establishment of a modern state, and territory acquired by gains after the establishment of the state.’ Inherent territory is understood to include three aspects: 1) the temporal and historical part, 2) the mode of territorial acquisition, and 3) the absence of foreign domination. Although the inherent territory theory seems similar to historical title at first glance, it is reasonable to believe that the inherent territory theory claimed by Japan is virtually impossible to apply not only under international law but also in actual reality, and is unlikely to be accepted as a theory under international law.

Ukraine during the invasion - security challenges and "everyday life"

War is always a time of difficult decisions. This is a test of the reality of the "will for peace", but also a verification of "preparing for war". The fire of war therefore verifies preparation and reactivity towards war. It turns out, however, that given the traditionally great importance of the decisions of the political and military establishment and their impact on the course of the defensive war and the fate of society's survival, the sequence and, above all, the continuity of signals coming from the social side are equally important. The methodological composition of this article assumes an updated reflection on the "triad of war" and its systemic relations that become visible in the face of war challenges of statehood and war challenges, security challenges of everyday social life. While it is possible to react reactively rather than preventively to the aggressor's volleys, appreciating the possibility of war allows us to strengthen many of the foundations of statehood in advance. There are also certain opportunities among the already materialized threats. Hence the title "challenges" category. The reflections and conclusions of this article, made on the basis of the assumed cognitive and utilitarian purpose, can serve as a proposal to shed new light on the functioning of the state and the development of immunity, which makes the invasion more difficult for the aggressor.

The Constitution, Invasion, Immigration, and the War Powers of States

Abstract By express and implied reservation, the Constitution permits states to wage defensive war and take other military action in response to invasion, insurrection, and transnational criminal gangs. This article examines the under-researched area of state war powers and how they interact with federal military and other foreign affairs powers. It also recovers the meaning of the Constitution’s term “invasion” and demonstrates that several judicial decisions have construed that term far too narrowly. The article ends with reflections on justiciability and remedies in state war power cases.

From Chinese food to Japan’s Hokkaido heritage: The transformation of the grilled mutton or lamb dish ‘Jingisukan’

Jingisukan is a dish in which mutton or lamb and vegetables are grilled using a uniquely shaped pan with a convex center. It originated from the popular Chinese dish ‘Kao Yang Rou’ (grilled mutton), which was discovered by Japanese individuals in Beijing and underwent modifications, leading to the creation of the distinctive name ‘Jingisukan’. This dish was then introduced to the Japanese in Northeast China, specifically known as ‘Manchuria’, and gained fame as a specialty of ‘Manchukuo’, being highly valued even by the Japanese army. Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, Jingisukan became a local dish in Hokkaido and was recognized as a ‘Hokkaido Heritage’ in 2004. The widespread popularity of this dish in Japan can be attributed to its association with Genghis Khan. However, in Mongolia, Genghis Khan is a revered national hero, leading to opposition from some people regarding the use of his name for a dish. This paper provides a concise overview of the birth and spread of Jingisukan, followed by an examination of how the Japanese perceived the history of Jingisukan, which was intertwined with imperialism after World War II. It investigates the reasons for and processes behind the transformation of the dish into local cuisine in Hokkaido. Post-war Jingisukan no longer evokes the heroic imagery used to boost morale during the pre-war and wartime periods. Instead, it became a comfort food that acknowledged the reality of defeat and served as a means of healing. During that time, Jingisukan spread throughout Hokkaido and came to be recognized as the ‘flavor of the homeland’, while also being utilized as a tourism resource. Can we cherish and utilize this dish and its name, which has been beloved by the Japanese for over a century, as a cultural heritage that connects many people, ethnicities, and nations?