Search Results (19)

In Esther 3:8–9, the central conflict of the book is introduced through the antagonist, Haman the Agagite, who argues through half-truth that because the Jews are scattered and separated amongst the people and have different laws from every other people, they should not be tolerated and instead should be annihilated. Although there is disagreement about when the book was written, the Persian kingdom is featured narratively as in power; King Ahasuerus is depicted as accepting genocide as an appropriate peacekeeping method. Many discussions on the central conflict focus on Haman, as Persia and its hegemony are depicted in the book as emotional and farcical, leaving many to dismiss its impact. Too often, with emphasis on Persian power at this time as generally benevolent, gracious, and accepting toward Others in biblical texts and scholarship, much is missed involving the insidious nature of how hegemonic powers still code and reify what differences ‘we’ deem threatening. Comparing, then, the discussions and use of multiculturalism in Western empires in current social scientific studies to rhetoric and practice in the scholarship and book of Esther, this article will address the underlying issues less discussed regarding Haman’s polemic, and the cost of “being tolerated” amongst the minoritized, including Haman. Full article

In the last decade, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) has emerged as a critical peacekeeper for the maintenance of healthy skin. The evolutionary conservation of AHR implied physiological functions for this receptor, beyond the detoxification of man-made compounds, a notion further supported by the existence of physiological AHR ligands, notably derivates of tryptophan by the host and host microbiome. The UV light-derived ligand, 6-formylindolo[3,2-b]carbazole (FICZ), anticipated a role for AHR in skin, a UV light-exposed organ, where physiological AHR activation promotes a healthy skin barrier and constrains inflammation. The clinical development of tapinarof, the first topical AHR modulating drug for inflammatory skin disease, approved by the FDA for mild-to-moderate psoriasis and poised for approval in atopic dermatitis, supports the therapeutic targeting of the AHR pathway to harness its beneficial effect in skin inflammation. Here, we describe how a tightly controlled, physiological activation of the AHR pathway maintains skin homeostasis, and discuss how the pathway is dysregulated in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, identifying areas offering opportunities for alternative therapeutic approaches, for further investigation. Full article

This article explores the complex issue of disharmony within religious marriages, focusing on Jewish approaches to divorce. Contrasting Jewish divorce mediation with other religions’ approaches to marital conflict, this article examines two Judaic models: one viewing divorce as a severe remedy permissible only under certain circumstances, and the other allowing for divorce when a marriage is irreparably broken. The author highlights the positive Jewish commandment to peacefully divorce, discussing how mediation integrates compassion and justice, in line with Jewish legal and ethical traditions. This work emphasizes the benefits of community-based divorce mediation, including lower costs, shorter timelines, and increased communal acceptance. Jewish divorce mediation, the author argues, is particularly effective in maintaining child-centeredness and co-parenting relationships post-divorce. This article calls for a broader adoption of Jewish divorce mediation through charitable organizations to effectuate Jewish family values and provide amicable resolutions within the Jewish community. Full article

UN peacekeepers face new conditions of conflict today, which call for expanded peacekeeping strategies. Among these new conditions is the increasing localization of violent conflict, especially among extra-state forces that are mobilized by ideological and religious passions. Responding to such challenges, the UN and its multinational partners attend increasingly to regional and local settings of intergroup tension and conflict. Among the consequences are greater emphasis on relations between UN peacekeeping and local police forces and on community policing. In this essay, we argue that these new peacekeeping directions are promising but lack one key dimension: attention to unique behavioral features of local, religion-on-religion conflict. Because such conflict plays an increasing role in location-specific tension and violence, it is increasingly important for peacekeepers to learn how to identify and analyze these unique features in real time and then reshape peacekeeping strategies accordingly. To illustrate how it is possible to do so, we introduce a detailed case study of successful community policing of religion-on-religion conflict: Muslim-Hindu intergroup conflict in Madhya Pradesh India. Full article

A Peacekeeping Operation (PKO) of the United Nations (UN) is a complex project whose objective is determined by the mandate, and which seeks to eliminate violence, achieve peace, and consolidate the future of society in conflict zones. For a PKO is important to assess the success or failure of the mission because might have implications for the outcomes of future missions. In this paper, it is proposed a methodology that combines two available tools, on the one hand the tool of PMI to determine the most appropriate approach to manage a PKO and on the other hand the NUPI tool, to measure the success of a PKO. The methodology is applied to two studies cases of fourth generation PKOs, the UNMISS PKO in South Sudan and the MONUSCO mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. From the results obtained an adaptive approach enjoys a greater guarantee of success than does a predefined approach. Full article

In 2010, Haiti experienced one of the deadliest cholera outbreaks of the 21st century. United Nations (UN) peacekeepers are widely believed to have introduced cholera, and the UN has formally apologized to Haitians and accepted responsibility. The current analysis examines how Haitian community members experienced the epidemic and documents their attitudes around accountability. Using SenseMaker, Haitian research assistants collected micronarratives surrounding 10 UN bases in Haiti. Seventy-seven cholera-focused micronarratives were selected for a qualitative thematic analysis. The five following major themes were identified: (1) Cholera cases and deaths; (2) Accessing care and services; (3) Protests and riots against the UN; (4) Compensation; and (5) Anti-colonialism. Findings highlight fear, frustration, anger, and the devastating impact that cholera had on families and communities, which was sometimes compounded by an inability to access life-saving medical care. Most participants believed that the UN should compensate cholera victims through direct financial assistance but there was significant misinformation about the UN’s response. In conclusion, Haiti’s cholera victims and their families deserve transparent communication and appropriate remedies from the UN. To rebuild trust in the UN and foreign aid, adequate remedies must be provided in consultation with victims. Full article

The authors’ objective was to find out how and why the approach of the Russian Orthodox Church to sociocultural adaptation of predominantly Muslim international labor migrants has evolved from its initial stage to now. Research methodology is based on a critical analysis of various sources, on observations, and archival materials. The adaptation program of the Church was advertised as a secular project pursuing the goal of peacekeeping because of a tacit agreement on mutual non-proselytisation between the basic faith-based communities in Russia. The initiative, launched in December 2012, had to merge adaptation courses of all dioceses into a nationwide network that then was expected to become part of an all-Russian system of preparation for language and culture tests. The Church also planned to open its own network of testing centrescenters for migrants. The authors emphasize that, although some of the diocesan courses were successful, the initiative deteriorated due to many external and internal factors. One of them was that diocesan courses have proven to be unattractive for labor migrants; their curriculum was too thick and overloaded with information about Russian culture and Orthodox Christianity, while Muslim labor migrants preferred to adapt to their new environment with a mediation of their own networks. It is suggested by the authors that the main cause of the project’s non-fulfillment was an intra-church cleavage between the enthusiasts of adaptation who convinced that diocesan courses must aim at spreading the Orthodox faith to foreign workers, including Muslims, and the church officials who promoted secular curriculum and forbade preaching Christianity to labor migrants. Full article

The article focuses on research on the functioning of liquid fuel supply chains, supplying troops carrying out peacekeeping and stabilisation operations in a foreign territory. Timely and complete supplies of fuels in war conditions determine the achievement of the assumed goals of a military operation. They often determine the health and life of soldiers. For this reason, the role of building the resilience of supply chains to disruptions, the type and frequency of which is entirely different from the undesirable events occurring in civil goods flows, is increasing. Therefore, the critical concept supporting building the resilience of fuel supply chains is risk management in these chains. The authors have developed a risk analysis method that integrates the Kaplan and Garrick approach and the fuzzy theory. The analysis identifies the existing disturbances and assigns them to the individual phases of the supply process. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed method, the authors analyse nine scenarios for the three most important stages of the procurement process in terms of building the resilience of the entire chain: Planning, delivery and storage. The fuzzy theory estimates the risk level for the analysed scenarios of adverse events. The proposed method is universal. It can be implemented to analyse the resistance of supply chains of other materials. It can also support the decision-making process for those responsible for planning, organisation and proper functioning of supply systems in all high-risk conditions, not only in the zone of war and stabilisation operations. Full article

During the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), reports of sexual abuse and exploitation and children fathered by peacekeepers were brought forward to the UN. In 2017, a cross-sectional mixed-methods survey was administered by Haitian research assistants using SenseMaker^® (Cognitive Edge, Singapore), a rapid data collection tool that allows participants to share a narrative on a topic of interest. In total, 2541 self-interpreted narratives in relation to the experiences of Haitian women and girls vis-à-vis peacekeepers were collected from a convenience sample of Haitian males and females across Haiti. This exploratory secondary data analysis analyzes whether narratives about sexual misconduct perpetrated by MINUSTAH peacekeepers were associated with rural, semi-urban, or urban locations and investigates the relationship between sharing narratives about sexual misconduct and the desire to engage with the UN/MINUSTAH. After adjustment, narratives addressing sexual misconduct were more likely to be shared in rural locations, compared to urban locations (RR_rural: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.38). Personal experiences of sexual misconduct were more likely (RR_sex: 4.52; 95% CI: 3.34, 6.12) to be associated with rejection of the UN/MINUSTAH, compared to personal narratives of positive/neutral experiences. This research is an empirical steppingstone to understanding the distribution and consequences of peacekeeper-perpetrated sexual abuse and exploitation in Haiti. Full article

Feminist scholarship has analyzed the gendered dynamics of national- and international-level risk factors for peacekeeper-perpetrated sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA); however, the gendered dynamics within the host country have not been adequately considered. Using the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) as a case study, this research analyzes gender differences within community-level perceptions of SEA. Using SenseMaker^® as a data collection tool, cross-sectional qualitative and quantitative data were collected by Haitian research assistants over an 8-week period in 2017. Participants first shared a narrative in relation to MINUSTAH and then self-interpreted their narratives by noting their perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs on a variety of questions. The self-coded perceptions were analyzed quantitatively to determine patterns, and this was complemented with a qualitative analysis of the narratives. Women/girls were more likely to perceive the sexual interactions as “relationships” compared to Haitian men/boys. Furthermore, women/girls were more likely to perceive the peacekeeper as “supportive”, whereas men/boys conceptualized the peacekeeper as “authoritative”. SEA-related policies/programs, such as the UN Trust Fund in Support for Victims of SEA, should engage with local Haitian actors and consider such nuanced and gendered perceptions to maximize community trust and program efficacy. Full article

Remote sensing technology has seen a massive rise in popularity over the last two decades, becoming an integral part of our lives. Space-based satellite technologies facilitated access to the inaccessible terrains, helped humanitarian teams, support complex emergencies, and contributed to monitoring and verifying conflict zones. The scoping phase of this review investigated the utility of the role of remote sensing application to complement international peace and security activities owing to their ability to provide objective near real-time insights at the ground level. The first part of this review looks into the major research concepts and implementation of remote sensing-based techniques for international peace and security applications and presented a meta-analysis on how advanced sensor capabilities can support various aspects of peace and security. With key examples, we demonstrated how this technology assemblage enacts multiple versions of peace and security: for refugee relief operations, in armed conflicts monitoring, tracking acts of genocide, providing evidence in courts of law, and assessing contravention in human rights. The second part of this review anticipates future challenges that can hinder the applicative capabilities of remote sensing in peace and security. Varying types of sensors pose discrepancies in image classifications and issues like cost, resolution, and difficulty of ground-truth in conflict areas. With emerging technologies and sufficient secondary resources available, remote sensing plays a vital operational tool in conflict-affected areas by supporting an extensive diversity in public policy actions for peacekeeping processes. Full article

Based on the work-family enrichment theory, this study analyzes the contribution of work-family and family-work enrichment to explain the military’s well-being during a peacekeeping mission. The data used were collected in a sample of 306 Brazilian soldiers, who were married and/or had children, during the phase named “employment of troops” (i.e., when peacekeepers had been in the Haitian territory and, as a result, away from their families, for between three to five months). Data analysis was performed using the Structural Equations Model. It was observed that the military’s perception of their spouses’ support for their participation during the mission had a positive relationship with both family-to-work enrichment and work-to-family enrichment, and the work-to-family enrichment mediated the relationship between the perception of the spouses’ support and the military’s health perception and general satisfaction with life. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed and limitations and suggestions for future research were presented. Full article

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak that began in Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in July 2018 is the second largest in history. It is also the largest and most deadly of the ten Ebola outbreaks to occur in DRC, the country where Ebola was first identified during the 1976 Yambuku outbreak. The Kivu region is one of the most challenging locations in which to organize humanitarian assistance. It is an active conflict zone in which numerous armed groups are conducting violent acts, often directed against the inhabitants, healthcare and relief workers and peacekeepers. EVD has been especially problematic in pregnancy—previous outbreaks both in DRC and other countries have resulted in very high mortality rates among pregnant women and especially their infants, with maternal mortality in some outbreaks reaching over 90% and perinatal mortality 100%. The development and implementation of the Merck rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine for Ebola infection has been a tremendous public health advance in preventing EVD, being used successfully in both the West Africa Ebola epidemic and the Équateur DRC Ebola outbreak. But from the start of the Kivu outbreak, policy decisions had resulted in excluding pregnant and lactating women and their infants from receiving it during extensive ring vaccination efforts. In June 2019, this policy was reversed, 10 months after the start of the outbreak. Pregnant and lactating women are now permitted not only the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine in the continuing Kivu outbreak but also the newly implemented Ad26.ZEBOV/MVA-BN vaccine. Full article

The study addresses the problems arising in association with the conjugation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Belt and Road initiative. The hypothesis is that the conjugation is economically effective, and this is proven by the statistical analysis of trade and investment dynamics and buttressed by empirical observations. Based on this, the recommendations for the EAEU are given. The paper dismantles the problems arising in the sphere of security and peacekeeping and proposes a number of steps for ensuring peace and stable development in the region, implementing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) mechanism. The article highlights the main plans of the China–EAEU partnership and puts forward alternative cooperation strategies for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The authors develop the most attractive plan for the EAEU and propose the best strategy for its implementation. Full article

In a human society with emergent technology, the destructive actions of some pose a danger to the survival of all of humankind, increasing the need to maintain peace by overcoming universal conflicts. However, human society has not yet achieved complete global peacekeeping. Fortunately, a new possibility for peacekeeping among human societies using the appropriate interventions of an advanced system will be available in the near future. To achieve this goal, an artificial intelligence (AI) system must operate continuously and stably (condition 1) and have an intervention method for maintaining peace among human societies based on a common value (condition 2). However, as a premise, it is necessary to have a minimum common value upon which all of human society can agree (condition 3). In this study, an AI system to achieve condition 1 was investigated. This system was designed as a group of distributed intelligent agents (IAs) to ensure robust and rapid operation. Even if common goals are shared among all IAs, each autonomous IA acts on each local value to adapt quickly to each environment that it faces. Thus, conflicts between IAs are inevitable, and this situation sometimes interferes with the achievement of commonly shared goals. Even so, they can maintain peace within their own societies if all the dispersed IAs think that all other IAs aim for socially acceptable goals. However, communication channel problems, comprehension problems, and computational complexity problems are barriers to realization. This problem can be overcome by introducing an appropriate goal-management system in the case of computer-based IAs. Then, an IA society could achieve its goals peacefully, efficiently, and consistently. Therefore, condition 1 will be achievable. In contrast, humans are restricted by their biological nature and tend to interact with others similar to themselves, so the eradication of conflicts is more difficult. Full article