Digital Commons Network^™

The Baltic Bear Trap Wargame, Connor Crookham

Space and Defense

Modern military education increasingly relies on experiential tools that allow students to explore the complexity of contemporary conflict in ways that lectures and readings alone cannot achieve. Nowhere is this more evident than in the emerging emphasis on multi-domain operations, integrated deterrence, and the blurred boundaries between competition and armed conflict. The Baltic Bear Trap wargame was developed as a student design project to meet this instructional need, offering a structured environment in which players must think, plan, and act as operational-level decision makers confronting a deteriorating security situation in the Nordic–Baltic region. Built for use at the Swedish Defense …

Golden Dome: Seeking Space Security, Namrata Goswami

Space and Defense

The “Golden Dome” initiative [formerly Iron Dome] was announced by President Donald Trump on January 27, 2025, signifying a transformative shift in global space security policy. It fundamentally questions long-standing assumptions about deterrence, national vulnerability to missile attacks, and the role of space in strategic defense. More importantly, it emerges at a moment of acute strategic transition: the erosion of Cold War arms control frameworks, the rapid advancement of hypersonic and orbital delivery systems, and the growing integration of space into warfighting doctrines. Launched via a presidential memorandum in January 2025, Golden Dome calls for a layered missile defense system …

Space & Defense Vol. 17 No. 1 Editor's Note, Damon Coletta

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Space & Defense Volume 17 Issue 1 Summer 2026 (Whole Issue), Space & Defense

Space and Defense

No abstract provided.

Review Essay: African Americans, Sudan, And The Politics Of Solidarity, Walter Hill

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Erosion Of International Norms And The Crisis Of Global Leadership In The Era Of Selective Warfare, Farhia Abdi

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Does A Common Threat Unite?: Alliance Formation In East Asia Under Chinese Pressure, Sean G. Mcclellan

Honors Theses

The study explores whether a shared geopolitical threat fosters alliance formation among East Asian nations, focusing on Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea in the context of increasing Chinese influence. Integrating insights from international relations theory and social psychology—particularly Realistic Conflict Theory and the out-group unifying effect—the research evaluates whether perceived Chinese aggression corresponds with increased positive sentiment toward the United States. Utilizing data from the Asian Barometer Survey, linear regression analysis is conducted to assess how perceptions of Chinese and U.S. influence, democratic values, and political affiliation shape public attitudes. Results show that while negative views of Chinese and U.S. …

Digital Communication And The Evolution Of Ideological Narratives In Indonesia: Insights From Social Media Platforms, Tia Mariatul Kibtiah, Muhammad Fikri Fawazi

Journal of Terrorism Studies

This study examines how pro-caliphate and anti-democratic narratives are articulated and normalised within YouTube comment spaces in Indonesia. As the world’s largest Muslim-majority country with high levels of digital engagement, Indonesia provides an important context for analysing how political-religious discourses circulate through everyday digital interaction. The research analyses 1,354 YouTube comments related to the caliphate, governance, and democracy. Data were collected using Google Apps Script, manually filtered for relevance, and examined through qualitative content analysis informed by Social Network Theory (SNT) and the Radicalisation Factor Model (RFM). The findings show that 34.49% of comments endorsed ideological pro-caliphate narratives, while 35.97% …

The Offense-Defense Balance And The Modern System In Ukraine, Daniel Hogestyn

Master in Public Policy Theses

This thesis evaluates whether the Russo Ukrainian war represents a revolution in military affairs (RMA) by testing Stephen Biddle’s "modern system" theory of battlefield outcomes against recent combat operations. Applying Biddle’s formal model to the 2023 Ukrainian offensive in Zaporizhia, the thesis finds that the offensive's failure conforms closely to Biddle’s causal logic, with force employment variables drawn from 20th century combat sufficient to account for the outcome. Biddle's model in military power argues that force employment has explained victory and defeat since World War I, rather than technology or numerical preponderance alone. Many commentators claim that proliferation of small …

Sayyid Qutb: Political Philosophy And The Global Decline Of Jihadist Legitimacy, Jorge A. Ferrara

Senior Theses

Historically and culturally, the meaning behind political philosophies has been misappropriated to serve new ideological aims, and understanding how contexts have changed is essential to contemporary debates surrounding militant jihadist ideology. Sayyid Qutb, a political philosopher in Egypt during the mid-twentieth century, whose political philosophy, which sought moral, spiritual, and societal reform in Egypt under Gamal ‘Abd-Nasser’s regime, has been classified as the philosopher of Islamic terror. In this thesis, I argue that Sayyid Qutb’s political philosophy has been misappropriated into a politicized and militant jihad ideology through successive reinterpretations by militant jihadist leaders, and that this misappropriation is evidence …

Treatment Of Different Non-State Actors In Detention: A Legal, Moral, And National Security Analysis, Alison P. Raedel

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This thesis analyzes state behavior regarding the treatment of non-state actors through three major frameworks: international law, ethical theory, and national security. Two cases are compared: the treatment of al-Qaeda detainees by the United States after the attacks of September 11th, 2001, and the treatment of the Angolan liberation movements by the Portuguese during the Angolan War of Independence. These cases were chosen to assess how the three frameworks apply across different non-state actors, which include terrorist organizations and liberation movements. International law provides a baseline for rights and protections, but it is often selectively interpreted. Just war theory gives …

Not The Only Game In Town: Unconsolidated Democracy, Elite Capture, And Shifting Alliances In Georgia, Leah Mayerhauser

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

This paper examines Georgia’s post-Soviet political development to explain why the country, once viewed as a leading candidate for democratic consolidation, has experienced sustained democratic erosion and shifting geopolitical alignment. Drawing on Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan’s theory of democratic consolidation, it argues that Georgia never fully achieved a consolidated democracy after independence, leaving key institutional arenas including civil society, political society, rule of law, state bureaucracy, and economic society, unevenly developed and vulnerable to elite capture. Through a historical and institutional analysis from 1991 to 2026, this paper traces how early failures in state formation, unresolved questions of stateness, …

The Weaponization Of Transnational Crime: A Triangular Analytical Model For Hybrid Threat Development In U.S.–China–Russia Relations, 2000–2025, Michael J. Haak

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the evolving strategic relationship between the United States, China, and Russia from 2000 to 2025 through a triangular model based on reactions to systemic pressures to core strategic interests. The study employs a thematic qualitative data analysis on U.S., Chinese, and Russian national security strategies to analyze strategic posturing between poles over time. This new model serves as the study’s basis for contextualizing hybrid threat development, specifically transnational crime as a proxy force of asymmetric power projection. The study found that the evolution of state-supported transnational crime serves as a by-product of reactions to systemic pressure. State …

Splitting Shores: Comparative Analysis Of Italy’S And Spain’S Reactions To Immigration, William E. Montgomery V

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

The divergence in public immigration sentiment between Italy and Spain, two countries with striking historical, geographic, and demographic similarities, is seen as a mystery for popular theoretical frameworks. Although both nations transitioned from net emigration to net immigration beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, Italy has consistently exhibited more negative attitudes toward immigration relative to the European average, while Spain has seen sustained improvement in immigration sentiment despite receiving immigrants at historically unprecedented levels. Employing a Most Similar Systems Design and drawing on quantitative demographic and survey data, primary legislative texts, and secondary scholarly literature, this thesis tests Group Threat …

An Alternative To Armageddon: O.P. Weyland And The Development Of Tactical Air Power, Paul Wells

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Theorists and advocates of air power argued that aircraft, not ground forces, would become the dominant platform for victory in war. They promoted the concept of strategic bombing, using aircraft to bypass ground forces and directly attack a nation's industrial capacity to wage war, hoping to ensure quick victory and avoid a repeat of the prolonged slaughter in the trenches of WWI. In 1947, led by advocates of strategic bombing, the United States Air Force (USAF) became an independent and equal branch of the U.S. military. The USAF developed the Strategic Air Command (SAC) to meet the requirements of the …

Threats To Cleared Industry, Think Tanks, And Academia From Malign Nations Focusing On Federally Funded Research And Development Centers, James E. Equels

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The world of academia, think tanks, and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) in the United States face increasing vulnerabilities to foreign intelligence exploitation, particularly by China and Russia. Espionage, cyber intrusions, insider threats, and intellectual property theft enable adversarial nations to leverage academic collaboration to access sensitive research. These threats are executed through foreign-sponsored partnerships, talent recruitment programs like China’s Thousand Talents Program, and infiltration via Confucius Institutes and other state-affiliated initiatives. Academic openness is routinely exploited to gain strategic military and technological innovation advantages. Operations by malign nations compromise federally funded research, while insider threats - both …

The Costs Of Selective Intervention: Why The Obama Administration Chose To Intervene In Libya Over Syria, Rayanne Attar

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

This paper examines the Obama administration’s selective military intervention during the Arab Spring, comparing case studies of Libya and Syria. I argue that the decision for the Obama administration to militarily intervene in Libya but not Syria was justified because intervention in Syria was far more costly in terms of risks. In Libya, Qaddafi’s regime lacked strong external support, relied on dated military systems, and faced a fragmented opposition, making intervention politically feasible. In contrast, in Syria, Assad’s alliance with Russia and Iran, threatening air defense capabilities, and internal sociopolitical divisions made military action highly risky and unlikely to produce …

Shu World Review- April 27th 2026, Diplolab, Seton Hall University

SHU World Review

No abstract provided.

Russian Political Warfare: What It Is, What It's Not, And Why It Isn't Working, Lance Bokinskie

Global Insight

This article defines Russia’s multifaceted approach to political warfare and analyzes its effectiveness in achieving foreign policy objectives. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine is an exemplary case study to define the aspects of 21st-century Russian political warfare and analyze its efficacy as an approach to foreign policy. This case study will lend meaningful support to the claim that the utility of Russian political warfare is severely limited by the adhocratic foreign policy encouraged by the Kremlin—specifically, the lack of an overarching proscriptive foreign policy strategy and a functioning bureaucracy to enforce the pursuit of outlined objectives, definitive organizational purviews, and …

The Necessity Of U.S. Aid: The Russian-Ukrainian War, Lelin Spriggs

The Dialogue

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the conflict has emerged as a defining foreign-policy challenge of the twenty-first century. In the United States, the war dominates political discourse and continues to shape debates on national security and the appropriate scope of American global leadership. Although President Trump vowed during his campaign to end the war upon entering office, hostilities intensified following his inauguration, prompting renewed policy debates regarding the future and extent of U.S. military and economic support for Kyiv.

This paper argues that the United States must continue providing sustained military and economic …

A National Security Strategy For The Middle East, Vanessa Rice, Rudy Torres, Addy Horgan, Joy Omosa, Mark Westfall

School of Public Policy Capstones

This National Security Strategy addresses the persistent national security challenges the United States faces in the Middle East, a region vital for global energy supply, economic connectivity, and a source of anti-American extremism. Recognizing the failures of past "haphazard experimentation," the strategy proposes a thoughtful, pragmatic plan prioritizing five distinct and congruent interest areas: Maintaining Regional Access, Supporting Regional Stability, Ensuring Energy Security, Defending American Citizens and Personnel, and Preserving and Protecting Western Ideals. The strategy outlines actions such as: countering Chinese and Russian influence through intelligence sharing and defense incentives; containing Iran via a new, permanent nuclear deal and …

Shu World Review- March 30th 2026, Diplolab, Seton Hall University

SHU World Review

No abstract provided.

Shu World Review- March 23rd 2026, Diplolab, Seton Hall University

SHU World Review

No abstract provided.

United States Middle East Policy In The Age Of Donald Trump, Gary Prevost

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay on the foreign policy of the United States in the Middle East in the middle of the second Trump administration and the continuing conflict in Gaza and the West Bank makes the case for decades of consistency in US policy but also some nuances from the current US administration. The author makes the case that there have been three constants in US policy since the era of the Second World War. First, is the guarantee the flow of reasonably priced oil to the United States and its allies.  Second, the maintenance of the state of Israel as a …