Showing papers by "Paul Jackson published in 2002"

The March of the Lord's Resistance Army: Greed or Grievance in Northern Uganda?

Abstract: This article addresses the form and nature of an insurgency in Northern Uganda that has been active since the mid-1980s. The insurgency movement itself grew out of an internal breakdown in security lasting over several years, during which ethnicity played a critical part in defining access to power and resources within Uganda. The recent explosion of literature relating to conflict inside Sub-Saharan Africa outlines several different analytical approaches to violence. One of the most recent and influential has been that of examining greed rather than grievance as the main driver behind conflict. This articl looks at the evolution of warfare in Northern Uganda over 15 years and puts the argument that greed and grievance are not mutually exclusive in this situation and it is the interaction between the two that provides the impetus for continued violence.

‘War is much too serious a thing to be left to military men’: Private military companies, combat and regulation

Abstract: The UK Government Green Paper, Private Military Companies: Options for Regulation, lays out virtually all of the issues contained within the lively debate on the privatisation of military services. This commentary broadly follows the structure of the Green Paper itself, providing some idea of the scale and nature of the issues discussed, the problems of defining the scope and targets of the legislation, outlining reasons for regulation and moving on to outline the proposals for a regulatory system. Ultimately, the regulation of PMCs relies on a degree of trust between the government and the PMCs themselves, since the lack of an effective international legal framework or practical enforcement mechanism undermines a tight regulatory framework. The Green Paper is particularly welcome because it recognises this, but also represents recognition of the real situation regarding PMCs and their use by government and the need to provide a proper framework within which reputable PMCs can operate. Qui desiderata pace...