ALTERNATIVES OF BOKO HARAM TO THE CONTEMPORARY MODERN NIGERIAN STATE

This article examines Boko Haram’s alternatives to the contemporary secular Nigerian state of Westphalian style. This article is focused on analysing the relationship between Boko Haram and the secular state that they reject. The reality of what Boko Haram in Nigeria has managed to create, rather than a caliphate, corresponds to a terrorist semi-state (TSS). Therefore, the article also performs an analysis of Boko Haram from the perspective of the TSS concept.

(NOT)UTILIZING THE CIVILIAN EXPERTISE OF INDIVIDUAL RESERVIST IN CZECH ARMY ACTIVE RESERVE FORCES

Text sums up outcomes of researcher focused on utilizing civilian expertise during their service in Czech Army Active Reserve Forces. The main outcome is that Czech Army is not aware of individual civilian expertise of its reservist and except small group of highly specialized units the armed forces are not even interested in this matter.

KURDISH FEMALE FIGHTERS IN SYRIA DURING AND AFTER THE FIGHT AGAINST ISIS

Kurdish female fighters in Syria did not receive attention until after the Battle of Koban. This study analyzes activities during and after the struggle against ISIS, focusing on the ideological motivators that influenced their involvement in the armed insurgent movement. Through a discursive analysis of non-traditional, local sources, it concludes that the specificity of the ideological transformation of the movement, where women's emancipation came to the center of the local discourse, persisted even after the primary goal of the resistance has changed.

CHRISTIAN ARMED GROUPS

The text will focus on several Middle East conflict areas where Christian activities and violence have been present in the modern history of the region. In the light of Phil Wil-liams’s violent non-state actor (VNSA) typology, it will explain the concept of Middle East-ern Christian violence – from the aggressive-dominant violence seeking to maintain polit-ical status quo, through nationalist-liberation movements, to purely defensive violence.

SOCIOTECHNICAL TRANSITIONS IN DEVELOPING WORLD

This paper tries to provide a socio-technical interpretation of Iran’s defence industry transition over the past few decades. Focusing on anti-tank industries, we will elaborate on the threefold periods of transition in Iran’s defence industry to a multi-level system by means of Bourdieu’s triple levels of inquiry. The results indicate that the balance and coordination between the technical capital and the symbolic capital of engineers is the most important factor in the defence industry.

TAKING A SNAPSHOT: Discovering Escalation Prone Countries Through Structural Conditions and QCA

This paper introduces a method of conflict escalation prediction based on long-term structural conditions, drawn from open sources, and QCA (Qualitative Comparative analysis). The combination of the two components offers a model of prediction, which is comparable to other more sophisticated and resourced systems. Moreover, it offers a more sensitive estimation of an escalation.