‘Unleash the hounds!’: NAFO’s memetic war narrative on the Russo-Ukrainian conflict

Since the Web 2.0 revolution, war and war communication are no longer under the control of states. Rather, the new media ecology entails the possibility that internet users get involved in the info politics of any armed conflict around the world. This article explores the North Atlantic Fella Organization (NAFO) as an expression of this emerging mode of participatory warfare that traverses the virtual battlefield of information warfare and the real-life battlefield of military warfare. It argues that NAFO acts as a cross-border war actor that exerts hypermemetic agency through strategic storytelling. To this end, it adapts the strategic narrative approach to the relational agency of hypermemetics. The example of NAFO shows how joint hypermemetic practice can have strategic effects in winning the information war against Russia for Ukraine.

Nation of heroes: state stigmatisation of Ukrainian men who flee the war

This article examines the stigmatisation of military-aged Ukrainian men who flee the war following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Despite the travel ban for men aged 18–60, tens of thousands have fled, thereby avoiding potential mobilisation. While debates have largely focused on heroism and unity, men who flee, or attempt to do so, have garnered limited attention. Consequently, little is known about how these men are treated and portrayed, particularly by the Ukrainian state. This study investigates how a combination of direct and indirect methods of stigma is employed by state actors, simultaneously promoting a gendered duty for civilian men to enlist, while framing men who flee as unpatriotic, criminals and social deviants. As such, the article unravels a subtle, yet pervasive stigmatising discourse that sustains narrow masculine war roles and contradicts Ukraine’s move towards a more liberal gender order. By critically examining the complex interaction between norms of masculinity and the stigmatisation of conscription-aged men who choose not to fight, this article contributes to a neglected debate on men’s human rights in the war in Ukraine, problematising how current martial law policies reinforce gendered hierarchies and challenge the protection of civilian men.

Collapse awareness in the face of climate breakdown and urbicide

‘Collapse awareness’ is a complex attunement to a radically insecure present and future that reaches beyond known logics of security such as prevention, resilience, or preparedness. Bringing together two very different empirical fields – planetary ecological destruction and the urbicide taking place in the war in Ukraine – the article introduces collapse awareness as a particular form of situational awareness that is concerned with the existential loss of living environments in the Anthropocene. We analyse intellectual and activist interventions in the face of the ecological crisis, on the one hand, and the everyday and aesthetic forms of dealing with the ongoing shelling of urban architecture and infrastructure, on the other. Working through these two fields of attention we propose five overarching temporal and affective features of collapse awareness in the face of existential destruction: how it moves beyond known security rationales in its grappling with radical insecurity; how it attaches itself to ‘truth’ in particular ways; how it responds to the violence of the Anthropocene; how it evokes a ‘we’ that has yet to be formed; and how it negotiates despair and hope in the face of catastrophic ruin.

Uneven regional development in a contentious world of changing global production networks: ‘chips war’ and the geopolitics of semiconductor production in the United States and Southeast Asia

Since the late 2010s, the global economy has been confronted with immense challenges – from geopolitical tensions and climate change to the COVID-19 pandemic, territorial wars, trade conflicts and so on. While the unfettered economic globalisation of the 1990s and the 2000s might be over, a renewed interest in the global shift of industrial production (back to developed countries and their allies) has now preoccupied the policy priorities of many state authorities and regional institutions. In this context of a contentious world of production, the changing industrial organisation of economies activities has become one of the most disruptive forces shaping regional development. This paper first explores conceptually this recent change in relation to three important extra-regional processes that might shape the diverse trajectories of regional evolution and development beyond the mid-2020s: (1) policy regimes ‘elsewhere’; (2) the changing dynamics of strategic coupling; and (3) demand-led market shifts. It then offers some empirical illustrations through examining the so-called ‘chips war’ via state-led industrial policy and the reshoring of semiconductor production from Northeast Asia to the United States and Western Europe and new sites in Southeast Asia and their implications for respective host regions at the sub-national scale. My overall contention is that such a reactive political response to economic (over)globalisation is not necessarily a positive solution to addressing uneven regional development. There are likely unintended consequences of industrial policy that might exacerbate, rather than mitigate, uneven regional development.

A change of paradigm? How the Russian invasion of Ukraine influenced Italian memory laws

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has profoundly reshaped the global socio-political landscape. Since its onset in 2022, democracies worldwide have responded decisively by imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russia, severing diplomatic ties, and supporting Ukraine’s self-defence efforts. This article examines the symbolic impact of this violent event on Italy’s contemporary mnemonic framework. Specifically, we explore how Italy’s memory landscape – shaped by its reckoning with fascism and communism after World War II – has been influenced by the invasion. Using qualitative and quantitative narrative analysis, we analyse the mnemonic narratives embedded in Italian memory laws enacted or amended in response to the invasion. Our findings reveal that the Russian invasion has disrupted these narratives, producing notable discrepancies. While some memory laws depict Russia’s aggression as a threat to the post-war international order, others portray Western sanctions against Russia as detrimental to European coexistence, criticizing political leaders for undermining peace and exacerbating tensions.

Elastic Empire: Refashioning War Through Aid in Palestine Lisa Bhungalia. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2024. 288 pp., maps, photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $110.00 cloth (ISBN 9781503634527); $28.00 paper (ISBN 9781503637511); $28.00 electronic (ISBN 9781503637528)

Enhancing reflective thinking through active learning: a study on eighth-level undergraduate students in the history program

Reflective thinking skills are critical for students’ academic and professional development, enabling them to analyze information, evaluate arguments, and propose meaningful solutions. Recent studies have noted ongoing challenges in fostering reflective thinking in higher education, particularly in humanities disciplines. To address these concerns, the present study examined the effectiveness of active learning strategies in enhancing reflective thinking skills among undergraduate history students. Specifically, it investigated the integration of strategies such as brainstorming, problem-solving, storytelling, role-playing, and think-pair-share into the teaching of the unit ‘The Far East after World War II’. A quasi-experimental one-group design with pre- and post-tests was employed, involving a purposive sample of 29 eighth-level students enrolled in the History Program at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University. The reflective thinking test measured five dimensions: visual vision, detecting fallacies, drawing conclusions, providing convincing explanations, and suggesting solutions. Results showed statistically significant improvements across all dimensions, with large effect sizes. These findings suggest that active learning fosters higher-order thinking and critical engagement in history education. The study recommends embedding active learning strategies into history curricula, training faculty, and developing evidence-based teaching resources. Future research should examine the long-term impacts of these strategies and their adaptability across disciplines and learning contexts.

The challenges facing higher education in Puntland in research and academic publishing: suggestions for their improvement

Academic research is a core component of the role of higher education institutions (HEIs) in generating knowledge, contributing to national development, and enhancing institutional prestige. Though higher education in Puntland is relatively young, as it appeared after the civil war and collapse of the Somali Central Government, the research output of Puntland HEIs is considerably low. The present study aims to identify the challenges that hinder research and academic publishing in Puntland HEIs. Using a questionnaire, data were collected from 90 academic staff of Puntland HEIs in the period of 11–24 November 2024, utilizing a convenience sampling method. . The study found that barriers to research and academic publishing in Puntland HEIs included a lack of funding, absence of promotion linked to publications and incentives, inadequate research infrastructures, insufficient time, knowledge, and skills, limited experience in publication procedures, a poor research-oriented culture, and restricted access to literature. The author recommends enhancing academic staff capabilities by offering scholarships, training, and mentorship, reforming institutional policies, implementing reward and promotion schemes, engaging the Puntland Diaspora, collaborating with international researchers to access scientific databases and providing governmental funding to HEIs to improve the research output in Puntland HEIs.

Mobilized academia: faculty research activities during wartime

This study aims to explore the research engagement and perceived performance of faculty members in Israel during wartime, a context that involves heightened personal and societal stress. By examining the interplay between personal challenges, professional demands, and research productivity, the study sheds light on the resilience and coping mechanisms employed by academics facing adversity, and the effect on quality of life within the unique academic environment. The research participants comprised 140 faculty members from institutions in Israel. We utilized a mixed methods approach that combined qualitative categorization and developing a quantitative model. Findings indicate that the period of war, a time of personal, social, and national crisis, indeed hampered and slowed research activity, but when the deceleration stemmed from professional difficulties, faculty members and faculty members paradoxically engaged in more research. The research findings show that academic pressure and commitment significantly affect faculty members, with their dedication to research overcoming personal difficulties. This is crucial during potential declines in research output, such as in crises, as government funding for academic institutions is based on published research. This study enhances our understanding of the interplay between job-related stress, personal challenges, and professional productivity in academia.

Monitoring and analysis of existing post-tensioned bridge using FBG sensors

Administrators today face the challenge of assessing existing prestressed bridges. In Europe, many of these structures were designed and constructed in the post-war era. Unfortunately, early prestressed bridges are often associated with conceptual errors, such as inadequate protection of the prestressing steel. As a result, it is essential to verify the structural response while considering all factors that may negatively impact the residual prestressing value. This paper presents a case study involving a static load test monitored by modern fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. The analysis focused on a three-span, double-cell box girder, post-tensioned bridge built in 1966. A diagnostic survey and static load test were conducted during rehabilitation after several prestressing wires were damaged. The primary goal was to study the structure’s behaviour under static load from 30-ton heavy vehicles. In this context, in-situ measurements were used to simulate the heavy pavement mechanisms associated with construction activities. The observed responses included deflections, strains, and temperature. The test results showed good agreement with the numerical analysis, indicating a linear response of the structure, with no additional wire breakage observed. Notably, thermal loads had a greater impact than static loads during the test. Long-term monitoring revealed that strain variations throughout the day fluctuated by approximately ±20–25 με, while the external load induced a maximum strain of 12 με. In conclusion, it was recommended to allow the bridge to operate under real-time monitoring, enabling the mechanisms to function effectively.