Intensity Conflict Research Articles

The examining the relationship of telework intensity and work-family conflict: Work autonomy as moderator

Purpose: While telework offers many advantages during the COVID-19 pandemic, it can also increase pressure and lead to greater work-family conflict for workers. Work autonomy plays a key role in moderating the relationships of telework and work-family conflict. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of work autonomy on the relationship between telework intensity and work-family conflict. Method: This study involved participants from various e-commerce companies in Indonesia with a total of 86 workers who meet the criteria of working telework, married and having children under 18 years. The data of this study were analysed using hierarchical regression analysis that to assess the moderator role of work autonomy in the relationship between the telework intensity and work-family conflict. Result: The study found telework increases work-family conflict, moderated by work autonomy, with higher autonomy reducing conflict. Gender and period of work also known to influence work-family conflict. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this research, companies can help their workers to manage work-family conflict by giving more job autonomy within their telework systems.

America Has Fallen: Critical Race Theory & Low-Intensity Conflict

This article aims to enlighten the business community on socio-political theory, specifically Critical Theory (CT) and Critical Race Theory (CRT), which evolved from Marxist principles. While CT focuses on economics, CRT applies a Marxist lens to race, gender, and intersectionality. The research discussion transitions from theory to application of Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) as defined by U.S. military doctrine. LIC Phase 1 involves organizing, educating, and infiltrating government; Phase 2 includes initiating low level violence and propaganda, expanding to insurrection and guerrilla attacks, and consolidating power through increased attacks and political activities. With Phases 1 and 2 completed, Phase 3 was initiated with an attempted assassination of former President Trump, and is exacerbated by unchecked immigration of military-aged men and fentanyl proliferation. This study advocates for counter-insurgency measures and emphasizes the urgent need for politicians to uphold their constitutional oaths and safeguard the nation.

Colombia's Armed Conflict and Dental Caries among Adults.

This study aimed to determine the association between residing in municipalities with armed conflict and dental caries among adults in Colombia. Data from 9,194 individuals aged 18-79 years, who participated in the Fourth National Oral Health Survey in 2014, were linked with information on the presence and intensity of the armed conflict experienced in their municipality of residence between 2000 and 2012 (extracted from the Resource Centre for Conflicts Analysis). Dental caries was determined through clinical examinations and summarised using the numbers of decayed teeth (DT), decayed and filled teeth (DFT), and decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT). Two-level negative binomial regression models were fitted, with adults nested within municipalities, to test the association between armed conflict indicators and caries outcomes after adjustment for covariates. The mean DT, DFT, and DMFT scores were 1.75 (SD = 2.36), 6.03 (SD = 4.53), and 10.27 (SD = 7.11), respectively. Of the 197 municipalities included in the analysis, 12.2% experienced conflict permanently and 18.3% experienced high-intensity conflict. In crude analysis, adults living in municipalities with more presence and intensity of armed conflict had lower DT and DMFT, but not DFT scores. After adjustment for covariates, only the (high) intensity of conflict was associated with lower DT (rate ratio: 0.64; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.47-0.87), DFT (RR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.71-0.95), and DMFT scores (RR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.74-0.89). This study found that Colombian adults residing in municipalities with high intensity of conflict had lower levels of untreated disease and caries experience.

Navigating Technostress in primary schools: a study on teacher experiences, school support, and health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a global shift toward online education, which has increased the use of technology for communication, management, and remote teaching. This study aimed to investigate how primary school teachers in China used technology during the Pandemic and to what extent they experienced Technostress, as well as the impact of Technostress on work-family conflicts and technology-induced health issues. A survey was conducted among 1,172 primary school teachers, and the results revealed that teachers exhibited a moderate to a high level of Technostress during the Pandemic, with differences observed in gender, age, and headteacher duties. Furthermore, Technostress was positively correlated with work-family conflicts and technology-induced health issues. Technology use intensity was found to directly impact work-family conflicts and personal health and indirectly impact them via the agency effects of Technostress. School support moderated the indirect relationship between technology use intensity and work-family conflicts and health issues, with higher levels of school support leading to less apparent impacts of technology intensity on work-family conflicts and personal health via the agency effect of Technostress. These findings provide timely insights for post-pandemic teacher training and technology management and suggest the importance of school support in promoting sustainable educational development.

Civil Society Organizations and Communal Harmony Building: Strategies and Dimensions

This paper examines the various dimensions of Civil society engagement in a country like India where low intensity conflicts between the two main religious communities in India. The paper uses Thania Paffenholz's categorization of the functions of civil society organizations work in peacebuilding to understand the role that organizations can play in a changed context. The paper looks at organizations in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad to examine each category in the functionalist approach. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section talks about the functional approach to peace building. The second section draws on extensive fieldwork conducted through in person interviews, participant observation and report analysis in the two cities of Ahmedabad and Hyderabad with four organizations. It highlights the importance of the context of peace building and the reasons why civil society activism for peacebuilding remains limited in capacity. Keywords: Sustainable peace, civil society organizations, functional approach to peacebuilding, democratization of peace process

Women in low intensity political conflict (through the lives of Kashmiri women)

The analysis of gender in conflict and fragile situations is an emerging area of research. Little to no attention has been paid to it up until very recently. There is scant scholarly work available that directly addresses this issue, and there is no research on the relationship between gender and low intensity conflict in Kashmir. It is in this light that the current research note has been written. It traces the broad impact that conflict has had on the lives of women living in the Kashmir region, the conflict centric part of Jammu and Kashmir. Through this research note it is established that the women in Kashmir have been exposed to the shock of unpredicted fragility, and the study is further endorsed by some instantial ethnographic case studies. These shocks have impacted them economically, psychologically and socially. Generations of women have been suffering from the negative impact of the conflict. Alhough disastrous for the most part, women have gradually developed some resilience. With time more and more Kashmiri women have been striving towards gaining economic independence by learning skills, by the acquisition of education and by being gainfully employed.

Primary Healthcare Quality in Conflict and Fragility: a subnational analysis of disparities using Population Health surveys

BackgroundRecent global reports highlighted the importance of addressing the quality of care in all settings including fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS), as a central strategy for the attainment of sustainable development goals and universal health coverage. Increased mortality burden in FCS reflects the inability to provide routine services of good quality. There is also paucity of research documenting the impact of conflict on the quality of care within fragile states including disparities in service delivery. This study addresses this measurement gap by examining disparities in the quality of primary healthcare services in four conflict-affected fragile states using proxy indicators.MethodsA secondary analysis of publicly available data sources was performed in four conflict-affected fragile states: Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, and Nigeria. Two main databases were utilized: the Demographic Health Survey and the Uppsala Conflict Data Program for information on components of care and conflict events, respectively. Three equity measures were computed for each country: absolute difference, concentration index, and coefficients of mixed-effects logistic regression. Each computed measure was then compared according to the intensity of organized violence events at the neighborhood level.ResultsOverall, the four studied countries had poor quality of PHC services, with considerable subnational variation in the quality index. Poor quality of PHC services was not only limited to neighborhoods where medium or high intensity conflict was recorded but was also likely to be observed in neighborhoods with no or low intensity conflict. Both economic and educational disparities were observed in individual quality components in both categories of conflict intensity.ConclusionEach of the four conflict-affected countries had an overall poor quality of PHC services with both economic and educational disparities in the individual components of the quality index, regardless of conflict intensity. Multi-sectoral efforts are needed to improve the quality of care and disparities in these settings, without a limited focus on sub-national areas where medium or high intensity conflict is recorded.

On the possibility of using Ramie – A natural material in cost-effective low threat body armours

Low intensity clashes have become the emerging crisis in society. In such situations, the protective vests worn by the law enforcing personnel are generally exposed to stabbing and low velocity impact from splinters. The present study is an attempt to explore the potential of Ramie, a natural fibre, to be used in body armours designed for relatively lesser threat (compared to military operations) encountered in low intensity conflict areas. Cultivation of Ramie plant to the preparation of Ramie fabric – the entire process is performed in a laboratory setup. Experiments (uniaxial tension test, direct shear test, yarn pull-out test, etc.) are conducted to characterize the stress–strain behaviour and inter-yarn friction of Ramie. The ballistic responses of single and multi-layered Ramie fabric targets are numerically investigated via FEM. In order to understand where Ramie stands with respect to Kevlar (a commonly used para-aramid synthetic fabric), the response of a single layer Kevlar target under similar circumstances (i.e. target size, boundary conditions, projectile types and impact velocities) is taken as the benchmark. Through the series of numerical simulations, the advantage and limitations of Ramie vis- a´- vis Kevlar are brought to an extent.

Recasting Low Intensity Conflicts in Laikipia County, Kenya, through Protracted Social Conflicts Paradigm: Causes, Socioeconomic, Political and Security Implications

Recasting Low Intensity Conflicts in Laikipia County, Kenya, through Protracted Social Conflicts Paradigm: Causes, Socioeconomic, Political and Security Implications

Access to primary healthcare Services in Conflict-Affected Fragile States: a subnational descriptive analysis of educational and wealth disparities in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, and Nigeria

BackgroundMeasuring and improving equitable access to care is a necessity to achieve universal health coverage. Pre-pandemic estimates showed that most conflict-affected and fragile situations were off-track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals on health and equity by 2030. Yet, there is a paucity of studies examining health inequalities in these settings. This study addresses the literature gap by applying a conflict intensity lens to the analysis of disparities in access to essential Primary Health Care (PHC) services in four conflict-affected fragile states: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali and Nigeria.MethodsFor each studied country, disparities in geographic and financial access to care were compared across education and wealth strata in areas with differing levels of conflict intensity. The Demographic Health Survey (DHS) and the Uppsala Conflict Data Program were the main sources of information on access to PHC and conflict events, respectively. To define conflict intensity, household clusters were linked to conflict events within a 50-km distance. A cut-off of more than two conflict-related deaths per 100,000 population was used to differentiate medium or high intensity conflict from no or low intensity conflict. We utilized three measures to assess inequalities: an absolute difference, a concentration index, and a multivariate logistic regression coefficient. Each disparity measure was compared based on the intensity of conflict the year the DHS data was collected.ResultsWe found that PHC access varied across subnational regions in the four countries studied; with more prevalent financial than geographic barriers to care. The magnitude of both educational and wealth disparities in access to care was higher with geographic proximity to medium or high intensity conflict. A higher magnitude of wealth rather than educational disparities was also likely to be observed in the four studied contexts. Meanwhile, only Nigeria showed statistically significant interaction between conflict intensity and educational disparities in access to care.ConclusionBoth educational and wealth disparities in access to PHC services can be exacerbated by geographic proximity to organized violence. This paper provides additional evidence that, despite limitations, household surveys can contribute to healthcare assessment in conflict-affected and fragile settings.

The effects of conflict type and conflict expression intensity on conflict management

PurposeThis paper aims to add to the current knowledge about conflict management by examining the relationships between conflict type, conflict expression intensity and the use of the conflict management approach.Design/methodology/approachThe authors test theory-based hypotheses using a field study of new product development teams in an interdisciplinary Masters program (Study 1) and an experimental vignette study (Study 2).FindingsResults show that people are more likely to respond to task conflict and conflicts expressed with less intensity using collectivistic conflict management approaches (i.e. problem-solving, compromising and yielding), and to relationship conflicts and conflicts expressed with higher intensity through forcing, an individualistic conflict management approach. Information acquisition and negative emotions experienced by team members mediate these relationships.Practical implicationsKnowing how the characteristics of the conflict (type and expression intensity) affect conflict management, managers can counteract the tendency to use dysfunctional, forcing conflict management approaches in response to high intensity conflicts, as well as to relationship conflicts and support the tendency to use collectivistic conflict management approaches in response to low intensity conflict, as well as task conflicts.Originality/valueThe authors examine an alternative to the prevailing view that conflict management serves as a moderator of the relationship between conflict and team outcomes. The research shows that conflict type and intensity of conflict expression influence the conflict management approach as a result of the information and emotion they evoke. The authors open avenues for future research on the complex and intriguing relationships between conflict characteristics and the conflict management approach.

A Phenomenological Study of Individual Strategies for Rebuilding Food Production Ability in Resource-Poor Post-Conflict Farming Communities in Myanmar

The impact of armed conflict on small-holder agricultural production recently became a closely studied topic (Verwimp, 2011). In post-conflict, or perpetual low intensity conflict, situations policy makers have identified agricultural rehabilitation of small-holder food production as vital for preventing economic collapse, encouraging internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their rural communities, and to reintegrate former insurgents into viable rural livelihoods (Christoplos, Longley, & Slaymaker, 2004). This issue has been studied at the regional and country level, but few studies have looked at this issue from resource poor small-holder farmers’ perspective (Shinn, 2010; Verwimp, Justino, & Bruck, 2007). This qualitative study documented the experience of resource-poor farmers who experienced armed conflict in northern Shan State, Myanmar. Thirty-four resource-poor farmers and six agricultural advisors were interviewed using semi-structured interview methods. The study was conducted over a three-month period in 2013. The study revealed eight themes, which described the reality of the post-conflict environment and small-holder strategies to cope and recover food production capacity. The themes were, armed conflict is always with the farmers; loss of animals and seed stock; loss of local markets; forest as refuge; fear of government and militias was mitigated by family networks; large agribusiness control land and employment; prolonged conflict causes movement to safe areas and neighboring countries; rebuilding food production. These findings reveal the need for policy makers and agricultural advisory services to modify their assistance strategies and services to better match upland resource-poor farmers realities and adaptation strategies

Keşmir Çatışmasının Tarihsel Kodları

İngilizlerin Hint Alt Kıtası’ndan çekilme süreciyle güç boşluğunun oluşması ve dini çatışmaların başlaması üzerine kurulan Hindistan ve Pakistan devletleri arasında Keşmir’in egemenliğine ilişkin anlaşmazlık ortaya çıkmıştır. Hindistan ve Pakistan arasında Kontrol Hattı olarak adlandırılan bir sınırla bölünmüş olan Keşmir, iki ülke arasındaki en büyük gerilim kaynağıdır; iki ülkenin üç savaşına, sayısız çatışmasına ve askeri kavgalarına ve her ikisinin de nükleer silah geliştirmesine yol açmıştır. 1947 itibarıyla doğan Keşmir çatışması Hindistan ve Pakistan tarafından düşük yoğunluklu çatışmalar, ateşkes ihlalleri, sınır ötesi terörizm ve insan hakları ihlalleriyle hala devam etmekte, dolayısıyla çözüme yakın görünmemektedir. 1947’ye kadar yaşanan süreci odak alan çalışma, Keşmir çatışmasının tarihsel kodlarını analiz etmektedir. Bununla birlikte bölgedeki iki devlet arasında öngörülebilir bir zamanda çözülemeyecek bir soruna İngilizlerin neden olduğunu ve Keşmir çatışmasının hiçbir zaman gerçek anlamda tamamlanamayan bölünme sürecinin doğrudan bir ürünü olduğunu öne sürmektedir.

Effect of Time of Exposure to Prolonged War on Resilience of Soldiers

The armed forces of a country face numerous challenges in their professional lives which affect both their physical and mental health. Literature provides evidence that exposure to war like situations and conflicts exert stress amongst the military personnel. Despite such high intensity conflict situations cases of impaired mental health are low among the armed forces personnel which can be explained as resilient behaviour. Therefore the objective of the present study was to study the effect of time of exposure to prolonged war on the resilience levels of military personnel, specifically the Indian army personnel. The sample of the study included N=106 Indian army personnel serving in the high intensity conflict regions of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The sample was assessed quantitatively using the resilience questionnaire by Lakshmi and Narain and results were calculated. The results were quantitatively analysed using one-way ANOVAstatistical method and it was found that soldiers with 3 to 10 months of exposure to high intensity conflict region had low to average levels of resilience whereas soldiers with 10 to 24months of exposure had resilience levels ranging from average to high. Hence it was revealed that resilience of soldiers with more exposure to prolonged war was higher than those who had less duration of prolonged war. Furthermore, the need for more research in importance of resilience building as part of combat training is discussed in the research.

Tertium datur: Multi-attribute reference points and integration choices between the European Union and Eurasian Economic Union

The article imports insights from prospect theory into the study of integration choices of ruling elites from Eastern Partnership countries. It introduces the notion of multi-attribute reference points and provides an example of identifying their coordinates, against which ruling elites from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are expected to consider distinct integration choices: the European Union or Eurasian Economic Union. The research finds that ruling elites from Eastern Partnership countries with the lowest levels of affluence, with medium to high intensity conflicts with Russia and with lower, but still non-trivial costs of domestic transformation have tended to be risk-seeking and opted for the European Union as an integration choice. However, ruling elites from Eastern Partnership countries with low and medium levels of affluence, with no conflict with Russia and with medium to high costs of domestic transformation have tended to be risk-averse and selected the Eurasian Economic Union as an integration option.

Protracted Conflicts in Afghanistan and Chechnya: American Perspectives on Russian Experience

Since the early 1980s, American scholarly and analytical literature has discussed the effectiveness of Soviet, and subsequently Russian, management of low-intensity conflicts. Though both the Soviet and Russian experience has been examined from many perspectives, including the military, economic, social and political, the American academic community does not tend to deem such an approach relevant and useful in terms of understanding US foreign policy. This disjoint is even harder to understand given the fact that the American military faced the same problems in Afghanistan and Iraq as the Soviet army experienced in Afghanistan (1979–1989), and Russian forces experienced during the First Chechen War (1994–1996). The greatest perplexity for American authors was the ability of Soviet and Russian leaders to recreate a power hierarchy on the ground while relying on their former adversaries – the Afghan Mujahideen and Chechen separatists. According to American intellectual discourse, reliance on a former enemy cannot be considered, by definition, during post-conflict state-building. Since the condition of the Russian conflict settlement model was pragmatism that is opposite to normative approach of the American policies in conflicts, this experience was not in demand in American foreign policy practice. The number of works by American scholars that include the comparison between the Soviet/Russian and the US campaigns is significantly smaller than the number of papers focusing on Soviet and Russian conduct, let alone their experience of nation-building. The aim of this study is to analyse American academic discourse about the Soviet/Russian experience of conducting low intensity conflicts. In the first part, the authors analyse the key mistakes of the Russian leadership during the campaigns, according to the estimates given by American researchers; the second part examines Russian strategy and its conflict settlement drawing comparison with the American experience. The authors conclude that US adaptation on the basis of Russian experiences in Afghanistan and Chechnya has proved impossible due to normative imperatives dominating American academic papers and policies. These imperatives bind the conflict resolution with the level of sophistication of a given country’s institutions. Perhaps, the vice versa claim could have grounds, yet it exceeds the limits of this study.

The Development of Poland’s Air Defense System: The Operational Context

The article discusses operational context for the development of Poland's air defense system. The assessment focuses on air defense operations in high intensity conflict. Recommendations include setting a realistic level of ambition in the field of air defense and increasing operational capabilities through modernization of its combat assets. The priority proposed for Poland’s air defense system is to introduce a new generation of short range surface to air missile systems and then to develop medium range air and missile defense capabilities.

Injury-related deaths before and during the Islamic State insurgency \u2013 Baghdad, Iraq, 2010\u20132015

BackgroundFollowing a period of low intensity conflict during 2009–2012, the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (or Islamic State) in 2013 was associated with a resurgence of violence in Baghdad, Iraq’s capital and largest city. We evaluated trends in injury-related deaths in Baghdad before and during the Islamic State insurgency.MethodsIraqi National Injury Mortality Surveillance System prospectively collects information on fatal injuries from governorate coroner offices using standardized reporting forms. Trained coroner clerks collect information on victim demographics, intention of injury and mechanism of injury during medical examinations using reports from police and families. We analyzed data on all deaths reported by the Baghdad Forensic Institute from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2015.ResultsThere were 17,555 injury-related deaths with documented intent and mechanism (range 2385–3347 per year): 6241 from gunfire (36%), 1381 explosions (8%), 1348 non-gunfire assaults (8%), 3435 traffic accidents (20%), and 5150 other unintentional injuries (29%). Rates of gunfire (23.45 per 100,000) and explosion (5.90 per 100,000) deaths were significantly higher in 2014 than in all other years during the review period (p < 0.001 and p = 0.03, respectively). During the same period from 2010 to 2015, traffic accident deaths declined significantly from 13.29 to 6.35 (p = 0.002), with declines observed primarily among pedestrians. Trends in the rate of non-gunfire-assault and unintentional deaths, comparing 2010 and 2015, were not significant (p = 0.12 and p = 0.63, respectively). Unintentional deaths were mostly attributed to burns (46%) and electricity-related injuries (31%). The proportion of both females and children was highest in unintentional injury deaths.ConclusionsDuring the study period, deaths from both gunfire and explosions in Baghdad peaked in 2014, corresponding with emergence of the Islamic State. Trends suggest a potential impact of insurgency-related activity on other injuries as evidenced by a decrease in the death rate from traffic accidents. The decreased traffic-related death rate could be from decreased vehicle and pedestrian activity during times of violence. Monitoring trends in injury mortality during conflict allows Iraq to identify priority injury causes to inform public health interventions.

Azawad: A Parastate Between Nomads and Mujahidins?

AbstractAs part of the collective work “Inconvenient Realities: Parastates, between Statehood and Frozen Conflict,” this article discusses today’s status of Azawad, a relatively remote parastate occupying the territories of northern Mali, currently entrapped in a low intensity conflict involving non-state actors, local security forces, and external interveners. By retracing the history and the development of Azawad, the article identifies the different and partly contrasting socio-economic and ethnic elements at the basis of Azawadian parastatehood, and it charts the dialectical process of co-construction, which have shaped and inextricably linked together the Azawad and the Malian state. Moreover, it underlines the complex and evolving relations existing between “nationalist” Tuareg rebels and jihadist groups, with the aim to problematize the classical distinction between secessionist and terrorist parastates. By showing the connections between parastatehood, hybrid governance, patronage politics, and statelessness characterizing the situation in the Azawad, the article claims that the current condition of stalled conflict represents a temporary and unstable arrangement, which is paving the way for further parastatehood projects to arise.

Aeromedical Evacuations Within the French Armed Forces: Analysis of 2,129 Patients.

The doctrine of medical support during French military operations is based on a triptych: forward medical stabilization, forward damage control surgery, and early strategic aeromedical evacuation (Strategic-AE). The aim of this study was to describe the last piece, the evacuation process of the French Strategic-AE. We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis using patient records from 2015 to 2017. All French service members requiring an air evacuation from a foreign country to a homeland medical facility were included. Data collected included age, medical diagnosis, priority categorization, boarding location, distance from Paris, type of plane and flight, medical team composition, timeline, and dispatch at arrival. We analyzed 2,129 patients evacuated from 71 countries, most from Africa (1,256), the Middle East (382), and South America (175). Most patients (1,958) were not severely injured, although some considered priority (103) or urgent (68). Diagnoses included disease (48.6%), nonbattle injuries (43%), battle stress (5.3%), and battle injuries (3%). 246 Strategic-AE used medical teams in flight, 136 of them in a dedicated Falcon aircraft. The main etiologies for those evacuations were battle injuries (24%), cardiovascular (15.4%), infections (8%), and neurologic (7.3%). The median time of management for urgent patients was about 16hours but longer for priority patients (26hours). Once in France, 1,146 patients were admitted to a surgery department and 96 to an intensive care unit. This is the first study to analyze the French Strategic-AE system, which is doctrinally unique when compared to its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies. North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies favor care in the theatre in place of the French early Strategic-AE. However, in the event of a high intensity conflict, a combination of these two doctrines could be useful.