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Cia And The Cold War Era, Mary E. Byers

Senior Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency and its role in the Cold War. Great detail highlights the timeliness of the CIA’s creation and dynamic role over the years that followed its founding. For half a century, attempts to understand the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dominated the CIA’s agenda. Thus, careful study of this era is important to understanding the progression of intelligence within the United States. The avenue of research for this thesis was a collaboration of published books, online journals, credible websites, and personal interviews. The development of the …

Asia, Faraway Or Next Door?, Samuel Y. Liang

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

On my way from England to AAS 2010, I stopped in New York for two nights and visited the Chinatown in Manhattan. This prosperous area sprawls beyond the boundary shown in the tourist map towards the shoreline of the East River; it also encroaches on neighboring Little Italy, which is increasingly like an island in a sea of Chinese shops and restaurants. The density of the shops and their gaudy commercialism, it seems to me, exceed those in Chinese cities and are quite similar to those in Won Kok, Hong Kong.

In a buffet-style restaurant, I got to know two …

The Final Fight: The 2008 Battle Of Sadr City, Geoffrey Ensby

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

Iraq following the US invasion in March of 2003 was a dangerous place, and one in which the national government struggled to maintain control while unsanctioned and unauthorized strongmen and their militias controlled wide swaths of territory. This analysis will thus look at the 2008 Battle of Sadr City between the militia of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the military forces of Iraq and the US conducting the operation in concert. Utilizing a number of newspaper accounts and editorials, journal articles, recent books, and freelance journalists’ writings, several key aspects will be considered regarding how Iraq was changed for …

Do Drones Have A Silver Lining?, David Akerson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Michael Abramowitz and Lawrence Woocher’s article, “How Genocide Became a National Security Threat,” flags an important milestone in American foreign policy, namely that mass atrocities might now be appropriately viewed as the national security threats that they are. The problem with translating this policy development into action is the next and not insignificant challenge. Aerial drones may be key to overcoming it.

Maturing International Cooperation To Address The Cyberspace Attack Attribution Problem, Jeff J. Mcneil

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

One of the most significant challenges to deterring attacks in cyberspace is the difficulty of identifying and attributing attacks to specific state or non-state actors. The lack of technical detection capability moves the problem into the legal realm; however, the lack of domestic and international cyberspace legislation makes the problem one of international cooperation. Past assessments have led to collective paralysis pending improved technical and legal advancements. This paper demonstrates, however, that any plausible path to meaningful defense in cyberspace must include a significant element of international cooperation and regime formation.

The analytical approach diverges from past utilitarian-based assessments to …

The Illogic Of The Biological Weapons Taboo., Phillip M. Mccauley, Rodger A. Payne

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Annals Of Psychological Warfare: How To Induce Panic, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the phenomenon of panic in a wartime setting because of psychological warfare, as well as in other settings.

Exchanges: Reconciling Confucianism And Socialism?, Daniel A. Bell

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Today China Beat would like to introduce our new “Exchanges” feature, which we hope will become a regular item on the blog. The debate below, between Daniel A. Bell and Michael Walzer, was originally printed in the Winter 2010 issue of Dissent, and is reposted here with permission. We’d like to invite our readers to share their thoughts on this discussion, and will run a response from Daniel Bell in the coming weeks. Please send your comments and questions to thechinabeatgmail.com.

Pakistan’S Nuclear Weapons Program And Implications For Us National Security., Michael Tkacik

Faculty Publications

This article analyzes Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program and the characteristics of the environment in which the program is nested. These characteristics include Pakistan’s history of internal and external instability; nuclear saber rattling during crises; support for Islamic terrorism in order to advance state goals; indigenous production of many elements of its nuclear forces; possession of delivery and command and control systems with destabilizing characteristics; and finally, nuclear doctrine that appears to advocate first use of nuclear weapons. The article argues that the characteristics of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program generate threats to US national security interests. The article examines six interrelated …

Google And China: The Analysis Continues

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Almost three weeks have passed since Google’s January 12 announcement that it would be reconsidering its Chinese operations, and although the company has not yet indicated a final decision about its future in China, the issues raised by this matter have sparked a number of thoughtful analyses. Yesterday, China Beatfeatured a piece by Geremie Barmé on “The Harmonious Evolution of Information in China”; below, some more recent commentaries on the Google and China story that have gotten our attention:

The Moral And Legal Basis For Sanctions, Anthony D'Amato

Faculty Working Papers

In order to analyze the moral and legal basis for sanctions in international relations, we have to begin at a stage where there is no centralized government in place. We first need to get a picture of the range of possible sanctions. Next, we need to see what role sanctions play in the international system. Finally, we turn to the intertwined moral and legal considerations that make well-designed sanctions efficacious in today's world. The fundamental objective of sanctions in interstate relations is to make it expensive for a target state to refrain from doing what the sanctioning state wants it …

Terrorism Conflict: How The United States Responds To Al Qaeda Violence And Expressed Grievances, Richard Craig Rosthauser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes how the United States responds to Al Qaeda's messages and expressions of grievances and how America's responses escalate the conflict between the United States and Al Qaeda.

After its first two attacks against America, Al Qaeda devised a strategy to draw America into a guerrilla war in Afghanistan, stating its intentions in its "Declaration of War" in 1996. Before this declaration, Al Qaeda worked from the shadows and denied reports it was either funding terrorism or participating in terrorism. Bin Laden continued his denials but took responsibility for some terrorist acts in his messages. President Clinton did …

Fostering Global Security: Nonviolent Resistance And Us Foreign Policy, Amentahru Wahlrab

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation comprehensively evaluates, for the first time, nonviolence and its relationship to International Relations (IR) theory and US foreign policy along the categories of principled, strategic, and regulative nonviolence. The current debate within nonviolence studies is between principled and strategic nonviolence as relevant categories for theorizing nonviolent resistance. Principled nonviolence, while retaining the primacy of ethics, is often not practical. Indeed, most nonviolent movements have not been principled, or solely principled. Strategic nonviolence is attractive because it does not require any individual or group to believe in a particular faith or ethical tradition. However, strategic nonviolence is problematic as …

The Principled Case For Employing Private Military And Security Companies In Humanitarian Interventions And Peacekeeping, Deane-Peter Baker, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The possibility of using private military and security companies to bolster the capacity to undertake humanitarian intervention has been increasingly debated. The focus of such discussions has, however, largely been on practical issues and the contingent problems posed by private force. By contrast, this paper considers the principled case for privatising humanitarian intervention. It focuses on two central issues. First, is there a case for preferring these firms to other, state-based agents of humanitarian intervention? In particular, given a state’s duties to their own military personnel, should the use of private military and security contractors be preferred to regular soldiers …

Blood In The Wells: The Troubled Past And Perilous Future Of U.S.-Saudi Relations, Maxwell Czerniawski

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Perhaps no region other than the Near East plays a more important role in the shaping of both the foreign and domestic policies of the United States. The 9/11 terrorist attacks and subsequent deployment of hundreds of thousands of US soldiers to Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the massive budgetary burden placed upon the United States government (and, by extension, its citizens) as a result of the War on Terror, lay heavily upon the consciousness of the media and the concerns of the American people. Much recent focus has also been placed on the impact that the need for …

Arbitrary Arrest And Detention Of Human Rights Defenders In Iran: Subduing The Voices Demanding Rights, Sachchi Karki

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Arbitrary arrest and detention, oftentimes used to curtail the freedom of opinion and expression, as well as the right to association and peaceful assembly, has continued to characterize Iranian regimes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Such arrest and detention of human rights defenders (HRD)–who individually or with others act to protect and promote human rights—has demonstrated the repressive nature of the Iranian regime. Human rights lawyers, civil society representatives, journalists, and women’s rights movements and trade union activists are among the most commonly targeted HRD.

Marten Zwanenburg On Killer Robots: Legality And Ethicality Of Autonomous Weapons. By Armin Krishnan. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009. 240pp., Marten Zwanenburg

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Killer Robots: Legality and Ethicality of Autonomous Weapons. By Armin Krishnan. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009. 240pp.

Beyond The Brink: Somalia’S Health Crisis, Bryson Brown

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Somalia is approaching a daunting anniversary: in 2011, the country will begin its twentieth consecutive year without an effective centralized government. The fall of the Soviet supported Siad Barre government in 1991 created a power vacuum that was filled by warlords, clans and, most recently, Islamists. Fourteen interim governments have failed to supplant those forces. Health infrastructure and the general health of the population have been devastated as a result. Precious few organizations are still providing health-related services. Unfortunately, recent events suggest that this crisis is going to get worse before it gets better.

Separated Children Fleeing Persecution: A Comparative Study Of Asylum Policies In The U.K. And The U.S., Sarah M. Howe

Government and International Relations Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

El Paso, Texas, And Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, 1880-1930: A Material Culture Study Of Borderlands Interdependency, Gladys Arlene Hodges

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Material culture theory informs this study of urban history and borderlands interdependency at El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from 1880-1930. Features incised into and structures built onto the natural environment by the first arriving colonists after the mid-seventeenth century endured for more than two centuries. Over that period, the humanly-created material environment, a social product, fed back into the development of social forms--institutions, rituals, practices, modes of interaction, activities, and beliefs. A significant number of these social forms endured into the late nineteenth century and beyond, even after mechanization and industrialization arrived in the region known …

Continuity And Change In U.S. Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy : A Critical Analysis, Darius Edward Watson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The study of US nonproliferation policy has traditionally focused on characteristics of the proliferator to explain variations in the preferred US policy outcome: no new nuclear weapons states. Failures in achieving this goal have most often been attributed to the "roguishness" of the proliferating state, its desire for the international prestige normally associated with achieving nuclear weapon status, or intense security concerns which override its desire or ability to adhere to international and US rules governing nuclear proliferation. The argument being forwarded here is that variations within US nonproliferation policy have been the greatest influence on the attainment of US …

Gender, Human Security And The United Nations: Security Language As A Political Framework For Women, Natalie Florea Hudson

Political Science Faculty Publications

This book examines the relationship between women, gender and the international security agenda, exploring the meaning of security in terms of discourse and practice, as well as the larger goals and strategies of the global women's movement.

Today, many complex global problems are being located within the security logic. From the environment to HIV/AIDS, state and non-state actors have made a practice out of securitizing issues that are not conventionally seen as such. As most prominently demonstrated by the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2001), activists for women's rights have increasingly framed women's rights and gender inequality as security issues …

Short Term Strategies For Long Term Power: The Rise And Potential Fall Of Hugo Chávez, Linden E.S. Schult

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the route to power of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez and the methods by which he has remained in power throughout his presidency. Also, it explores the potential for Chávez to lose power, given the current economic and political situation in Venezuela. The importance of the oil industry, Chávez's suppression of the opposition and control of the media, and constitutional changes and reforms are all discussed as keys to Chávez's continuance in power.

American Overreach: Strategic Interests And Millennial Ambitions In The Middle East, Asli Bâli, Aziz Rana

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article argues that American actions in the Middle East designed to advance democracy and/or ‘moderation’ tend to yield perverse outcomes that frustrate the aspirations of local actors while undermining the values purportedly being promoted by the US. In order to explain these contradictions, we emphasise the linkage between policies of democracy promotion and long-standing American commitments both to millennialism and geographical omnipresence. As a result of these policies and geopolitical vision, we argue that ‘democracy promotion’ often devolves into a simple defence of American interest – by producing electoral outcomes intended to strengthen local agents seen as compliant with …

Selling Its Future Short: Armenia's Economic And Security Relations With Russia, Ian J. Mcginnity

CMC Senior Theses

It is necessary and desirable for Armenia to retain close relations with Russia in both the short and long term. However, recent concessions to Russia for good relations in the short term may have potentially harmful repercussions for Armenia in the future. These concessions have in part resulted in the Russian dominance in the economic sector, over-dependence on Russia for Armenia’s energy needs, and the perpetuation of Armenian submissiveness to Russian interests. Armenia should, therefore, maintain good relations with Russia while simultaneously securing long-term paths that focus on actual strategic partnership and not dependence. In short, Armenia should return to …

The President's Unconstitutional Treatymaking, David H. Moore

Faculty Scholarship

The President of the United States frequently signs international agreements but postpones ratification pending Senate consent. Under international law, a state that signs a treaty subject to later ratification must avoid acts that would defeat the treaty's object and purpose until the nation clearly communicates its intent not to join. As a result, the President in signing assumes interim treaty obligations before the treatymaking process is complete. Despite the pervasiveness of this practice, scholars have neglected the question of its constitutionality. As this Article demonstrates, the practice is unconstitutional. Neither the text, structure, nor history of the Constitution supports the …

The Limits Of Executive Action For Human Rights, Henry Krisch

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Between 2001 and 2006 Alejandro Toledo served as President of Peru. He entered office committed to, in his words, “restoring the democratic institutions that had suffered from a steady deterioration during the previous decade,” (that is, during the rule of former President Alberto Fujimori). Moreover, he took up the task of providing Peruvian society with “a full accounting of the atrocities that had occurred in previous decades.” This personal commitment to re-establishing a functioning democracy based on the rule of law, a commitment based in part on his participation in the anti-Fujimori demonstrations, lead him to seek an honest accounting …

A Human Rights-Oriented Approach To Military Operations, Federico Sperotto

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Counterinsurgency is the dominant aspect of US operations in Afghanistan, and since ISAF—the NATO-led security and assistance force—has assumed growing security responsibility throughout the country, it is also a mission for the Europeans.1 The frame in which military operations are conducted is irregular warfare, a form of conflict which differs from conventional operations in two main aspects. First, it is warfare among and within the people. Second, it is warfare in which insurgents avoid a direct military confrontation, using instead unconventional methods and terrorist tactics.

© Federico Sperotto. All rights reserved.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or …

India’S Role In Mongolia’S Third Neighbor Policy, Brandon Joseph Miliate

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mongolia’s Third Neighbor policy is receiving much attention from international scholars. This dynamic policy is an effort on the part of the Mongolian nation to balance the influence from its two huge neighbors, the Peoples’ Republic of China and the Russian Federation. While this policy was formulated in the early years of Mongolia’s transition to a market economy and democracy, the whole concept of additional neighbors beyond the physically geographical sense has something of a long history, especially in respects to one nation in particular- India- the countries spiritual neighbor. The ties between the two countries are as dynamic as …

The Mutual Existence Of Nascent And Senescent World Orders, Burak Akcaper

Center for Turkish Studies Occasional Paper Series

In this essay I will address the issue of change in the international system which the scholars of International Relations have grappled with however inadequately. Accordingly, I will argue that this deficiency stems in no small part from the frequent mutual distance between scholars and practitioners of international affairs. I will, therefore, try to bridge this gap. Ultimately this essay will:

a) Suggest a model (mutual existence of nascent and senescent orders) equipped with a number of hypotheses (laws) of systemic change in the international ―order;

b) Provide a baseline for bringing scholarly and practitioners‘ perspectives closer together, including by …