Proxy Groups Research Articles

Indonesian Women and Terrorism: An Analysis of Historical and Contemporary Trends

From 2016 to 2021, women attempted to or perpetrated suicide attacks in Indonesia. These attacks were committed by them as individuals or in family units, who were affiliated to the Islamic State. These incidents marked the first occurrence of suicide attacks carried out by women in Indonesia. Current scholarship and policy analysis of female terrorism attributed to the Islamic State or proxy groups is still catching up with the implications of trends emerging from women’s actions as suicide attackers in Indonesia and worldwide. Primarily, scholarly and policy analyses of female terrorism focus on the individual woman engaged in violence, whereas women who support terrorist groups—as ideologues, wives, and online activists—are given a secondary analytical focus. This creates conceptual limitations in understanding women’s pathways to violence, which can encompass violent and supportive roles within the social world in which they operate. Using Indonesia as a case study, this article advances a framework to account for the mobilisation of different identities to commit violence across personal and political linkages. In examining historical and current developments in Indonesia, this article illustrates that women as supporters or actors of violence, while largely conforming to traditional gender ideology and roles, are driven by both personal and political considerations. <br /><p> </p>

THE INFLUENCE OF US POLICY ON THE FORMATION OF A COMMON APPROACH BETWEEN IRAN AND RUSSIA TO RESOLVE THE SYRIAN CRISIS

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the US has always played the most important and influential role in the Iran-Russia relations. From the second half of the 1990s, one of the US foreign policy priorities has constantly been on the separation and divergence in the Iran-Russia relations, for which the US spared no efforts. Since the synergy of powers between the two countries and their anti-unipolar policies have always been a serious threat to the US hegemony at a global level, by the beginning of the Syria crisis in late 2010, following the Arab Spring, the US interests and goals were directly at odds with Iran’s and Russia’s political and security interests. The goals of Washington in the Syria crisis included: the decline of the Syrian government, the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, and an effort to establish a pro-Western government to eliminate the sole ally of Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and also to prevent Iran’s regional penetration, particularly its proxy groups like Hezbollah. For achieving these goals, Washington has profited from its allied countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, as a front line. The US strategy in Syria not only exacerbated the crisis but also provided a situation in which Iran and Russia achieved their highest level of military and security cooperation in the past three decades. And it was precisely the same incident that the US considered a serious threat to its national interests and policies. Although Iran and Russia have pursued specific and sometimes contradictory interests, in the end, focusing on common goals and threats – arising from the Syrian crisis – they were able to cooperate effectively and take a new step in building a strategic unity.

Iranian Proxy Groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen: A Principal-Agent Comparative Analysis by Dianne Zorri, Houman Sadri, and David Ellis (review)

Iranian Proxy Groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen: A Principal-Agent Comparative Analysis by Dianne Zorri, Houman Sadri, and David Ellis (review)

Proxy Users for Usability Testing of Medical Devices for Use in Sub-Saharan Africa

Medical device implementation in global health requires careful considerations around usability and the use of proxy user groups. Working with appropriate proxy users can address the cost burden of conducting international studies with target users. This study evaluated whether proxy users are a practical substitution for conducting usability testing on devices for implementation in low-resource international settings. Identical usability studies were conducted with 18 clinicians from Blantyre, Malawi, and a carefully selected proxy group of 13 clinicians from Houston, Texas, U.S.A., across seven newborn-focused medical devices. Task success rate, System Usability Scale (SUS) scores, and NASA-Task Load (NASA TLX) scores from the two groups were compared. No significant differences were found between groups other than NASA-TLX temporal demand sub-scale, showing it is possible to use a carefully selected proxy group for usability evaluation in international settings. However, there was no consistent agreement between the groups on a task level, indicating that proxy groups should be used with an abundance of caution. Studies with target users must be additionally conducted to confirm results. Further work needs to be done with a larger sample size to test the viability of a proxy group for international studies on medical devices.

The Shi'a movements and proxy groups in context of the Middle Eastern policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran

This article is dedicated to the role and significance of the Iranian proxy-groups in the system of international relations in the Middle East and national security structures of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The relevance of this work stems from significant increase of the Iranian influence in the region over the past ten years. The article includes research of the activity of Iranian proxies in specific countries (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq); analysis of their genesis and increasing political activity; research of their influence on the augment of conflict potential between Iran and Israel; analysis of these groups’ functions in the system of national security of Iran. The author of the article points out, among other factors, that the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon has considerably strengthened its positions in the recent years due to a number of reasons, first of all, the movement’s victory in the military conflict with Israel in 2006. The second reason is various political alliances and coalitions with other Lebanese parliamentary parties; the third one is considerable military experience obtained by Hezbollah in the civil war in Syria (2013–2019). The author also emphasizes Hezbollah’s significant influence in the military and political spheres of Iraq, which are held by the pro-Iranian “Al Khashd al Shaabi” created by Shi‘a parties. In conclusion, the author provides a review of these groups’s relations with Iran and their prospects. The Iranian proxy groups play a significant role in the national security of Iran. Taking Iran’s confrontation with the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia into account, these groups are providing deterrence against probable aggression of the US and Israel towards Iran.

Diane M. Zorri, Houman A. Sadri and David C. Ellis: Iranian Proxy Groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen: A Principal-Agent Comparative Analysis

Diane M. Zorri, Houman A. Sadri and David C. Ellis: IRANIAN PROXY GROUPS IN IRAQ, SYRIA, AND YEMEN: A PRINCIPAL-AGENT COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS. MacDill: Joints Special Operations University Press. 2020, 154 pages.

Diane M. Zorri, Houman A. Sadri, David C. Ellis, Iran Proxy Groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen: A Principal-Agent Comparative Analysis, JSOU Report 20-5, The Joint Special Operations University Press, MacDill 2020, pp. 154

Diane M. Zorri, Houman A. Sadri, David C. Ellis, Iran Proxy Groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen: A Principal-Agent Comparative Analysis, JSOU Report 20-5, The Joint Special Operations University Press, MacDill 2020, pp. 154

Interracial Sex as Taboo: The New Imperialism, Christian Victorian Values, Nationalism, and the Legacies of Intimacy in the Colony of Sierra Leone, 1861–1914

ABSTRACT This article examines the dynamics of interracial sexual relationships in the Colony of Sierra Leone during the era of the new imperialism between 1870 and 1914. Although British anxieties about interracial sexual relationships and mixed-race progeny were evident before the era of the new imperialism, it was in the late nineteenth century that British imperial and colonial authorities created more rigid racial hierarchies that hardened the delineations between colonisers, intermediary proxy groups, and the colonised. However, it was not only Europeans who disapproved of interracial sex during the new imperialism, and the adoption of a Victorian sexual ethos and cultural nationalism among the Creole population contributed to their social disapproval of interracial sex. These attitudes had an impact on race relations that resulted in the clandestine nature of interracial sex in colonial Sierra Leone from the late nineteenth century and the shame attached to mixed-race ancestry in colonial society. This article examines the shifting attitudes of social disapproval towards interracial sexual relationships displayed by both Europeans and Creoles in colonial Sierra Leone and analyses the impact these attitudes had on the dynamics of interracial sexual relationships and on the mixed-race heritage of the Creole ethnic group during the era of the new imperialism.

Whose proxy war? The competition among Iranian foreign policy elites in Iraq

ABSTRACT How do state sponsors of proxy groups in civil wars balance their support of non-state militias with the need for political transition towards stability? This article explores the inconsistencies in Iran’s priorities and proxy strategy that at times limited Iranian influence, and complicated Iraq’s transition from war to peace. It expands on current theories on proxy warfare by focusing on the impact of diverging interests among foreign policy elites in a sponsor state. Three policy dilemmas illustrate the difference among on the one side the Revolutionary Guard and on the other side the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Intelligence. First, whether the pro-Iranian proxies should maintain their influence after the war or Iran should strengthen its link to the representatives of the formal state. Second, whether repression by Shia militias or political reconciliation should prevent Sunni Arabs from (re)joining Islamic State. Third, whether Iraq should be part of a sectarian, transnational alliance or an inclusive state that might become an arbiter to deescalate regional tension. The study contributes to the literature on Iranian proxy warfare in the Middle East and proxy warfare literature in general, by considering the consequences of differences among foreign policy elites.

FARC-Hezbollah: The success of Venezuela-Iran proxy groups and their convergence in the Americas

Persistence and adaptation are the main characteristics that have allowed FARC and Hezbollah to become perhaps the most successful proxy groups in recent years. Both Iran and Venezuela have sponsored the military, political and criminal actions of these alleged insurgent organisations. The main objective of this research was to identify and conceptualise the mitotic evolution of FARC and Hezbollah from purely armed organisms into consolidated political organisations in Colombia and Lebanon, and how this evolution has presented a criminal convergence in Venezuela based on drug trafficking and money laundering. This article is based on a comparative case-study of published research papers, documents, and official statements of FARC and Hezbollah, by applying a rational perspective that allows their performance to be deduced. The research results showed a constant mutation of these hybrid threats. Thus, not only was the political and military success of these organisations established but also the strategic support of a criminal dimension which converged in Venezuela, where the FARC drug trafficking and Hezbollah money laundering were amalgamated. Consequently, the investigation exposes the possible consequences of the FARC-Hezbollah criminal convergence in the Americas and its destabilising effects in the next decade.

Outsourcing warfare: Proxy forces in contemporary armed conflicts

The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive examination of the different types of armed non-state proxy groups. It discusses their characteristics and sponsorship and how they are employed by states in pursuit of their security and foreign policy objectives. The article also analyses the reasons for the recent increase in the use of proxy forces, including the benefits and risks for states that employ them, as well as the broader impact of proxy forces on the international security environment, including great power competition. Data was collected and analysed from a wide range of secondary source documents. A descriptive, qualitative research methodology was applied to print and on-line publications available from governmental, institutional and academic sources. This involved literature reviews and case studies to provide an in-depth understanding of current thinking on the topic, while also identifying potential areas for further research. The article provides a comprehensive, qualitative analysis of the existing literature and case studies on the topic of proxy forces, which due to the research methodology applied, also relies on the researcher’s judgement, choices and assumptions. Proxy wars will remain the norm for the foreseeable future. Two strategic developments drive this conclusion. Firstly, there is the renewal of great power competition for influence, resources and security, and secondly, the imperative for states to achieve these objectives without employing their military forces in a manner that could cause a major war.

Proxy reliability of the 12-item world health organization disability assessment schedule II among adult patients with mental disorders.

Despite the wide usage of World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHODAS 2.0) in psychiatry research and clinical practice, there was limited knowledge on its proxy reliability among people with mental disorders. This paper aimed to compare the 12-item WHODAS 2.0 responses of adult patients with mental disorders to their family caregivers. In this study, 205 pairs of patients with mental disorders and primary family caregivers were consecutively recruited from one inpatient mental health department in a large hospital in China. All participants completed the 12-item version WHODAS 2.0 to assess patients' functioning in the 30days prior to the hospitalization. Measurement invariance, including configural, metric and scalar invariance, was tested across patient and proxy groups, using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. Agreement between patients and proxies was examined by paired Wilcoxon tests and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Subgroup analyses for proxy reliability were conducted within strata of proxy kinship and patient psychiatric diagnosis. The 12-item WHODAS 2.0 achieved configural, metric and partial scalar invariance across patient and proxy groups. Unsatisfactory consistency was found for most items (ICC < 0.75, P < 0.05), especially for items on Cognition, Getting along, Life activities, and Participation in society (ICC < 0.4, P < 0.05). Spouses agreed with patients more often than parents (ICC ≥ 0.4, P < 0.05). The paired Wilcoxon tests found that impairment of patients with psychotic disorders tended to be overestimated by proxies while proxies tended to underestimate impairment of patients with mood disorders. Our study reveals inconsistency between self and proxy reports in the 12-item WHODAS 2.0 among adult patients with mental disorders. When proxy reports is needed, spouses are preferred than parents. We should be aware of proxies' impairment overestimation among patients with psychotic disorders and underestimation among patients with mood disorders.

The U.S. Response to the Belt and Road Initiative: Answering New Threats with New Partnerships

The U.S. Response to the Belt and Road Initiative:Answering New Threats with New Partnerships Arzan Tarapore (bio) The United States has embraced a policy of "strategic competition" with China.1 This competition is most acute in East Asia, where Chinese policies directly challenge the United States' long-standing strategic primacy. China has primed its rapid military modernization to disrupt and deter U.S. forces and has used coercive force to assert territorial revisionism in the South China Sea. But the competition spans multiple regions and dimensions. China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) seeks to build Chinese influence across the entire Eurasian landmass and adjacent waters, often at a cost to U.S. interests. Washington has denounced BRI as a "predatory" program that builds influence through corrupt and secretive "debt trap" deals.2 But alongside its economic edifice, BRI is also freighted with strategic implications. The new trade and infrastructure deals will increase Chinese leverage to shape partner nations' preferences, edge out U.S. influence, and expand Chinese military presence.3 South Asia illustrates these political-military dimensions of BRI. China is cultivating an increasingly dependent ally in Pakistan and building a sprawling military presence across the Indian Ocean region, while India and its partners scramble to mount a counterbalance. This essay outlines the implications of these dynamics for U.S. policy. It shows, first, how BRI in South Asia threatens U.S. strategic interests and how the United States is responding through new partnerships with India and other countries. The essay concludes by discussing some recommended principles for the future of U.S. policy in the Indo-Pacific. [End Page 34] How BRI Threatens U.S. Strategic Interests On the surface, BRI offers tangible and immediate economic benefits for regions like South Asia. The region's developing states have a desperate demand for the speedily constructed transportation, energy, and telecommunications infrastructure that BRI promises. The terms and modalities of BRI projects have generated skepticism and opposition, which may prompt China to adjust its approach in its decades-long BRI campaign. More fundamentally, the concept of BRI—and its South Asian centerpiece, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)—presents a broad threat to U.S. interests in at least three ways. First and most directly, BRI shields governments that harbor anti-U.S. interests and entrenches their inimical policies. The clearest example of this is Pakistan. The United States and Pakistan have long endured a relationship that oscillates between amity and estrangement. After years of mounting frustration over Pakistan's support for terrorist networks, Washington ultimately cut most aid in 2018.4 CPEC, however, was there to cushion the blow. With a source of lavish financial patronage, Pakistan is now free to persist with its strategy of using militant proxy groups for influence in Afghanistan and attacks against India. Not only is China more tolerant of Pakistan's destabilizing policies; it actively shields Pakistan from external pressure—most prominently, by repeatedly blocking UN action against terrorists such as Masood Azhar, the leader of Jaish-e-Muhammad, who claims sanctuary in Pakistan.5 China's patronage of Pakistan, with CPEC at its center, has also contributed to sharpening strategic alignments in the region. Pakistan is now financially beholden to China and firmly within its orbit. Even if the United States were to resume military aid to Pakistan, which is unlikely in the short term, the entrenched presence of CPEC means that Washington would struggle to recover even the minor influence it previously held. The United States, which has simultaneously made clear its support for India, can no longer serve as a credible intermediary in the perennial security crises between India and Pakistan. In February 2019, as India considered its response to the terrorist attack in Pulwama, U.S. national security adviser John Bolton deviated from decades of U.S. practice and encouraged [End Page 35] the Indian military's retaliation at Balakot.6 With greatly diminished external brakes on escalation, India and Pakistan were able to introduce unprecedented levels of risk to the crisis.7 Through BRI, China has and will continue to also shape the political trajectories of other states in the region. The examples of Mahinda Rajapaksa...

The Intolerance of Uncertainty Inventory: Validity and Comparison of Scoring Methods to Assess Individuals Screening Positive for Anxiety and Depression.

Intolerance of Uncertainty is a fundamental transdiagnostic personality construct hierarchically organized with a core general factor underlying diverse clinical manifestations. The current study evaluated the construct validity of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Inventory, a two-part scale separately assessing a unitary Intolerance of Uncertainty disposition to consider uncertainties to be unacceptable and threatening (Part A) and the consequences of such disposition, regarding experiential avoidance, chronic doubt, overestimation of threat, worrying, control of uncertain situations, and seeking reassurance (Part B). Community members (N = 1046; Mean age = 36.69 ± 12.31 years; 61% females) completed the Intolerance of Uncertainty Inventory with the Beck Depression Inventory-II and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Part A demonstrated a robust unidimensional structure and an excellent convergent validity with Part B. A bifactor model was the best fitting model for Part B. Based on these results, we compared the hierarchical factor scores with summated ratings clinical proxy groups reporting anxiety and depression symptoms. Summated rating scores were associated with both depression and anxiety and proportionally increased with the co-occurrence of depressive and anxious symptoms. By contrast, hierarchical scores were useful to detect which facets mostly separated between for depression and anxiety groups. In sum, Part A was a reliable and valid transdiagnostic measure of Intolerance of Uncertainty. The Part B was arguably more useful for assessing clinical manifestations of Intolerance of Uncertainty for specific disorders, provided that hierarchical scores are used. Overall, our study suggest that clinical assessments might need to shift toward hierarchical factor scores.

Orysia Lutsevych: Agents of the Russian World: Proxy Groups in the Contested Neighbourhood, Research Paper 2016.

<b>Orysia Lutsevych:</b> Agents of the Russian World: Proxy Groups in the Contested Neighbourhood, Research Paper 2016.

P2P mobile JXTA combinational auction model for Premier League Cricket Tournament

The development of wireless devices has made mobile to become the most indispensable part of human life. M-commerce applications include mobile auction, ticketing, purchasing, banking, etc., among these, mobile auction is gaining a lot of importance in the recent days. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional league for Twenty 20 cricket championship in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) currently contested by nine teams, consisting of players from around the world. It is of interest to study how the various teams have strategised their decision on setting the final bidding price of the players according to performance of the players in the previous editions of IPL and other similar formats of the game with team's own performance in previous seasons. Mobile JXTA applications and services that are usually available on client/server platforms identify solutions for P2P systems where decentralisation is considered. In this paper, we explore architecture for P2P hedonic double auction model that can be implemented to estimate the bidding price of the players based on their previous performance along with the effect of individual personalities that depend on the existence of central authorities in JXTA environment with proxy and proxiless peer groups.

Cooperative proxies: Optimally trading energy and quality of service in mobile devices

This work studies the energy and quality of service (QoS) trade-off in the context of mobile devices with two communication interfaces (a high energy and a low energy interface). We propose an optimisation scheme during underload scenarios where proxy groups are dynamically formed exploiting both interfaces. The scheme integrates a reward mechanism that compensates a proxy while carrying other group members’ traffic, and deals with churn (joining and leaving of nodes) in a cell area. For traffic flows that approximate knowledge about current services we show that the scheme can achieve energy savings of 60% for all mobile nodes as whole. We also demonstrate the impact on disruption-sensitive flows as a function of the traffic mix, and that the use of rewards for selection of proxies is a fair mechanism in the long term.

World polarization in carbon emissions, potential conflict and groups: An updated revision

Typically, conflicts in world environmental negotiations are related, amongst other aspects, to the level of polarization of the countries in groups with conflicting interests. Given the predictable relationship between polarization and conflict, it would seem logical to evaluate the degree to which the distribution of countries – for example, in terms of their CO2 emissions per capita – would be structured through groups which in themselves are antagonistic, as well as their evolution over time. This paper takes the concept of polarization to explore this distribution for the period 1992–2010, looking at different analytic approaches related to the concept. Specifically, it makes a comparative evaluation of the results associated with endogenous multi-polarization measures (i.e. EGR and DER indices), exogenous measures (i.e. Z–K or multidimensional index) and strict bipolarization measures (i.e. Wolfson’s measure). Indeed, the interest lies not only in evaluating the global situation of polarization by comparing the different approaches and their temporal patterns, but also in examining the explanatory capacity of the different proxy groups used as a possible reference for designing global environmental policy from a group premise.

The ‘Unbefriended’ Challenge PA/LTC

The ‘Unbefriended’ Challenge PA/LTC

Strongly unforgeable threshold multi‐proxy multi‐signature scheme with different proxy groups

ABSTRACTIn the majority of threshold multi‐proxy multi‐signature (TMPMS) schemes, only one proxy group is authorized to sign on behalf of all the original members. However, the original signers in various practical applications are often from different organizations. Each original signer should be able to designate a proxy group in his own organization; thus, each original signer could have distinct proxy members. However, this practical requirement of TMPMS schemes is seldom considered. To satisfy this requirement, we propose a new TMPMS scheme in which each original member can designate a proxy group in his own organization. Moreover, the threshold value of each proxy group is unique. We develop a security model to prove the high security and strong unforgeability of the proposed scheme. We analyze the security of our scheme based on the four types of adversaries tested in the security model. Compared with previous schemes, the new scheme offers higher security and superior computational efficiency. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.