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Why do similarly sized peacekeeping missions vary in their effectiveness to protect civilians in conflicts? We argue that peace operations with a large share of troops from countries with high-quality militaries are better able to deter violence from state and non-state actors and create buffer zones within conflict areas, can better reach remote locations, and have superior capabilities – including diplomatic pressure by troop contributing countries – to monitor the implementation of peace agreements. These operational advantages enable them to better protect civilians. Combining data from military expenditures of troop contributing countries together with monthly data on the composition of peace operations, we create a proxy indicator for the average troop quality of UN PKOs. Statistical evidence from an extended sample of conflicts in Africa and Asia between 1991 and 2010 supports our argument.

Displacement caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has subjected millions of Ukrainians to forced displacement, migration, exposing them not only to direct war-related trauma but also to substantial post-displacement stress. Refugees face disrupted employment, residential instability, and ongoing uncertainty in host countries. While prevalence of stress-related disorders is well established, less is known about how war-related stress and life satisfaction evolve over time in this population. A longitudinal cohort study was conducted among Ukrainian refugees in Germany. The analytic sample comprised 164 participants who completed at least two of five survey waves over a six-month period (September 2022-March 2023). Post-traumatic stress symptoms were assessed with the at each wave and validated against the at baseline and follow-up. Life satisfaction was assessed with the . Distinct adjustment patterns were identified through group-based multi-trajectory modelling. Descriptive statistics, group comparisons, and linear mixed-effects modelling were additionally used to contextualize data. Multi-trajectory analysis yielded four main groups: persistently high stress with poor satisfaction with life; broadly diverse, but stable profiles; stress reduction without parallel gains in life satisfaction; and combined stress reduction with later improvements in life satisfaction. More favourable courses were associated with younger age, higher education, urban residence, and prior public-sector employment. Across the full sample, post-traumatic stress symptoms declined sharply over time, with the proportion meeting the cutoff for probable PTSD decreasing, whereas mean life satisfaction remained low and showed no systematic change. Adjustment following war-related displacement is highly heterogeneous. Although acute symptoms of traumatic stress tended to subside, life satisfaction showed little recovery, underscoring a divergence between symptom relief and overall well-being. Patterns of adaptation were shaped not only by individual resources but also by structural constraints such as job loss and residential downgrading. Interventions for displaced populations should therefore address both clinical needs and socioeconomic integration to enable sustainable recovery of refugees.

The third edition of the United States (US) Department of Defense Law of War Manual , updated in December 2016 (2015 DoD Manual) states that “[u]nder customary international law, no legal presumption of civilian status exists for persons or objects”. The 2015 Manual received general support from military circles, but some experts believed that rejecting the customary international law (CIL) status of the presumption of civilian status in instances of doubt was an apparent mistake or important error. The 2023 US DoD Law of War Manual (2023 Manual) has now been promulgated with a revision to the doubt rule. Doubt regarding the character of persons or the nature of dedicated civilian objects results in a “presumption” of civilian status “unless the information available indicates that the persons or objects are military objectives”. The 2023 Manual attracted criticism, with some experts, especially those with military experience, arguing that it is counterproductive to incorporate exponentially legalistic or complex, nuanced judgements about status determinations, presumptions and the sufficiency of rebuttal evidence in practical matters such as targeting decisions. The article evaluates the substance and implications of the revision to the doubt rule in the 2023 Manual. The article further considers whether the doubt rule regarding the civilian character of persons and the nature of certain objects has acquired customary international humanitarian law status. Ultimately, the article concludes that is not realistic to include a presumption for application in targeting decisions due to the complexities of applying legalistic concepts during armed conflict.

Climate change and the coupled loss of ecosystem services pose major collective action problems in that all individuals would benefit from better cooperation to address these problems but conflicting interests and/or incomplete knowledge discourage joint action. Adopting an inductive and multi‐layered approach, drawing upon the authors’ previous research on urban commons, we here summarize key insights on environmentally oriented urban commons and elaborate on what role they have in instigating climate‐proofing activities in urban areas. We deal with three types of urban commons, i.e., “urban green commons,” “coworking spaces,” and “community climate commons.” We describe how allotment gardens, community gardens, and other types of urban green commons contribute to environmental learning that may boost understanding of environmental issues and which constitute important learning arenas for climate‐change mitigation and adaptation. We also deal with the newly emerging phenomenon of coworking spaces that share many essential institutional attributes of urban commons and which can work for climate‐change mitigation through the benefits provided by a sharing economy and through reduction of domestic transportation and commuting distance. Community climate commons represent commons where local communities can mobilize together to create shared low‐carbon assets and which hold the potential to empower certain segments and civil society groups so that they can have greater influence and ownership of the transformation of reaching net‐zero carbon goals. We conclude this article by identifying some critical determinants for the up‐scaling of environmentally oriented urban commons.

The female-male ratio in the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is approximately 2:1. Gender differences in experienced trauma types, PTSD symptom clusters, and PTSD risk factors are unclear. We aimed to address this gap using a cross-sectional design. A sample of 991 civilians (522 women, 469 men) from South Lebanon was randomly selected in 2007, after the 2006 war. Trauma types were grouped into disaster and accident, loss, chronic disease, non-malignant disease, and violence. PTSD symptom clusters involved re-experiencing, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal. These were assessed using parts I and IV of the Arabic version of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). Risk factors were assessed using data from a social support and life events questionnaire in multiple regression models. Females were twice as likely as males to score above PTSD threshold (24.3 vs. 10.4%, p ˂ 0.001). Total scores on all trauma types were similar across genders. Females scored higher on all symptom clusters (p < 0.001). Social support, social life events, witnessed traumas, and domestic violence significantly were associated with PTSD in both genders. Social support, social life events, witnessed traumas and domestic violence were significantly associated with PTSD in both genders. Conversely, gender difference in experienced traumas was not statistically significant. These findings accentuate the need to re-consider the role of gender in the assessment and treatment of PTSD.

The relevance of the topic is due to the increased risk of radiation hazards on the territory of Ukraine caused by the frequent shelling of nuclear power plants in the Zaporizhzhya region. This research work aims to calculate the percentage of the population that is sufficiently aware of the issues in providing medical care for radiation and other injuries. During the scientific research, the authors used alytical, statistical, and diagnostic methods to study information on radiation hazards and define the specifics and consequences of the use of various types of biological weapons. The main results achieved within the framework of this scientific study would be a clear justification and assessment of the radiation hazards for Ukrainians and a determition of the feasibility and indications for the use of certain medicines. The results obtained and the conclusions formulated on their basis are of practical importance for the military, territorial defence fighters, students of medical universities, sanitary workers, police officers, teachers, drivers, and civilians.

Purpose The aim is to analyze the armed conflict persistence in Colombia from 2008 to 2018 based on the financial viability hypothesis (rebellion occurs when war net revenue is nonnegative). Design/methodology/approach The methodology is quantitative. Firstly, a nonparametric Kaplan–Meier functions and survival risk functions are developed as initial approximation. Subsequently, a Probit model with panel data is implemented and the covariates are grouped into three dimensions: opportunity, grievance and institutional-political. Findings The viability hypothesis boosts the continuity of the armed conflict, which is enhanced and perpetuated by the viability and financial incentives from public revenues and natural resources, while the grievance, political fragmentation and institutional dimensions contribute to the opportunity structure in Collier that makes the conflict militarily and economically viable. Research limitations/implications Lack of information for some states in Colombia prevents a much more holistic analysis. Practical implications Postulate what is required by the Colombian State to cut off the sources of financing of armed groups and thus, one of the determinants of the continuity of the conflict. Social implications The political fragmentation contributes to rebellion, and that variables representing the dimensions of grievance and institutional presence contribute to the opportunity structure that makes the conflict in Colombia militarily and economically viable. Originality/value This research proposes as a novelty to incorporate the viability hypothesis with some factors related to the grievance that explain the persistence of the armed conflict as a consequence of decreasing recruitment costs for the insurgent groups, a situation that contributes to the opportunity structure and financial viability of the conflict.

The evolution of ideas about the losses of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War in their demographic and, separately, political dimensions and contexts is analyzed. The emphasis is placed on the structural nature of these assessments and the importance of resisting their instrumentalization by extrascientific interests.

Most cultural and legal codes agree that the intentional killing of civilians, whether in peacetime or war, is prohibited. This is the norm of civilian immunity, widely considered to be a fundamental moral and legal principle. Yet despite this fact, the deliberate killing of large numbers of civilians remains a persistent feature of global political life. What is more, the perpetrators have often avoided criticism and punishment. Examining dozens of episodes of mass killing perpetrated by states since the French Revolution late eighteenth century, this book attempts to explain this paradox. It studies the role that civilian immunity has played in shaping the behaviour of perpetrators and how international society has responded to mass killing. The book argues that although the world has made impressive progress in legislating against the intentional killing of civilians and in constructing institutions to give meaning to that prohibition, the norm's history in practice suggests that the ascendancy of civilian immunity is both more recent and more fragile than might otherwise be thought. In practice, decisions to violate a norm are shaped by factors relating to the norm and the situation at hand, so too is the manner in which international society and individual states respond to norm violations. Responses to norm violations are not simply matters of normative obligation or calculations of self-interest but are instead guided by a combination of these logics as well as perceptions about the situation at hand, existing relations with the actors involved, and power relations between actors holding different accounts of the situation. Thus, whilst civilian immunity has for the time being prevailed over 'anti-civilian ideologies' which seek to justify mass killing, it remains challenged by these ideologies and its implementation shaped by individual circumstances. As a result, whilst it has become much more difficult for states to get away with mass murder, it is still not entirely impossible for them to do so.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain the leading cause of death in both Poland and worldwide. Despite a decline in CVD-related mortality observed in Poland since 1991, national rates still exceed the European Union average. Methods: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and the level of health awareness among Polish Armed Forces personnel, including both soldiers and civilian employees. A total of 308 participants (82.00% soldiers) underwent anthropometric measurements, lipid profile testing, and completed a structured questionnaire. Results: The results indicate a high prevalence of modifiable risk factors, such as overweight (30.30%), low physical activity (21.20%), and tobacco use (21.20%). Additionally, 54.00% of respondents reported experiencing stress, and 17.00% had elevated cholesterol levels. Statistically significant associations were found between selected parameters and gender, age, service corps, and occupational status. Despite a moderate level of knowledge regarding CVD, the majority of participants expressed a willingness to expand their understanding. Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of early prevention and health education on cardiovascular diseases, especially in military environments where stress and lifestyle factors may contribute to increased risk.