Abstracts
Please note: this series has been cancelled. If you are interested in these topics please contact us about future offerings.
Dr John Bruni
Director, SAGE International
Of Warriors and Tribes: Contemporary Conflict & Culture
French philosopher Jean Baudrillard once said: "[y]ou are born modern, you do not become so". Governments born as products of the Enlightenment believe that the artifice of post-colonial statehood is real. But often in post-colonial states issues of sovereignty are fluid; political and social composition bears little resemblance to the modern states of Europe and North America, and critical politics is played out at the 'sub-national'
level of the tribe, the family and the clan.
Today’s wars and future wars are and will remain the preserve of small rebellious groups, often based on a ‘warrior ethos’ and loose tribal affiliations and structures.
Small arms, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and rocket propelled grenades are easy to come by and easy to deploy against soft targets such as international hotels, tourist traps, markets and large-scale infrastructure such as pipelines, bridges, and national power supplies.
The central issue to be explored in this session is that understanding the nature of political violence under these conditions requires a more nuanced appreciation of warrior fighting styles and motivations as well as an understanding of specific tribal cultures without which rolling back the threat posed to Western interests in areas of contention can seem an impossible task.
Interagency Cooperation - the Institutional 'Holy Grail'
Modern politics in the West is governed by the idea and ideal of introducing new means of efficiency and effectiveness into governance. From a bureaucratic perspective, this is bordering on a secular form of fundamentalism. 'Whole-of-government' and 'joint operations' is the new orthodoxy. However, efficiency and effectiveness are not necessarily interchangeable concepts.
At the heart of Asymmetric Warfare is the notion that the West, when engaged in tribal-based insurgencies, is fighting a different type of war from the one its enemies' are engaged in. The West is fighting strategic campaigns ostensibly to secure international or regional stability. Terrorists or insurgents are often fighting to upset the local, national balance of power to their favour.
With this in mind, the key areas of enquiry for this session are:
Are the organisational structures the West has developed to better prosecute counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency campaigns through new interagency standards up to the task of maximising political and military decision making?
Are sophisticated Western notions of governance sustaining effective political and military positions?
Charles Vandepeer
Intelligence as a tool for Decision-Makers
Government, Defence and Federal Police publications increasingly identify intelligence as a 'force multiplier' and an essential capability for decision-makers. This is evident in the recently released Defence White Paper which, for the first time ever, dedicates an entire chapter to intelligence. Whilst the concept of intelligence as a 'front-line' against state and non-state threats gains prominence, it is important to critically examine what can be expected of intelligence and, importantly, what intelligence cannot or should not be expected to provide. A review of recent public inquiries and investigations into Iraq WMD, and the London and Bali attacks is employed to develop an understanding of the nature of the threats which intelligence seeks to illuminate and the limitations of intelligence as a tool for decision-making.
Intelligence can aid decision-making when the nature of threats are understood and the resulting limitations of intelligence acknowledged.
This presentation will explore the following questions:
What is the nature of problems that intelligence seeks to address? How does this limit the utility of intelligence as a tool for decision-making?
If intelligence can be a 'force multiplier' how can it be a 'force diluter'?
If there is such a thing as 'good intelligence' how does 'bad intelligence' impact on decision-making?
Dr. Christopher Hamilton
Clinical Psychologist
Inside Organisational Mindsets; When People Represent Roles
Every fully functioning individual recognises that they play roles such as parent, child, soldier, worker. Our connection to those roles can be implicate/explicate, conscious/unconscious, internal/external.
This workshop will address ‘Aspects of the Role’ including focus on the history of role theory, role expectations, role conflicts, role confusion.
‘Fulfilling the Role’ will investigate relevant aspects of the psychological theories of: Kohlberg, Festinger, Milgram, Orne and Zimbardo.
‘Role Control’ will entail a review of defence mechanisms, decision-making, mindfulness, combating stress and fatigue and the neuroscience of the ‘plastic brain’.
Aftershock; the Post-Conflict Human Experience
Victims of conflict are not just those who may have been killed, maimed or wounded. It may also include the perpetrator of military force.In such cases, this may occur before, during, immediately or long after the conflict has actually taken place.
This workshop will look at the causes of trauma, its manifestations and the effects on perpetrators and victims.
Within a brief historical context this workshop will conclude by focusing on segments entitled ‘Towards Treatment and Healing’. Modern research evidence and psychological theory will underpin all aspects of the session.
Mr. Colin Brooks
Exploration Consultant – Geologist
Environmental Security in the Age of 'Climate Change'
The term 'Environmental Security' has been the subject of many interpretations some of which are mutually exclusive. The words "Climate Change" similarly can be understood to mean different things.
There is some understanding that attempts can and should be made to influence such changes while the possibility remains that any such efforts may not be fruitful.
So many people with limited relevant knowledge of weather and of climate and little understanding of Man's depth of study of both have had their say in politics and in the media that the deep scientific understanding of many of the relevant parameters seems to have been lost in the clutter.
Huge sums of money have ben invested in looking at how to combat climate change with prior understanding of neither the causes nor the potential threats posed. Hence attempts to mitigate any effects on the human race may well be mis-directed.
This session is to be devoted to clarifying what is known about Earth's climate changes to improve understanding of what may be climate change's effects on the environment.
Mr. David Olney
Assoc. Lect. University of Adelaide, School of Politics & History
Ethics in Modern Conflict: Necessity or a Dying Art?
States endeavour to hold their political representatives and military personnel to a high standard of moral conduct. Decisions made in relation to conflict generally have to be made more quickly and under greater pressure than many other decisions. Such decisions have to be justifiable and must be able to stand up to intense scrutiny. A substantial grounding in ethics can enhance the quality of decision making in times of conflict, and can provide a basis on which to respond to scrutiny. Ethics can be approached from a number of perspectives (virtue, deontological, utilitarian, and situational), and this seminar will elaborate on how to construct an ethical basis on which to successfully make, analyse, and justify decisions related to conflict.
Civil-Military Relations: Two Halves or a Whole?
People think and behave differently depending on the context they have been acculturated to. As a consequence, military personnel approach situations differently to political representatives and citizens who have no military or political experience. Understanding the gap that has to be bridged between military and civil culture is critical to developing a cohesive strategy for full spectrum operations and societal cohesion. This seminar will outline how to identify and bridge the gap between civil and military culture, and will demonstrate how an appreciation of difference can enhance the likelihood of achieving shared strategic goals.
Ms. Gargi Pawar
Specialist, Islamic Law & Terrorism
Terrorism in Kashmir - A Personal Journey
Kashmir has often been described as Heaven on Earth. My experience of Kashmir began as as an Army Officer’s daughter and a love affair ensued with the place. As the years passed freedom has diminished and violence has flourished. The seed of hatred sown in the population,the normalcy of violence,the survival under the umbrella of security forces, the constant threat of war, the commercialization of terror funding, the ideological warfare, the constant force within the state to regain normalcy, the steady decline and gravity of the situation, the hatred that's prevalent in the nation and KASHMIR as it stands today and the beginning of new hope.
Psychological Operations: In Search of the Bloodless Coup
Terrorism today is fundamentally a psychological weapon to incite terror, aimed at personal vulnerability of the general population. A strategy of victimization, unpredictability and fear, playing on the vulnerabilities and violating the norms of society. It feeds on the fear altering the state of mind. As much as the cause is political the weapon is psychological both when recruiting potential terrorists and inflicting them on the society making it a psychological warfare. The psychological effects can be countered by Psychological Operations that not only help to win hearts and minds of the population, but as part of Information Operations can be a potent weapon that helps perform functions of influence, inform, attack and protect in today’s era of unconventional warfare, an unknown enemy and imminent perception of threat that has lethal impact not only on the population but also the military.
Major–General Vikram Madan
Indian Army (Retd.) VISHISHT SEVA MEDAL (VSM) & BAR
Interrogation Methods
The subject of interrogation methods is under intense scrutiny in the USA in particular and around the world in general. There are questions and more questions and few answers. There are moral and ethical dilemmas with no clear cut pathways. The debates are generally inconclusive and open ended. National security is at stake. You can be in Dick Cheney camp or Obama’s camp but you can’t have one foot in each because experts say that there are no middle grounds. As Australians what should be our considered view point and stand?
Abstracts
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The University of Adelaide
