Blockchain Papers

Dorothy Gail Rey

This research study investigates the evolution of the Taliban from an insurgent movement into a hybrid insurgent-state actor. Utilizing datasets from terrorism, conflict, and open-source intelligence, the paper analyzes the motivations, organizational structure, financing mechanisms, operational capabilities, targeting patterns, and governance practices of the Taliban. It assesses the group's transition from insurgency to a de facto government following its resurgence in Afghanistan and examines the implications for regional security, international recognition, sanctions compliance, and counterterrorism policy. The findings indicate that the Taliban's unique blend of centralized ideological leadership, decentralized operational execution, economic adaptability, and increasing diplomatic engagement poses a multifaceted challenge for contemporary security analysis and international governance frameworks.

Januarius Asongu

The Ambazonian conflict in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions has unfolded within an era defined by mobile connectivity, social media, and digitally mediated political contention. This article examines the role of mobile technology in shaping the conflict’s trajectory from early mobilization to prolonged armed stalemate. It argues that mobile technology functioned as both an enabling and destabilizing force: facilitating mass mobilization, diaspora coordination, documentation of abuses, and digital finance, while simultaneously accelerating fragmentation, disinformation, cybersecurity exposure, and state surveillance. Drawing on comparative cases including the Arab Spring, ISIS, Ukraine, Ethiopia, and Myanmar, the article situates Ambazonia within broader patterns of digital contention and digital authoritarian response. The analysis further demonstrates how ungoverned digital visibility and decentralized online fundraising undermined strategic coherence and legitimacy. The article concludes that while mobile technology can amplify resistance, it cannot substitute for political legitimacy, institutional coherence, or negotiated settlement. Durable peace requires a transition from networked resistance to normatively grounded frameworks such as the Alliance for Peace and Justice (APJ) Peace Plan.

Serhiі Petrukha, Nina M. Petrukha, Bohdan O. Hudenko

The article provides an interdisciplinary theoretical analysis of the system of financial support for military volunteer formations of territorial communities (MVFTCs) in the context of classical and modern conceptions of financing the security and defense sector. It is noted that in the context of hybrid and asymmetric threats, volunteer structures play an important role in ensuring national resilience, and their financial support is of particular importance from the point of view of public policy, social justice, and public legitimacy. The basic models of security force financing – centralized, decentralized, and mixed – are considered, and the place of MVFTCs within the hybrid defense architecture is determined. The article systematizes the typology of possible models for financing the MVFTCs (State-based, volunteer, private, hybrid, self-financing) and analyzes their advantages and risks. Particular attention is paid to normative and value aspects: legitimacy, fairness, recognition of the subjectivity of volunteers, and the symbolic significance of material support. The interconnection between the internal motivation of participants in formations, social identity, and the influence of external incentives, in particular monetary rewards, is revealed. It is argued that excessive financial incentives without taking moral factors into account can lead to a crowding-out effect on motivation. The thesis is put forward that an effective model for ensuring the functioning of the MVFTCs should combine material, legal, and moral instruments to ensure both the combat readiness of the formations and support from both the State and civil society. The conclusion is made about the need for legislative regulation of the status of the MVFTCs and their integration into the general system of defense financing.

Steffen Eckhard

Focusing on German and EU support with assisting local police reform in the context of international peacebuilding in Afghanistan since 2001, this article scrutinizes whether the two organizations exhibit a strategic fit between their policy mandate and the design of management tasks. Comparison of two vastly different institutions - Germany, a nation state, and the EU, an international organization - sheds analytical light on the way different bodies manage a similar policy problem. By way of empirical research, the paper finds that incremental planning, decentralization and autonomous leadership enhance performance as they enable peacebuilders to respond flexibly to the dynamic challenges they face in the field. This was the case with Germany, however not with the EU. No strategic fit prevailed on evaluation. Strategy review either failed (Germany) or had unintended consequences (EU).

Gulnar Mammadova

The empirical evidence and the academic literature point to the opposed directions on the capability of the territorial arrangements to extenuate conflict in ethnically divided and civil war-worn countries. Little is known about the diverse capacities of the territorial power sharing arrangements in diminishing violence in the post-conflict societies. Therefore, this thesis aims to contribute to the field through studying the conditions under which territorial power sharing arrangements reduce violence in the post-conflict settings. I argue that a resumption of violence is less likely following territorial power sharing arrangements in cases where a relatively high level of economic decentralization is provided for a subnational entity, as it allows the rebel groups to sustain their support base among key constituencies. To test the theoretical argument, a structured, focused comparison of territorial power sharing arrangements in Aceh province of Indonesia and Mindanao province of the Philippines is conducted. The empirical findings give support to the hypothesis in the expected direction. Aceh, where the resumption of violence did not occur, also was enjoying a relatively higher level of economic decentralization. While in ARMM, where the violence resumed after five years following the peace agreement, economic decentralization was relatively low. Nevertheless, the extended analysis reveals additional factors. Transformation of the rebel organization into the political parties and inclusive peace agreements potentially may have impact on the territorial power sharing arrangements’ capability to contain violence in the post conflict environments.

Chris Berg, Sinclair Davidson, Jason Potts

Are there differences between the sale of an unopened Super Mario Bros. computer game and of the digital collage of 5,000 images? Viewed from the perspective of the doctrine of exhaustion, we can easily conclude that the two transfers have significant differences. The auction of the tangible data carrier of the Super Mario’s 1986 edition (for $660,000) 1 fits well into the doctrine. The auction of the NFT (non-fungible token) representing Beeple’s “Everdays: the First 5000 Days” (for an equivalent of an astounding $69.3 million) 2 seems to be hype with a snowball effect rather than a modern encapsulation of digital exhaustion. Some commentators, 3 including the present author in collaboration with Alexandra Giannapoulou, João Pedro Quintais, and Balázs Bodó, 4 have thoroughly introduced the incompatibility of the NFT mania with the existing copyright status quo, and so – in connection with the present book’s topic – the sale of tokenized information, which is capable of representing information related to digital artworks, is practically excluded from the scope of the exhaustion of the right of distribution. At the same time, NFTs de facto offer a “code-based digital ecosystem that has practical consequences for the copyright-relevant fields of creativeness.” 5 The sale and resale of NFTs is possible; an exchange of information and title to “own” and “trade” information related to copyrightable subject matter is technologically guaranteed. In line with that, a quasi-exhaustion regime has also emerged. As such, the NFT mania can practically evidence the need for and modern technology’s capability of offering digital marketplaces for artworks as well.