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Never Enough: Eu Military Spending Challenges In The Face Of Open Conflict, Katherine Wallentine

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sent a jolt of tension and anxiety throughout the European Union, as well as the rest of the world. Lawmakers and strategists scrambled to find a suitable response in the immediate aftermath and now, a year later, the conversation continues as to what the best course of action is for the EU. Should it amplify and radically increase its supranational defense budget and if so, how should it accomplish this monumental task? How much of it should fall on the Member States to meet the two percent threshold as laid out by …

Book Review: Greta Lynn Uehling. Everyday War: The Conflict Over Donbas, Ukraine. Cornell University Press (2023), Patrick Clairzier

The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies, and Development

Greta Lynn Uehling’s book offers a fresh perspective on the ongoing conflict between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government backed forces over the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk. Begun in March 2014, the conflict was partly due to the events following the Maiden Movement or Revolution of Dignity, which ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Given the escalation of the conflict with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Uehling’s multiyear study of the war in the Donbas region represents a valuable addition to the broader discourse on the ongoing Ukraine-Russian war.

The Evolution Of The Artesh: 1980 To Present, Ryan Charles Touchstone

Masters Theses

Despite the large media coverage around Iran’s military actions, the role of the Artesh in Iran’s national security structure is often unmentioned. Looking at the evolution of the Artesh since the fall of the Shah of Iran, this study uses firsthand accounts, recent research, and governmental statements and reports to trace the Artesh’s journey to present day. It examines several battlefield successes and failures during the Iran-Iraq War to gauge the ability of the Artesh to adjust in a wartime environment. These adjustments are mixed with some valuable lessons being implemented to later battles while other important lessons remained unapplied. …

Wcc's Statements On The War In Ukraine, Julia Matikainen

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article analyzes the Business Plenary Session 6 and the statement on the war in Ukraine related to the 11th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Karlsruhe, Germany, in August / September 2022. The theme of the assembly was "The Love of Christ Moves the World to Reconciliation and Unity." In the video and statement, the WCC takes a stance on the war in Ukraine. In my own article, I have examined the video and statement considering the course material and historical perspectives. I have sought to identify possible strengths and weaknesses in the video and …

Pathways To Post-Liberal Peacebuilding: A Reconceptualization Through Comparative Analysis, Norhan Ahmed Amin

Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to evaluate the sustainability of peacebuilding through DDR implementation, and the merit of adopting post-liberal peacebuilding approaches to practical interventions in a “New Wars” era, and rapidly changing conflict landscape. It focuses on the evolution of DDR as a response to changing conflict dynamics and as an integral component for peace processes and peacebuilding efforts, amidst a changing theoretical narrative on peacebuilding. As such, it seeks to answer the following questions: Can the theoretical shift to post-liberal peacebuilding invigorate localized peacebuilding processes, and thus reshape the tools applied to become more effective in achieving sustainable peace? Consequently, …

Concrete July: Forging A Critical Peace In Korea From Fragments Of The Past, Sheen Kim

Geography Undergraduate Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Why Democracies And Autocracies Go To War: Comparing The Cases Of Iraq And Ukraine, Ketevan Chincharadze

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

History shows that both democratic and nondemocratic countries wage wars to advance their strategic interests. This study has comparatively analyzed two conflicts – the 2003-2011 U.S. invasion of Iraq and Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine – to identify the trends that motivate both democratic and autocratic leaders to behave similarly by launching an invasion. The interpretive research of various memoirs, books, interviews, academic articles, news reports, and speeches, has uncovered that personal biases, particularly confirmation biases, play a significant role in motivating leaders to start a war. Leaders’ confirmation biases are often shaped by three prominent factors – historical memory, …

Western Hemispheric Security And The U.S.: Japanese Peruvian Wartime Incarceration During World War Ii, Matti Izora Ibrahim, Segâh Teki̇n

Faculty Publications - Teaching and Educational Leadership

Following the participation of the United States of America (U.S.A.) in World War II in 1941, the U.S. incarcerated 120.000 Japanese Americans during the war under the pretense of “military necessity”. At the same time, with the claim of guaranteeing the security of the Western Hemisphere, the U.S.A. coerced Latin American countries to deport thousands of their Japanese descendent citizens and place them in the custody of the U.S.A. among them, Peruvian Japanese citizens were kidnapped, taken to the U.S.A., and incarcerated indefinitely. This paper focuses on the incarceration of the Japanese Peruvians in the camps and their lives during …

Legitimacy In Conflict Contexts: Shifting Rebel Engagement In Sierra Leone And The Presence Of Private Contractors, Anne Lauder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The growth of non-state actors has significantly changed the nature of conflict. Rebel groups increasingly challenge state rule while private military and security companies (PMSCs) increasingly enter conflict spaces on behalf of a variety of actors, including states seeking to suppress insurgencies. This case study of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during Sierra Leone’s civil war between 1991-2002 contributes to emerging work on rebel behavior by examining how rebel’s legitimacy-seeking behavior might evolve when PMSCs enter a conflict context. I explore the ways that PMSCs can shift perceived incentive structures surrounding insurgents’ interpretations of and engagements with legitimacy during conflict, …

The Collapse Of The Afghan State And Its Relation To Us Policy, Omar Saradi

University Honors Theses

The main inspiration for this has been down to my curiosity of my heritage. The events described, particularly in the 1970's, were things that were contemporary to my family, and the escape from Afghanistan as refugee was an experience that was firsthand for my dad--who escaped in 1979 to Pakistan to claim refugee status in the US. One of the things that struck me the most in his story of escaping on foot with a group of villagers, was that the centers for refugees in Pakistan were not the cleanest and housed a crowded room of people who were stuck …

The Impact Of Russia-Ukraine War On Energy Policy Maneuvers To Strengthen Energy Security And Cybersecurity In Indonesia, Bobby Adhityo Rizaldi, Abdi Manab Idris, Nurbaiti Nurbaiti

Journal of Terrorism Studies

The war between Russia and Ukraine is highly discussed in global geopolitics and geostrategy. The strategy of attacking Russia directly at the point of a vital national object, namely the power plant, which was preceded by a cyber attack at the Nuclear Power Plant in Chornobyl, followed by a conventional physical attack from the air, resulted in an energy crisis in Ukraine. The resulting war affects many sectors, such as the energy sector, food, and supply chains, especially (at the end of 2021) before the war. WTI oil price was only around 75$/barrel, but when the war broke out, the …

Between Cocama And Modernity In The Ucamara (Peruvian Amazon), Marta Krokoszyńska

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

Combining a contemporary ethnographic perspective with a review of historical records, the article extends Peter Gow’s re-reading of the ex-Cocama phenomenon in the Western Amazon. It argues that the foundation of the Amazonian Peruvian town of Requena at the beginning of the 20th century took place during an important historical moment in the region. Within the post-rubber boom context, schools became a particularly important idiom that enabled Requena’s growth as the centre of education and modernity. The paper investigates relations between the widespread desire for education in the Ucamara region, and Cocama descendants’ and other “ribereño” ex-Mainas peoples’ specific notions …

Who Am I?: How Natives’ Mental Trauma Develop During Precolonial And Colonial Eras As Seen In Achebe’S Things Fall Apart And Fanon’S The Wretched Of The Earth, Sophia D. Casetta

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Colonialism is a long, brutal process, where natives’ identities are uprooted as colonizers establish their influence in a foreign land. Consequently, through the exploration of the natives’ response to this upheaval throughout the precolonial and colonial eras, the psychological toll that is placed on the colonized is evident. Such mental trauma that is incited is explored in Chinua Achebe’s fictional novel Things Fall Apart, which unveils the slowly lost of the natives’ identities during the precolonial shift, and the non-fiction work of Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth that details psychological disorders of the colonized due to colonization. …

Ambigú Trashumante Barra De Café Ambulante Ambigú Trashumante Barra De Café Ambulante, Augusto Martin Rivero

Master's Projects and Capstones

Ambigú Trashumante Barra de Café Ambulante is an applied research project which took shape over the course of a calendar year from May 2022-2023. A six-person team evolved including the personified project itself, united as one communal entity in collaboration. The project entailed creation of a bicicargo, or cargo bike–useful art becoming a mobile coffee bar and literal vehicle embodying justice through coffee offered freely in México, as facilitated through decolonized ethnography and Mesoamerican Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR). The project’s theoretical framework centers on Bruguera’s (2012) arte útil conceptualization. Five core patterns emerged, including the right to thrive in …

Must China Pay? How Claims Against China For Covid-19 Reveal Flaws In The International Legal System That Make Accountability Impractical, Talia Danielle Sturkie

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

The Jus Ad Bellum In Cyberspace: A New Framework, M. Walker Brunner

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Un País Invertido: The Current Immigration Regime Of Colombia, Magdalena Hendrickson

Honors Theses

Throughout its turbulent history, Colombia has seen drastic changes in structure and administration. From military coups to shaky coalitions, the country’s infamous instability has long forced its citizens to find better prospects elsewhere. However, with the rise of the Maduro administration in Venezuela, Colombia faced a massive new flow of migrants and was forced to rectify current circumstances without properly addressing its internal issues beforehand. Despite its historical status as a nation of emigrants, Colombia marks a new norm for the rest of the globe. As new issues like climate change and increased armed conflict grow worldwide, countries on the …

The Armed Forces Of Ukraine: From The Collapse Of The Soviet Union To The Russian Invasion, Gunnar Bash

Master's Theses

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Збройні сили України (ЗСУ), Zbroyni Syly Ukrayiny, (ZSU)) were once internationally unknown, having fought no wars since the fall of the USSR in 1991. However, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ZSU has become a topic of international debate and one that is discussed daily between major think tanks and war studies institutions, along with the world’s most powerful militaries. Looking back to 1991, I discuss how the ZSU came to be, how they dealt with Russian and partisan transgressions in Ukraine, and how they have evolved from their interactions with the West …

Destruction Or Disruption: Political Violence Inconsistencies In Liberation Movements, Julia Lemmon

Honors Thesis

Political violence is seldom viewed as an appropriate means to achieving a goal. Despite extensive studies produced on the reasons for using political violence, the scholarly world fails to consider comparing why some groups choose violence while their counterparts do not. Why is violence such an attractive method to some organized political groups, but not to others? Drawing on case studies of liberation movements, I attempt to understand what impacts the outcome of political violence during these movements. This study cross examines the Algerian Independence War with India’s nonviolent independence movement and the nonviolent independence movement of East Timor with …

From Migration Externalization To Coercive Engineered Migration: Effects Of The European Union's Migration Policies On The Human Rights Of Migrants, Annette Quinn

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

The growing concern over migration to the European Union (EU) through the Mediterranean, particularly since 2015, has led the EU to develop strategies that externalize migration control to third countries, shifting the responsibility for migrants. While externalization policies help the EU reduce migration, putting the care for migrants in the hands of third countries that often are not equipped to help them can lead to human rights abuses and poor conditions for migrants. The EU has adopted these policies in order to avoid their responsibilities to migrants, who gain many rights once entering EU territory; however, these policies actually put …

The Origins Of The Iraq War: The Role Of Anthrax In The Weapons Of Mass Destruction Claims, John P. Koenig

Student Theses and Dissertations

The 2001 Anthrax Attacks were a critical factor in the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) claims that sparked the Iraq War. Despite its significance, little systematic work has been done regarding the topic. Existing studies primarily focus on the role of the Military Industrial Complex and intelligence failures as the primary explanations for the origins of the Iraq War. These explanations are limited, as they rely on hindsight biases. This thesis contends that anthrax was the catalyst for WMD claims that sparked the Iraq War. The 2001 Anthrax Attacks reinforced the belief that Iraq harbored WMDs and posed a threat …

Attitudes Of Ethnic Minorities Towards National Defense And Security In The Triadic Nexus: The Case Of Russian-Speakers In Estonia, Nikita Lumijoe

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The contested loyalty of ethnic minorities between the host nation and ethnocultural homeland can play a significant role in the formation of geopolitical tensions as well as civil and ethnic-based conflicts. When the ethnocultural homeland of an ethnic minority increases the scale of intervention into the inner affairs of the host countries using hybrid, cognitive and even military wise, the attitudes of ethnic minorities towards national security and defense policy become a strategic asset for both sides.

In 2014, pro-Russian separatism in Ukraine focused the attention of the international community to the political attitudes of Russian-speaking ethnic minorities in Eastern …

Apartheid’S Leviathan : Electricity And The Power Of Technological Ambivalence, Faeeza Ballim

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

A fascinating study that shows how the intersection of technology and politics has shaped South African history since the 1960s.

This book details the development of an interconnected technological system of a coal mine and of the Matimba and Medupi power stations in the Waterberg, a rural region of South Africa near the country’s border with Botswana. South Africa’s state steel manufacturing corporation, Iscor, which has since been privatized, developed a coal mine in the region in the 1970s. This set the stage for the national electricity provider, Eskom, to build coal-fueled power stations in the Waterberg.

Faeeza Ballim follows …

A Fake Future: The Threat Of Foreign Disinformation On The U.S. And Its Allies, Brandon M. Rubsamen

Global Tides

This paper attempts to explain the threat that foreign disinformation poses for the United States Intelligence Community and its allies. The paper examines Russian disinformation from both a historical and contemporary context and how its effect on Western democracies may only be exacerbated in light of Chinese involvement and evolving technologies. Fortunately, the paper also studies practices and strategies that the United States Intelligence Community and its allied foreign counterparts may use to respond. It is hoped that this study will help shed further light on Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns and explain how the Intelligence Community can efficiently react.

A War Of Many Victims: The Cartel Crises In Mexico, Seth Sexton

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Textual or Investigative

A Qualitative Analysis Of The Relationship Between Cyberthreats And Democratic Backsliding, Amy I. Browning

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

Interstate conflict has developed beyond conventional tactics to include the cyber realm, making cybersecurity a key component of international relations and an integral part of state defense plans. Research in international security has included the analyses of the relative success or failures of particular cyberattacks. However, the instigators behind these attacks receive comparatively little attention, leaving a gap in knowledge for when, why, and where cyberthreats are likely to emerge. Recent analysis has found that democratic institutions are likely to hinder state-sponsored cyberattack initiation. A consideration that the latest wave of global democratic backsliding could be fueling cyberthreats must be …

Explaining Guatemalan Vigilantism, Bryant Mcconkie

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

Ripped from his home in Concepción, Guatemala, the evening of October 13, 2015, Mayor Bacilio Juracán was brutally beaten, doused with gasoline, and burned to death by attackers convinced he had orchestrated the murder of a political rival they supported. In just this one isolated incident, the town hall, various cars, and at least six additional buildings were burned along with the mayor (“Linchan y Queman” 2015). A growing number of similar lynchings—vigilante attacks in which victims of the mob are severely injured or killed—across Guatemala have thrust Guatemalan vigilantism into the public consciousness, perplexing governments and political theorists alike …

On Civilizational Strategic Studies, Stephen T. Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

Given the on-going crises around the world, especially the current war in Ukraine, it has become imperative to analyze the strategic interests of the major geopolitical players in the world. Samuel P. Huntington formulated his controversial “Clash of Civilizations” thesis almost thirty years ago, but this topic has received a resurgence of interest due to Christopher Coker’s research on “civilizational states.” Coker takes this concept a bit further by arguing that different geopolitical actors disagree on how the world should be ordered.

Now is perhaps the most opportune time to examine the relevance of civilizations as well as civilizational theory …

Psychopathology Or Possession: How Ghanaian Pentecostal And Charismatic Christians Understand Mental Illnesses And How Perceived Understandings Vary Depending On If They Are Current Students Or Not, Jamila L. Taffe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research investigates the perceptions held by Ghanaian Chrsitians from Pentecostal/Charismatic churches about mental illnesses. The data collected was done through a qualitative method of acquiring information. Interviews were conducted alongside intensive research of existing scholarship that addressed religion and mental health within Ghanaian culture. A total of 5 in depth interviews were carried out with participants ranging from the ages of 20-35. Three participants were current university students at the University of Ghana while the other two were non-students but held degrees. The objective was to make comparisons between the student and non-student groups about their knowledge about mental …

Investigating The Detriment Of Development Assistance: A Geopolitical Analysis Of Sino-Djibouti Relations Through The Lens Of China’S Belt And Road Initiative, Elizabeth Elenwo-Roger

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research paper will evaluate Africa’s past with debt accumulation, focusing on the role of the Washington Consensus spearheaded by the Bretton Woods Institutions in its failed attempts to relieve the continent’s debt distresses and further aggravate Africa’s already fractured relationship with the West. It will highlight the goals of the Belt and Road Initiative, assessing China’s South-South cooperation approach to its relations with Djibouti and the Horn of Africa. Specifically, it will investigate claims of China engaging in debt-trap diplomacy and the extent to which this term infringes upon the agency of African leaders. The general research question investigates …