Volume 04, Issue 1, Spring 2013

Rémy M. Mauduit
 
Air and Space Power Journal - Africa and Francophonie (ASPJ-A&F) has reached another major milestone. In its eighth year of publication, your Journal is read in 185 countries/territories; 1,015 academic institutions; 292 think tanks in 42 countries; 667 institutes (African and Francophone studies); government agencies; armed and security forces; and so forth. Budgetary constraints and increased demands, however, may force us to discontinue the printed edition of ASPJ-A&F. In such an event, we will continue to publish the electronic version, which already attracts as many readers as its hard-copy counterpart.

Johan D. van der Vyver, PhD
 
In May 2011, I and 10 other so-called international experts accepted an invitation to Kathmandu to address problems encountered by the Constitutional Assembly of Nepal in the drafting of a new constitution for that country. Since its creation in 1768 as a unified state and until not so long ago, Nepal was proclaimed a Hindu state, constitutionally structured as a monarchy. The country's very first meaningful constitution, adopted in 1990, formally endorsed this state of affairs. Dissatisfaction with the constitution prompted a Maoist insurgency to plunge the country into a decade-long civil war that brought about approximately 17,500 casualties.

Solomon Major, PhD
 
Since the 1980s, encouraging social, political, and economic development and dispensing humanitarian assistance have become high-priority missions for both national policy makers and international and nongovernmental organizations (NGO). During the Cold War, donor nations often competed among themselves for influence and reputational rewards or from a simple desire to do good in the developing world. This focus on dispensing developmental and humanitarian aid has only accelerated since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Yu-tai Ts'ai, PhD
Szu-Hsien Lee
 
During the twentieth century, 35 million people died in all civil and international wars, but 150 million people were killed by their own governments. After 1945, inspired by the tragedy of the Holocaust, international society greatly expanded its rules on human rights, and the United Nations (UN) codified an increasing number of norms on international society. However, millions still perished at the hands of their own governments, and actions taken to halt atrocities proved inconsistent. In fact, in the late twentieth century, the emergence of international humanitarian intervention reflected a new value in international society. The traditional key criteria - including just cause, right authority, last resort, and proportional means - have been challenged by both proponents and opponents of intervention.

Lt Col Rudolph Atallah, USAF, Retired
 
The latest (2012) Tuareg uprising is not new. One should consider this conflagration a continuation of a half century of conflict-promoting dynamics that, historically, have sullied relations between Tuaregs and various states which attempted to subjugate or delimit their social, political, and economic practices. Understanding the current rebellion necessitates coming to terms with this history, which started long before Mali's independence in 1960.

Kerry Crawford
Julia Macdonald
 
United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 took the unprecedented step of recognizing the profound impact of war on women and calling for their increased participation in conflict prevention and resolution. It launched the UN's gender-mainstreaming initiative, and with it came the call to blue helmets for women around the world. Yet, in light of the observation that the top personnel contributors to UN peacekeeping are countries characterized by high levels of gender inequality, the feasibility of gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping remains questionable. This article uses the basic economic principles of supply and demand to discuss the rationale for raising the number of women in peacekeeping.