Military Reform Research Articles

Terezijanske zastave u Hrvatskom povijesnom muzeju i njihov ikonografski simbolizam

Flags from Maria Theresa’s era had regulated guidelines that had to be obeyed in orderto produce the most representative as well as the most typical baroque banners. Theongoing military reforms launched by Maria Theresa, in conjunction with state-governingreorganizations, are also mirrored in the Collection of Flags and Streamers atthe Croatian History Museum. In particular, there are four main representative flagsthat, on the one hand, show the practice of exhibiting statehood statuses by means ofdynastic symbols on battalion standards, and on the other indicate the iconographicsignificance of saints and beatified kings on ceremonial and commemorative banners.These instructions were all done under the impression of the baroque style, the Age ofEnlightenment, and the turbulent time of confl ict in Maria Th eresa’s reign.

The Improved Image Scrambling Algorithm for the Wireless Image Transmission Systems of UAVs.

With the deepening of modern military reforms, information has become the key to winning modern warfare. The use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to capture image information has become an important means of reconnaissance in modern warfare and plays an irreplaceable role. The image information usually uses a wireless image transmission system, since image information is intercepted or stolen easily during the information transmission, encrypting an image is a common method for ensuring image security. However, traditional encryption algorithms have some deficiencies in terms of efficiency and security. In order to overcome these shortcomings, a new algorithm is proposed in this paper-an improved image scrambling encryption algorithm based on Fibonacci-p coding. The first new idea of the algorithm is to separate the positive and negative signs and data of the scrambled DCT coefficients, then form the symbol matrix and the data matrix respectively, perform the scrambling encryption operation on the symbol matrix. The second new idea is to encrypt the color RGB image by converting the R, G, and B colors into Y, Cb, and Cr, and converting the normal image operation into operations on Y, Cb, and Cr, thereby implementing the encryption operation. The comprehensive performance of the algorithm is optimal with different image information. Experiments results validate the favorable performance of the proposed improved encryption algorithm.

Реформування військово-медичної освіти України: теоретико-методологічне обґрунтування і практичне впровадження системи підготовки медичних фахівців для сил оборони та медицини катастроф

Реформування військово-медичної освіти України: теоретико-методологічне обґрунтування і практичне впровадження системи підготовки медичних фахівців для сил оборони та медицини катастроф

러시아 국방개혁의 구조적특성과 지속성에 대한 고찰: 푸틴 4기 재집권과 국가안보전략을 중심으로

러시아 국방개혁의 구조적특성과 지속성에 대한 고찰: 푸틴 4기 재집권과 국가안보전략을 중심으로

Transformace vojenského sektoru v Německu - nekonečné hledání vhodných vojenských kapacit

Since the end of the Cold War, several military reforms have been carried out in Germany so far and a new military transformation is in the process of preparation. Over the years, the definition of the Bundeswehr's main missions has gradually shifted towards crisis management operations and the structure of the armed forces has accommodated to this shift. After the 2010-2011 reform, it was entirely evident that crisis management operations have become the main task of the armed forces. At present, German military policy places the main emphasis on "restoring the capacities" for collective defence. The strengthening of the expeditionary element in the German armed forces was made possible by the most efficient use of resources and investment inherited from the Cold War era and cutting capacities tailored to territorial defence. The author comes to the conclusion, that such policy is now evidently exhausted and is no longer sustainable - if German collective defence capacities are to be truly restored.

Guarding Traditions and Laws—Disciplining Bodies and Souls: Tradition, science, and religion in the age of Ottoman reform

AbstractThis article examines the religious and intellectual dynamics behind the Ottoman military reform movement, known as the New Order, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Conventionally, the New Order has been examined within the framework of the Westernization of Ottoman military and administrative institutions. The Janissary-led popular opposition to the New Order, on the other hand, has been understood as a conservative resistance, fashioned by Muslim anti-Westernization. This article challenges this assumption, based on a binary between Westernization reforms versus Islamic conservatism. It argues that the Janissary-led popular opposition, which was consolidated long before the New Order, developed as a form of resistance by antinomian elements blocking the top-down disciplinary policies of the central state throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The New Order programme, which was unleashed in 1792, was also opposed by the Janissary-led coalition, on the basis that it would wipe out vested privileges and traditions. Supporting the New Order, we see a coalition and different intellectual trends, including: (i) theEuro-Ottoman military enlightenment, led by military engineers and scientists, which developed an agenda to reorganize and discipline the social-military order with universal principles of military engineering and (ii)Islamic puritan activism, which developed an agenda to rejuvenate the Muslim order by eliminating invented traditions, and to discipline Muslim souls with the universal principles of revelation and reason. While the Euro-Ottoman military enlightenment participated in military reform movements in Europe, Islamic activism was part of a trans-Islamic Naqshibandi-Mujaddidi network originating in India. We thus witness a discursive alliance between military enlightenment and Muslim activism, both of which had trans-Ottoman connections, against a Janissary-led popular movement, which mobilized resistance to protect local conventions and traditions.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Eighteen-century Alliance Treaties of the Neighbouring Countries, 1720–72

When in 1719 Augustus II of Poland made an attempt to emancipate himself from the influence of the Russian emperor, the latter entered into alliance with the Prussian king, with the intent of preventing emancipation of the monarch and his country. The alliance concluded by Tsar Peter the Great with King Frederick William I of Prussia expressed the substantial interests of both monarchies. It was all about keeping watchful oversight of political and military weakness of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and rendering the country isolated in the international arena. The programme established by Petersburg and Berlin remained valid until the end of the eighteenth century and the final, third, partition of Poland. The monarchs guaranteed that they would do everything possible to prevent the Polish constitutional system from altering (keeping the king’s rights restrained against the liberties maintained – primarily the liberum veto and free election of monarch), and treasury and military reforms from implementing. The preponderance over the Commonwealth implied the participation of Russia in what is termed the concert of the European powers. For the country of the Hohenzollerns, the debilitation of the nobility-based republic was, in turn, an opportunity for increasing the its territory, which had been policy energetically pursued since the Great Elector Frederick William’s reign (1640–88). For these reasons, the whole series of Russo-Prussian alliance treaties (1726, 1729, 1740, 1743, 1764, 1769, and 1772) comprised provisions regarding Polish affairs. The range of the issues covered by these bipartite agreements was ever-broadening, extending to the dissenters’ affair, among other things. Other reasons stood behind the inclusion of clauses related to the Commonwealth in Russian-Austrian treaties. Of substantial importance was the antagonism prevalent in the Reich between Austria and Prussia, which from 1740 onwards turned into acrimonious hostility. The Viennese Burg, which solicited favour from Petersburg, endeavoured to persuade its Russian ally that it was ready and willing to replace the Prussian partner in Poland-related matters of importance to Russia (cf. the treaties of 1726, 1730, 1733, 1746). Discussed is also a never-ratified tripartite agreement of 1732 – the so-called Lowenwolde’s treaty – which was momentous for the designs of the contracting parties, as well as the partition treaties of 1772.

China’s first priority in post-war state building: A wealthy state, or a strong army?

This analysis examined causal links in China’s defence–growth nexus in 1960–2016. The results show that better growth significantly reduces military-civilian ratio and propels military reforms. The unidirectional threshold causality from growth to defence shows that the military impact on a positive change in China’s growth is little in the long term. Conversely, the growth impact of a positive change in defence has accelerated after it reaches the threshold year in 1987. This finding explains why Chinese economy stagnated when defence was prioritised and why China has risen dramatically in the Far East after three decades of fast economic growth.

The enlightenment and reflections on the teaching reform of Radiation Medicine from the perspective of MOOC

Massive open online course (MOOC) is an emerging online course model for the public. It is large-scale, open, interactive, etc. Therefore, MOOC has been developing rapidly at home and abroad in recent years. The advanced education philosophy of MOOC has also brought many inspirations to the teaching reform mode of Radiation Medicine. Under the background of the current military reform, the building of the online teaching platform on the basis of MOOC may realize the substantive reform of Radiation Medicine teaching, which can improve the comprehensive quality of the teachers and students, and cultivate more excellent military medical talents. Key words: Radiation medicine; Teaching reform; Massive open online course (MOOC)

Posconflicto y reforma militar: reflexiones y rcomendaciones a propósito del caso colombiano tras los acuerdos de la habana

Este artículo propone algunas sugerencias puntuales en relación con la reforma de la fuerza pública en Colombia de cara al posconflicto. Para ello parte del concepto de Reforma del Sector Seguridad y de su horizonte normativo. Posteriormente, se revisan los aspectos esenciales de la reforma militar emprendida en la década de 2000 tanto en sus fortalezas en el debilitamiento de las FARC como en sus deficiencias en términos de control civil democrático y de respeto de los DDHH. Finalmente, en el camino de superar tales deficiencias y de atender a las necesidades de seguridad del nuevo escenario estratégico resultado de los acuerdos de La Habana, se proponen algunas recomendaciones en el corto y largo plazo para avanzar en un posconflicto más estable y construir una paz duradera.

From salary to resistance: mobility, employment, and violence in Dibra, 1792–1826

ABSTRACTThis article traces the military employment patterns of the highlanders of Dibra in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It addresses how the Albanian highlanders found different opportunities for military employment in a period largely associated with political instability. The Albanians as ‘mountain bandits’ have been regarded as the primary culprit of the violence that ravaged the Balkans. The same bandits, this article shows, constituted at the same time the irregular forces the Ottoman army came to rely on in the late eighteenth century. By demonstrating different prospects of employment with which the Albanian irregulars were preoccupied, it provides a broader perspective to observe the turmoil the Balkans underwent in a period of political instability. This article also deals with the intricate interplay between the Albanian irregulars and the Ottoman military administration. It reinserts the Albanian bandits-cum-irregulars into the background of the military reforms. Showing how different prospects for military employment that ranged from freelance plunder to service either for the imperial army or the retinue of the rogue Albanian pashas came to clash with the discourse of military reforms, this article also traces the increasing tension between the Albanian irregulars and the modernising Ottoman army.

“Upholding the Correct Political Direction”. The PLA Reform and Civil-Military Relations in Xi Jinping’s China

The military reform launched in late 2015 has significant implications for China’s civil-military relations. One of the stated goals of the reform is to “uphold the correct political direction” by strengthening party control over the People’s Liberation Army. This has been achieved by centralising power over the PLA in the hands of the Central Military Commission, while at the same time centralising power within the Commission in the hands of its Chairman. This dual centralisation of power might considerably change the way in which the ‘conditional compliance’ model of civil-military relations works in Xi Jinping’s China.

The Byzantine Politics of Byzantine Mysticism

The Byzantine Politics of Byzantine Mysticism

마케도니아군의 군사개혁과 성과 : 필립 II세의 개혁을 중심으로

마케도니아군의 군사개혁과 성과 : 필립 II세의 개혁을 중심으로

Izquierda Militar Iberoamericana: historia, tradición y características

<p class="p1">Dentro del estudio del militarismo iberoamericano las posiciones políticas más allá de la derecha no han sido debidamente estudiadas. Por ende, este artículo quiere exponer sobre la larga tradición de izquierdismo militar, presente a lo largo de toda la historia del continente iberoamericano, explicando los principales lineamientos que llevan a que parte de la oficialidad adopte posturas izquierdistas y/o que estos sectores políticos se plieguen a los liderazgos castrenses. Este texto se centra en la tesis de maestría del autor que trata el reformismo militar desde 1992 al 2007 en Ecuador, Perú y Venezuela. </p>

Modernizing Military Patriarchy: Gender and State-Building in Postrevolutionary Mexico, 1920–1960

This article examines the relationship between gender, state-building, and military reform after the Mexican Revolution. It argues that military reform was one of the most visible and politically significant attempts by the new regime to dictate gender in the interests of national development and uphold sexual differences—that is, to modernize patriarchy. The article identifies the main phases in policies aimed at reshaping military habits, comportment, sociability, physique, and family life. Reform reflected broader trends in Mexican politics and social policy and faced abundant obstacles: the army was powerful, secretive, and riven by factional, generational, and ethnic divisions; officers and soldiers clung to their own ideas about work, family life, and leisure. Nevertheless, by the 1950s, military reform had successfully reshaped gender roles in military families, moderated officers’ public behavior, and produced a more disciplined and physically fitter soldiery. These changes helped to reshape the army’s public image in lasting ways.

Activism and Australia's Ban on Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Military Service in the 1970s–80s

ABSTRACTThe 1970s witnessed the beginning of gay and lesbian visibility and activism in Australia. Law reform associations and liberation organisations emerged across the major cities, pushing numerous equality causes ranging from the rights of lesbian mothers to, most prominently, campaigns to decriminalise homosexual acts. One theme conspicuously low-key amidst this activism was the question of gay, lesbian and bisexual service in Australia's military. Longstanding regulations banned gays, lesbians and bisexuals from serving, and those who were caught were normally discharged. The services’ respective police and intelligence services also intermittently embarked on ‘witch-hunts’—practices which became even more pronounced in the 1980s. Though CAMP Inc sporadically addressed the ban on gay, lesbian and bisexual military service, discharged servicemen and women rarely took up the cause. This is in stark contrast to the United States, where there were numerous high-profile discharges, public campaigns and legal challenges to discrimination against gay and lesbian service personnel. This article examines the low-key status of military reform in the 1970s–80s, questioning why in Australia, for most discharged servicemen and women, the personal did not become political.

Military Economy and Military Reform in Russia

Unlike previous years, the findings of analysis of Russia’s military economics and policy in 2015 fail to match what is perceived as absolute peacetime. The IISS, a world-leading authority on global security, argues that Russia is conducting a so-called hybrid warfare. The published views of western experts on hybrid warfare reflect the events occurred in Ukraine over the last two years. The spring of 2015 saw changes in accusations against Russia following Russia’s air strikes and cruise missiles strikes on the positions of ISIS terrorists in Syria. The fact that Russia is conducting special-purpose military operations is indisputable. Russia took the terrorist attack that brought down the Russian plane in Egypt, killing all 224 Russian passengers on board, as military assault against Russia’s nationals, thus forcing Russia to introduce retaliatory military counteractions against not only the ISIS in Syria but also against organizers and sponsors of terrorism. Later there were acts of terrorism in France, that prompted the French government to join the war against the ISIS, acting in conjunction with Russia and with a few other countries. Being unhappy with these developments, the Turkish government prepared the shoot down of a Russian military jet along the Syrian border. Russia responded with economic countersanctions, warning more sanctions could follow. Therefore, it appears logical that a new version of the Russian Federation National Security Strategy (Executive Order of the President No. 683 dated December 31, 2015) was approved on the very last day of 2015 .

Keiserlik-kuningliku armee mitmekesistest vormipükstest (1867–1918). Sõjaväeline ühtlustamine ja territoriaalse koostöö võimalused [On the Diversity of Pants in the Imperial and Royal Army (1867–1918). Dichotomy of Regional Traditions and State Centralism

Th is article deals with the process of army reformation during the late Habsburg Monarchy and discusses the role of local military privileges in the state structure, governance and territorial cooperation of the Empire. The late Habsburg Monarchy was a country of permanent modernization that could easily be traced in many aspects of life, the military among them. Starting in 1868, the Habsburgs applied universal conscription for their army and began a long-term programme of reformation and improvement in their armed forces. Th e main architect of the programme was archduke Albrecht and his main ideas were realized in the army until 1914. Among the most important components of the military reform was following the unifi cation and centralization of the army, cancellation of local military privileges and creation of a single governing body for all the soldiers of the Empire – k. u. k. Ministry of War in Vienna. At the same time, we could see that even after 1868 there were several territories with local military privileges at diff erent levels. The main task of this article is to discuss the real role of such privileges in the imperial military structure and fi gure out the main reasons for their existence, often in contradiction to the centralistic attempts of the Empire. By 1914, the Habsburgs cancelled the military privileges of Fiume, Catarro, Trieste, Dalmatia and Military Frontier, but at the same time kept them for Tirol and Vorarlberg, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slavonia to say nothing of Hungary. In each case there the Habsburgs had their own reasons why they refused to unify the whole military system of the Monarchy and retained military autonomy for some territories. At the same time, this situation brought to life diff erent forms of cohesion and coherence at diff erent levels – from community self-defence organizations in Tirol and Vorarlberg to the Ministry of Territorial Defence and Territorial Army ( Honved ) in Hungary. The realities of the Great War demonstrated further development of the above listed processes, when on the one hand, the army was very much unifi ed in its organization and governing structure, on the other, the separate administrative status of Hungary gave it the right to discuss its role in the war and oppose attempts by Vienna to mobilize huge military contingents for the front.

Aurelian’s Military Reforms and the Power Dynamics of the Near East

Aurelian’s Military Reforms and the Power Dynamics of the Near East