Do Fences Make Good Neighbours? An Analysis of Israel's Security Policy Choices
Is Israeli security best assured by strategic contraction or expansion? Does Israel's decision to build a security fence and the nation's security policies of contracting, rather than expanding, mark a major strategic shift in policy to make Israel more secure in the long run? Or should more attention be focused on the 2006 invasion of Lebanon as signalling a return to the older security policies based on expansion of the country's security sphere, placing Israel more in context with the American-led war on terrorism, with an emphasis on pre-emption to eliminate short-run terrorist threats? This article analyses Israel's recent security policy choices, especially the decision to erect the wall separating Israelis from Palestinians, combined with the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, followed by the decision to return to Gaza and invade Lebanon in July 2006. Did these events represent the failure of Israeli security initiatives of the early 2000s and a return to old security dynamics of expansion vs. contraction?
Anatomy of human rights violations at the Indo-Bangladesh borderlands
ABSTRACT This study investigates the factors affecting the violations of human rights at the borderlands between Bangladesh and India. It sheds a new light on the question: What are the main reasons behind the border killings between Bangladesh and India? Based on both official data and a field survey, it is argued that the issue of border killings is a gross violation of human rights. This study provides Bangladeshi perspectives on the issue of border killings and deaths. A section of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) is the main violator of human rights at the borderlands between the two countries. The continued culture of border killings hampers the bilateral relationships between India and Bangladesh by creating a climate of fear and mutual mistrust. A conceptual framework is proposed to provide a deeper understanding of border killings. The findings reveal the nature and causes of killings of Bangladeshi people by India’s BSF. Cross-border migrations, illicit economic activities, the Indian fence scheme, border disputes and the BSF’s ‘shoot-to-kill’ policies are, among other factors, principal reasons for border killings. This empirical analysis of Indo-Bangladesh border killings might contribute to the development of a border theory.
Cognitive Correlaretes of Physics Achievement of Some Nigeria Senior Secondary Students
Some cognitive correlates of physics achievement of some Nigeria senior secondary students were considered in the study. Specifically, the study examined the relationship between measures of student’s field independency. Cognitive tasks, formal reasoning and their achievement in physics. Purposive and stratified random sampling techniques were employed to obtain a sample of 524 senior secondary two students from six education zones in Kogi State of Nigeria. Three instruments were used. They are science Reasoning Tasks (SRTs). Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and Physics Achievement Test (PAT). Data analysis using multiple regressions reveals that measures of students’ fields’ independency and cognitive tasks predicted student’s achievement in physics generally. However, only measure of field independency predicted students’ achievement in physics in the higher order cognitive demand questions. Measures of formal reasoning had no significant relationship with students’ achievements in physics generally or in higher order cognitive demand questions in physics. However, the overall relationships between measures of field independency, cognitive tasks, formal reasoning and students’ achievement in physics generally and in higher order cognitive demand questions in physics were both significant. Educational implications of these findings were discussed.