Security Briefs ****************************************************************************************** * ****************************************************************************************** The security briefs by Deutsch Security Square provide concise policy analysis of topical security that is informed by and draws on the expertise of the Centre's members [ URL "DSS For the list of our academic publications, please refer here [ URL "DSS-32.html "] . • After Paris: Securing Cities in the Age of Uncertainty [ URL "DSS-33-version1-svitkova_a KATARINA SVITKOVA Date of publication: 20/11/2015 The terrorist attacks committed in Paris sent shockwaves throughout Europe and the world Katarina Svitkova proposes what can be done by European cities and their inhabitants to form of terrorist threat. She argues that a part of the strategy to reduce the risks ass political violence Europe now faces should be, in particular, adopting resilience thinki urban security, designing specific contingency plans for cities, maintaining psychologic for immediate response, pursuing resilience by design in urban planning, and supporting city-specific public awareness. • United Nations Peacekeeping: Trends and Challenges [ URL "DSS-33-version1- rychnovska_a_daniel_brief.pdf"] DAGMAR RYCHNOVSKA AND JAN DANIEL Date of publication: 18/11/2015 The UN has recently celebrated its seventieth anniversary. Next year will mark six decad engagement in international peacekeeping operations the future of which was debated by l more than fifty states in New York this September. In the Square's new brief, Dagmar Ryc Jan Daniel argue that UN peacekeeping operations do have a role in helping to mitigate a armed conflicts but should not be seen as a universal solution to political and military be effective, partnerships with regional organizations must be further developed togethe engagement of local communities on the principles of equality and transparency. The peac conclude, must also be ready to familiarize themselves with the established and function the local communities. • The Captivating Visual Utopias of Sunni Jihadism [ URL "DSS-33-version1-spelda_brief.pdf PETR SPELDA Date of publication: 10/09/2015 In the Square's new security brief, Petr Spelda provides an overview of reality-suppress in the visual propaganda of the Islamic State Group that are employed to build "alluring or compositions of virtual post-apocalyptic sociopolitical orders. He argues that as rea counterpropaganda is doomed to be ineffective, we need positive programs, erecting utopi own that conceive of liberal democratic arrangements not as routines but tenous systems maintained properly, empower anybody regardless of their background. In addition, he out improving software toolsets capable of effectively assisting law enforcement agencies in empirical assessments. • The Laboratory in Discord: The European Union at the 2015 NPT Review Conference [ URL "D smetana_brief.pdf"] MICHAL SMETANA Date of publication: 03/07/2015 In this brief, Michal Smetana makes an assessment of the EU performance at the 2015 NPT Conference. Although not a party to the treaty itself, the EU has long striven for a gre in the area of nuclear non-proliferation, but its ambition in this area remains unfulfil actor, the brief concludes, the EU will not be able to produce a coherent common positio more significant role in the NPT review process unless there is a fundamental change in towards nuclear disarmament on one or the other side of the opinion spectrum occupied by states. • City as a Battleground: Trends in Urban Warfare [ URL "DSS-33-version1-svitkova_brief.pd KATARINA SVITKOVA Date of publication: 26/05/2015 Cities always were and continue to be strategic sites for military engagement. In this b Svitkova explores recent developments in strategy and tactics of urban operations. She c while military-technological edge is imperative to achieve tactical success, securing ci long term requires maintaining healthy circulations that keep urban systems going, somet beyond the capacities of even today's most advanced militaries, and in the future, polic functions are going to be increasingly intertwined. • Israel and International Community: Towards Lawfare? [ URL "DSS-33-version1-zahora_brief JAKUB ZAHORA Date of publication: 11/05/2015 Jakub Zahora argues that following the election late in March, Israel is likely to face threat of "lawfare" and will continue to alienate even traditional allies in the interna community, including the United States. The case of Iran's nuclear programme highlights international image and its security and military policies are inseparable. While this i realised in Israel, the brief concludes, the response against these efforts may turn fut even counterproductive, eventually influencing Israeli leaders to contemplate actual cha policies. • Disarmament Politics in the Age of Emerging (Bio)technologies: What Next? [ URL "DSS-33- rychnovska_brief.pdf"] DAGMAR RYCHNOVSKA Date of publication: 06/05/2015 Dagmar Rychnovska takes a look in this security brief at how the debate on novel biotech the realm of disarmament politics. She focuses on the current development related to the Weapons Convention and points out hte problems of linking biological disarmament to a br of societal risks posed by modern life sciences. The brief concludes by arguing for more balanced debate on governing biotechnologies that would not be restricted by the languag and institutions of disarmament and that would allow more complex understanding of the p potential solutions. • Cyber Threats Should Be Assessed with a Cool Head [ URL "DSS-33-version1-schmidt_brief.p NIKOLA SCHMIDT Date of publication: 27/04/2015 In this security brief, Nikola Schmidt seeks to straighten the perspective that is used cyber security environment. He argues against overestimating the threat which leads to o terms of strenghtening current or developing new institutions to tackle cyber threats, a in striving to better understand what the cyber threat in fact is; how does it develop; how the cyber capabilities are detectable and thus predictable; and why we are wasting t doomsday scenarios that might never fulfill.