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The Lion, The Fox, And The President: Machiavelli's Foreign Policy And Barack Obama, Eli Chancey

Araneum: Richmond Journal of American & Global Affairs

This undergraduate thesis is a culmination of a senior seminar course focused on the works of Florentine politician and statesman Niccol. Machiavelli. Infamous for his common caricature as an amoral shoulder devil for authoritarians, Machiavelli’s works have been interpreted in countless fashions. While The Prince and the Discourses, his two most significant writings, mainly focus on domestic politics, they give some attention to international affairs. This thesis serves to identify Machiavelli’s foreign policy philosophy within these works and reconcile the differences between their varied interpretations. Then, it will turn toward a modern-day prince, President Barack Obama, to determine his level …

The Last Tributary Mission From Siam To China: The Decline Of The Chinese Tributary System And The Rise Of The British Treaty Port System In Siam During The King Mongkut’S Reign, Yifei Xu

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Focusing on the historical turning point marked by Siam’s termination of its tributary connections to the Qing China since its last mission dispatched in 1852-53, this study investigates the structural transformation of Sino-Siamese relations under the impact of British colonial order in the mid-nineteenth century, revealing its disintegration during the rise of the modern international order enforced through British colonialism in the Asian maritime space. By clarifying the role of paternalism within the Sino-Siamese tributary framework, examining Britain’s claims brewed from its East India Company’s long-term engagement with China within the Canton trade system, and analyzing the historical shift of …

Giving Voice To The Victims Of The Insurgency In Eastern Uganda In The Late 1980s And Early 1990s: A Phenomenological Research Study, Lawrence Egulu

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

After five years of protracted guerilla warfare, Uganda’s current President Yoweri Museveni capturedpower in January 1986, displacing the preceding regime that had been dominated by Northern politicians and Eastern Ugandans (army and police). Feeling humiliated, deprived, and out of government, several rebel insurgencies erupted, among which was the Uganda People’s Army in the Teso region. The experiences of the affected population at the hands of the army, rebels, and the Karamojong cattle raiders from the North East have remained largely unexplored, unheard, and undocumented outside of the region, and neither have how the victims made meaning of their conditions. The …

Russian Chemical And Biological Weapons: Limiting The Effects Of Russian Cbw Programs On Nato Security Through 2035, Jason Gregory Porter

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis uses qualitative research methods to: (1) assess the extent and capabilities of Russia’s modern chemical and biological weapons programs, (2) assess Russian compliance with arms control agreements, (3) determine the threats Russian chemical and biological weapons pose to NATO security, (4) assess NATO’s existing strategy against the modern chemical and biological threat, and (5) provide recommendations for U.S. and NATO policies and programs to mitigate the threat of these programs in the short and medium term. This project demonstrates that Russian chemical and biological weapons programs have remained consistently in violation of international arms control agreements since the …

Foreign Intervention And Internal Displacement: Urban Politics In Postwar Beirut, Amanda Rizkallah

All Faculty Open Access Publications

Uneven democratization is a common yet poorly understood legacy of civil war. In the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), wartime processes of displacement interacted with Syria's intervention to transform local postwar political orders. In Beirut's suburbs, the bonds built between armed actors and displaced populations created opportunities for displaced people to extract responsiveness from local institutions, despite their vulnerability. But the power of displaced populations in their host community hinges on the fate of the locally dominant armed actor. If the armed actor is an ally of the intervening power, it can maintain political control over its strongholds, …

The Geoeconomics Of Belt And Road Disputes: A Case Study On The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Mark Mclaughlin

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article argues that the dovetailing economic, geopolitical, and security interests that underpin the Belt and Road Initiative demands a dispute resolution mechanism that focuses on broader interests and legal rights. Using the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a case study, it identifies the conditions in which Chinese investors could have initiated an investment arbitration but did not. This can be explained by the rights-based orientation of investment treaties failing to reflect the interests of multi-project initiatives. Instead, alternative methods of home state intervention, such as state-funded political risk insurance, are used to protect investors. In other words, the political …

France In The Middle East: A Democratic Justification For Military Interventions In Iraq And Beyond., Nicolas Demeure, Brice Tseen Fu Lee

Journal Of Middle East and Islamic Studies

How did France’s refusal to take part in the war on Iraq in 2003 has created the conditions that legitimizes its future military interventions abroad? In this paper, a discourse analysis of the official French Foreign Policy Discourse is done to show why saying no to war in 2003 paradoxically allows France to carry out military interventions in 2015. This paper argues that France, while perpetrating an existing discourse of democracy opposing the civilized against the uncivilized that legitimates Foreign policy as a security tool, by its refusal, transformed military intervention a latent policy andlegitimized the French Self as …

Clausewitzian Theory Of War In The Age Of Cognitive Warfare, Amber Brittain-Hale, Amber Brittain-Hale

Education Division Scholarship

We can reconceptualise warfare by contrasting Clausewitz with the modern practice of cognitive warfare, as evidenced by Ukraine’s defence methodologies. The strategic orchestration of ‘infopolitik’ and the sophisticated use of social media can shape narratives and public perception. This article revisits Clausewitz’s tenet of war as a political instrument and juxtaposes it with contemporary conflict’s multidimensional tactics. By scrutinising Ukraine’s digital and psychological warfare tactics, one may question the applicability of Clausewitz’s framework, seeking to understand if these novel dimensions of warfare compel a redefinition or an expansion of his thesis to navigate the complexities of contemporary geopolitical confrontations.

Power Projection And Counter-Terrorism: Strategies For Small States Like Brunei Darussalam, Brice Tseen Fu Lee, Gulshan Bibi Ms

Journal of Terrorism Studies

This study delves into the intricacies of power projection strategies and counter-terrorism measures, emphasizing their relevance to small states, with a specific focus on Brunei Darussalam. Using a dual matrix model, the research categorizes various strategies based on risk-reward parameters, offering a structured insight into potential approaches these states can employ against potential aggressors. The counter-terrorism matrix is the initial focal point, recognizing the contemporary significance of terror threats and their unique challenges for small nations. Subsequently, the power projection matrix offers a broader view of defense tactics beyond counter-terrorism. By synthesizing information from primary academic sources, the study aims …

Multilingual Pantanal And Its Decay, Gustavo Godoy, Kristina Balykova

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Historically, the Pantanal wetlands were inhabited by diverse ethnicities belonging to various linguistic groups, including Bororoan, Arawakan, Tupian, Gauicuruan, and Zamucoan, as well as some isolates and unclassified languages. Numerous ethnic groups disappeared without leaving any records of their languages, leaving behind only a list of ethnonyms. A point of confluence of different peoples that also circulated in other major South American areas, the Pantanal was a place with high linguistic diversity. Trade networks surrounded and permeated the area, as described in the earliest accounts by Portuguese and Spanish colonizers. As Indigenous groups were affected by colonial disputes over labor …

The Age Of The Onanya - Regarding The Spread Of Ayahuasca Use Throughout The Ucayali Basin, Carlos Suárez-Álvarez

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

The spread of ayahuasca shamanism throughout the Upper Amazon has become a matter of debate among scholars since, in 1994, anthropologist Peter Gow formulated the controversial suggestion that it could be a recent phenomenon in the Ucayali basin, usually considered the stronghold of a millenary tradition. Following Gow, Brabec de Mori argued that the Shipibo-Conibo people, a paradigmatic example of the antique practice of ayahuasca shamanism, adopted both the brew and the associated shamanic practices in a “relatively recent” past. Gow and Brabec pointed at the Maynas missions as the origin of this shamanic complex, and the mestizo and Cocama …

Language, Exogamy And Ethnicity In The Upper Rio Negro Region, Thiago Chacon, Luis Cayón

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

In this article we explore how languages interact with exogamous social units (e.g., clans and phratries) and descent ideologies (such as having a common mythical ancestor and emergence from the same mythical place) to help organize the multilingual and interethnic societies from the Upper Rio Negro region (URN) in the Amazon. We show that the expected alignment of language boundary, exogamous group and descent group is actually quite unusual. Complex social structures involving the aggregation of clans into larger ethnic groups or marriage alliances with other clans have important variations in the alignment of language, exogamy, and descent ideology. Existing …

The Way Of Warriors: Annotated Narratives Of The Mebengokre (Kayapo) In Brazil, By Gustaaf Verswijver, John Hemming

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This is a review of The Way of Warriors: Annotated Narratives of the Mebengokre (Kayapó) in Brazil, by Gustaaf Verswijver. Turuti Books: Almería, Spain.

The Theology Of The Liturgical Seasons In The Syro-Malabar Church, Ann Mary Madavanakadu Cmc

Journal of Global Catholicism

This paper focuses on the theology of the liturgical seasons in the Syro-Malabar Church. The liturgical year with its liturgical cycles and seasons, is more than just a mere structural framework for the prayer life of the Church. It is a true locus of rich theology. The liturgical year is defined as the yearly plan of spiritual life by the Church, for her children, arranged in different seasons or periods to celebrate the mysteries of Christ in life together with feasts, fasts, and abstinence in order to make Christian life a successful pilgrimage to heaven for attaining salvation. This article …

Keepers Of The Peace Or Soldiers: An Analysis Of The 1983 Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing And The Rationale Behind Deploying Troops In A Peacekeeping Capacity, Brock Bellinger

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Despite President Reagan’s historic foreign policy success in ushering in the collapse of the Soviet Union and liberation of Eastern Europe, the loss of life during the Beirut Marine barracks bombing marks a substantial failure in Reagan’s foreign policy record. Reagan’s foreign policy failure in Beirut that resulted in the deaths of 241 Americans merits further examination amongst students of international relations as this peacekeeping mission illustrates the dangers of sending American troops into harm’s way without a clear and decisive goal and exit strategy. By evaluating the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing, the hindsight and judgment of history allows …

National Space Forum 2007: Towards A Theory Of Spacepower, Charles D. Lutes

Space and Defense

Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies Colorado Springs, Colorado, January 2007

The Spacepower Theory Project seeks to gain insight into human behavior in outer space. The project’s overall objective is to develop a theoretical framework that helps to define, categorize, explain and anticipate ways in which “spacepower” may be pursued, how the various facets of spacepower connect to each other, and how they relate to the other instrumentalities of power that state and non-state actors may seek to achieve or retain.

The History Of United States Weapons Export Control Policy, Taylor Dinerman

Space and Defense

All nations regulate Arms sales, but the United States (U.S.) has traditionally gone further than most. After World War I, a conspiracy theory made its way into popular culture that blamed the war, and specifically the U.S. intervention in 1917, on the so called “merchants of death.” Ever since, this has been a powerful and enduring theme in politics and culture throughout the world. Yet, nowhere have the effects of this theory been more enduring than in U.S. policy and law.

Establishing Space Security: A Prescription For A Rules-Based Approach, Theresa Hitchens, Michael Katz-Hyman

Space and Defense

The question of what constitutes the proper military uses of space is not just a debate over space weapons and attacks on satellites. It is a debate that sheds light on the fundamental decisions that states and their citizens will have to make over the next century as we both explore and exploit space for its scientific, strategic, and economic value. Furthermore, the context of this debate changes year to year as the physical and political environment of space changes.

An Inchoate Process For The International Regulation Of Military Activities In Space, Baker Spring

Space and Defense

As the breadth and depth of military activities in space expand, demands are growing to regulate these activities at the international level. In some cases, these demands stem from the recognition that broader national security operations in space are moving away from a legacy of being dominated by secret intelligence activities and in the direction of more open military activities.1 In other cases, they are driven by the efforts of arms control advocates to roll back the “weaponization of space.”2 Regardless of the underlying motivations, the demands for international regulation are going to grow, and the debate will turn increasingly …

Viewpoint: Space Law And The Advancement Of Spacepower, Peter L. Hays

Space and Defense

The opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or United States Government. The author thanks David Koplow, Phil Meek, and Michael Saretsky for their extremely helpful comments on previous versions of this article.

Space law has and should continue to play an essential role in the evolution of spacepower. Testing the principle of “freedom of space” and helping establish the legality of satellite overflight were primary objectives of NSC- 5520, the first U.S. …

A Good Starting Point For Deterrence, Dean Cheng

Space and Defense

A central focus for much of the Cold War was determining what would deter the Soviet Union; this was a topic upon which many of the West’s best and brightest labored to determine. In order to deter the former Soviet Union, a huge intellectual edifice was erected, which helped guide a variety of military programs, including not only the American strategic triad of land-based and sea-based missiles and manned bombers, but tactical nuclear weapons, hardened command and control, and space-based early warning systems. It also incorporated concepts, such as “extended deterrence,” “escalation dominance,” and “mutual assured destruction.”

Space Deterrence: The Delicate Balance Of Risk, Roger G. Harrison, Deron R. Jackson, Collins G. Shackelford

Space and Defense

The United States has created a military structure that is heavily satellite-dependent, without making corresponding improvements in the survivability of its space systems. The result is a classic opportunity for asymmetric, preemptive attack. The central question of this study is how to structure a strategy of deterrence to persuade potentially hostile actors that the costs of attack will nevertheless outweigh the benefits.

Strategic Communications With China About Space, Joan Johnson-Freese

Space and Defense

In 2006, I published an article entitled “Strategic Communication with China: What Message About Space?”1 The article pointed out that difficulties encountered in trying to convey its message regarding the Global War on Terror to a global audience had convinced the United States, or at least the Defense Science Board, that it needed to use strategic communications more effectively. From there I extrapolated, “If one believes that big problems are best tackled in small bites, ‘space’ perhaps offers an area where the United States can begin to understand and tackle some of the strategic communication issues it faces.”2 Communication mishaps …

Space And Sino-American Security Relations, Peter L. Hays

Space and Defense

China’s emphasis on space exploration and its development and use of space capabilities are prominent and tangible expressions of its emergence as a great power and make space an increasingly important dimension of Sino-American relations. In October 2003 China independently launched and recovered its first taikonaut, becoming just the third member of an elite spacefaring club with Russia and the United States. Then in January 2007 China first successfully tested a kinetic energy anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon and again joined Russia and the United States as one of only three states known to have demonstrated this capability. China’s growing power and …

Speech For The 2008 National Space Forum, Wayne Allard

Space and Defense

Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be here with all of you today at the National Space Forum, and it is an honor to be here with so many industry experts and leaders. I thank our sponsors, the Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies at the U.S. Air Force Academy and also the Center for Strategic and International Studies, for hosting this important event and for giving me an opportunity to speak to you today. In the Senate I have long supported the Center for Space and Defense Studies, and I am pleased to see the Center executing …

Space Deterrence Or Dominance?, Dwayne Liller

Space and Defense

A strategy to safeguard United States’ space assets is needed. Deterrence strategies, like Cold War nuclear deterrence, are often recommended. Nuclear deterrence history reveals that deterrence through dominance is what early strategists employed. Both Cold War adversaries attempted repeatedly to gain the lead in nuclear weapons. Seeking short term advantages activated the security dilemma and both sides responded in kind, guaranteeing an arms race. The faulty logic of the security dilemma was that the next advantage would bring security. This did not happen and illustrated how mutual vulnerability resulted from long term and determined opposition. That condition exists to this …

Coalitions In Space: Where Networks Are Power, James Clay Moltz

Space and Defense

This study begins with the widely recognized problem of 21st century space vulnerabilities. To address this challenge, it proposes the new concept of an “allied space network” as a possible means of both reducing risks and enhancing space power. Such a concept would move beyond realist, Cold War “balancing” in space, and instead would require new forms of technical and political cooperation in the military sector among participating states. In thinking about future space security this study argues that trans-national networks and alliances offer considerable untapped potential, with possibly significant benefits particularly for the United States, which—unlike China and Russia— …

European Approaches To Space And Security: Implications For Transatlantic Cooperation, Michael Searway

Space and Defense

As complex security threats are increasing the need for international cooperation on Earth, the growing number of actors in space increasingly demands collaboration in space and security. This need is intensified by the unique environmental attributes of space. For example, debris from space assets can orbit the Earth for years, rendering large areas of orbital space unusable. Moreover, as space becomes more crowded, the lack of comprehensive international governance amplifies the chance of mishaps above Earth.

Chinese Intentions In Space: A Historical Perspective For Future Cooperation, Gregory Kulacki

Space and Defense

The United States (U.S.) is opening a new dialogue with China on cooperation in space that includes human space flight. The announcement appeared in the Joint Statement issued by U.S. President Obama and Chinese President Hu in Beijing, China on 17 November 2009. The two leaders also agreed “the two countries have common interests in promoting the peaceful use of outer space and agree to take steps to enhance security in outer space.”1 These are significant shifts in U.S. civilian and military space policy. The U.S. ended cooperation in space with China more than a decade ago2 and consistently refused …

The New Space Order: Why Space Power Matters For Europe, Nicolas Peter

Space and Defense

More than fifty years since the dawn of the Space Age and twenty years since the end of the Cold War, space affairs and politics remain interlinked. Space activities are increasingly tied to national power for major world powers, and political objectives are still the driving force for most space activities. Yet in an ever more globalized and competitive multipolar world, status and power that arise from the employment and access to the most advanced technologies are now widely perceived as key to the powers and standings of states. The importance of space activities is increasing, transitioning in terms of …