During the last decade, Russia’s industrial-military complex began actively working to enhance its armed forces. The rearmament of many types of troops is proceeding at a high pace, especially the strategic missile forces and the aerospace forces, as well as the Navy to a lesser extent (except the submarine fleet). At the same time, the army’s equipment is but a deep modernisation of Soviet developments. This trend is made possible by the opportunities offered by the "digitisation" of Soviet equipment with the use of modern element base.
Made in China 2025, first announced by premier Li Keqiang in 2015, is the comprehensive plan to modernize the country, bringing it to a new stage of development and industrialization, with the final objective to quickly transform China from a big manufacturing country to a strong manufacturing one (加快从制造大国转向制造强国 – jiakuai cong zhizao daguo zhuanxiang zhizao qiangguo). This project will unfold in three main phases: the first one focuses on the Chinese overall industrialization process.
Almost seven years after the 2010-11 uprisings, the Arab armies face new threats and tasks. Polarization marks the Middle Eastern system of power, driven by the Saudi-Iranian rivalry for regional hegemony. The fall of the “Caliphate” as territorial entity poses question marks regarding security governance in post-Daesh areas. In 2011, the armies were decisive actors for regime change, continuity or counter-revolution: but what happened later?
It is not uncommon to assume that the Turkish military’s influence over politics has sharply decreased during the JDP governments. However, the JDP’s de-militarization policy has not produced a consolidated democracy and militarism has not totally disappeared from the legal, economic and social spheres. This is called pseudo transformation because the JDP has pursued a pragmatic policy that aims to keep the military from toppling civilian governments but avoids making democratic reforms in order to consolidate its power in domestic politcs. As a result of this policy, state institutions including the Turkish Armed Forces have become non-transparent and non-accountable. In the final analysis, the military has remained a black box despite the fact that its scope and influence has narrowed down.
Between 1966 and 1998 senior members of the Indonesian military were appointed to legislative and administrative bodies and occupied key positions in the bureaucracy as well as in state-owned corporations. They also held a number of legislative seats in the parliament and influenced the government-supported party GOLKAR. Since 1998, however, a process of democratization has led to a greater civilian control of the armed forces. The study focuses on this process as well as on the external challenges faced by the Indonesian armed forces
In an admirable show of determination, the Egyptian youth through the rebel movement, "Tamarod," mobilized tens of millions of Egyptians to restore their freedom and preserve their national character.
To what extent has the French intervention weakened the African Union leadership on the Malian crisis?
The forms of international intervention have deeply changed since the end of the Cold War. They have assumed a democratic character: recent cases of intervention are mainly carried out by democracies and are justified by democratic principles as the protection of human rights or the promotion of human dignity. Moreover, they are aimed at the democratization of the target-country. This unprecedented democratic attitude has given birth to a new kind of relationship between international intervention and democratization - which in the past was understood only as a domestic political process.