Economic Survival and Borderland Rebellion: The Case of the Allied Democratic Forces on the Uganda-Congo Border
One of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s oldest, most organized, and traditionally best-trained—but, arguably, least known—rebel groups is the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). Its resiliency and particularly its economic survival skills have largely been understood through the prism of Islamic extremism. Yet this narrative has proven to have serious inaccuracies and flaws. Explanations focused on terrorism, for example, do not take into consideration the ADF’s pivotal business ventures, such as cross-border trade, agriculture, and the taxing of timber forests. They not only ignore these activities but are unable to explain how the ADF was able to practice, and become successful at, these ventures in the first place. This study specifically looks at the economic activities of the ADF, namely, its financial strategies and methods of procuring and retaining weapons, equipment, foodstuffs, and, importantly, territory/land. It argues that the sources of the group’s economic resiliency do not only lie, as many have argued, in its Islamist leanings. Rather, we need to also look at the particularities of borderlands and how the ADF has been able to adopt various local material resource practices and integrate into cross-border economic networks.
Gendering the border effect: the double impact of Colombian insecurity and the Venezuelan refugee crisis
Abstract In the Colombian–Venezuelan borderlands, the reconfiguration of armed group presence and mass migration create and reinforce conditions of high violence and risk. Against this backdrop, we ask: What are the gendered security implications of the double crisis in the borderlands? Based on fieldwork in four regions along the border, this article argues that the border effect is gendered; the very factors that coalesce to produce this effect exacerbate existing gendered power dynamics, particularly as these relate to gender-based violence. Accordingly, this article demonstrates the specific ways in which the border – as a facilitator, deterrent, magnet and/or disguise – reinforces experiences of gendered insecurity in this region. The article finishes by outlining the implications for other international borderland settings.
Kinemamtic analysis of flying-saw vehicle
The paper analyzes the kinematic motion of the flying-saw vehicle.After the analysis,it is concluded that the ac- celerating periods and decelerating periods in both forward and backward directions will follow sin~2αcurve and,in order to increase the sawing dimensional accuracy,flying-saw vehicle must come back as soon as possible while acceleration remains constant.Based on this premise,the paper gives out the equations of kinematic motion of the flying-saw vehicle in every sta- ges and one example result in a common situation.By now this method has been used in the real situation.