Search

Post-conflict regions with transition economies represent the most complex and difficult international stability challenges. Civic regulation and control applications, which are the basis for citizen participation in civil affairs, can be difficult to deploy in these settings. This paper sets out a control systems application developed by PBC called PASS which provides practical, cross-community, e-citizen solutions in post-conflict, developing region in transition. The paper highlights ways that control applications and automatic technologies help stabilise a society recovering from conflict. It demonstrates how automated control systems can embody something far more than mere functional capability. It also explores the socio-technical systems and processes by which local actors successfully engage in innovative control systems developments to improve social stability. Finally, drawing together key socio-technical systems themes found in data from the PBC/PASS case study, it derives a tentative theory of human-machine symbiosis in international stability contexts.

Summary There remains limited literature to facilitate understanding of healthy ageing-related policies in China over the last five-year policy planning cycle. This study aims to characterise all relevant policies and identifies the policy gaps from a health system perspective. A scoping review framework was used. A thorough search for healthy ageing-related policies was performed on the websites of all government ministries affiliated with the Chinese State Council. Essential information was extracted and mapped to an integrated framework of the World Health Organization's Health System Building Blocks and the Chinese 13th Five-Year Plan for Healthy Ageing. A total of 12471 policy documents were identified, while 99 policy documents were included. There were 14 ministries involved in the generation of policies, but multisectoral collaboration between the ministries remained limited. National Health Commission and Ministry of Civil Affairs were the leading ministries. Promoting the integration of medical services and older people care was most frequently addressed within these policies. Applying the health system perspective, governance and financing were often addressed, but there were limited policies on other components of the health system. The findings of this study support four policy recommendations: (1) to enhance multisectoral collaboration in policy development; (2) to strengthen health system building blocks, including healthcare workforce, service delivery, health information, and medical products and technologies; (3) to establish a consolidated policy system centered on the national healthy ageing plan; (4) to formulate a national implementation work plan to promote an integrated health care model for older people.

Today, the US military is frequently involved in the field of reconstruction and development. In Eastern Africa, personnel of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa has carried out hundreds of small projects, ranging from veterinary support, medical clinics for local populations to the construction and repair of schools and health centres. Although these civil affairs operations constitute only a small part of the wider US military activity on the continent, they play a significant role in the US military's post-counterinsurgency emphasis on stability operations. However, critical scholarship has paid little attention to this type of military practice, let alone the dynamics of giving and taking for the targeted beneficiaries. This article draws conceptually on perspectives of the gift and empirically on visits to project sites in Uganda and Kenya that received assistance by US civil affairs teams in order to explore how recipients engage the gift-bearing donor. By understanding aid projects as social relations that are characterized by hierarchy and efforts of reciprocity, gift perspectives help us to make tensions and contradictions in these encounters visible. While the relationship is one of inequality, these interventions are mediated. Local brokers have a significant role in negotiating and translating priorities of the civil affairs teams on the one hand and the needs of local recipients on the other.

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2015.08.001 The United States Army is undergoing a re-definition of its Civil Affairs officer positions. A recent project to define the educational requirements for an Army Civil Affairs Officer (38G) identified an educational requirement to help officers understand the complex ways in which the operations that advance the achievement of one stabilization objective often hinder the achievement of other objectives. The system level thinking was seen to be frequently insufficiently ingrained amongst Civil Affairs Officers (and the leaders they advised), who were both often perceived to be inclined, in the face of the complexities of the situation on the ground, to become too narrowly focused on achieving their specific assigned responsibilities, limiting their ability to see how the mission effectiveness of what they were recommending would be influenced by the state and trajectory of other Sectors and how, in turn, their recommendations would influence the mission effectiveness of other Sector stewards. While system dynamics modeling has proven itself to be effective in capturing and effectively communicating feedback loops that define such non-linear (and non-intuitive) systems they do not, in themselves, provide sufficient modeling richness to comprehensively capture the critical spatial (geographical) determinants of a successful state reconstruction process. For these purposes, a multi-agent cellular automata model is recommended both as a vehicle for introducing students to the complex nature of the state reconstruction process and, eventually, for use in the field by deployed Civilian Affairs Officers at all levels. This paper describes the problem and the modeling approach to address it. This work was in part funded by the United States Army Special Operations Command through the Military Support to Governance project at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California

Background Forward Surgical Teams (FSTs) are 20-person units designed to perform front-line, life-saving combat surgery. This study compares the employment, injuries encountered, and workload of an airborne FST in two widely varying campaigns. Methods The 250th FST provided far forward surgery for initial entry assaults and follow-on stability operations in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom [OEF]) and northern Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF]). Prospective data on all patients admitted to the 250th were analyzed. Data from civil affairs missions were evaluated retrospectively. Results In supporting combat operations, 127 surgical procedures (OEF: 68, OIF: 59) were performed on 98 patients (OEF: 50, OIF: 48) during 17 months deployed (OEF: 6, OIF: 11). After initial assaults, stability actions varied significantly in terms of civil affairs missions (OEF: 3, OIF: 161). Conclusions Although the number and types of combat casualties were similar between the campaigns, employment of the FST changed dramatically in OIF because of increased medical reconstruction missions.

This paper reviews the support for development of civil society organizations (CSOs) under the Governance for Equitable Development (GED) Project (GED's CSO Component), sponsored by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 2007 to 2012. The paper finds that GED's CSO Component has reached all the goals set down at the beginning and accomplished principal outcomes the following areas: (1) research, knowledge accumulation and sharing, and policy recommendations; (2) review of laws and regulations; (3) pilot projects on CSO registration; (4) establishing a government/CSO association; and (5) training for CSOs in a variety of different skills. The paper also reviews the overall impact of GED's CSO Component on the legal and policy environment for civil society development in China, and finds evidence for direct and indirect impact in the following aspects: (1) influence on Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA) officials and relevant policy-makers/implementers in other sectors; (2) building a more friendly policy environment for drafting laws related to CSOs; (3) enhancing CSO capacity-building and potential input in policy-making; and (4) innovating direct communication and cooperation mechanisms between the government and the CSO community. Considering the larger picture of socio-political changes in China, the paper reminds the reader that there are future challenges to supporting CSO sector upon the completion of the GED Project.

In the last decade, the United States has found itself fully immersed in nation building, despite its alleged distaste for such endeavors. U.S. military forces in particular have been at the center of these efforts, building schools in Iraq, staffing Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) throughout Afghanistan and training soldiers in Mozambique. U.S. Army platoon leaders hand out micro grants to small business owners and help stand up city councils. Civil servants who once trained for peacetime development work now find themselves mediating tribal disputes in remote mountain provinces. Regardless of the efficacy of such efforts, public statements by both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggest that nation building and related activities are preferred solutions in the war against terrorism. Yet despite the enormous complexity and ambition of such efforts, there remains a gap in the training and education for nation building.This paper details the U.S. Army-established School of Military Government and its related Civil Affairs Training Program that prepared forces for occupational duties in Europe and Asia. It highlights the demonstrated effectiveness both of its curriculum and approach to education and of its impact on the occupation of Germany and Japan, which offer important lessons for today’s military faced with similar challenges. If nation building, particularly with economic growth as a key component, is to assume a greater role as a component of foreign policy or national security strategy, it needs to consume a greater role of our planning, analysis, and organizational design. Civil Affairs and several other functional areas within the military play a significant role in aspects of nation building today and would benefit from education focused on such matters. Other beneficial initiatives would include creating a mechanism for drawing experts into and out of the military to serve as nation-builders at a level commensurate with their experience, providing a more effective and less expensive option than hiring contractors.

This paper discusses new developments with regard to the regulation of civil society organizations in China that reflect local experiments to eliminate the dual management requirement in a variety of different ways. After a description of how dual management works in Part II and an historical look at the ways in which the CCP and the government bureaucracy had indicated their interest in the problem in Part III, the practical solutions are discussed in Part IV. These include a modified dual management system for small community civic organizations (CCOs), a documentation system, and a system of registration and management by the local Civil Affairs department. Other recent developments are discussed in Part V, including the use of “NGO incubators,” which are supported by local government, foreign funding, and local business people alike. Concluding with the note that there may be some difficulties in scaling all of this up to the national level, the paper suggests that additional study of cases is warranted to identify concrete issues; this study is expected to be conducted in China during summer 2010.

By summarizing relevant literature and introducing a theoretical framework for analyzing urban institutions, this paper studies emerging urban institutions in China from an efficiency perspective. In the last decade, homeowners associations have been booming across Chinese cities, especially through the promotion of Ministry of Construction. In the meanwhile, Ministry of Civil Affairs has been promoting community service centers. Facing these two newly emerging urban institutions, the traditional hierarchical structure of Chinese urban government (municipality, district, street office, residents' committee) is also undergoing transformation. Through an integrated analysis of these three main types of urban institutions in China, it is argued that the devolution of some land use controls to districts or even street offices may be desirable and many so-called community services may be more efficiently provided at larger scale or by private companies. Although gated communities may not be socially desirable, homeowners association is a promising new institutional form that may become important catalyst for political reform and democracy. In spite of bureaucratic turf-fighting and political manipulation, China's urban institutions are showing signs of responding to the efficiency needs of a market economy.

Background Access to health care is a fundamental human right and inadequate access can compromise health. Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and annexation of East Jerusalem, occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), in contravention of international law restrict the movement of Palestinians within and between these regions. Patients' access to specialised health care is hindered by difficulties in obtaining the permits required by the Israeli authorities and by restrictions on the modes and routes of travel, with increased cost, time, and difficulty caused by the blockade of the Gaza Strip, presence of Israeli settlements in the oPt, and separation wall around Jerusalem. We assessed the extent and effect of these barriers for Palestinian patients needing health care and for Palestinian service providers who encounter difficulties in travelling to work. Methods We used quantitative and qualitative approaches to describe and analyse the experiences of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip who applied for permits from the Israeli authorities during 2011, either to access health care or for travel to work in Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem. Data for patient referrals were obtained from the Palestinian Ministry of Health; data for permit applications and responses were obtained from the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs, West Bank and Gaza Strip, and hospitals in East Jerusalem. Permit data for the Gaza Strip were analysed by application response (classified as approved, denied, or delayed [appointment date]), age, sex, and residence; disaggregated data were not available for the West Bank. Data for ambulance access were obtained from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, West Bank, and the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs, Gaza Strip. Data for permit applications submitted between Jan 1 to March 31, 2012, at three district liaison offices, West Bank, with high denial rates were analysed to ascertain reasons for denial. We interviewed families of patients who died after applying for a permit but before they had access to health care. Data were limited by the absence of detailed information about patients on non-ministry referrals and permit applications, and the under-reporting of deaths and interviews of patients called for by the Israeli security authorities. Data were analysed with Microsoft Excel (versions 2007 and 2010). Verbal approval for use of data was obtained from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and General Authority of Civil Affairs. Patients and families gave verbal consent for interviews. We did not use patients' personal information. Findings In 2011, 33 285 patients (23 877 from West Bank and 9408 from Gaza Strip) referred by the Ministry of Health required Israeli permits for access to hospitals. Of these referrals, 24 168 (73%) were within the oPt, and 4764 (14%) to Israel and 4350 (13%) to Jordan. 175 228 patients and their companions in the West Bank applied for permits for health-care access in 2011; of these, 32 678 (19%; range 8–30% in 16 district offices) had their access permits denied or delayed. Data for the first quarter of 2012 from three district offices showed the most frequent reason given for denying patients was security (680 [42%] of 1622 denials). No criteria could be identified for denials on the basis of security. For the 1053 staff who needed permits to travel to work in hospitals in East Jerusalem, 986 staff received permits for 6 months, 46 for 3 months, and 21 were denied permits. All permits were restricted by mode and route of entrance to East Jerusalem. Only on 49 (5%) of 1074 occasions were ambulances permitted to enter East Jerusalem. In 2011, 1082 (10%) of 10 560 applicants in the Gaza Strip had their access permits denied or delayed, with no reason given, and 197 (2%) were called for security interview. Patients aged 18–40 years had the highest rate of denied or delayed permits. Tracer interviews with Gazan families of patients who had their permits denied or delayed showed that six patients died while waiting for the permits. Interpretation Our data provide quantification of the extent of restricted access to health care for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and show that procedures for obtaining permits required by the Israeli authorities cause substantial difficulties in the access to hospital care for patients. Further study is needed to ascertain how and to what extent these difficulties in access have an effect on the health status and wellbeing of the patients. Funding Swiss Development Cooperation.