Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Power Of Weakness: Coercion In The American Alliance Network In Asia, Noelle Claire Troutman

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

How can a weaker ally, or ‘protégé’ coerce their stronger partner, or ‘patron’ for greater autonomy? My primary argument is that protégés have agency; they can and do coerce their patron. I ask two interrelated questions within this study. First, when can allied preferences diverge? Second, if allied disagreement is likely, how can a protégé coerce their patron for greater autonomy? I argue that protégés with insecure regimes can threaten their own collapse to get their patron to give into their demands. This is a tough lie to get away with; patrons are therefore likely to concede when their protégé …

Brazilian Alliance Perspectives: Towards A Brics Development–Security Alliance?, Zhen 'Arc' Han, Mihaela Papa

Political Science & Global Affairs Faculty Publications

Scholars studying BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have traditionally argued that it is a development-focused partnership and not a military/security-based alliance. Yet BRICS members have been deepening their security integration, and Russia and China have been creating an alliance in the background. Although BRICS middle powers have traditionally demonstrated an aversion towards alliances, Brazil actively deepened security cooperation among BRICS members during its BRICS presidency in 2019. How does Brazil view alliances in contemporary power competition? This study examines Brazil’s perceptions by introducing and analysing a new data set of Brazilian expert discourses on alliances since 1990 …

China’S Policy In Refusing North Korea Nuclear Proliferation, Vera Zerlinda Alamsyah Sulaiman

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

This paper explains the main factors underlying China's policy of refusing North Korea's nuclear proliferation, whereas the two countries have established defense alliance relations since the breakup of the Korean War. Geopolitically, North Korea is a strategic country for China in the East Asian region, and both countries view the presence of the US military in the region as a threat. Subsequently, North Korea began to develop its nuclear capability to challenge the continuous US military presence in South Korea. Although China and North Korea see the US influence as a security threat, China maintains its position of refusing North …

Repairing The U.S.–South Korea Alliance: Thaad As An Appeasement Measure, Jane Lee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

On July 8, 2016, the South Korean government announced its decision to deploy the first stages of the U.S.-operated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) technology in South Korea. Both countries stated that the reason for deployment was to enhance the security of South Korea, the U.S. and their allies in the Asia Pacific region against North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations. However, a closer look at the timing and events surrounding the deployment poses significant questions over the South Korean government’s decision to deploy a highly controversial and expensive U.S.-operated military technology that had little military and strategic benefit …

Nato Enlargement And Us Grand Strategy: A Net Assessment, Rajan Menon, William Ruger

Publications and Research

NATO did not dissolve following the Soviet Union’s collapse and the end of the Cold War. Instead, the alliance expanded, in stages—from 16 members at its Cold War peak to 30 in 2020. While NATO enlargement alone did not cause the deterioration of US–Russian relations, it did contribute significantly to that outcome. Champions of NATO expansion aver that it maintains peace in Europe and promotes democracy in East-Central Europe. They add that Russia has nothing to fear. But Russia’s leaders have always seen NATO expansion differently. The article also examines NATO’s enlargement as it relates to US post-Cold War grand …

Alliance Cohesion: Connecting The Disconnect In Alliance Reliability, Noelle Troutman

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Alliances are important to understanding international peace and conflict, but disagreement exists among scholars regarding alliance reliability with findings of allies fulfilling alliance obligations 25-75% of the time (Sabrosky, 1980; Leeds, et al., 2000; Berkemeier and Fuhrmann, 2018). What mechanism ultimately lies at the center of this puzzle? I argue that alliance cohesion, specifically differences in cohesion relating to internal dynamics of alliance structure and power distribution, lie at the center of this empirical disconnect. I define alliance cohesion as the ability of allies to agree on security preferences and appropriate methods to meet these ends. In this study I …

Trump’S False ‘Realism’, Muhammad Ali Baig, Syed Sabir Muhammad

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Comment from IBPP Editor: One key challenge implicit in this article compromises interactions among formal political science definitions of realism and psychological constructions of realism, materialism, objectivism/subjectivism, empiricism, and idealism.

Authors' Abstract: Foreign policy pivoted upon realist principles has have remained a vital instrument to pursue, achieve, secure and sustain the policy objectives of a state. America being the liberal hegemonic state maintained ‘liberal hegemony’ since the end of the Second World War. Realists intended to adopt a realist foreign policy; however, ideologies like ‘American Exceptionalism’ dominated over the former. President Donald Trump opted for protectionism with the objective of …

The Misunderstood Alliance: Defining The American And Pakistani Relationship, Zachary Joseph Shapiro

Joseph I Shapiro MD

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Shield Or Glue? Key Policy Issues Constraining Or Enhancing Multinational Collective Ballistic Missile Defense, Marxen Kyriss

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation explores a series of eleven political factors nations would have to consider should they contemplate joining a military coalition or alliance that uses ballistic missile defense (BMD); which of these factors incentivize or dissuade states from joining this coalition, and whether they vary from region to region, or state to state. It uses a two-stage case-study-based qualitative research design, in which the first theory generation phase was comprised of 21 experimentation events over a ten-year period with BMD policy experts from 24 nations led by the United States Strategic Command known as NIMBLE TITAN. The results of these …

Theory, Data, And Deterrence: A Response To Kenwick, Vasquez, And Powers, Brett Ashley Leeds, Jesse C. Johnson

Political Science Faculty Publications

Kenwick, Vasquez, and Powers question whether empirical evidence supports the claim that defense pacts deter conflict as our prior research has concluded. We review the theoretical argument for why defense pacts should deter conflict and consider the challenges inherent in evaluating deterrence using observational data. We then consider whether the research design choices of Kenwick et al. improve upon our research design. We demonstrate that claims that defense pacts deter conflict are robust to many of these changes in research design, and we argue that the consequential difference, while perhaps appropriate for testing the Steps-to-War argument, is not appropriate for …

I.A.Karimov And V.V.Putin: The Role Of Interpersonal Factor In The Establishment And Development Of The Strategic Partnership And Allied Relationship Between Uzbekistan And Russia., B. Islamov

International Relations: Politics, Economics, Law

The artcile describes the relationship betwenn Russia and Uzbekistan, the influence of interpersonal factors on the development of the relationship, мIt underlined the very strength base for further cooperation of Russia and Uzbekistan, especially in the service. Personal positive attitude to I.Karimov and Sh.MIrziyoyev iand their relationship with V.Putin has been thoroughly studied.

Some Remarks On Self-Defense And Intervention: A Reaction To Reading Law And Civil War In The Modern World, Josef Rohlik

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Asian Anxieties And Alliances: Balancing The Rise Of China, Adam David Crank

Theses and Dissertations

China’s rise has been met with both hope and apprehension. However, with its recent actions in the South and East China Seas, surrounding nations are becoming increasingly concerned that China may have expansionist or even hegemonic ambitions. China has taken what many of these countries consider to be aggressive actions in the past several years and months. One of the main questions now is how the surrounding nations, as well as the United States, will react to China’s actions. As of now diplomatic means of failed to resolve the crisis in the South and East China Seas.

This thesis will …

The Role Of Iran Policy The Saudi-American Rift, Christopher Parmly

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores what effect Saudi and American policy differences towards Iran have had on their bilateral relations. It is based on the recent thaw in Iran-U.S. relations, and the critical reaction of the Saudi government towards this policy. The question has two components – first, how severe the current Saudi-American rift is, and second, to what extent it can be traced to their differences over Iran. The topic will be addressed through process-tracing methods.

The thesis concludes that there is indeed a rift in Saudi-U.S. relations marked by an increasingly assertive and independent Saudi foreign policy, though its alliance …

Careful Commitments: Democratic States And Alliance Design, Daina Chiba, Jesse C. Johnson, Brett Ashley Leeds

Political Science Faculty Publications

Evidence suggests that leaders of democratic states experience high costs from violating past commitments. We argue that because democratic leaders foresee the costs of violation, they are careful to design agreements they expect to have a high probability of fulfilling. This may cause democratic leaders to prefer flexible or limited commitments. We evaluate our argument by analyzing the design of alliance treaties signed by countries of the world between 1815 and 2003. We find that alliances formed among democratic states are more likely to include obligations for future consultation rather than precommitting leaders to active conflict, and defense pacts formed …

Deterring Nuclear Attacks On Japan: An Examination Of The U.S.-Japan Relationship And Nuclear Modernization, Alyssa M. Minamide

CMC Senior Theses

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal in covering security commitments with its foreign allies, particularly Japan. The U.S. has promised to defend allies all over the world with nuclear forces, and consequently has been forced into a delicate and precarious position. President Barack Obama wants to reach nuclear zero, which would make the world safe from nuclear destruction in the future; yet he also wants to provide security for allied nations in the present, using the
very weapons he has marked for destruction. And he is facing an aging Cold War-era nuclear arsenal that needs …

(Not So) Special Relationships: Explaining Alliance Behaviour In The English Speaking World [Relaţii (Nu Atât De) Speciale. Explicarea Comportamentului De Alianţă În Lumea Vorbitorilor De Limbă Engleză], Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

ENGLISH: Throughout the 20th century the major powers in the global Anglosphere often found themselves allies in armed conflict. These war-time alliances – sometimes temporary, more often part of a longer term cooperation – are sometimes held to arise because of common histories, common values, similar national ideologies and similar notions of international right and wrong. Indeed, the political rhetoric surrounding declarations of war has often cited such factors as colonial history, international friendship and “special relationships” as motivators for joining armed coalitions against third party states. Yet while there stand stark examples of these major English speaking powers acting …

(Not So) Special Relationships, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

CEFAM Cutting Edge #1 (18 November 2010 / B-316 / 15h)

Do the English speaking countries have a special relationship? If one English speaking country becomes involved in a war do others rush to assist them? What explains why English speaking countries sometimes stand as one but other times stand alone? This presentation takes the 20th century as a case study of Anglophone (non)cooperation and explains why national interests will always override international friendship.

Anglosphere United? Examining And Explaining 20th Century Wartime Alliances In The English Speaking World, Dylan Kissane

Dylan Kissane

Throughout the 20th century the major powers in the global Anglosphere often found themselves allies in armed conflict. These war-time alliances – sometimes temporary, more often part of a longer term cooperation – are sometimes held to arise because of common histories, common values, similar national ideologies and similar notions of international right and wrong. Indeed, the political rhetoric surrounding declarations of war has often cited such factors as colonial history, international friendship and “special relationships” as motivators for joining armed coalitions against third party states. Yet while there stand stark examples of these major English speaking powers acting entirely …