Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Faits Accomplis In The Shadow Of Shifting Power, Joshua Adam Hastey

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The military fait accompli is so understudied a phenomenon in the international relations literature that even its definition is not widely known. A fait accompli is a unilateral revision to the status quo in an ongoing dispute over some distribution of benefits. Though recent work has demonstrated that faits accomplis are relatively common events in international history and current international relations, the subject remains undertheorized and empirically underexplored. This dissertation seeks to open up the conversation about faits accomplis in two complementary ways. First, it advances an original formal model of faits accomplis in the shadow of power shifts, …

The Kosovo Moment: The United States And The Post-Cold War Balkans, Visar Xhambazi

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This study attempts to assess the importance of the humanitarian intervention in Kosovo, the last phase of Yugoslavian agony. It provides a historical background of the region in order to better understand the mosaic of ethnic divisions and hatred as well as the cultural differences and the rise of nationalism through time. Furthermore, it analyzes the events and evaluates the performance of the United States, Europe and intergovernmental organizations in preventing genocide, pushing for regime change and state-building. The last stage considers the United States role in the Balkans and beyond, aiming to provide essential lessons and recommendations on future …

Ritualized Rhetoric And Historical Memory In German Foreign And Security Policy, Sara A. Hoff

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Recent changes in German foreign policy behavior have led to questions about Germany's European vocation. At the center of this inquiry is Germany's struggle to resolve the intersection between historical memory and present day international responsibility, especially in cases involving the use of force. This dissertation examines how and when historical memory has influenced, shaped, and informed contemporary German foreign and security policy and rhetoric by examining cases within two policy areas: out of area operations and nuclear nonproliferation. Focusing on the case of Libya, this dissertation also considers the cases of Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Nuclear nonproliferation, a global …

Grand Strategy Analysis: A Proto-Theoretical Approach, Patrick Magee

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

International relations scholarship begins and ends with assumptions—about human nature; about human interaction; about starting points, relative information, and outcomes. Such assumptions are necessary to further the intellectual coherence and development of scholarly work. However, they restrict the applicability of scholarly research to those situations that parallel the work's underlying assumptions.

This work argues the body of international relations scholarship as a whole would benefit from the development of a pre-theory state, absent any assumptions about international relations, from which observers can identify those works of scholarship that are most effective in explaining perceptive states and the strategic decisions taken …

Increasing International Military Interdependence: Defense Cooperation In The New World Order, Sheila Callaham-Gay

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines whether military interdependence among states is increasing or decreasing. Although it is impossible to predict the future, it can be deduced that military interaction is increasing as a result of current world events and stated Presidential policy objectives. In order for interdependency to reach fruition governments must create policy which allows mutual goals to be realized. If military-to-military programs contribute to U.S. political objectives then government policy toward military interdependence should allow the U.S. military to act as a catalyst for international cooperation as well as the guardian of U.S. security interests. Whether global peace and security …