The economics of UK nuclear weapons policy

The Trident replacement decision has an economic aspect that cannot be ignored, namely, its costs. This article presents a cost-benefit framework for assessing the replacement decision and its alternatives. The replacement decision is presented against the background of the defence economics problem showing the opportunities for substitution and the need for difficult defence choices in a world of uncertainty. A framework for choices is outlined showing the range and type of information needed for sensible decision-making in this area. A range of conventional force alternatives is estimated as well as alternative civil spending. The impact of the replacement decision on the UK submarine industrial base is assessed, including the challenges of reaching a partnering agreement and negotiating an incentive contract with a UK monopoly supplier. The cost figures used for the Trident replacement are illustrative only and show how the programme can be evaluated.     

The uncertain merger of values and interests in UK foreign policy

How should ethics and values relate to the British national interest? The idea that ethical commitments to distant non‐citizens should occupy a position within British foreign policy was a controversial element of Labour's foreign policy during the early part of their 1997–2010 tenure. Rather than undermining traditional national interest concerns, one of the defining themes within Labour's foreign policy was that values and national interests were becoming increasingly merged in a globalized world. The post‐2010 coalition government has made distinct efforts to differentiate themselves from their predecessors, crafting a more pragmatic and national interest‐based foreign policy approach. Despite this, significant continuities with Labour's ‘ethical dimension’ are evident and many associated policies and practices have survived the transition. Moreover, the suggestion that British values and interests are interrelated and mutually reinforcing has been re‐asserted, with renewed vigour, by coalition policy‐makers. The article traces the ways in which values and interests have become increasingly merged in the language of recent British foreign policy and examines the implications for our understanding of the UK's national interest. It argues that the idea of an almost symbiotic relationship between values and interests is fundamentally unhelpful and makes the case for greater disaggregation of the two. Although a zero–sum game need not exist between core national interests and ethical obligations abroad, the suggestion that they are mutually reinforcing obscures the tensions that frequently arise between these different realms of obligation. Using the examples of failed state stabilization and UK arms trade regulation, the article demonstrates how uncritical acceptance of the values–interests merger risks producing unstable policy formulations.     

Post-war smoking policy in the UK and the redefinition of public health

Current analyses of UK smoking policy within two frameworks--the 'heroes and villains' view of journalist accounts and a political science emphasis on rival 'producer' and 'issue' networks in policy making. It is often assumed that the US experience provides a universal historical model. This paper sees smoking policy in the UK as a case study in the relationship between 'scientific fact creation' and policy, which has also been emblematic of wider changes in public health ideology. The issue of smoking and lung cancer symbolized the post-war shift from infectious to chronic disease and the rise of a new 'lifestyle'-oriented public health. In the 1980s passive smoking brought a revival of environmentalism; in the 1990s the rediscovered concept of addiction symbolized developments in public health in which curative and preventive initiatives were entwined. Despite the rise of a militant 'healthism' within both anti-smoking and public health since the 1970s, British policy retained a dual focus, an emphasis on risk reduction as well as risk elimination in which policy networks were entwined rather than distinct. Some public health scientists worked in policy milieux, notably the expert committee, which crossed this apparent divide and which linked with industry. Connections between government and industry changed as public health 'treatment' brought the pharmaceutical industry into the picture.     

北极苔原 你能再绚丽一点么

正神秘而纯净的北极,位于地球最北端,一年中大部分岁月都被冰雪覆盖。然而北极也有多彩缤纷的一面,随着夏天充足的阳光和适宜的气温,这里的冰雪渐渐融化,随而替代的是夏秋两季丰富的苔原、幽蓝色的浮冰和冰山、深色调的山脊、五颜六色的极地村庄,还有那神秘莫测、千变万化的北极光……     

北极村找北

<正>"找不着北了吧?"是一句俗语,意为做事情没有头绪,迷失了方向。可见"北"在国人心中有着特殊的分量,找着了北就有了方向。北纬53度,中国大陆最北端,版图金鸡之冠,位于黑龙江省漠河县的中国最北村落——北极村(原名     

The Islamic State,the Kurdistan Region and the future of Iraq: assessing UK policy options

The fall of Mosul in June of 2014 was followed in July by the establishment of a self‐proclaimed Caliphate by the Islamic State of Abu Bakr al‐Baghdadi. Since then, the Islamic State has continued to expand its operations, persistently pushing into Sunni‐dominated parts of Iraq and Syria, nearly defeating the Kurds of Iraq, and moving against the Kurds of Syria, in Kobani, as well as army units of the Syrian state. By doing so, it has maintained an astonishingly high tempo of operations and has shown itself capable, agile and resilient. It has also proved itself to be adept at utilizing social media outlets, and in pursuing brutal tactics against civilians and prisoners that have been aimed at shocking adversaries—potential or actual—and observers both in the region and beyond. The rise of the Islamic State poses a challenge not only to the security of Iraq and Syria, but to the state system of the Middle East. Western powers have been drawn into a conflict in a limited fashion—through air strikes and advising ground forces; the UK, while engaging slightly later than other countries against the Islamic State, has followed this pattern, though targeting Islamic State forces solely in Iraq. This article considers the nature and scale of the threat posed by the Islamic State, and assesses three possible areas of further policy engagement that they UK may, or may have to, follow.     

北极狐:冰雪世界中的精灵

<正>北极狐,北极地区的精灵级别动物,土生土长在这片冰雪世界,生活得游刃有余,要不是上世纪人类的猎杀,它们几乎没什么天敌。北极狐属于犬科,一般体长50~60厘米,加上尾巴还是不到一米,体重3~4公斤,就相当于一个家养中小型犬的感觉。北极狐主要生活在北极地区,包括西伯利亚、格陵兰岛、斯瓦尔巴群岛、加拿大、阿拉斯加以及北欧等,一般以小鸟、鸟蛋、旅鼠、北极兔,或者一些北极熊吃剩下的骨架为食。冬天北极狐的皮毛自然是     

The limited capacity of management to rescue UK defence policy: a review and a word of caution

Political and media attention in the UK is devoted to three interrelated aspects of defence: policy, the management of defence resources and military operations. This article argues that the 1998 Strategic Defence Review placed excessive reliance on anticipated improvements in the management of defence resources to render Labour's defence policies affordable. The field of attempted defence management improvements is surveyed and it is concluded that no final answers were generated on the key issues of the division of tasks among uniformed personnel, civil servants and the private sector, or on whether defence should be run largely on a capability basis or on single service lines. Given the demonstrated similarity between the government's concepts of the UK's role in the world in the Strategic Defence Review (1998) and the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) (2010), there is a clear danger that the SDSR also relies too much on efficiency savings. By reference to the inherent complications of defence management and to three strands of management thought (complexity management, wicked problems and principal–agent theory), the article argues that some inefficiency will always be present. It suggests that the Clausewitzian concept of friction, accepted as pertinent to the area of military operations, might also be applied to efforts to generate military capability. It concludes that defence reviews should not be based on assumptions about efficiency savings and that students of international security and defence need to pay attention to both the volume of resources going into defence and the mechanisms by which they are managed.     

The geopolitics of Arctic melt

The rapidity of Arctic melt is no longer the phantasmagoria of B-grade movies, such as the 'Day after tomorrow', but is occurring at a rate unimaginable just a few years ago. In 2007, more than one million square miles of ice melted, leaving the region with only half the ice that existed in 1950. The Arctic has been propelled into the centre of geopolitics as global climate change has transformed the region into a maelstrom of competing commercial, national security and environmental concerns with profound implications for the international legal and political system. The prospect of longer ice-free periods in the Arctic has momentous implications for the region's commercial development, in itself a further risk to melting Arctic ice. This article argues that Arctic melt does and will continue to pose economic, military and environmental challenges to the governance of the region and explores the role of technological factors as both a barrier and an enabler of access. Working within existing institutions and building capacity is preferable to the proliferation of new institutions, although the full structure and scope of the legal and regulatory frameworks that may be needed are, at present, unclear. But what is clear, is that Arctic melt is on the increase.     

探索北极世界中的生命 13天北极游随行笔记摘选

<正>飞行在几千米高的北极上空,透过机舱舷窗俯瞰,看着厚厚白雪覆盖下连绵的黑色山脊上,这才真正感受到地球最北之地的瑰丽。一眼望去,只有蓝得让人窒息的天空和纯洁的白雪,一切如此安静。下了飞机,踏上位于北极圈内的斯瓦尔巴群岛首府朗伊尔城,终于,我来到了北极。     

活跃的北极生命

<正>与南极大陆不同,北极的生命活动非常活跃。有900种显花植物,有成千上万的驯鹿、麝牛、北极兔,每公顷多达1500只的旅鼠。北半球全部鸟类的1/6在北极繁育后代,而且至少有12种鸟类在北极越冬。北半球的2月份,地轴开始倾斜,太阳光线开始逐渐往北攀爬,北极地区也开始从冬天的严寒中苏醒过来,生活在陆地上的捕食者开始走到冰面上寻找食物。     

探索北极世界中的生命 13天北极游随行笔记摘选

<正>飞行在几千米高的北极上空,透过机舱舷窗俯瞰,看着厚厚白雪覆盖下连绵的黑色山脊上,这才真正感受到地球最北之地的瑰丽。一眼望去,只有蓝得让人窒息的天空和纯洁的白雪,一切如此安静。下了飞机,踏上位于北极圈内的斯瓦尔巴群岛首府朗伊尔城,终于,我来到了北极。     

扎营苔原

<正>格陵兰航空的飞机清一色地浑身涂成醒目的猩红色。后来我们发现,在这一片银白色世界里,这样做实在是很聪明。高空之中,能见度很低。直到飞机下降到550米时,透过舷窗,白底黑痕的冰原和山丘方才依稀可辨。康克鲁斯瓦格是格陵兰岛唯一可起降大型飞机的入口,机场和跑道原是美军建立,后来以一个美元的对价归还了当地政府。步下舷梯,迎接我们的是幽幽飘落的大片雪花和降至冰点的气温。     

扎营苔原

正格陵兰航空的飞机清一色地浑身涂成醒目的猩红色。后来我们发现,在这一片银白色世界里,这样做实在是很聪明。高空之中,能见度很低。直到飞机下降到550米时,透过舷窗,白底黑痕的冰原和山丘方才依稀可辨。康克鲁斯瓦格是格陵兰岛唯一可起降大型飞机的入口,机场和跑道原是美军建立,后来以一个美元的对价归还了当地政府。步下舷梯,迎接我们的是幽幽飘落的大片雪花和降至冰点的气温。     

探索北极世界中的生命

作为摄影顾问,我参加了天霞客组织的北极包船游,从朗伊尔城乘坐海洋精灵号SeaSpirit号开始为期13天12晚的精彩北极邮轮之旅.虽然看上去是北极邮轮之旅,但和大家常规意义上所了解的邮轮之旅完全不同,因为在北极地带,每天最精华最刺激的活动安排就是全副武装乘坐登陆艇来到斯瓦尔巴群岛或者格陵兰岛的陆地上,在专业自然向导团队的带领下开始徒步探索北极世界,每一次行程可长可短,根据体力以及天气等情况而定.因此,北极邮轮之旅真正享受的不是硬件的豪华,而是北极的壮观美景以及精彩的动物世界.     

The open method of coordination and policy mainstreaming: the European employment strategy and regional conversion programmes in the UK

This article is a critical exploration of the issues raised by the attempt to integrate aims and concerns derived from one European Union (EU) policy domain into another. It does this via an examination of the ways in which the European Employment Strategy (EES) has been taken into account in the design and initial implementation of Structural Fund programmes in the 2000–2006 round. In particular, it examines the nature of this ‘mainstreaming’ relationship in terms of the structures and mechanisms associated with current Objective 1 programmes operating in the UK. It maps out the vertical and horizontal linkages between European, national and regional levels, and assesses the extent to which strategic frameworks, programme guidance and programme content have successfully integrated EES considerations. The article concludes by identifying some implications for theories of European governance.