Workplace violence may be defined as violence that is committed against other workers. Apparently, violence can take place in the workplace or away from the workplace. Based on research findings, workplace violence is considered to be one of the fastest growing forms of murder in the United States (Nykodym, Ariss, Patrick, & Holman, 2013).
Indicators of Violence within the School System
Understanding a certain form of abnormal behavior often starts with systematic observations by a keen person (Sue, Sue, Sue, & Sue, 2012). Ostensibly, the observations can be paired with an individual’s psychological history. The common indicators of violence around the school area include intimidation, harassment, or any form of inappropriate behavior toward other workers. It may also include incidences of employees coming to school with weapons or even a sudden change of an employee’s normal behavior.
Drawing from the study by Nykodym et al. (2013), employees who are most prone to violence within the school system are those who are placed in positions where they have to constantly interact with the public.
Causes of Violence around Schools
Violence within the school area can occur for a number of reasons. Examples include poor leadership, unmanaged stress or friction at home. Nykodym et al. (2013) identified different forms of workplace violence. First, violence may be a result of criminal acts committed by individuals who do not have any connection with the school. The second type of violence is the one directed toward employees by students, parents, or any other category of people served by the school. The third type of violence is that which is carried out against colleagues such as supervisors, managers or co-workers. The fourth category of violence is one perpetrated by a person who does not work for the school but has a relationship with an employee.
Resources available to Schools in Regards to Safety and Security
In order to deal with the dilemma of safety and security, schools can rely on existing technology. Locally, schools can install biometric systems to deal with the issues of security. Generally, biometric systems help to monitor activities within the school environment and provide useful information for investigations. A close examination of these systems can reveal any form of inappropriate behavior.
The resources that can be provided by the state to guarantee security in schools include constant patrols by law enforcers and making use of prison facilities to punish offenders. The federal government can also help to deal with the problem of security in schools by constituting bodies to investigate the causes of insecurity and to offer prevention strategies.
Security and Safety Measures at Schools in My Area
To a very large extent, schools in the United States rely on technology to handle the challenge of safety and security. Surveillance systems installed in various places within the school area are used to keep track of things happening around the school and these can later be used to deal with unacceptable behavior within the school environs.
The Role of Security within a School System and Risks of Security Working the School System
The importance of security within the school area cannot be underestimated. Security is paramount if a healthy learning environment has to be established in the school. Both staff and students must be assured of their safety and security while at school.
The greatest risk of security working in a school system has to do with the fact that those with ill intentions may work against prevention efforts. There is also a possibility of security officers in schools being attacked by people who are out to cause harm.
Conclusion
As discussed in this paper, maintaining safety and security within the school system is very important. The society is made up of people with different characters, and while most people are focused on doing what is right, there are those who may digress from acceptable behavior and act indecently.
The DoD claims that the security of the political economies in western countries is under the menace of transnational organized crime. This has emerged as the main issue in the key international forums like the Council of Europe, industrial countries in G7/8 elite, and the United Nations’ agenda over the previous decade. In fact, both international and national safety faces an increasing and significant danger modeled by the TOC. This renders unswerving consequences to the steadiness of the economy, democratic organizations, facilities of public health, as well as the well-being of the public. Apart from the intensifying criminal systems, the transnational organized crime results into the emergence of threats that possess destabilizing and explosive effects as an outcome of their diversified activities. However, this has seen several priority policies put in place by the President to combat the transnational organized crime networks that stance a deliberate danger to the United States and to the American populace.
The United States and other countries have pulled apart the tallies of criminal establishments globally for decades. Therefore, this paper deliberates on the key policy objectives and priority actions listed in the Presidents strategy to combat transnational organized crime. The paper further discusses how these priorities are nested by the DoD’s counternarcotic approach. It also tries to suggest a change in the policies to address what is reflected as a solitary narcotic hazard to the stability of the economy and security of United States. Finally, it vindicates and expound on the writers key policy change position centered on the objectives of learning.
The key policy objectives and priority actions in the president’s strategy to combat TOCs
The President’s strategy sets out five main policy objectives, which are predominant to curb the TOC. These policy objectives are consistent with respect to the priorities and visualization of the National Security Strategy. The first objective is to safeguard Americans and their associates from exploitation by the transnational criminal networks, violence, and mischief. The opening precedence revolves around the affluence, defense, and wellbeing of American cohort states’ populace as well as the US inhabitants. This strategy targets the networks that carry serious intimidation to the security and safety of citizens (DoD 2011, 5-28). These networks include those that pursue to coerce and terrorize through deeds corresponding to murder, torture as well as those that carryout abductions for extortion and ransom. In addition, other networks entail those who rob American societies of their affluence, distribute and sell counterfeit, tainted, plus substandard products and those that traffic human specifically children and women, weaponries, and prohibited drugs.
The second aim in the Presidential approach in the proposal of combating intercontinental structured felony is to abet cohort states in severing country felony associations, halt the corruptive supremacy of large-scale unlawful set-ups and to underline intelligibility and control. To fight the coercions to supremacy allied to flux and sleaze produced by the intercontinental structured felony, the United States calls for proficient, steadfast, and enthusiastic collaborators (Fijnaut, 2000, 119-127). The approach would back distant allies in endorsing global ethics; support successful and justifiable wellbeing of the community, protection, and integrity foundations; and develop obligatory capacities to trounce large-scale drug and terrorism threats. Besides, it will aspire to severe associations that are strategically powerful that form between TOC networks and foreign intelligence amenities other than that between TOC and other countries (Adam and Gill 2002, 245-270).
The third policy is to defend American fiscal structure and deliberate marketplaces from abuse and incursion of TOC and to split the worldwide unlawful networks fiscal command. It is possible for the transnational organized crime to put the legitimate businesses at a disadvantaged distinctive competition and mess up the economic activities through violence, swindle, and bribery. Thus, this strategy aim at protecting the United States financial systems and strategic markets and to expose TOC’s criminal activities veiled behind legitimate fronts (NSS 2011, 1-38). Moreover, it will sever the TOC’s right of entry to financial systems and attack the financial underpinnings of the transnational criminals at the top.
In the fourth policy, by way of thwarting the deeds that further scandalous bombing, grudging them of their facilitating assets, and marking their roads, it intends to conquer global unlawful associations that create acute fear to universal defenses. The approach will work on the sect’s systems that pose greater danger to the security, safety, and the interest of United States national security by targeting, disrupting, and conquering the networks of TOC (Fazey, 2007, 755-780). These targets will include transnational criminal gangs involve in trafficking sensitive documents, human, armaments, cash in bulk, illicit drugs, and other illegal imports. Additionally, the strategy pursues to deprive the terrorists and criminals of their critical infrastructure and prevent their group efforts (DoD 2011, 5-28).
The final strategy aims at defeating the transnational organized crime by building private public partnership, multilateral, and international consensus. It involves designing new-fangled affiliations with non-governmental parties, universal humanity, scholastic humankind, sponsorship, and businesses. Conversely, it will instigate legal set-ups to battle the scandalous drug associations and make certain the journalists sovereignty to permit for the publicity of tribulations wreaked by the TOC. Besides, it will further international norms against sponsoring crime by expanding and deepening information, cooperation, and understanding within internal and foreign agencies and institutions (NSS 2011, 1-38).
Similarly, several priority actions are in place by the Presidential strategy to combat transnational organized crime. The first action should be to take a shared responsibility for organized transnational crime. All efforts to disrupt TOC must begin at home by acknowledging and working within the boundaries, to combat causes emanating to empower and fuel TOC. The second action aims at sharing information and enhancing intelligence analysis, counterintelligence, and assemblage of TOC. The third precedence is to shield the planned souks and fiscal coordination alongside international structured felonies. Since these transnational criminals are sophisticated and entrepreneurial, it threatens the free markets thus, destabilizes the international economy (Fazey, 2007, 755-780).
The other priority action is to make stronger the prosecutions, investigations, and interdiction. The action helps at the tribunal, territorial, local, state, and federal levels to work in collaboration while targeting TOC networks through setting objectives and priorities to augment agencies to law enforcements. The fifth action is to disrupt the drug trafficking and the expedition of other threats form the transnational organized crime. Technological developments in the recent years have empowered TOC to engage in planning, coordinating, and perpetrating schemes with increased anonymity and mobility in unlawful activities and drug trafficking (DoD 2011, 5-28). Finally, a priority action aims at building partnerships, corporation, and international capacity. The President included this in his strategies since combating transnational organized crime needs criminal justice aptitudes, effective enforcement of the law, and political commitment on an international basis.
How DoD’s Counternarcotics strategy nests these priorities
The president has listed numerous priority actions in the nation strategy intended to combat the transnational organized crimes. However, the department of defense has managed to nest most of these priorities in the counternarcotics strategy (Shelley, 2005, 101-112). Often, the strategy intends to reduce substantially the flow of drugs proceeds, illicit drugs, as well as the allied violence instruments. In its counternarcotics strategy, the DoD objectively nests various key priorities. These are as discussed bellow.
The DoD enhances the capabilities of the intelligence in detecting and eradicating incidences of drug trafficking and consumption. To realize this, the DoD facilitates the sharing of information and intelligence in the drug trafficking operational environments by expanding the border control initiatives. The DoD usually works according to the policies and laws intended to assimilate and improve the flow of pertinent intelligence in a timely manner. It analyses, processes and shares info with foreign governments, tribal, local, state, and federal agencies that aim at detecting, protecting, and disbanding the transiting of illicit drugs and allied threat weapons (Adam and Gill 2002, 245-270).
The DoD in its counternarcotics strategy aims at dismantling and disrupting the organizations formed purposely to assist in drug trafficking. For instance, the DoD often disables, nexus the activities and actors, as well as possibly disrupts the drug trafficking activities and drug markets within and outside national borders. In fact, the DoD supports the operations concepts established by the state to fully enhance the counternarcotics incorporation into the general counterinsurgency campaigns in drug trafficking areas. For example, the DoD incorporates a budget in their counternarcotics strategy to support the global plan meant to prevent, investigate, interdict, boost intelligence, and treat or assist the domestic addicts (Fazey, 2007, 755-780).
The DoD enhances the corporation of the United States with South and Central America, along with Mexico with respect to joint efforts to counterdrug trafficking. The DoD supports governments to establish the operations concepts intended to synchronize and interdict the efforts geared towards transmitting illicit weapons and bulk cash to Mexico, Peru, and Colombia from the US (Shelley, 2005, 101-112).
On the other hand, the DoD inspects and sanction all the narcotics connected gadgets, returns from narcotics, and the existing narcotics amid docks, at the entrance of harbors, as well as in the naval and space domains. To realize this, the DoD has enhanced the counterdrug technologies intended to interdict drug traffickers and detect the drugs on transits. Besides, the DoD ensures that all laws suits relating to the smuggling and transportation of weaponry, mass cash, currency filtering, and narcotics trafficking are impeached. For instance, the DoD targets and attacks the structured criminal organizations via persecutions and efficient investigations. All the financiers and organized drug trafficking networks or cartels are also traced and disbanded by the DoD while the responsible people are investigated and prosecuted (Fazey, 2007, 755-780).
Revising policies to address the narcotics threat to the security and the US economic stability
Drug trafficking and the allied criminal activities have continuously intensified and left the spillover effects in the United States as well as along the Colombian, and Mexican borders. Most of these countrys governments appear unable to manage successfully incidences of drug operations either in their localities or in the borders. Hence, because of the increase in drug cartels activities, the economies have been destabilized creating favorable milieu for terrorists to gain access into the countries and launch assaulting attacks within the United States and its environs.
The national strategy for the United States intended to cope with incidents of narcotics trafficking and allied organizations are based on four fundamental documents: The 2010 National Security Strategy devised by the president, the 2009 Merida Initiative, the National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy of 2009, and the National Drug Control Strategy of 2009. Whereas the implemented strategies seem apparently comprehensive, accessible, and clear, the policy equation only lacks a comprehensively updated counterdrug plan from the DoD. This policy plan should be intended to apply efficiently the resources available in the department of defense in order to affect the present setting that supports the state strategies.
A change to the policies to address the narcotics threat to the security and economic stability of the U.S. is desirable. The initiatives and policy strategies adopted by the US administration to counter drug trafficking threats appear to be too limited or narrowly focused. In fact, the DoD policy strategy intended to counternarcotics trafficking should be revised. However, the changed counternarcotics policy strategy should not be bilateral. For instance, since drug trafficking is a transnational threat to all global economies, it cannot be overcome merely through enhancing the Mexican and Colombian administrations alongside their defense forces only (Fijnaut, 2000, 119-127). The drug trafficking organizations frequently increase their associations with other transnational organized criminal networks to utilize the capabilities and resources they hardly possess. Thus, it is advisable that the counternarcotics policy should be revised to allow the U.S. to design identical associations with different partner states not just to leverage abilities and extra resources, but also to strengthen the legality of the counternarcotics actions.
In the current counternarcotics strategy, there are no measures indicating the efforts intended to put states ahead of the drug trafficking organizations with respect to operations and planning. Hence, the counternarcotics policy adopted by DoD ought to be revised to look beyond the Mexican, Colombian, and U.S. borders. Indeed, the policy should influence all the abilities and accessible resources possessed by the neighboring nations and complemented with those proffered by the department of defense. The revised policy version should underline the importance of agility and response solutions to drug trafficking to allow the US and the concerned nations stay ahead of the drug trafficking organizations (Adam and Gill 2002, 245-270).
Conclusion
The DTOs have been posing particular pressure to most nations including the US. First, the long-term and successful nature of the DTOs has recognized Colombia and Mexico as the direct shipment zones for different kinds of narcotics into the US. Second, the DTOs have the capacities to transfer various goods and people athwart the boundaries into the neighboring countries as well as the United States. In fact, DTOs settle individuals and deliver narcotics in concealed and recognized, but safe residential homes giving the non-state actors and organized terrorist groups the chances to mount attacks in the United States. Finally, the levels of corruption, intimidation, and violence have intensified along the Colombian, Mexican, and the US boundaries targeting the security forces and state administrations at every level.
These activities destabilize the state governments and pose significant threats to the citizens. However, the governments in countries such as Mexico and Colombia materialize to be unable to protect their citizens and secure the borders against drug traffickers and terrorists. In the United States, the costs incurred in treating drug addicts and countering the illicit drugs operations is very high. In most cases, the general living standards, rates of crimes and the whole economy is negatively affected. In the recent past, the president-implemented strategy to combat transnational organized crime, which lists several priority actions and key policy objectives. Some of the policies however need revision.
Reference List
Adam, Edwards, and Gill Pete. 2002. The Politics of Transnational Organized Crime: Discourse, Reflexivity, and the Narration of Threat. British Journal of Politics and International Relations 4, no.2: 245-270.
DoD. 2011. The Department of Defense Counternarcotics and Global Threats Strategy. Washing D.C: DoD Press.
Fazey, Cindy. 2007. International Policy on Illicit Drug Trafficking: The Formal and Informal Mechanisms. The Journal of Drug Issues 426:755-780.
Fijnaut, Cyrille. 2000. Transnational Crime and the Role of the United Nations in its Containment through International Cooperation: A Challenge for the 21st Century. The European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law, and Criminal Justice 8, no.2: 119-127.
NSS. 2011. Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime. Washington D.C: The White House Press.
Shelley, Louise. 2005. The Unholy Trinity: Transnational Crime, Corruption, and Terrorism. The Brown Journal of World Affairs, xi, no.2: 101-112.
Transnational crimes are the criminal activities that take place across borders as commonly used in law practice and educationally. It gives the implication of crimes that more than being international or cross border involve border exchange as the core of the crimes. They include human trafficking, smuggling of goods like armory and drugs, sex enslavement and terrorism. These crimes may be practiced by controlled crime groups that involve the organizing and execution of illegal trade activities by these groups or networks of persons working across borders. This type is referred to as transnational planned crime. These planned systems use systematized violent encounters and corruption to achieve their goals. These activities include money laundering, human smuggling, cyber crime, and trafficking of drugs, weaponry, in danger of extinction products, body parts or nuclear equipment. The negative impacts of these activities is that they weaken the economies and financial status of the countries involved, weaken democracy and reduce the peace and stability of countries worldwide as they may employ corruption, aggression and terror to achieve their objectives (Human Trafficking, 1993).
International legal and policing cooperation is the situation where national police agencies and theorists work cooperatively across national borders through forming specialist areas of policing like criminality, captive negotiations, murder investigation, canine treatment, communication transport and patrol through basic recruit training of personnel (Deflem 2002a).
The national borders are meant to separate the rule and jurisdiction of states. Often the borders are used by criminals as a way to avoid the consequences of offenses. This is because the rule of one nation does not extent beyond the borders thus making transnational crime more serious and prevalent. Transnational crime is further fueled by developments in transportation systems especially air, international tourism and business travel development. Other factors include Improvement of communication systems like satellite, fiber optic telephone and television transmission. (Anderson 1989) Another factor is the expansion of trade creating more intercontinental participation making interdependence a basic part of life. The increasing world population has resulted to more crowding, poverty and hunger that lead to more cross border movements. The effect of these factors is more people, more opportunities, and as a result more crime activities. The increased transnational crime can also be attributed to the more effective movement of people and information across borders, terrorism, theft, smuggling, currency and security breaches, computer crimes, drug trafficking and illegal immigration (Deflem 2002b).
This cooperative policing will seek to use governmental institutions like police, courts, and correctional agencies to address transnational crime through control of social violence that is a major aspect of these activities, protect the weak nations that are often taken advantage of by the planned international crime groups and seek further enforcement of societies rules and policies dealing with transnational crime. This makes international policing cooperation the way forward for the transnational crime situation (Deflem 2002c).
This cooperation will further seek to serve each society’s standards and customs with regard to administration of justice, this makes the application of universal rule of law that would result to further confrontations less therefore making the cooperative policing more efficient as the way forward to this problem. This model will develop a multinational police force on behalf of the countries to avoid violation of international law and the member country’s sovereignty therefore a better way forward to approaching the problem. This cooperative policing will be based on the best negotiated agreements based on mutual respect, benefit and approval rather than economic or politically based coercion that further amounts to violation of the sovereignty and extralegal agreement. Secondly the model would achieve more reliability, success, and legality in the international relations that make this approach further worth working for (Jensen 1981).
Further the need for international policing is created by the demand for discovering, documenting and communication of basic working information about offenses. An example is what happened, when it happened, where it happened, describe suspected persons, give information on the situation of the crime like injuries and deaths among other necessary information. This information can only be provided by closely related or first sight personnel and this can only be achieved in the case of multinational policing where the immediate authorities give this information for the international proceeding of the case. The need for direct investigation like locating and apprehending of suspects, collection of proof data, identification and interrogation of witnesses and detention of suspects is best done at the crime area then the information and results are sent to the multinational authorities (Hsi-Heuy 1992).
The other reason that makes international policing the best approach to transnational crime is the demand for help in prosecution. An example is selection of witnesses and preparation for their appearance in court, preparing of investigative staff to testify in court and in the case of conviction provide the sentencing court with the required background information about the offender that is necessary in guiding the court ruling (Ed. Marenin 1996).
International policing can also be done through the sharing of law enforcement expertise, resources like personnel and equipment, Substitution of cultural information and thinking used in administration of law and justice and sharing of duty in facilitating law enforcement. This would further realize the sole role of controlling transnational crime, therefore a worthy to take measure as it’s much more efficient and successful as compared to the individual jurisdiction of each nation’s authority in dealing with this type of criminal activities (Ed.McDonald 1997).
International policing as an option will be supported by the development in communication modes and monitoring of crime activities. This can be done from a central location through the use of satellite communication, use of networks and the use of optical fiber communication that is very fast and efficient. This may involve the use of cameras covering the areas to be monitored therefore making it a better option in dealing with international crime through monitoring sensitive areas like borders among other areas where these criminal activities take place (Ed. Marenin 1996).
The development of the information sector both formal and informal provides information on monitoring of transnational crimes. This information is passed through crime based movies, publications and through education in that studies on criminology have developed to cover the area of transnational crime that provides the information necessary to make international policing operational. International policing is further aided by foreign language proficiency that makes the levels of communication and understanding in the international environment much more favorable. The heightened world awareness has increased cooperation among people making them more concerned with what is happening around the world; therefore people are taking personal concern for the outcome of international events. This further aids the level of operation and success of international policing by creating the need for control on transnational crime (Ed.McDonald, 1997).
Syncretising of leadership to be like that of athletic tutors where the principle of a common threat is applied therefore a common goal established to counter the common enemy. This brings about unification of nations and individual groups with an attempt to fight the undesired enemy. A good example is the worldwide fight against HIV/AIDS. This view is adopted in dealing with transnational crime in achieving the shared goal of socio-economic development. This further creates the preference for international policing towards realizing the common set goals (Eds. Anderson & Monica, 1994).
On the other hand the obstacles that deter the use of international policing as a solution to transnational crime include the harmonization and regularization of relations; here some nations in the pursuit of the same goal of ending the common enemy of transnational crime will seek to override the rule and sovereignty of weaker nations. In the process, they seek to exploit their economic resources among others for their selfish interests and not for the mutual benefit that is supposed to be the motive. This undermines the operation of international policing and creates tension that may further lead to it working inefficiently or not working at all. (Ed.McDonald, 1997). The problem of overcoming short and long-term enemity and rivalry that existed before the cooperation or during the cooperation poses another challenge to the success. The obstacle of compelling among other parties to change and adapt international policing taking into account its uncertainty, inconveniences and the projected success from the current status quo. This poses a challenge due to the time and resource demands it poses on the adopting nation (Hsi-Heuy, 1992).
The other obstacle is the need to diplomatically work out basic differences in law enforcement style having different nations having clearly diverse ideas about state justice administration. An example is the emphasis of individual rights and common law in America’s common law custom. The housing of adverse systems of authority with each other towards developing a common norm amounts to a trial and error affair which may take a long time for the different parties to get conversant with each other, make compromises and adjustments so as to suit to the new system in developing the amalgam policies and procedures and to get them institutionalized. This problem is further extended and made worse by the politicking of the different authorities depending on the level of dominance they can impose on the cooperation (Jensen, 1981).
The major conditions that will either ensure or deter the success of the cooperation are having a shared perception of a serious shared problem that is threatening to the welfare of the member parties. This condition can only be met if the parties view the situation as degrading, reducing the levels of development and not beneficial to them in any way. This is because if a number of the parties are beneficiaries of the transnational crime activities then they will seek to develop means of limiting the operation and success of the cooperation so as to retain the benefits they get from the criminal activities. An examples is some member countries being participants and beneficiaries of drug and armory trafficking they will try the best to protect the vice (Deflem, 2002c).
There should be participation of knowledgeable career law enforcement personnel who can help explain the problem and propose working solutions to the problem. This is because the view of the uninformed people who may not be aware of the challenges the problem causes on the housing economy may not support the step of international policing due to lack of information, guidance and as a result of ignorance. Thirdly the participation of political officials should be present as they will be the ones to help in formulation, passing, and in defending enabling policies and allocate budgetary sustenance for the employment of the policing. For example allocate funds to train the required personnel. The other condition is establishment of a proper and standard communication between rule enforcement personnel and the political class to ensure the success of the whole process. In the case that either of these conditions is missing, faulty or not working the reliability and effectiveness of international police cooperation will not be achieved (Deflem 2002a).
Transnational crime being the criminal activities that take place across national borders is on the increase due to increasing populations, movement of people, improvement in communication, transportation and information like computers and internet there is an acute need for a solution to the crime problem that can address the problem locally and internationally. This therefore creates the need for development of international policing as its evident that the level of success in much higher than the anticipated chance of failure. This can only be done with reference to the guiding principles and addressing the challenges associated for it to operate. With the development of this tool international transnational crime can be controlled if not fully ended.
List of References
Anderson, M 1989, Policing the World: Interpol and the Politics of International Police Cooperation. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Anderson, M, Monica B, Eds 1994, Policing Across National Boundaries, London; New York: Pinter Publishers,
Deflem, M 2002a, Policing World Society: Historical Foundations of International Police Cooperation. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Deflem, M 2002b, “Technology and the Internationalization of Policing: A Comparative-Historical Perspective.” Justice Quarterly, vol. 19, no.3, pp.453-475.
Deflem, M 2002c, “The Logic of Nazification: The Case of the International Criminal Police Commission (‘Interpol’).” International Journal of Comparative Sociology, vol.43, no.1, pp.21-44.
Hsi-Heuy, L1992, The Rise of the Modern Police and the European State System, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Human Trafficking 1993.
Jensen, R.B 1981, “The International Anti-Anarchist Conference of 1898 and the Origins of Interpol.” Journal of Contemporary History, vol 16, no.2, pp.323-347.
Marenin, O, Ed 1996, Policing Change, Changing Police: international Perspectives, New York: Garland Press.
McDonald, W. F., Ed 1997. Crime and Law Enforcement in the Global Village, Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing
Nadelmann, E. A. 1993, Cops Across Borders: The Internationalization of U.S. Criminal Law Enforcement, University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
A conspiracy theory refers to a set of circumstances or event explanations that result from powerful groups’ secret plots. Conspiracy originates from an occurrence of an organized crime. Additionally, conspiracy theories are prevalent during widespread periods of anxiety or hardships, including economic depressions, political assassinations, elections, the 9/11 attack, and permanent war. This paper focuses on the critical analysis of conspiracies in society using Power Elite and State Crimes against Society theories applied to modern historical events with cultural, social-psychological, public propaganda, and power perspectives.
Main body
Public administrations utilize conspiracies in the generation and establishment of policies in the societal progression. The situation entails State crimes against democracy (SCAD) theories that implicate the government insiders’ actions and inactions concerning the intentions of manipulating democratic processes and undermining popular sovereignty. The high office SCADs are challenging to detect or face persecution due to compartmentalization and complexity. The conflicts of interest usually compromise investigations as well as the powerful norms that discourage speculations.
Conspiracy theory in conceptual history is a distinctive approach that came into being in the 2nd half of the 19th century as a linguistic change in society. This aspect was a result of the societies’ drastic transformations. During the 1880s, conspiracy theory became prominent as a need to explain the assassination of President Garfield, who succumbed after shot injuries. The second part of the 20th century emerged with the depiction of conspiracy theories under the speculations of multiple crime perpetrators in the increased assassinations.
National security utilizes propaganda and misinformation to achieve policy goals. Misinformation entails untrue information, while propaganda generates data that may be true or false and unfavorable to public support’s opposing points of view. Propaganda and misinformation comprise three elements including, message, audience, and medium of communication. The medium and message elements work hand in hand. Through the utilization of news platforms and social media, the medium and message features ensure viral content optimization and information delivery to a mass audience. Distinctive aspects of propaganda and misinformation to the public create several conditions, including fear, anger, and uncertainties that enhance the viral generation. With the advanced technology and social media expansion, the government exploits them to implement national security policies. The policy perspectives constitute political, educational institutions, and economic and personal relationship endeavors.
The Chinese government, for instance, utilizes propaganda in the national security policies by sponsoring the media news. In 2018, the Chinese government’s state-owned newspaper entailed journalistic articles creating awareness of the free trade progressions for the US farmers, tensions in the economic risks, and presidential ties with Iowa. The situation implicates the Chinese advocacy for the political, economic, and relationship-building elements. The nation’s widespread campaigns are geared towards global production and distribution and educational policy achievement. China also utilizes propaganda to realize financial goals through infrastructure investments and loans. The Russian government also uses propaganda in the campaign influences, including the 2016 United States national elections and the United Kingdom Brexit vote. Additionally, the conspiracy levels indicate that the Russian government heightened public awareness of the US 2016 elections through propaganda. The presidential propaganda campaigns focused on influencing perceptions of the candidates and undermining the public trust in the electoral commission through cyber convert.
The tension strategy and permanent war are essential in the national security state. Based on the power elite theory, the social scientist holds a generalized view of political inclination being concentrated on the small, wealthy groups that share similar values from privileged backgrounds. Additionally, the power elite theory links the coordination between individuals in the government, mass media, educational, business, civic organizations, and cultural establishments. The power elite individuals can effectively dictate essential goals in the nation through policy-making based on their dominance in significant activities such as cultural organization, mass media, and education. The power elite’s perspectives are essential in the country’s policy-making strategies that enhance permanent warfare and tension that protects the citizens from their enemies.
The tension and permanent war are essential in the security generation as the nation invests in military power, intelligence, law enforcement abilities, and homeland defense. These advancements involve the preparations against terrorist attacks. The United States’ focus for the 21st century entails a commitment to providing fundamental human rights, and economic and political liberties. The national security’s defense and military power measures in the elimination of the enemies contribute to the citizen’s educational ability and property ownership. Also, the protection against the enemies allows the society members to enjoy their labor benefits and realize cohesion in the society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the conspiracy theory entails events happenings by influential groups, such as political and business leaders. Public administrators are more likely to engage in State crimes against democracy without notice due to the involved complexities. Some conspiracy events include election fraud, assassinations, and terrorism. The emergence of conspiracy theories involved assassination speculations during the late 19th and 20th centuries. The Russian and Chinese states engaged in propaganda information that shaped national security’s economic, relation-building, and political aspects. Tension and permanent wars are critical items in national security due to the freedom and protection capabilities of the citizens.
Crimes against humanity describe atrocious offenses on human dignity. This encompasses slaying, extermination, and captivity, among other barbaric acts invested against civilians, especially during war times (Bassiouni, 2002). This is not new, with documentation of crimes against humanity running down the history line to the First World War, where Turkish officials perpetrated crimes of this nature. A perfect example is the massive killing of over six million Jews who died at the hands of Nazis during world war two, what is commonly known as ‘the holocaust’ in contemporary times. However, the most stunning crime in the recent past is the Rwandan genocide in 1994, where over 500,000 people died as war broke out between two warring sides; the Hutus and the Tutsis (BBC news, 2008). Different modes of communication aired the news all over the world. However, the movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’ stole the day by bringing out the untold stories about this genocide in style.
This is a consummate work portraying one of the ugliest historical events on crimes against humanity. In the movie, Don Cheadle acts as Paul Rusesabagina, a rich Hutu successful businessperson who has powerful connections with all classes of Rwandan life. Her wife urges him to use his massive influence to help the minority Tutsis from harassment and inhumane practices directed to them by the majority Hutus. However, Paul does not seem to take charge, not at that time. At around that time, the violence intensifies, and this marks the start of the massacre of Tutsis by Hutus. European invitees and workers residing in the hotel where Paul is a manager are taken out of the country immediately, leaving Paul in charge. As the massacre escalates, Paul, moved by his conscience, converts the hotel into a refugee camp to protect the innocent Tutsis from these atrocities. However, the most captivating event as the movie progresses is the reluctance of the international community to intervene to quell the raging storms. Apart from one journalist and Col. Oliver, a UN peacekeeping colonel, nobody else seems to bother to intervene. As the movie ends, one wonders about the role of international human rights groups in facilitating their mission per se.
How does this movie address the issue of the international human rights watchdog in carrying out its mandate? This movie portrays a total failure on the part of the international human rights watchdog in intervening at times of crimes against human rights, as witnessed in the Rwandan massacre. What else explains the fact that the international community sat back the massacre continued? In the movie, the international community seems to enjoy watching as the story unfolds. Moreover, if this was the case, then they would enjoy the drama of a long, drama of human massacre. For one hundred days when the massacre is taking place, not even a single voice is heard from the international community save for a journalist and Col. Oliver, the UN peacekeeping colonel. This may be a movie, a collection of documentation about the past, but it is a true depiction of how our structures are poorly established to carry out their missions.
It is interesting how one man, Paul Rusesabagina, assumes the role of human rights watchdog and offers refuge to fleeing people. In principle, the international human rights watchdog could do a better job than this one man does. The interesting story about the international human rights’ laxity unveils as the movie progresses and violence worsens. In retrospect, there were thousands of UN peacekeeping troops in Kigali before the war broke out. They were there to oversee the implementation of the Arusha accord that sought to end the civil war in Rwanda (Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, 2009). After the war breaks out, the UN withdraws its troops from Kigali, leaving behind around 300 troops. In addition, the troops left behind do not seem to do anything to stop the massacre. To defend their non-involvement in keeping the peace, the UN colonel states that UN troops are ‘peacekeepers,’ not ‘peacemakers.’
Hotel Rwanda’ depicts clearly how tribal and ethnic infringes shaped the state of affairs in Rwanda during that time. For instance, a conversation taking place in a hotel bar throws weight on the issue of ethnicity. A journalist, in a bid to establish the cause of the genocide, interviews a Rwandan who confirms that there was strife between Hutus and Tutsis at that time. The Rwandan states that before colonization by Belgium, Hutus and Tutsis had cordial relationships void of social distinctions save for the economic distinctions that are prevalent in any community. However, the Rwandan in this conversation points out that the Belgian colonial rule created racial divisions between these two groups. Before the Belgian colonial rule, the Tutsis assumed the status of nobility while Hutus were the ordinary people. The Belgian rule, however, aggravated the divide between these two communities by favoring the Tutsis. The tribal and the ethnic chasm widened slowly under the Belgian colonial rule. Unfortunately, this divide did not cede with the attainment of independence.
The movie tackles the issue of the Rwandan genocide, and it is clear that this was not an ‘internal issue’ as some people may want to put it. In the course of the movie, it emerges that the French government had close links with the Hutus during the time of the massacre. Though these may be mere allegations, one cannot fail to note that France was the chief supplier of weapons to the Rwandan government. Actually, during the tenth anniversary of the massacre, the then Rwandan president impeached France for deliberately training Hutus with full knowledge of the impending massacre (Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, 2009). Regardless of whether these are allegations or truth, they resonate well with what the movie brings out as an international affair as opposed to the notion that this was an ‘internal affair.’
Finally, the movie depicts the degree of responsibility held by the United Nations and the international community concerning the genocide that happened. From the movie, it is clear that the international community refrained from intervening to stop the massacre. In principle, it is the duty of the international community to intervene at such times. However, this same international community chose to stay back and watch. Indeed, it watched for 100 days as more than 500,000 innocent lives went down the drain. UN, on its part, failed at a time when it could have taken control. Why should it withdraw its troops with all signs written on the wall that a crisis was looming? A colonel goes on to state that the work of UN troops is to keep the peace, not to make it. One then wonders how you can keep the peace that is lacking in the first place. Even though this movie contains some contentious ethical issues, it serves the purpose of exposing how our so-called international watchdogs may prove wanting at some times.
It is unacceptable and unethical to condone crimes against humanity anywhere in the world. The international community should get involved more to avoid a repeat of what happened in Rwanda. Surely, we cannot change the past, but we can learn and correct our past mistakes to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.
Reference list
Bassiouni, M. (2002). Crimes against Humanity. Web.
The law enforcement has multiple duties and responsibilities, including maintaining safety, ensuring citizens are protected, preventing crimes, and investigating unlawful behaviors. However, it is important to mention that while these activities require involvement, following the implemented protocols and legislation is essential. This creates an environment in which the police are somewhat limited when it comes to crossing boundaries related to human rights in the pursuit of justice. Nonetheless, the line between crime investigation and maintaining confidentiality, and remaining respectful toward victims is somewhat blurry. As a result, specific administration issues occur in relation to handling situations in which law enforcement requires the crime victims to participate in the investigations. In this paper, the topic of police challenges in respective crime victim rights will be examined from the perspective of current events as well as present and potential solutions to the aforementioned limitation.
Crime Victim Rights
Oftentimes, crime victims are critical actors in the investigation process. They can potentially identify suspects, give law enforcement information on potential clues, and communicate information that can be crucial for preventing future crimes and bringing justice. However, it is vital to take into consideration that the victims have rights that are to be protected (New Jersey Office of Attorney General, 2022). There are certain rights that are phrased ambiguously, which implies that law enforcement may interpret them differently, ultimately leading to administrative issues. Namely, the first right within the New Jersey Constitution under article I para. 22 mentions the treatment of victims with dignity and respect (NJ Department of Law and Public Safety, 2022). Another right is the minimization of potential inconveniences when it comes to the participation of victims in the justice system. The concepts, however, are often misrepresented in situations in which officers overstep the boundaries in the pursuit of investigations.
Case Study
A case study that exemplifies the extent of the issue is the situation in which a healthcare facility has implemented a new policy in regards to police involvement when patients are to be interrogated or searched. Namely, the St. Joseph hospital in New Jersey has implemented policies that limit police officers in terms of obtaining evidence by taking the victims’ personal items or interrogating them without their consent (Malinconico, 2021). It is certain that the administrative change has been facilitated by the police administration issue in the first place.
The police administration, on the other hand, has handled the situation by stating such decisions as going against investigation processes. The response has illustrated that instead of changing certain guidelines when it comes to interactions with victims, a solution has not been proposed. Arguably, insisting on taking the expected action would mean infringing upon the civil rights of individuals, which Gaines and Worrall (2011) define as crucial concepts to be integrated into the police’s decision-making. On the other hand, the drop in productivity, which is another critical notion allowing measuring the efficacy of the police’s performance as Gaines and Worrall (2011) define it, has been reduced due to the choices made (Gaines & Worrall, 2011). In turn, the case in question could have been addressed by introducing the principle of management by exception (Gaines & Worrall, 2011). Implying that a specific scenario requires deviations from the expected performance, the concept in question could have opened opportunities for more decisive actions.
The fourth concept to be considered in the case under analysis concerns the use of control as the measure for managing the case and selecting the best strategy possible. Since the police had to address the dilemma of either following the established protocol and infringing upon the rights of citizens or retreating in their investigation and maintaining compliance with the set boundaries, an obvious lack of control could be observed (Gaines & Worrall, 2011). Thus, prior to establishing the measures for managing the scenario in question, law enforcement officers should have ensured that they had the required amount of control over the development of the case. Finally, the fifth concept to be examined in the described situation is one of the selection strategies during the recruitment process (Gaines & Worrall, 2011). Since the law enforcement officers demonstrated obvious neglect for the rights of victims, the approach toward selecting staff members must have been quite flawed.
Indeed, given the extensive amount of training that police officers undergo in order to develop the necessary skills, introducing them to core values to be followed when performing essential tasks should have been comparatively easy. In turn, the police’s consistent unwillingness to follow the specified standards when implementing key tasks indicates that the recruitment process did not allow selecting the applicants that possessed the required qualities and shared the values associated with human dignity and basic rights (Gaines & Worrall, 2011). Aligning with the concepts mentioned above would have helped the police department avoid the observed issue. Specifically, the police staff would have been successfully introduced to the required values and ethical standards, thus, developing respect and appreciation for human dignity (Gaines & Worrall, 2011). Thus, the police should have followed the specified principles, respecting the rights of victims. Instead, the case features the violation of the specified notions, which suggests that further changes will be required to adjust the perceptions and decision-making standards of police officers.
Solution
While the police administration has not formally handled the changes in the hospital’s new guidelines, the response was negative. Thus, it is certain that the limitations have not been properly addressed. There are several reasons why the solution is not adequate for the situation. On the one hand, the police administration has not proposed any viable answers to the complaints of the medical facility. Thus, no change in guidelines has been promised in regards to disrupting victims during their hospital stay. Moreover, the police administration has not acknowledged that the decision of the hospital does, in fact, protect the victims’ rights, a duty that is to be implemented by law enforcement. This is why the issue has not been appropriately handled, and the hospital’s implementation can potentially hinder investigations.
Recommendations
There are several solutions that could have been practically applied to ameliorate the situation. It is certain that the administration was to ensure the victim’s rights are primordial during communications and interactions with the officers. Thus, training officers on how to approach individuals while remaining respectful and minimizing inconveniences is key. It is important to mention that the decision of the hospital was generated based on the unpleasant encounters when the officers were disrupting victims during recoveries and unlawfully accessing their personal items. The administration can apply training and practical exercises in which the officers would learn how to properly approach victims while considering their rights on all levels.
Conclusion
Police administration issues are both harmful for law enforcement and for the people who are to be protected by the entity. Victims’ rights are often misunderstood or purposefully left out in the pursuit of justice, a circumstance that ultimately creates an environment in which the officers overstep boundaries. It is important for formal and informal training to be implemented in order for the challenge to be minimized. Thus, theoretical knowledge of the victim’s rights and the legal interpretation of the constitution is vital when it comes to police interactions with civilians.
References
Gaines, L. K., & Worrall, J. L. (2011). Police Administration (3rd ed.). Cengage Learning.
The history of the formation of the principles and norms of international law, applicable in armed conflicts, shows that it took thousands of years for the legal provisions in question to attain the status of being universally recognised. After all, it now represents a well-established fact that people have been striving to ensure that wars are waged in the most ethically sound manner since the time of antiquity. In this regard, one can mention the ancient legal manuscript Manusmriti (written around 1200 BC), which contained provisions against shooting poisonous arrows at the enemy. The Book of Deuteronomy (in the Old Testament) also insisted that during the war, the conflicting parties should refrain from killing women and children.
Throughout the Middle Ages, it used to account for a commonplace assumption amongst monarchs that there can be no excuse for poisoning welds and demolishing churches as a part of waging a war. Nevertheless, it was namely the signing of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 that created the objective preconditions for the term “war crime” to attain a legal sounding through the centuries to come. The reason for this is apparent: the concerned development made possible the eventual conceptualisation of the term “international law” as we know it.
Thus, it will be appropriate to suggest that the discursive significance of the notions “war crime” and “crime against humanity” should be discussed in conjunction with what accounts for the overall principles of historical progress. This coursework will explore the validity of the above-stated at length while promoting the idea that the main prerequisite for reducing the number of war crimes that continue to take place in the world is ensuring the functional practicality of international law, as the guiding principle of international relations (IR).
Issues
The last few decades saw the establishment of a number of international judicial entities on the mission of persecuting the perpetrators of war crimes. Among the most notable of the judicial entities in question are commonly listed the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and International Criminal Court (ICC). This, however, did not seem to make the perpetration of war crimes any less of a commonplace occurrence.
Such a situation may seem illogical, but a deeper analysis of the issue will reveal that the very specifics of the geopolitical climate on the planet, as well as the realities of Globalisation, undermine the effectiveness of the mentioned bodies’ functioning to a considerable extent. In this regard, one will need to mention the rise of non-state actors as the quasi-legitimate entities within IR, the ongoing privatisation of the public domain in the West, and the gradual delegitimation of the very concept “international law”.
What contributes to the problem, even more, is that the current confrontation between the collective West, on the one hand, and Russia and China, on the other, renders obsolete even the basic assumptions about the nature of IR that used to be deemed thoroughly legitimate 15-20 years ago. However, it was namely throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s that the UN Security Council has come up with the bulk of its legal initiatives, meant to ensure the swift and effective persecution of war criminals.
As a result, more and more people around the world begin to experience a certain doubt about whether the concerned judicial bodies are as impartial as their spokesmen claim. Evidently enough, this cannot have any other but a strongly negative effect on the cause of preventing war crimes from taking place in the future. Therefore, there is indeed an objective necessity to conduct a further research on the contemporary peculiarities of how the international community defines war crimes/crimes against humanity and what kind of influencing forces are at play in this regard.
Structure
The following outlines the proposed structural approach to analysing the subject matter in question. Chapter One will discuss at length the legal implications of the term “war crime” and outline the socio-political preconditions behind the term’s incorporation into the procedural framework of international law. Chapter Two will be dedicated to the discussion of what sets apart the concepts of “war crime” and “crime against humanity”, in the legal sense of this word. This specific Chapter will also examine the effects of the current geopolitical situation in the world on the enactment and enforcement of different war crime-prevention legislations.
Chapter Three will examine the qualitative aspects of how the earlier mentioned judicial establishments (as well as others) go about persecuting war criminals and expound on the outcomes of the most notable trials that have taken place under the auspices of international military tribunals (IMTs) in the past. The concluding Chapter will be concerned with the discussion of what undermines the practical effectiveness of the way in which the international community persecutes war criminals and the author’s summative remarks about what accounts for the overall significance of the acquired insights into the topic.
War crimes under the contemporary international law
The contemporary international law, with respect to war crimes and international crimes, is reflective of the Articles 6, 7, 8 and 21 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (adopted in 1998). The ICC is much different from the ad hoc international tribunals of the past in the sense that it has been established on a permanent basis with the sphere of the Court’s legal jurisdiction not being geographically limited. As Knoops noted:
The ICC is created on the basis of a complex and detailed treaty granting it the power to try and punish the most serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, in the event domestic criminal law systems are not able to prosecute or fail to do so.
In its turn, the Rome Statute was brought into existence as a logical outcome of the term “war crime” having undergone a certain transformation since the end of the WW2. In this regard, one must mention the 1945 Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT), the 1946 Resolutions 3 and 95 of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the main provisions of the 1949 Geneva Convention, and the 1968 Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
In the broadest sense of this word, a “war crime” is understood to be resulting from the “grave breach” of the rules of conducting an ethically sound warfare, specified by the 1907 Hague Convention, 1949 Geneva Convention and the 1949 Geneva Convention’s Protocols I, II, and III. Nevertheless, there are three basic preconditions for such a breach to be consistent with how the mentioned primary sources define a war crime. According to the Elements of Crime (EOC) index (an integral part of the Rome Statute), the persecution must prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the defendant deliberately participated in committing a particular crime that he or she is being accused of.
It must also be proven that the defendant has been fully aware of what was going to account for the actual consequences of his or her conduct, ‘This would describe the situation where it was the accused’s aim or objective to cause the result… a person is taken to intend a consequence when he or she ‘is aware that it will occur in the ordinary course of events’. Moreover, the accused must also be proven mentally adequate so stand a trial in the first place. At the time, the EOC stresses out that the perpetrator’s eligibility to be tried by the ICC is irrespective of whether he or she has been aware of the actual nature (international or non-international) of the armed conflict and of the accused individual’s personal view on the conflict’s origins and significance.
Primary sources
As it was implied earlier, it is specifically the Rome Statute of 1998 (Articles 6, 7 and 8) that provides the most up-to-date classification of war crimes. As of the year 2009, there have been fifty war crimes listed and described at length throughout the mentioned Articles. The foremost requirement for a crime to be assessed within the definitive framework of the EOC is that its perpetration has taken place as a part of an armed conflict, regardless of the international or non-international nature of the latter. The legal document in question does not only contain the detailed descriptions of each of the listed crimes, but it also specifies what should be considered circumstantial evidence of these crimes having been perpetrated:
The Elements of Crimes shall assist the Court in the interpretation and application of Arts. 6, 7, and 8… The EOC will guide the future judges and will therefore be of crucial importance for the work of the ICC in the interpretation of the provisions on crimes. The actual list of war crimes (specified by both the Rome Statute and EOC) is rather extensive. Nevertheless, it is still possible to classify the contained listings as such that belong to the following discursive categories:
Crimes committed against individuals that do not take an active part in armed hostilities
These war crimes have traditionally accounted for the most commonplace ones. Prisoners of war and civilians (including women and children) are particularly likely to fall victims in this regard. Such crimes are commonly discussed as such that represent “grave breaches” of the 1907 Hague Convention. They have been additionally specified by Article 6 of the Nuremberg Charter of 1945. These include murdering civilians en masse, subjecting them to an unnecessarily cruel treatment, conducting biological experiments on war prisoners/civilians, and destroying civilian infrastructural objects and/or using them for military purposes.
One can also be charged with having perpetrated a war crime by committing the acts that subject civilians to starvation (as a warfare method) and deprive them of the items necessary for survival. This includes creating obstacles to the provision of assistance by a third party.
Being primarily concerned with the killing of the wounded and sick prisoners of war, the crime of wilful killing (Article 8(2)(a)(i) of the Rome Statute) is perfectly illustrative as a “classical” war crime. Within the Statute’s legal framework, the word “killing” is usually interpreted as such that denotes “causing death”. This, in turn, presupposes that this particular crime can be committed by omission. The same applies to other notable crimes within the category, such as forcing civilians to perform military duties with a hostile army, ordering them to be deported, seizing their property, and denying the right of a fair trial to those arrested under martial law.
Crimes against enemy combatants or civilians, committed by mean of resorting to the prohibited methods of warfare
The latter include the deployment of poison and poisoned weapons that may cause unnecessary suffering in victims, as well as the deployment of chemical and biological ordnances. A war crime is also considered to be the use (even if limited) of the specific types of conventional weapons that cause excessive/indiscriminate damage, such as cluster bombs, and the use of anti-personnel mines disguised as household items. In this respect, one should also mention launching an indiscriminate attack that is likely to affect civilians/civilian objects, as well as attacking military installations or structures when it is known that such an attack will result in causing the excessive loss of lives and/or damaging the civilian infrastructure in the immediate vicinity.
Crimes concerned with attacking persons, organisations and objects that enjoy special protection under international law
In this respect, a crime is considered the act of deliberately striking personnel, facilities, materials, units or vehicles involved in the provision of humanitarian assistance or on a peacekeeping mission, in accordance with the UN Charter. The category in question also encompasses the crimes of attacking churches, educational institutions and hospitals, and destroying historical monuments. Those who situate military installations in the civilian areas are to be charged with committing a war crime as well.
As the Article 8(2)(b)(xxiii) of the Rome Statute refers to it, ‘The perpetrator moved or otherwise took advantage of the location of one or more civilians or other persons protected under the international law of armed conflict in order to fulfil the actus reus of the offence’. Some of the Statute’s signatories (such as France) have declared that carrying out military missions, on their part, will take place irrespectively on the presence of any “human shields” in the vicinity of the targeted installation.
It is also possible to classify war crimes in a more conventional manner. That is, in conjunction with what accounts for their formal subtleties and the legal history of their enactment under the auspices of the Rome Statute. There will still be three distinct categories to such a classification. They can be formulated as follows: grave breaches (Articles 8(1) – 8(2)(a)(viii)), offences in international conflicts (Articles 8(2)(b) – 8(2)(b)(xxvi)), and offences in non-international conflicts (Articles 8(2)(c) – 8(2)(e)(xii)). Among the above-outlined categories, the one concerned with offences in international conflicts is the most extensive.
Nuremberg/Tokyo Trials and their significance
The modern history of bringing to justice the perpetrators of war crimes dates back to the end of the WW2 when the world became aware of the sheer scale of atrocities, committed by the Axis powers. After all, it was this particular development that has led to the commencement of both the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials on an ad hoc basis in 1945 and 1946 respectively: the first International Military Tribunals (IMTs) in history.
The Nuremberg trial lasted through the years 1945-1946. The tried defendants accounted for the 24 high-ranking members of Nazi Germany’s government, out of which 19 have been found guilty of committing various war crimes as well as the crimes against humanity. They have consequently been sentenced to death by hanging in 1946. One of the defendants (German Goring) managed to commit a suicide just prior to his scheduled execution.
The Nuremberg trial is noteworthy for having incorporated the so-called “Nuremberg principles” into the very core of international law as we know it today:
(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of the acts mentioned under (i).
Because of this development, countries are now being deterred from declaring a full-scale aggressive war on each other, as the most effective instrument of advancing their geopolitical agendas. The Nuremberg Trial also stands out, in the sense of having legitimised the principle of “control responsibility”, within the context of how war crimes are being masterminded and carried out.
Having been initiated by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), the Tokyo Trial lasted through the years 1946-1948. All of the tried defendants (9 Japanese politicians and 18 military leaders) have been declared guilty and sentenced to death/lengthy terms and jail. It needs to be noted that, despite having taken an active part in the planning of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, Emperor Hirohito has been declared immune to any possible accusations under the auspices of the IMTFE.
The Tokyo Trial did contribute rather substantially towards the development of international law, with respect to war crimes. Specifically, it helped to bring more legal clarity into how the provisions of the Geneva Conventions apply to the deployment of technologically innovative weapons, as a part of an international armed conflict.
The main criticism of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials has always been reflective of the assumption that, contrary to what the concept of impartial law stands for, both legal proceedings resulted in causing the notion of “international justice” to convey the message of “victor’s justice”, when ‘only one side to the conflict is being prosecuted (“the losers”), while the other side (“the victors”) evades prosecution, despite the fact that both sides to the conflict allegedly committed international crimes’.
In this regard, one can mention the fact that as soon as the main defendant at the Nuremberg Trial (German Goring) began to succeed in exposing judges’ hypocrisy, he was forbidden to make any more public statements in his defence. The same applies to the Tokyo Trial as well: after having incinerated close to 500.000 civilians in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by subjecting them to a nuclear bombing, the Americans did not have much of a moral right to accuse the Japanese of having committed war crimes, in the first place.
Nevertheless, it is indeed appropriate to refer to the legacy of both the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials as such that even today defines the workings of international law to a considerable extent. That reason for this is apparent: the concerned developments created a legal precedent for the principle of jurisdictional extraterritoriality to define the discursive aspects of the IMTs’ functioning up until today. In this regard, the ICC stands out exemplary, ‘Under primacy, the state may lack an incentive to investigate or prosecute its officers and even if it does investigate or prosecute, the ICC will still be able to assume jurisdiction’. Moreover, the operational efficiency of the ICC appears to be hampered by essentially the same set of influencing factors as it used to be the case with IMTs of the past.
International crimes (e.g. “crimes against humanity”) and how they differ from war crimes
The first attempts to provide a legally binding definition of “crime against humanity” and incorporate it as a part of international law date back to the adoption of the 1907 Geneva Convention. Nevertheless, it was not up to the establishment of the Nuremberg Tribunal in 1945 that the concept in question attained a universally recognised legal sounding. According to the so-called Nuremberg Charter (introduced by the 1945 London Agreement), crimes against humanity account for, ‘Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war… whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated’.
The foremost prerequisite for a particular crime to be considered “international” is that it poses a grave danger to the well-being of humanity, as a whole. Probably the most definitive clue, in this regard, is the crime’s global magnitude, as well as the objective indications that it has been premeditated/planned on a governmental level. The most infamous of all crimes against humanity has been the extermination of six million Jews by the Nazis during the WW2.
Another indication of a crime against humanity is that its perpetration resulted in the victimisation of civilians. The EOC document lists sixteen major crimes against humanity: extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearance of persons, apartheid, and other inhumane acts.
According to the statutes of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, one can be charged with committing a crime against humanity irrespectively of whether the person’s actions violated the laws of the country (where the incident took place) or not, i.e. the criminalisation of the act is not required by national law. It may appear that the functioning of the ICC is not quite consistent with this particular provision, because the Court’s main operational principle is that of “legal complementarity”, ‘The
ICC applies a jurisdictional rule known as the rule of complementarity. Under this rule, the ICC may not prosecute a case that is prosecuted by a state’. Nevertheless, the very fact that the ICC operates on a permanent basis endows it with an international legal personality. The validity of this suggestion can also be shown, regarding the self-assumed obligations of the Rome Statute’s signatories to work on adjusting their national laws/legislations to be fully consistent with the Statute’s Articles.
It should be borne in mind that crimes against humanity have many similar characteristics with war crimes, which often makes the task of distinguishing them from each other somewhat of a challenge. For example, a mass killing of prisoners can be simultaneously classified as being both a war crime (under the Article 8(2)(a)(i) of the Rome Statute) and a crime against humanity (under the Article 7(1)(a) of the Rome Statute). There are, however, at least three distinctive markers for each type of crime.
First, unlike what it is the case with the perpetration of war crimes, the perpetration of a particular crime against humanity can take place in the absence of a formally declared war. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 is perfectly illustrative in this respect. Second, crimes against humanity are “systemic”, in the sense of being well premeditated, with the element of logistics playing an important role in how perpetrators go about advancing their murderous agenda.
For example, the German Nazis would not be able to succeed in exterminating quite as many Jews, had they not ensured the efficient functioning of the country’s railway system up until the very end of the WW2. Third, for as long as the victims of a particular international are concerned, their eligibility for protection/compensation has nothing to do with the specifics of these people’s national affiliation. This suggestion correlates well with what was the actual rationale behind the legal conceptualisation of the term “crime against humanity”: to prevent the premeditated acts of genocide from occurring in the future.
It is important to understand that the concerned concept continues to undergo a qualitative transformation as time goes on. Over the course of the last few decades, the list of international crimes, recognised by the Rome Statute’s signatories, has grown substantially. Hence, the comparatively recent addition of the crimes of forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, and sexual violence to the EOC index. In its turn, this points out to the fact that humanity’s present stance on the most heinous and anti-social crimes of a global magnitude is strongly affected by the sociocultural discourse of post-modernity. Because of it, it will only be logical to expect that the concept of international crimes (“crimes against humanity”) will continue to attain even more discursive subtleties in the future.
Entities and bodies responsible for the prosecution of committed war crimes
The modern aspects of how the international community goes about prosecuting war criminals are defined by the establishment of the ICTY (in 1993), ICTR (in 1994), and the sub-sequential adoption of the Rome Statute by country-signatories (in 1998), which made possible the founding of the ICC in 2000.
The ICTY has the mandate of the UN Security Council (Resolution No. 827, adopted on May 25, 1993). In this way, it differs from the ICC, created by an international treaty. The ICTY is in charge of prosecuting war crimes that took place on the territory of Yugoslavia since the time when this country began to disintegrate in 1991. According to the Tribunal’s statute, its territorial jurisdiction is limited by what used to be Yugoslavia’s national borders (with the exemption of Slovenia).
The ICTY was created in accordance with the ad hoc principle. The same can be said about the ICTR. This institution was brought into existence by the UN Security Council Resolution No. 955 on November 8, 1994, with its main objective having been the prosecution of those responsible for perpetrating the infamous Rwandan genocide.
The ICC is much different from the earlier mentioned judicial entities, in the sense of being the first permanent international justice body (created on the basis of a treaty between states) that functions in accordance with the principle of judicial extraterritoriality (although limited). The ICC has the status of an independent international organisation and is not a part of the UN. It is located in Hague, Netherlands. As of April 2017, 123 countries worldwide have ratified the Rome Statute, 31 have signed but not ratified, and 41 have not signed at all. A number of countries object the very idea of the ICC, as such that presupposes non-actuality of the principle of national sovereignty. The USA is the most ardent of them.
The ICC is best seen as the “last resort” of international law, with regard to the prosecution of war criminals. It is only to initiate a criminal investigation into a war crime if this cannot be done on a national level. Unlike the ad hoc tribunals created by the United Nations for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the ICC leaves to the state the primary responsibility to investigate and prosecute international/war crimes.
Among the most notable defendants that have been tried and found guilty by the ICTY and ICTR since the mid-1990s, can be named Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladić, Slobodan Milošević (Serbs), Ferdinand Nahimana, Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, and Hassan Ngeze (Rwandans). Even though the ICC has been functioning on a full-time basis since 2002, there is currently only one person on its list of inductees: Thomas Lubanga Dyilo (a Congolese citizen, responsible for recruiting children into the army).
Obstacles
In light of what has been said earlier, there can be little doubt that humanity’s growing concern with war crimes/crimes against humanity has been predetermined by the objective principles of historical progress. At the same time, it would be wrong to assume that international law on war crimes/crimes against humanity will never cease becoming ever more extensive, as it has been doing since the mid-1990s until now.
One of the reasons for this is that as time goes on, more and more state-actors throughout the world refuse to recognise the legitimacy of the currently operating IMTs, especially that of the ICC. As it was pointed out earlier, the US Government paved the way in this respect, ‘George W. Bush formally renounced any U.S. obligations to the court (ICC) when it began operating in 2002’. Moreover, the US State Department is now claiming that America will criminally prosecute the ICC judges if they move to press any war crime charges against the US citizens.
To complicate the situation even further, Russia and China are now also refusing to cooperate with the ICC while regarding it (as well as the ICTY and ICTR) to be the instrument of “Western imperialism”. It must be noted that such a point of view on the actual significance of the judicial bodies in question is not altogether deprived of a certain rationale. After all, there is plenty of evidence as to the fact that the Western-led attacks on Yugoslavia in 1993, Iraq in 2003, and Libya in 2011, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, constitute classical war crimes.
However, not even a single Western governmental official has been indicted for having given “go ahead” to these murderous attacks. Such a state of affairs, in this regard, could not have resulted in anything else but in undermining the discursive integrity of the very concept “international justice”.
The main driving force behind the described trend appears to be the gradual deterioration of international law as we know it, which in turn is reflective of the current dynamics in the domain of IR. The concerned term presupposes that the IR agents are willing to cooperate, within the context of how they address different challenges. Consequently, this implies that the former do not only enjoy full sovereignty, but also that the IR arena is essentially multipolar.
However, after the end of the Cold War, the collective West has found itself in the position of a unilateral arbiter of international relations. Hence, the formerly popular concept of a “new world order”, with the US being in charge of maintaining it. Moreover, during the last few decades, many America’s allies throughout the world have been deprived of their de facto sovereignty. Because international law presupposes the contractual essence of the relationship between countries, this naturally caused the concept of in question to be seen increasingly “outdated” in the US. There is no need for entering into such a relationship with the rest of international actors if their sovereignty is merely formal.
It is understood, however, that there can be no effective prosecution of war criminals for as long as the very term “international law” continues to become ever more legally irrelevant, with many of these criminals appearing to be immune. The situation with the former Prime Minister Tony Blair exemplifies the validity of this suggestion. Nevertheless, the ongoing geopolitical decline of the West implies that the outlined obstacles, in the way of ensuring the full viability of the mentioned justice bodies, will eventually be removed.
Conclusion
The acquired analytical insights into the subject matter suggest that there are two opposing forces at play, within the context of how the international community strives to reduce the incidents of war crimes that continue to take place across the world. On the one hand, more and more people grow increasingly aware of the acute danger that such crimes pose to humanity’s well-being. Partially, this explains the ICC’s recent initiatives for the inclusion of even more crimes in the EOC list.
On the other hand, however, the current state of international politics results in undermining the validity of the conventional outlook on what the concept of international law stands for, hence making the prosecution of war criminals ever more challenging. As of this point, it is impossible to provide a viable prediction for where the described problematic situation will lead to. After all, if the current worsening of the relationship between Russia/China and the US does result in triggering the outbreak of the WW3, it will endow the terms “war crime” and “crime against humanity” with a whole new meaning.
Nevertheless, there is good rationale to think of such a scenario as being rather unlikely, not the least due to the fact that, despite their operational ineffectiveness, the ICTY, ICTR and ICC (as well as others IMTs of the past) did contribute substantially into raising the public awareness about what constitute the objective preconditions for international crimes to be perpetrated, in the first place. This once again suggests that there was nothing incidental about how these justice bodies came into existence. The continuation of sociocultural progress on this planet depends heavily on whether humanity will be able eradicate war crimes as a part of warfare. This conclusion appears to be fully consistent with the paper’s initial thesis.
Bibliography
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Medea is known to be one of the most outstanding among the women presented in Greek dramas. In the play, she has been presented as a champion, a rogue and at the same time as a victim. Her husband is Jason who is a Greek from Greece and so she moves to live with him in Greece. Medea loves her husband and is ready to do to protect the love hence she sacrifices so much just to make him love her. In the play we see her doing things she did not like to keep Jason by her side. Such things include bearing his children despite the fact she very much hated the idea of having her own children. She gets to a point where she says that she would prefer to be involved in three fights but not have even one child. She decides to follow Jason to his homeland Greece where she remains a stranger all through her living there (Mack 19). Above all she even commits criminal acts like when she killed her own brother which is the highest form of betrayal to her family to have a man who failed to appreciate her (Mack 24). Despite all that, Jason falls in love with another woman and decided to leave Medea to marry Creon’s daughter.
Medea felt Jason had betrayed her love for him and due to her desperate situation she was depressed and her normal thinking was affected that she started thinking of how she would revenge the man who would never appreciate her love for him. The love turned to hatred and yet again, she is involved in murder cases thinking it would help her bleeding heart. She schemed and killed the woman Jason was supposed to marry by using a poisonous dress, after that she then kills her own children as they were fathered by Jason. She wanted Jason to be fatherless and killed his bride to close all chances of his ever being happy for she knew that the children and the bride were the greatest valuables for Jason. It is one of the greatest animosities a human being can ever do.
Although we can condemn her for her actions, on the other hand we sympathize with her situations and to extent justify her actions. We see her claiming some form of restoration of virginity after she killed her first born meaning she regretted ever meeting her husband and anything to do with him, she want total freedom from anything that would be a constant reminder of the love she had for him. He had caused her pain and suffering and made her the animal she was. From all we know, she had been sympathizing with those in afflictions and was godly despite her having sorcery powers, she does not misuse not until she was pushed to the edge by the husband. She remembered all she had ever sacrificed to make Jason happy yet he could not sacrifice for her and felt like it was total betrayal and selfishness on his part hence decided to deny him the happiness too (Mack 54).
She was courageous and did what very few people would do in their lives. She feels that Jason had taken advantage of her love for him and decides that she would not let him walk out of it freely while she suffered alone. She does not allow men to intimidate her which is also depicted when she revenges using the magic powers she posses when Pelias refuses to obey their agreement of giving up the throne for Jason. After her criminal acts, she runs back to Athens maybe to reorganize her life. She does not allow Jason to take charge over her by enjoyed happiness while she suffered defeat and betrayal. We can attribute her actions to anger which was instilled by her husband and look at her as a victim. It can be looked at to be psychiatritic case. She could have chosen to kill her children as she knew her fate was doomed and could no longer entrust Jason to anything she valued.
Works Cited
Mack, Maynard. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. 5th ed. Yale: Norton, W. W. & CompanyInc, 1987. Print.
Turnaround: How America’s Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic (1998) is a book that was written by William Bratton and co-authored by Peter Knobler. The book details the police strategies that made the New York City police, led by Bratton, to win the war against crime. It also gives a brief peek into Bratton’s early life, previous policing employments, and an assessment of Modern American policing.
Bratton had been appointed police commissioner of the New York City police in 1994 and twenty seven months later, he had reduced crime levels by amazing margins: violent crime fell by 33 percent while murder rates reduced by half. This achievement earned Bratton the title of the “Most Charismatic and Respected Law Enforcement Official in America”.
A Summary
William Bratton grew up in Boston and had always aspired to be a cop. He began his policing career in Boston Police Department, where he initiated community policing and made the city’s subway system free of crime (Bratton, 1998). When Bratton moved to the New York City Police Department (NYPD), he began by stamping out lesser offenses using the theory that individuals who commit crimes that are more serious secretly also commit lesser ones (Broken Windows Theory). The results of his initiatives were quite evident as crime levels fell by 10 percent annually during his short tenure at the helm of NYPD.
Bratton and his fellows at the NYPD employed computer mapping to identify areas that experienced high crime levels, and then made use of all resources available in the police to fight these crimes.
One of the strategies used was “quality of life enforcement”, a strategy that entailed fighting lesser offences such as panhandling and prostitution to make the streets seem uninviting to serious criminals. Bratton demanded accountability from police commanders in all regions within his jurisdiction and made it mandatory for the commanders to report on the development and challenges in their districts. (Bratton, 1998).
Critical Analysis
Turnaround gives a detailed description of the Bratton’s leadership and management acts that made drastic reductions in crime rates and improved the safety of the subway system and the streets. What strikes most about the book is the author’s separation of the linkage between the economic and social aspects of the society and their association to crime rates.
That is, he fought crime while telling his fellow police officers that crime was caused by “bad guys”, and not just by economic factors, unemployment, and general social conditions (Bratton, 1998). Once he separated those aspects, he was able to use organizational and human performance theories, together with strong financial support, to fight crimes, both serious and minor. He used technological tools in obtaining information, besides, he lobbied for more resources, gave incentives to his juniors and civilians, and selected and trained policemen on proactive methods of combating crime.
Many people will attribute Bratton’s achievements to other factors such as a national reduction in crime levels, however, it must be mentioned that prior to his arrival in NYPD, crime levels in New York City exceeded the national mean (Kelling & Bratton, 1998). Besides, New York City has such a large population that it contributes considerably to the national crime average, therefore, a reduction in crime levels in NYC is reflected in the nation’s mean.
A survey of cities such as Washington DC and South Carolina will prove that not all cities recorded a reduction in crime when Bratton was commissioner at NYPD. Hence, Bratton’s strategies must have played a considerable part in crime reduction (Kelling & Bratton, 1998).
Bratton outlines some fundamental ideas that can be used in criminology and leadership. To begin with, large organizations- government agencies, army, and police- are likely to become monumental and exclusive, i.e. persons belonging to these institutions must continually examine the external world to take up the best ideas and practices available in order to prevent a decline and collapse as society transforms around them. Secondly, modern American society can be intrigued and coerced by change and innovation.
To have one’s ideas accepted and make the people doing the work give their full participation, one can sell the proposals packaged as fresh ideas even if they are more evolutionary than innovatory. Finally, Bratton did quite a bit of damage to NYC and NYPD as a result of his ego, partly because the book was designed to help him public speaking and consulting firm he had established soon after leaving NYPD.
Conclusion
The language used in this book is stern and informal as expected of a law enforcement officer turned author, however, it is written with adequate balance and can be easily used as a reference book in criminology classes. Having read other criminal justice books such as Terrorism and Homeland Security (2005) and Introduction to Policing (2009), Turnaround gives a succinct explanation of policing strategies that can be used by police forces around the world, unlike other books that were limited to specific countries.
Persons interested in criminology, leadership, or the history of contemporary NYC will find Bratton’s Turnaround useful, and it exceeds other criminology books in applicability of ideas and originality.
References
Bratton, W. J. (1998). Turnaround: How America’s Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic. NY: Random House.
Kelling, G. L. and Bratton, W. J. (1998). Declining Crime Rates: Insider’s Views of the New York City Story. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 88, No. 4. 1217-1232.
War is an ugly word. It is not only that being at war means murdering people. The state of war also means being forced to hate someone that one barely knows. Therefore, the phenomenon of war is based on a lack of understanding. Which is even worse, it blocks people from being rational. War causes pain and suffering, making one go against one’s nature by killing the enemy.
The Bosnian War is no exception. The war occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995 (Hansen 11). Although the subject matter grew into a military conflict, the main issue was religious instead of a political one (Ching 7). Particularly, the confrontation between Muslim Bosnians, Orthodox Serbs, and Catholic Croats (Vullamy 13).The war-affected every citizen directly. The infamous Siege of Sarajevo along with the Srebrenica massacre can be considered the most tragic point of the conflict development.
The event itself has become a notorious example of awful war crimes. In his short story Zambak/Muslims, a part of Sarajevo Blues, Semezdin Mehmedinovic, a Serbian writer, addresses the problem above. He shows that the nature of a wise guy helped him survive the horrors of war and its outcomes. However, he also makes it clear that he had to turn into a wise man as it ended.
Thesis Statement
Although the war hit the author as something truly horrible, the sensation of freedom and the experience of his unique self can be viewed as strangely positive compared to the following turning the Bosnian Muslims into social outcasts, as the sarcastic remarks in Freedom and especially Zambak/Muslims by Mehmedinovic show.
The Language of Freedom: Sem’s Concept of Self
Freedom points out that the author addresses the complex issue of the Bosnian war wisely developing a philosophy based on peace. Therefore, the transformation is clear. Sem makes a wise commentary on the overall nature of war: “War is a mythological time” (Mehmedinovic 86). However, at the current stage of his development, Sem cannot avoid being sarcastic. Indeed, the statement mentioned above can be interpreted in numerous ways.
Placed in the context that the author sets, it may indicate that Sem considers the events above from a sarcastic perspective. Indeed, the author might mean that the mythological elements of war emerge as a result of retelling the story and covering the truth. There is no secret that whitewashing is a part and parcel of policies in a range of states. The process of covering the ugly truth and replacing it with acceptable lies can be viewed as creating specific war mythology. Therefore, the remark made by Sem can be interpreted as bitter and sarcastic.
Similarly, Sem considers his childhood experience from a rather ironic point of view. Looking back at his childhood, he mentions his misconception of war: “In my search for moral consolation, as infantile as I knew I was, I thought up the following distinction: to be in Sarajevo means being in the world of truth” (Mehmedinovic 86). The memories of his innocent childhood could be considered an attempt at creating a melancholic nostalgic moment. However, the exaggeration made by the author and the contrast between the current philosophy and the childlike one makes the irony quite clear.
Also, Sem’s attempts at being a wise guy are evident in the metaphors and the parallels that he makes. For instance, bringing up the concept of childhood, he mentions the black-and-white moral dimension that a child lives in: A child says: it’s cold as heaven, probably since he’s heard people say it’s hot as hell so many times” (Mehmedinovic 86). However, the exaggeration that he makes creates the impression of being ironic and, therefore, a wise guy.
Zambak/Muslims: Wise Guys and Wise Men
The post-war era has left a mark on Sem as he tends to be a wise guy rather than a wise man. Although the previous philosophy still shines through, it is not as evident.
At this point, being a wise guy helps Sem survive. Also, it helps him adapt to the new environment. It would be wrong to state that Sem avoids being a wise man at this point in his life. On the contrary, the specified part of his book is filled with the remarks of a wise man. The state that forgetting is an important part of being human. Particularly, he mentions that the horrors of war are “in oblivion” (Mehmedinovic 50). Thus, he allows himself to forget the awful years of war and forgive his opponents.
Moreover, Zambak/Muslims include social commentary on the war and its effects. For example, the author mentions the so-called “partisan effect” (Mehmedinovic 50). The elements above help the author develop the attitude of a wise man instead of a wise guy. The change in the author’s philosophy shines through the excerpts mentioned above. The change from a wise guy to a wise man became possible because Sem allowed himself to analyze the war and its events. He learned what motivated the people involved in it. As a result, Sem confronted not only his fears but also the fears of his enemies. The understanding helped Sem forgive the people involved.
Sem also shows his wisdom by assessing the outcomes of the war. He points specifically to the effects that the war has had on children: “Many Muslims in Bosnia gave their children Orthodox names from what could be called a partisan complex” (Mehmedinovic 50). Sem makes it clear that he can sympathize with others.
Also, Sem proves to be a wise man instead of a wise guy as he develops an understanding of his identity. Despite the war and its pressure eh still realizes that he is a Bosnian Muslim. However, the author states that a range of people have lost or may lose theirs as a result of constant pressure: “These poor kids were born into their parents’ unnatural marriage to a state that delicately tried to assimilate them” (Mehmedinovic 50). Therefore, the author wisely views culture clashes as one of the effects of the war.
The author proves himself as a wise man also by mentioning the psychological effects of the war. Moreover, he addresses the effect above on children. Thus, Sem points to the fact that war propaganda has led to stereotyping people. As a result, the very basis of society is changed for worse. The war has affected relationships between people, making them less trusting.
A Gradual Change in Self-Perception
The constant repartition of the concept of wisdom leads the author from being a wise guy to becoming a wise man, and vice versa. Both pieces under analysis have the elements of irony in them. However, the one written later also has a very heavy lean toward a more peaceful and also bitter philosophy. Sem views the events of the war from a slightly different perspective. He is no longer a detached observer. Instead, he assumes the position of someone who has been affected by the war greatly.
Also, the author develops a better understanding of his nature. As explained above, Freedom has a stronger emphasis on faith. Facing the threat of losing his faith and identify, Sem starts appreciating it better. As a result, he experiences a major change.
Nevertheless, the author stops at the point where he can look at the war from the perspective of a wise man. It would be wrong to believe that he refuses to be satirical at all. On the contrary, Sem keeps the acid tone and makes rather sharp remarks. However, as his analysis of the events of war progresses, he applies a more objective approach. Sem develops the philosophy that helps him view the events of the Bosnian War from a different perspective. Particularly, he manages to accept a more objective point of view.
As stressed above, Sem does not change entirely. There are elements of sarcasm and irony in both of the pieces under analysis. The author has kept his ironic nature, as seen in most of his notes. However, Freedom feels more sincere that Zambak/Muslims. The phenomenon mentioned above can be explained by the fact that Sem finally comes at terms with himself.
Conclusion: A Voice in the Wilderness
The two works by Mehmedinovic mentioned above show the gradual transformation from being a wise guy to becoming a wise man. The author does not simply make a blank statement that war is bad. Instead, he shows the social and cultural effects of the conflict. In other words, he makes it clear that the war was driven by social factors and not economic or political ones. Moreover, Mehmedinovic shows that the cultural conflict at its core has not been resolved. Instead, it has been silenced.
The conclusions made by the author look all the more powerful as his tone changes. At first, the author makes his statements in a wise guy manner. He is sarcastic, and his remarks are sharp. The arguments are directed at opponents, and, therefore, it is easy to respond to them. Sem’s arguments are sensible. However, his tone makes it easy to antagonize him. The second excerpt, however, shows a different Sem – a wise man. He analyzes the outcomes of war without a sneer. Instead, he shows compassion and understanding.
Therefore, the two stories show the author’s gradual transformation. Nevertheless, the outcomes can be deemed as strangely liberating. Mehmedinovic’s values have changed drastically. However, he can empathize with his opponent and understand the true meaning of war. The transformation from the wise guy to the wise man, therefore, is evident, and it opens a range of opportunities for future communication and self-development. Therefore, it could be argued that the novels point to the need to seek peaceful agreement. Nevertheless, the pain and the devastation that the war caused show that the search may become a lifelong journey.
Works Cited
Ching, Jacqueline. Genocide and the Bosnian War. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2009. Print.
Hansen, Lene. Security as Practice: Discourse Analysis and the Bosnian War. New York, NY: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Mehmedinovic, Semezdin. Sarajevo Blues. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Publishers, 2001. Print.
Vullamy, Ed. The War is Dead, Long Live the War: Bosnia: the Reckoning. New York, NY: Random House, 2012. Print.