Most biometric books are either extraordinarily technical for technophiles or extremely elementary for the lay person. Striking a balance between the two, Biometric Technology: Authentication, Biocryptography, and Cloud-Based Architecture is ideal for business, IT, or security managers that are faced with the task of making purchasing, migration, or adoption decisions. It brings biometrics down to an understandable level, so that you can immediately begin to implement the concepts discussed. Exploring the technological and social implications of widespread biometric use, the book considers the science and technology behind biometrics as well as how it can be made more affordable for small and medium-sized business. It also presents the results of recent research on how the principles of cryptography can make biometrics more secure. Covering biometric technologies in the cloud, including security and privacy concerns, the book includes a chapter that serves as a "how-to manual" on procuring and deploying any type of biometric system. It also includes specific examples and case studies of actual biometric deployments of localized and national implementations in the U.S. and other countries. The book provides readers with a technical background on the various biometric technologies and how they work. Examining optimal application in various settings and their respective strengths and weaknesses, it considers ease of use, false positives and negatives, and privacy and security issues. It also covers emerging applications such as biocryptography. Although the text can be understood by just about anybody, it is an ideal resource for corporate-level executives who are considering implementing biometric technologies in their organizations.

It was in Europe that the Cold War reached a decisive turning point in the 1960s, leading to the era of detente. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), with its Final Act in Helsinki in August 1975, led to a rapprochement between East and West in the fields of security, economy and culture. This volume offers a pilot study in what the authors perceive as the key issues within this process: an understanding over the 'German problem' (balancing the recognition of the post-war territorial status quo against a formula for the eventuality of a peaceful change of frontiers) and the Western strategy of transformation through a multiplication of contacts between the two blocs. Both of these arguments emerged from the findings of an international research project on 'Detente and CSCE in Europe, 1966-1975', funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung and headed by the two editors.

The decisions to negotiate in the South African and Israeli/Palestinian conflicts can be understood in terms of changed perceptions of threat among political elites and their constituents. As perceptions of an imminent threat to national survival receded, debate over national security policy became a focus of internal politics on the government sides in each case and prompted changes of leadership. The new leaders, F.W. de Klerk and Yitzhak Rabin, faced emerging threats at the national and international levels that made negotiation seem advantageous. Lieberfeld analyzes the decisions of the opposition ANC and PLO in terms of changing threat perceptions and incentives for compromise.

Lieberfeld also evaluates developments since the breakthrough agreements. He concludes by identifying revised indicators of conflicts' ripeness for negotiated settlement and discussing their applicability to other cases of intense, protracted conflict.

Gardner explores the global ramifications of the NATO-Russian relationship. He argues that NATO enlargement into Central Europe risks the overextension of NATO's political consensus and could provoke Russia and other states that do not expect to become full members of the alliance. He concludes by proposing an alternative system of security for the region. Gardner explores the global ramifications of the NATO-Russian relationship. He examines NATO's Partnership for Peace initiative as it relates to Russia, and he argues that NATO risks provoking Russia and other states that do not expect to become full members of the alliance. He contends that if NATO and Russia cannot reach a compromise over a new system of security in Central and Eastern Europe, then Russia could adopt an increasingly assertive Eurasian stance by more closely aligning with potentially anti-Western states such as Belarus, China, India, Iraq, and Iran. Likewise, the possibility of a renewed division of Europe cannot be ruled out. Gardner asserts that it is absolutely necessary to draw Russia into a concerted relationship with the United States and the European Union. He concludes by formulating a viable system of cooperative-collective security for all Central and Eastern European states backed by conjoint NATO, European, and Russian security guarantees. This is a thoughtful and provocative analysis of great interest to policymakers and students of international relations and contemporary defense issues.

Corporate Security Responsibility? focuses on the role of private business in zones of conflict. The book contributes to closing the gap between research on Global Governance and Peace and Conflict Studies. It applies a systematic research design to the study of corporate governance contributions to peace and security across a number of cases.

This book offers an analysis of the origins of the crisis in Zimbabwe and why it has had such a profound impact on both the land issue and democratic politics in the Southern African region. The analysis contributes to the present debates around Mugabe, neo-imperialism and the stability in the region.

In response to the shaky record of the international community's peacekeeping and conflict management efforts, academics and policymakers have begun to re-examine conflict prevention as a key instrument for the advancement of peace in a war-torn world. In Conflict Prevention from Rhetoric to Reality, Volume 1: Organizations and Institutions conflict prevention specialists from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, with professional experience in regional organizations, the UN, and various NGOs and research organizations, argue that, as a concept as well as a policy, conflict prevention is moving beyond rhetorical commitments and symbolic, ad hoc, activities. Institutional, long-term efforts specifically targeted at the prevention of violent conflict have become more than just wishful thinking. Together with local actors, many governments, regional organizations and the UN are embracing preventive action as a viable path towards sustainable peace. The contributions to this volume trace conflict prevention efforts in various regional contexts and explain how preventive thinking is being successfully mainstreamed into the activities of regional organizations and the UN. They show that, while conflicts may not always be prevented, even in cases where reliable monitoring triggers effective early warning and preventive action, the likelihood of an outbreak of violent conflict can be greatly reduced by determined, systematic efforts to address the root causes of potential violence.

This book assesses the effectiveness of Nigeria's counterterrorist policies against Boko Haram. It takes a critical review of the interventionist strategies adopted by the Nigerian government, highlights the motivations behind the choice of strategies, and proffers a deeper understanding of the factors responsible for the state's inability, thus far, to rid the country of terrorism. Specifically, it evaluates the NACTEST policy framework that guides the Nigerian state's counterterrorist strategies, which contains both hard and soft power approaches. Adopting historical and case study approaches which put the Nigerian state and occurrences of violent conflict in context, it takes cognizance of the politics of ethno-religious diversity which reinforce violent conflicts among groups and against the state, and reviews the socio-economic and political realities that led to the emergence and sustenance of Boko Haram. The volume concludes by suggesting practical policy options for combating Boko Haram and other similar armed insurrection. This book is appropriate for researchers and students interested in African politics, conflict, security, peace studies, terrorism, and counterterrorism, as well as policy makers and government departments dealing with terrorism and counterterrorism.

Using the case studies of Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Lebanon and Northern Ireland this book dissects internationally-supported peace interventions. Looking at issues of security, statebuilding, civil society and economic and constitutional reform, it proposes using the concept of hybridity to understand the dynamics of societies in transition.

This timely book examines how the South African National Defence Force has adapted to the country's new security, political and social environment since 1994. In South Africa's changed political state, how has civilian control of the military been implemented and what does this mean for 'defence in a democracy'? This book presents an overview of the security environment, how the mission focus of the military has changed and the implications for force procurement, force preparation, force employment and force sustainability. The author addresses other issues, such as: * the effect of integrating former revolutionary soldiers into a professional armed force * the effect of affirmative action on meritocracy, recruitment and retention * military veterans, looking at the difficulties they face in reintegrating back into society and finding gainful employment * gender equality and mainstreaming * the rise of military unions and why a confrontational, instead of a more corporatist approach to labour relations has emerged * HIV/AIDS and the consequences this holds for the military in terms of its operational effectiveness. In closing, the author highlights key events that have caused the SANDF to become 'lost in transition and transformation', spelling out some lessons learned. The conclusions she draws are pertinent for the future of defence, security and civil-military relations of countries around the world.

This book examines how gendered agency emerges in peacebuilding contexts. It develops a feminist critique of the international peacebuilding interventions, through a study of transitional justice policies and practices implemented in Bosnia & Herzegovina, and local activists' responses to official discourses surrounding them. Extending Nancy Fraser's tripartite model of justice to peacebuilding contexts, the book also advances notions of recognition, redistribution and representation as crucial components of gender-just peace. It argues that recognising women as victims and survivors of conflict, achieving a gender-equitable distribution of material and symbolic resources, and enabling women to participate as agents of transitional justice processes, are all essential for transforming the structural inequalities that enable gender violence and discrimination to materialise before, during, and after conflict. This study establishes a new avenue of analysis for understanding responses and resistances to international peacebuilding, by offering a sustained engagement with feminist social and political theory.

This book reveals the nature of Sino-US strategic competition by examining the influence exerted by major secondary stakeholders, e.g. Japan, Russia, India, the Koreas, and ASEAN, on the two powers, USA and its rival China, who consider each other as a source of greatest challenges to their respective interests. By adopting "strategic triangles" as the analytical framework and assessing triangular relational dynamics, such as US-China-Japan or US-China-Russia, the author illustrates how secondary stakeholders advance their own interests by exploiting their respective linkages to the two rivals, thereby, shaping Sino-US completive dynamics. This work adds a regional and multivariable perspective to the understanding of the Indo-Pacific's insecurity challenges.

Remote Sensing from Space Supporting International Peace and Security provides the reader with an overview of the state-of-the-art EO related research in the most relevant topics of security research. Whilst focusing on remote sensing technologies the book follows an interdisciplinary approach. It comprises management aspects (Issues and priority of security research, crisis response), applied methodologies and process chains (Treaty monitoring, estimation of population densities and characteristics, border permeability models, damage assessment) and the latest developments in generic tools (feature recognition, change detection and visualization). Contributing authors are leading researchers from private companies, national research institutions and international organizations working together in a European research project GMOSS (Global Monitoring for Security and Stability). Additionally the book tackles the issues of data sharing, data standards and new approaches of training security relevant techniques.

This book is tailored for the scientific community dealing with the application of EO data as well as for project managers and decision makers working in the field of security and having an interest in technical solutions. Many figures and sample images ease reading and allow to quickly grasping the technical background of modern technologies applied in people s security research.

Based on twenty-five years of fieldwork, Rural Women's Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Illiteracy: A Critical Perspective on Development examines rural women's behaviors towards health in several developing countries. These women are confronted with many factors: gender inequalities, violence from partners, and lack of economic independence. The book also gives insight into the general weakness of the health systems in place and questions the progress of numerous international conferences ICPD (International Conference on Population and Development) and MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) along with WHO (The World Health Organization) Frame Work for Action, UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) and CEDAW (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) all supporting women's empowerment as related to violence, education, and reproductive health. Chapters provide numerous concrete examples and vignettes describing constraints on women in a variety of countries related to their intimate lives and their struggle between traditional and modern medicine. Widely practiced clandestine sex work is a challenge to HIV/AIDS programs. The book examines the women who choose clandestine sex work and their clients' sexual behavior and attitudes toward prostitution and HIV prevention. It also explores the negotiations between promiscuous, migratory men, and the ties of sexuality and fertility that women use to tie them to a male partner. The book argues for effective delivery of healthcare programs accompanied by multi-lateral responses from the civil society, governments, donors and agencies. Rural Women's Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Illiteracy is a useful resource scholars, as well as consultants and staff working in development agencies and public health.

This volume explores how religious leaders can contribute to cultures of peace around the world. The essays are written by leading and emerging scholars and practitioners who have lived, taught, or worked in the areas of conflict about which they write. Connecting the theory and practice of religious peacebuilding to illuminate key challenges facing interreligious dialogue and interreligious peace work, the volume is explicitly interreligious, intercultural, and global in perspective. The chapters approach religion and peace from the vantage point of security studies, sociology, ethics, ecology, theology, and philosophy. A foreword by David Smock, the Vice President of Governance, Law and Society and Director of the Religion and Peacebuilding Center at the United States Institute of Peace, outlines the current state of the field.

Combining both legal and empirical research, this book explores the statutory aspects and practice of Gacaca Courts (inkiko gacaca), the centrepiece of Rwanda's post-genocide transitional justice system, assessing their contribution to truth, justice and reconciliation. The volume expands the knowledge regarding these courts, assessing not only their performance in terms of formal justice and compliance with human rights standards but also their actual modus operandi. Scholars and practitioners have progressively challenged the idea that genocide should be addressed exclusively through 'westernised' criminal law, arguing that the uniqueness of each genocidal setting requires specific context-sensitive solutions. Rwanda's experience with Gacaca Courts has emerged as a valuable opportunity for testing this approach, offering never previously tried homegrown solutions to the violence experienced in 1994 and beyond. Due to the unprecedented number of individuals brought to trial, the absence of lawyers, the participative nature, and the presence of lay judges directly elected by the Rwandan population, Gacaca Courts have attracted the attention of researchers from different disciplines and triggered dichotomous reactions and appraisals. The tensions existing within the literature are addressed, anchoring the assessment of Gacaca in a comprehensive legal analysis in conjunction with field research. Through the direct observation of Gacaca trials, and by holding interviews and informal talks with survivors, perpetrators, ordinary Rwandans, academics and the staff of NGOs, a purely legalistic perspective is overcome, offering instead an innovative bottom-up approach to meta-legal concepts such as justice, fairness, truth and reconciliation. Outlining their strengths and shortcomings, this book highlights what aspects of Gacaca Courts can be useful in other post-genocide contexts and provides crucial lessons learnt in the realm of transitional justice. The primary audience this book is aimed at consists of researchers working in the areas of international criminal law, transitional justice, genocide, restorative justice, African studies, human rights and criminology, while practitioners, students and others with a professional interest in the topical matters that are addressed may also find the issues raised relevant to their practice or field of study. Pietro Sullo teaches public international law and international diplomatic law at the Brussels School of International Studies of the University of Kent in Brussels. He is particularly interested in international human rights law, transitional justice, international criminal law, constitutional transitions and refugee law. After earning his Ph.D. at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Dr. Sullo worked at the Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg as a senior researcher and as a coordinator of the International Doctoral Research School on Retaliation, Mediation and Punishment. He was also Director of the European Master's Programme in Human Rights and Democratization (E.MA) in Venice from 2013 to 2015 and lastly he has worked for international NGOs and as a legal consultant for the Libya Constitution Drafting Assembly on human rights and transitional justice.

This book systematically explores how different theoretical concepts of myth can be utilised to interpretively explore contemporary international politics. From the international community to warlords, from participation to effectiveness - international politics is replete with powerful narratives and commonly held beliefs that qualify as myths. Rebutting the understanding of myth-as-lie, this collection of essays unearths the ideological, naturalising, and depoliticising effect of myths. Myth and Narrative in International Politics: Interpretive Approaches to the Study of IR offers conceptual and methodological guidance on how to make sense of different myth theories and how to employ them in order to explore the powerful collective imaginations and ambiguities that underpin international politics today. Further, it assembles case studies of specific myths in different fields of International Relations, including warfare, global governance, interventionism, development aid, and statebuilding. The findings challenge conventional assumptions in International Relations, encouraging academics in IR and across a range of different fields and disciplines, including development studies, global governance studies, strategic and military studies, intervention and statebuilding studies, and peace and conflict studies, to rethink ideas that are widely unquestioned by policy and academic communities.

This book explores the history of the nuclear nonproliferation dialogue between Russia (USSR) and the United States. By looking into the particulars of bilateral cooperation on NPT, Cooperative Threat Reduction program, arms control, and other issues, the authors offer lessons to be learned in preventing nuclear confrontations in the future. The book has been prepared in coordination between Russian and American scholars and experts and is a result of a series of Track 2.5 events devoted to restoring the nonproliferation cooperation between Russia and the United States. Covering all the aspects of the bilateral partnership since 1960 until today, this book will interest scholars of great power conflicts and nonproliferation. The workshop and the consequent work on the monograph became possible thanks to generous organizational & financial support from Centre russe d`etudes politiques (Geneva) and the Center for Policy Studies in Russia (Monterey, USA).

"Religion, Law, and Freedom: A Global Perspective" introduces readers to diverse perspectives on the interplay of religion, law, and communications freedom in different cultures around the world. Through discussion and analysis of the religious mores and cultural values that a nation adheres to, a greater understanding of that nation, its laws, and its freedoms can be cultivated. Rather than suggesting that harmony can be achieved without conflict, the essays in this volume seek to present the reader with a variety of perspectives from which to view and understand the relationships among religion, law, and freedom in various cultures. This multifaceted analysis, therefore, helps readers draw their own conclusions as to the best way to resolve cultural conflict brought about by the growing global community.

The book consists of fifteen chapters, authored or coauthored by 17 international scholars representing China, Germany, Israel, Iran, Japan, Latvia, Nigeria, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The chapters are organized into four parts: "Perspectives on Eastern and Western Religions; Press Freedom in Religious and Secular Societies; Journalism, Advertising, and Ethical Issues;" and "Religion, Politics, Media, and Human Rights." This important contribution will especially appeal to researchers and students in such fields as mass communications, legal studies, cultural studies, political science, religion, intercultural communications, international communications, and journalism.

On the occasion of his 90th birthday Louis Kriesberg provides an informative account of his career, tracing the trajectory of his discoveries, contributions, and stumbles as he sought to help the advance toward a more sustainable and just peace in the world. His work contributes to ideas and practices in several areas of conflict studies, notably intractable conflicts and their transformation, reconciliation, conflict analysis, and waging conflicts constructively. Although neither an autobiography nor a memoir, he embeds the course of his work in the context of historical events and in the evolving fields of peace studies and conflict resolution. In addition, he discusses the interaction of those fields with major conflicts. The book includes seven previously-published exemplary pieces on these and other topics, a comprehensive list of his publications, and several photos. A discussion of Kriesberg's work and its significance is provided by George A. Lopez, Professor of Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame.

This book offers fresh and exciting new directions of inquiry into the highly contentious issue of conflict resolution in South Asia. By shifting its gaze from a politics of division mired in ethno-nationalisms into a healing and restorative focus, the author moves the dialogue forward into the realm of community, healing, and shared governance. The book analyzes the major constitutional and political missteps that have led to the current situation of violence and distrust in countries such as India and Pakistan, keeping the focus on Jammu and Kashmir. This monograph will appeal to a wide range of audiences including academics, researchers, graduate students interested in South Asian politics, development, trauma studies, and peace and conflict studies.

Achieving security and development in the post-conflict era is a challenge with which stakeholders have to grapple. While stakeholders are quick to claim success when physical hostilities cease between the belligerents, ensuring sustainable peace has been a daunting task. In some countries in Africa, the post-conflict era is characterized by organizing elections to ensure greater political participation. It is believed that elections will begin a process of openness and trust in the governing system. A supplement to electoral democracy has been power sharing arrangements used to resolve post-election violence, and ensure stability within the state. However, what underlie most conflicts in Africa is the marginalization and lack of an enabling environment to achieve individual life objectives. Policies and strategies to achieve security and enhance development post conflict have, at best, been an extremely slow process and sometimes elusive. In Sierra Leone, for instance, though the official declaration of the end of war and the successful general elections held in 2002, 2007, and 2012 have led to some domestic stability, developmental targets in the post-conflict era have proceeded at a snail s pace. The country continues to rank at the bottom of most UNDP human development indicators since 2002. Human Security and Sierra Leone s Post-Conflict Development analyzes the extent to which human security issues have been addressed and subsequently implemented in the post-conflict reconstruction process. While Sierra Leone has made tremendous efforts at implementing reforms in the areas of political sensitization, promotion of civil rights and civil liberties, as well as personal security, the lack on the part of the government to effectively address the unemployment problem has negatively affected security and developmental targets. Thus, the post-conflict management strategies in Sierra Leone fail to secure and promote some aspects of human security, leading to fragile peace and slow progress in achieving sustainable security and development. Human security is an all-encompassing phenomenon and must be addressed to achieve overall wellbeing of the people, especially in post-conflict environments."

Although much has been written about the Arab-Israeli conflict and about general theories of negotiation, this analysis and history is unique in linking major issues and peace plans to negotiation theory and strategy. Feste studies the basic structures of conflict and negotiation, offering no suggestions for radical solution but arguing for changes in approach that may bring about steps forward. This overview of all major peace efforts since 1947 and of negotiating strategies is intended for undergraduate and graduate courses in conflict resolution, Middle Eastern politics, and international relations; and for the use of political scientists, sociologists, students, and teachers concerned with ethnoconflict. The text analyzes the framework of the Arab-Israeli conflict, how it has built up, and how it has been maintained. The structure of the negotiation process is then viewed in the same way. Key elements in the Arab-Israeli conflict are considered historically and related directly to the process of negotiation and to theories about positional and principled bargaining and tactics needed in a pre-negotiation period and during negotiation to produce more successful results.

In this second book of the Global Healing trilogy, Vipin Mehta takes us on the sacred journey to awaken spirituality beyond organized religions so that we can consciously create global healing by using metaphysical tools. The journey shows how spirituality will lead humanity by raising the level of human consciousness from nationalism to globalism and from patriotism to humanism.

Interpersonal violence has been the focus of research within the social sciences for some considerable time. Yet inquiries about the causes of interpersonal violence and the effects on the victims have dominated the field of research and clinical practice. Central to the contributions in this volume is the idea that interpersonal violence is a social action embedded in responses from various actors. These include actions, words and behaviour from friends and family, ordinary citizens, social workers and criminal justice professionals. These responses, as the contributors to this volume all show, make a difference in terms of how violence is understood, resisted and come to terms with in its immediate aftermath and over the longer term. Bringing together an international network of scholars and practitioners from a range of disciplines and fields of practice, this book maps and expands research on interpersonal violence. In doing so, it opens an important new terrain on which social responses to violence can be fully interrogated in terms of their intentions, meanings and outcomes.