Research Articles (Strategic Studies)
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- ItemPrivate Military Force as strategy to counter hybrid threats(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Leach, Jonathan; Esterhuyse, Abel J.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Military Science. School for Security and Africa Studies: Military Strategy.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Today, the international community faces a diffuse, shifting, and controversial set of security challenges. On the one hand, hybrid warfare creates both conceptual and strategic challenges, as various aspects of strategy constitute legally prohibited forms of intervention against hybrid threats. On the other hand, the partitions inherent in the modern strategic landscape can be described as decidedly anti-strategic; where the use of conventional military force is constantly being delegitimised, criticised, and in more extreme cases, criminalised. This has resulted in an increasing disconnect between the political intentions of states and the strategic effect of their armed forces, particularly when facing strategic problems characterised by hybridity. Although the employment of private military forces is almost universally condemned, these forces have often played crucial roles in conflicts, and today impact both the process and outcomes of conflicts due to the unique capabilities they offer. As such, this study researches the notion of private military force as strategy to counter hybrid threats. Underlying the aim of this research are the following questions: is the notion of private military force a strategic concept? Why employ private military force as strategy to counter hybrid threats and how to employ private military force as strategy to counter hybrid threats? The findings reached from this study suggest that if private military forces are theoretically and contextually coherent, scaled according to suggested internal and external constraints, and employed in pursuit of threats characterised by hybridity, then private military force as strategy to counter hybrid threats is a compelling notion. This study relies on unobtrusive, qualitative content analysis on secondary sources of literature. Data collection is systematic by means of thorough examination; it is evidence-based and presented in an unbiased manner. Literature sources include official publications, scholarly literature on the subject, books, and media reporting.
- ItemEMHD flow of non-Newtonian nanofluids over thin needle with Robinson’s condition and Arrhenius pre-exponential factor law(IOP Science, 2020-10-21) Mabood, Fazle; Muhammad, Taseer; Nayak, M. K.; Waqas, Hassan; Makinde, O. D.Many researchers and scientists are devoting their time to scrutinize nanofluids nature and characteristics for heat transfer enhancement. The scrutiny of nanoliquids is important in the large scale thermal management systems via evaporators, advanced cooling systems, heat exchangers, micro/nano-electromechanical devices and industrial chilling applications. Nanoliquids are very momentous even in the natural process via different fields like chemistry, chemical engineering, physics and biology. Nanoliquids can be utilized in various fields of engineering such as different chemical procedures, cooling of electronic equipment and heat exchangers. The main aim of current article is to scrutinize electromagnetohydrodynamic flow of micropolar-Casson-Carreau nanoliquids over thin needle with Robinson's conditions and Arrhenius pre-exponential factor law. Double stratification effects are also taken into account. The reverent partial differential equations are reformulated into the system of ordinary differential expressions by implementing appropriate transformations. Such obtained equations subject to boundary constraints are computed numerically by considering Runge–Kutta-Fehlberg method. Behaviour of numerous interesting parameters on flow fields is deliberated. The outcomes of flow fields are delineated through graphs and tabular data.
- ItemCollecting evidence on the use of parliamentary oversight tools : a South African case study(AOSIS, 2020) Van Rensburg, Wilhelm Janse; Vrey, Francois; Neethling, TheoBackground: Parliament, through its oversight function, plays a central role in holding the executive to account. In South Africa’s 2014 Defence Review policy document, it was stated that the ‘Defence Force is in a critical state of decline’. This brings about the question whether the South African Parliament effectively held the executive to account regarding developments around defence. Objectives: The article aims to gather evidence on the use of oversight tools by the South African Parliament over a 20-year period, within the post-1994 democratic dispensation, in order to determine the broader trajectory of parliamentary defence oversight. Method: To determine the trajectory of oversight, this article gathered evidence on the use of internationally recognised parliamentary oversight tools by South Africa’s two parliamentary defence committees from 1994 to 2014. The period allows for a 20-year review of oversight of defence, inclusive of four full parliamentary terms. Evidence was collected on parliamentary debates, questions, special inquiries, oversight visits and the use of external audits as oversight tools. Results: The article found that tools were used with varying degrees of success. Results for research on each oversight tool is discussed. Conclusion: Based on evidence on the use of oversight tools, this article concludes that over a 20-year period there was a declining trajectory in parliamentary oversight of the defence portfolio. The proven applicability of the criteria utilised in this article can serve to inform evaluations of the effectiveness of parliamentary oversight, specifically at committee level.
- ItemAnatomy of post-communist European defense institutions : the mirage of military modernity(Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Military Science (Military Academy), 2020) Jordaan, EvertIn Anatomy of post-communist European defense institutions: The mirage of military modernity, Thomas-Durell Young’s aim was to determine why Central and Eastern European (CEE) states have failed to apply democratic defence governance concepts, despite 25 years of Western assistance programmes.
- ItemIs open source GIS feasible in military operations? evaluation by applying a USE case(Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Military Science (Military Academy), 2020) Henrico, Susan; Coetzee, Serena; Cooper, AntonyThe study of terrain and all its related elements and facets are of crucial importance to the military. Lodi, Smit, and Ayirebi agreed with this statement and added that the importance of terrain was recognised by military leaders more than two thousand years ago.[i] Military operations can occur at any of the three levels of war: tactical, operational and strategic and can be a combat operation or a military operation other than war (MOOTW). Information about the geography empowers a military commander to plan and execute a mission successfully. As technology developed and evolved, geographic information systems (GIS) have come to play a major role in this. Today, a military operation without the use of GIS is unthinkable. In a developing country like the South Africa, however, licenses for proprietary GIS software, vendor-exclusive training and the bureaucracy of the procurement cycle add to the time and costs of a mission. The question arises whether open source software is a feasible alternative. Since the South African National Defence Force was initially trained in the use of proprietary software and it therefore became a strong habit, the perception now exits that FOSSGIS products are neither mature enough nor user-friendly enough to be used in military operations. This study evaluates the use of an open source desktop GIS product, QGIS, in a use case for a military operation “other than war” (MOOTW). QGIS outputs were compared to those produced in ArcGIS, a proprietary desktop GIS product widely used in military operations. The user-friendliness of the two products as well as pricing was also compared. Results show that the QGIS outputs provide the operational commander with equivalent information to successfully plan and execute a mission. This implies that open source GIS is suitable for military operations, especially those with limited budgets and at short notice, such as in the case of disaster relief. [i] Lodi, K., Smit, H. & Ayirebi, G. (2014). Terrain analysis in the course curricula of the South African Army Engineer Corps. Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies, 42, 102-121.