Digital Commons Network^™

The Future Of American Landpower: Does Forward Presence Still Matter? The Case Of The Army In The Pacific, John R. Deni

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

No abstract provided.

Social Identity-Based Threats To Human Security: Gender Practice In Sustainable Development And Conflict Transformation, Emma W. Buck

Capstone Collection

I seek to advocate for practitioners in conflict transformation and/or sustainable development to build awareness around the peoples who, according to the status afforded them by their identities within a social context, experience threats to their own sense of human security within situations of violent conflict and/or underdevelopment. This capstone does so by examining gender -- that is, the context-specific distinctions between men and women-- as a social context that influences an individual’s feelings of human security. The capstone then expands a practitioner’s means of addressing gender-based threats to human security in situ. I will first define and situate …

Unlocking A Narrative: Stories Of Islam And Peacebuilding And Conflict Transformation, Jeremy Sinensky

Capstone Collection

This paper, “Unlocking a Narrative: Stories of Islam and Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation,” highlights largely repressed and ignored experiences and information related to peacebuilding and conflict transformation within Islam, conveyed through eight semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a diverse range of self-identified Muslims as well as relevant academic literature on the subject. I elected to focus on the research question of: “How can Islam be understood as a tool or lifestyle used for peacebuilding and conflict transformation endeavors?” so as to raise awareness of a largely invisible body of knowledge (within dominant social circles, popular media, and the breadth of …

Continuous Monitoring System Based On Systems' Environment, Eli Weintraub, Yuval Cohen

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

We present a new framework (and its mechanisms) of a Continuous Monitoring System (CMS) having new improved capabilities, and discuss its requirements and implications. The CMS is based on the real-time actual configuration of the system and the environment rather than a theoretic or assumed configuration. Moreover, the CMS predicts organizational damages taking into account chains of impacts among systems' components generated by messaging among software components. In addition, the CMS takes into account all organizational effects of an attack. Its risk measurement takes into account the consequences of a threat, as defines in risk analysis standards. Loss prediction is …

Measuring Hacking Ability Using A Conceptual Expertise Task, Justin S. Giboney, Jeffrey G. Proudfoot, Sanjay Goel, Joseph S. Valacich

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Hackers pose a continuous and unrelenting threat to organizations. Industry and academic researchers alike can benefit from a greater understanding of how hackers engage in criminal behavior. A limiting factor of hacker research is the inability to verify that self-proclaimed hackers participating in research actually possess their purported knowledge and skills. This paper presents current work in developing and validating a conceptual-expertise based tool that can be used to discriminate between novice and expert hackers. The implications of this work are promising since behavioral information systems researchers operating in the information security space will directly benefit from the validation of …

A Review Of Recent Case Law Related To Digital Forensics: The Current Issues, Kelly A. Cole, Shruti Gupta, Dheeraj Gurugubelli, Marcus K. Rogers

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Digital forensics is a new field without established models of investigation. This study uses thematic analysis to explore the different issues seen in the prosecution of digital forensic investigations. The study looks at 100 cases from different federal appellate courts to analyze the cause of the appeal. The issues are categorized into one of four categories, ‘search and seizure’, ‘data analysis’, ‘presentation’ and ‘legal issues’. The majority of the cases reviewed related to the search and seizure activity.

Keywords: Computer Investigation, Case Law, Digital Forensics, Legal Issues, and Courts

Getting On The Agenda: The Influence Of Local Civil Society Organizations During Pre-Negotiation, David R. Andersen-Rodgers

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This article examines the types of strategies that different local civil society organizations use to get their issues addressed during a peace negotiation. Previous research has shown that the inclusion of civil society groups in a negotiation improves the likelihood for a durable peace. This paper argues that during conflict civil society organizations make a number of strategic choices that then affect their ability to get their societal interests placed on the agenda. These strategies are partially dictated by when and why the civil society group organized, the levels and types of advocacy that they choose to engage in during …

Analyzing Reproductive Policy: Patriarchal Legitimization And Women In Latin America, Shannon C. Magni

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper examines the way in which gendered violence is carried out as a way for the formal state and the Catholic Church to negotiate power. While examples of a much larger trend, three Latin American countries are discussed in detail. The first case occurred in Nicaragua, where a 9-year-old victim of rape was denied an abortion by both the state and the Church. The second case examined is the use of rape as a torture tactic by the military junta in Argentina during the Dirty War from 1976 to 1983. The final case examined is that of the forced …

Swords Into Stethoscopes: How The U.S. Military Could Conduct Medical Diplomacy, Oliver Kendall

Political Science Honors Projects

Since the early 1960’s, Cuba and China have won international appreciation by sending doctors abroad to help where they are needed. While there was surprise in some quarters when U.S. military personnel were deployed to combat Ebola in the last months of 2014, the Department of Defense actually has a long history of medical activity. In its current form, DoD medical outreach cannot likely garner soft power in the way that the Chinese and Cuban programs can, but with a few modifications, the U.S. military could be a serious conductor of medical diplomacy that would save countless lives and benefit …

Toward A Buddhist Theory Of Structural Peace: Lessons From Myanmar In Transition, Tatsushi Arai

Peace and Conflict Studies

This essay analyzes the result of in-depth interviews that the author conducted with Burmese Buddhist leaders, with a view toward building Buddhist theories of social conflict, reconciliation, and structural peace. Findings include their shared understanding of the deeply spiritual, inner-directed nature of conflict and reconciliation, and their highly divergent, contested understandings of the structural roots of human suffering in today’s globalized and interconnected world. To meet these structural challenges, this essay introduces the concept of structural awareness, which it defines as educated, enlightened consciousness to appreciate and act responsibly on the complex chains of causal relations in which well-intended action …

Administrative Relationships, Agency Theory, And The Summer Work Travel Program: 2012-2013, Mark Reardon

All Dissertations

This study discusses the ability of the Summer Work Travel Program (SWTP) to meet the objectives outlined in its authorizing legislation, the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961. These goals include educational exchange between participants and the U.S. community, cultural exchange between participants and the U.S. community, and the promotion of peace exemplified by SWTP operators and the U.S. community. The study adopts agency and transaction cost theory to guide its discussion of the administrative relationship between the U.S. State Department and those designated as Summer Work Travel Sponsors. This study's findings include instances of informational and preference …

‘Toxification’ As A More Precise Early Warning Sign For Genocide Than Dehumanization? An Emerging Research Agenda, Rhiannon S. Neilsen

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

In genocide scholarship, dehumanization is often considered to be an alarming early warning sign for mass systematic killing. Yet, within broader research, dehumanization is found to exist in a variety of instances that do not lead to aggression or violence. This disparity suggests that while dehumanization is an important part of the genocidal process, it is too imprecise as a salient early warning sign. Genocide scholars have acknowledged such a conjecture in the past. This article initiates an embryonic research agenda that offers ‘toxification’ as a more precise early warning sign for genocide than dehumanization. It contends that while dehumanization …

The Cold War: Over, Renewed, Or Never Ended?, Matt Phipps

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The Cold War has been studied repeatedly since the war supposedly ended in 1991. However recent events are starting to cause some concern and make many question whether or not the Cold War actually ended, if it took a different shape or perhaps has just been on pause. I argue that the Cold War has been a conflict that has been going on since 1947 and although the conflict has looked differently in recent decades the conflict was never properly put to an end. The research analyzes US decision making with respect to Russian and Asian relations over the last …

A Departure From Blood And Iron: A Comparative Analysis Of The Role Of Culture In Societal Reintegration Of Ex-Combatant Military Members And Reentry Of Ex-Convicts, Devon Danielle Lott

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

While there exists a multitude of information regarding the societal reintegration of both formerly deployed military members and ex-convicts, there is a lack of research comparing and contrasting each group's previous experiences and their effects on the processes of reintegration. From a national focus, the United States' incarceration rate is increasing and the recidivism rate between 2005 and 2010 was surveyed at seventy-five percent of prisoners being arrested again within five years of their release.1 From a military perspective in the United States, the rates of suicide among military members are exceeding the combat-related death rates for soldiers deployed to …

Shelby County V. Holder: Nullification, Racial Entitlement, And The Civil Rights Counterrevolution, Albert L. Samuels

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

- 188 - Shelby County v. Holder: Nullification, Racial Entitlement, and the Civil Rights Counterrevolution Albert L. Samuels Southern University The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Shelby County v. Holder (2013) which invalidated the “coverage formula” of Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 bears an eerie resemblance to the spirit of the Civil Rights Cases (1883). In a tone similar to the one exhibited by the Supreme Court in The Civil Rights Cases, Chief Justice Roberts cited progress achieved in electoral participation and office holding by African Americans as evidence that the special protections that the Voting …

Kittens And Nutella: Why Women Join Isis, Samantha K. Smith

What All Americans Should Know About Women in the Muslim World

On February 18, 2015 CNN published a reported stating that Western women were leaving their homes to join ISIS because of a social media campaign featuring pictures of kittens and Nutella. This reported propagated the notion that women who join jihadist organizations are brainwashed or feeble minded. The reality is not so simple. This paper explores the motives women may have for joining ISIS through comparison to the motivations that drove women to partake in other violent jihadist organizations' activities.

The F-35: Putting Rma Theory To The Test, Alexander Melynkovych

Ex-Patt Magazine

Will history judge the F-35 as a success or failure? Putting RMA Theory to the test.

Key Factors Driving Personnel Downsizing In Multinational Military Organizations, Ilksen Gorkem

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Although downsizing has long been a topic of research in traditional organizations, there are very few studies of this phenomenon in military contexts. As a result, we have little understanding of the key factors that drive personnel downsizing in military settings. This study contributes to our understanding of key factors that drive personnel downsizing in military organizations and whether those factors may differ across NATO nations' cultural clusters. The theoretical framework for this study was built from studies in non-military contexts and adapted to fit the military environment.

This research relies on historical data from one of the largest multinational …

The Long Road: Eisenhower’S Inter-American Highway: The Path To Economic Investment, Political Stability, And Collective Security In Central America, Jacob A. Ross

Student Publications

This paper explores the anti-communist Cold War tactics of public diplomacy as undertaken by the Eisenhower Administration. The focus of this paper is the Inter-American Highway: a program which the U.S. government funded and constructed to develop Central America economically, politically, and beyond. Funding for this program was increased and supported by the president because it fit the axiom of spending as little money as possible in the Cold War, but spending it in a way to be effective in the battle against Soviet communism. The stance of the U.S. government was to provide Central America with increased infrastructure development …

Armed Humanitarian Intervention: The Role Of Powerful Leaders In Framing And The National Security Decision Making Process, John Marshall Callahan

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This study identifies and analyzes the decision making and framing processes for selected cases of armed humanitarian intervention by the United States in the post-Cold War Era. It fills a gap in the literature on decision making, focusing on the role of the powerful individual leader in national security decision making and the framing of interventions to the U.S. public and other stakeholder audiences. An examination of extant literature on the subject of U.S. foreign policy decision making, and development and implementation of framing strategies is used to determine the role of the individual leader in those processes using three …

Why Bashar Al-Assad Remains In Power, Taylor Clausen

Global Tides

It has been almost four years since Syria descended into a vicious civil war. Still, Bashar Al-Assad remains in power despite predictions from Western powers. My paper analyses three distinct events that contribute to the continued rule of Bashar Al-Assad. It concludes with two policy options that the United States could enact to weaken Assad's position in Syria.

Indicators Of Terrorism Vulnerability In Africa, Raymond J. Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Terrorism in Africa has increased more than six-fold since 1997, with an increase in lethality as well. The U.S. government has spent billions of dollars to counter this increase in terrorism; however, terrorism in Africa has increased seemingly unabated. Furthermore, these methods used to counter-terrorism have been reactionary as opposed to preventative. To address the terrorism threat to a country, we must first understand which characteristics make a country vulnerable to such a threat. A confirmatory analysis bridges the inter-discipline gap between quantitative and qualitative fields through as assessment of observational findings about the causes of terrorism. An exploratory analysis …

The Equilibrium Of Violence: Accountability In The Age Of Autonomous Weapons Systems, Joel Hood

Brigham Young University International Law & Management Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Special Issue, Daniel J. Paracka, Masako Racel

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Introduction to the issue.

Fighting The "Islamic State" The Case For Us Ground Forces, David E. Johnson

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Megacities And The Us Army, Willam G. Adamson

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

From The Editor, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

The Case Against Megacities, Michael Evans

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Learning From The Past, Looking To The Future, Matthew Morton

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

The Individualization Of American Warfare, Glenn J. Voelz

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.