Defense and Security Studies Commons^™

Editor's Shelf, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Off The Press, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Land Rights And Mine Action In Afghanistan: Analysis And Programming Entry-Points For Mine Action Organisations - Final Report, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

In 2010, GICHD initiated a project on landmines and land rights in conflict affected contexts. The purpose of the project was to strengthen the capacity of mine action organisations to prevent and respond to land-related conflict before, during and after mine action operations. Since 2011, GICHD has been partnering with UN-HABITAT to undertake a series of land assessment and support missions in key countries toprovide mine action organisations with analyses of land related conflicts and practical guidance on how they can ensure their mine action operations “do no harm” and take land issues into consideration. This report summarizes the main …

Developments In The Global Energy Markets And Constructing The Future Of The Persian Gulf Security, Nihat Cengel

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This study analyses the global energy projections and regional dynamics in the Persian Gulf. It is shown that the future projections in the world energy markets signify the importance of cooperation between developed and developing countries. It is also suggested that connected to the global economic crises and the regional demand change in the energy market, there is a growing need for international support to the Persian Gulf security.

I argue that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) could play a crucial role for eliminating political conflicts and maintaining the regional stability. As a result, collective arm transfer to the region, …

Do "Suicide Bombers" Really Commit Suicide?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

By Israel Oron (Ostre), Ph.D., Psychologist, National Program for Suicide Prevention, Ministry of Health, Israel, and The Department for Psychology, Health and Ethics/ University of Haifa, Israel.

[Dr. Oron (Ostre) was formerly Psychologist, Behavior Section/The Department of Criminal Investigations & Intelligence, Israel Police HQ].

This article applies a psychological approach to explore and to explain the behavior of Palestinian terrorists who blow themselves up in the light of their own words. It is shown that terrorists have no suicidal intent; hence, their behavior is not an act of suicide. Psychological analysis point to a behavioral reaction to stress situations that …

Livelihoods Analysis Of Landmine/Erw Affected Communities In Herat Province Afghanistan, Gichd, Mine Action Coordination Centre For Afghanistan, Gender In Mine Action

Global CWD Repository

The Mine Action Coordination Centre for Afghanistan (MACCA) and the Department for Mine Clearance (DMC) are seeking to better understand the development outcomes of demining. They plan to undertake community-level surveys on a periodic basis to document these achievements and identify changes to policy and practice that could further enhance the contribution that the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA) makes towards Afghanistan’s development. The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), working within the framework of the MoU between the GICHD and the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), assisted with the design and implementation of a pilot project that …

Cover & Front Matter

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

War Without Violence: Leveraging The Arab Spring To Win The War On Terrorism, Pat Proctor

Journal of Strategic Security

After a decade of war, the United States has failed to eradicate the threat of salafist jihadism. No matter how hard it tries, the United States cannot kill its way to victory in the war on terrorism. Sweeping changes across the Middle East—dubbed the "Arab Spring" by the media—have presented the West with a unique opportunity to pursue an alternative approach. Rather than engaging in war (politics through violence), the United States should engage in mass politics (war without violence) to compel the Arab world to reject the salafist jihadism idea. This article proposes a strategy calibrated to defeat international …

The Youth Bulge In Egypt: An Intersection Of Demographics, Security, And The Arab Spring, Daniel Lagraffe

Journal of Strategic Security

During the Arab Spring, Egyptians revolted against decades of poor governance and failed institutions. A wide range of grievances contributed to the eventual fall of the Mubarak regime, and most of these grievances were influenced by the demographic composition of the Egyptian population. This paper argues that the youth bulge in Egypt played a major role in the political transition and as such serves as the prime example of the intersection of demographics, security, and the Arab Spring.

Learning From Libya, Acting In Syria, Caitlin A. Buckley

Journal of Strategic Security

The international community has reached an impasse. The violence committed by Syrian President Assad's government against opposition forces, who have been calling for democratic reform, regime change, and expanded rights, has necessitated a response from the international community. This article explores various ways the international community could respond to the crisis in Syria and the consequences of each approach. It compares the current calamity in Syria to the crisis in Libya and examines the international community's response to the violence perpetrated by Qaddafi's regime. It further analyzes reports, primarily from the UN and news sources, about the ongoing predicament in …

Libya And Resolution 1973: The Law Of Politics, Monica Naime

Journal of Strategic Security

This paper analyzes recent developments in the intervention in Libya from the perspective of international relations and international law. The evidence suggests that states decided to intervene in Libya prior to sanction from the United Nations Security Council's Resolution 1973. The implication from the Libyan example is that politics was the impetus for the formulation and implementation of law, and not the other way around. Law "happens" in a context, and this context is shaped and bounded by international politics. This article is intended to invigorate further research into how international politics influences the creation, interpretation, and application of international …

To Walk The Earth In Safety 11th Edition (Fy2011), Us Dos Pm/Wra

Global CWD Repository

In 2011, the United States continued to lead the international donor community in providing assistance for the clearance of landmines and explosive remnants of war, as well as the destruction of at-risk and unsecured weapons and munitions. In Fiscal Year 2011, the Department of State allocated $142 million in assistance to 42 countries, thereby helping communities recover, and countries become more secure. This 11th edition of our annual report, To Walk The Earth In Safety, details the programs and partnerships that make the United States’ Conventional Weapons Destruction (CWD) program a lasting success.

Increased instability as a result of …

Transitioning Mine Action Programmes To National Ownership I Albania, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

In response to the limited guidance on the topic of transition to national ownership, the GICHD commissioned nine country case studies in 2011 to highlight different contexts, processes, challenges, good practices and lessons learnt from the process of transition to national ownership.

Based on lessons learnt and the good practices highlighted in the case studies, the GICHD, in collaboration with UNMAS, produced a Guide on Transitioning Mine Action Programmes to National Ownership.

The Impact Of The Arab Spring On Islamist Strategies, Ioana E. Matesan

Journal of Strategic Security

The revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt created a contagion effect that inspired a series of uprisings by sending two signals: first, that even entrenched authoritarian regimes are vulnerable; and second, that nonviolent tactics can be effective in bringing about dramatic political changes. Subsequent developments, especially in Libya and Syria, convoluted these messages. Nonetheless, the political openings and the electoral victory of Islamists in Egypt and Tunisia continue to send the signal to many Islamist opposition groups that nonviolent means and participation in politics can be effective ways to produce political change. The chance of gaining power through electoral means can …

Towards Managing And Understanding The Risk Of Underwater Terrorism, Richard J. Gay

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a methodology to manage and understand the risk of underwater terrorism to critical infrastructures utilizing the parameters of the risk equation. Current methods frequently rely on statistical methods, which suffer from a lack of appropriate historical data to produce distributions and do not integrate epistemic uncertainty. Other methods rely on locating subject matter experts who can provide judgment and then undertaking an associated validation of these judgments.

Using experimentation, data from unclassified successful, or near successful, underwater attacks are analyzed and instantiated as a network graph with the key characteristics of the risk of terrorism represented as …

Ua35/8 The Topper, Vol. 19, Issue 2, Wku Veterans Upward Bound

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter published by WKU Veterans Upward Bound includes articles and calendar of events.

The United States Military Realignment On Okinawa, Kevin M. Evringham

Master's Theses

The United States maintains military bases in foreign countries in efforts to protect American overseas interests, whether they are economic, diplomatic or for geostrategic purposes. In Japan, where the United States has maintained military installations since the end of World War II, debate over the realignment of forces on Okinawa has caused minor, yet growing, rifts in the stable United States-Japanese alliance. Current plans to shift American military forces from Okinawa to locations throughout the Pacific do not take into account the historical or geostrategic factors for their stationing in Japan. This thesis identifies the geostrategic challenges to the current …

Parting The Waves: Claims To Maritime Jurisdiction And The Division Of Ocean Space, Clive Schofield

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

This article casts aside traditional obsessions and examines the development and present state of coastal State claims to maritime jurisdiction, the overlapping claims to maritime space that have inevitably resulted from the significant extension of maritime claims in recent decades, and thus the delimitation of maritime boundaries.

Alone On A Wide Wide Sea: A National Security Rationale For Joining The Law Of The Sea Convention, James W. Houck

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

In the face of twenty-first century challenges to military maritime mobility, the question persists as to whether customary international law will remain a reliable foundation for U.S. maritime security interests in the future. To date, the U.S. has successfully conducted military operations sanctioned by the customary high seas freedoms of free navigation and overflight. However, with technological advances and heightened environmental and defense concerns, countries with coastal state interests may demand greater control over their near-shore waters, requiring the U.S. to reconsider its position outside the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This article addresses pertinent …

The Red Scare, Allison Ellis

Undergraduate Research Conference

The Red Scare describes the time in American History following World War II when tension between Americans and other Communist countries, specifically the Soviet Union, were threateningly high. Each county was equipped for, yet fearful of an atomic war. The United States government tried to use this fear to motivate the American public to become mobilized. American citizens were encouraged to rely on themselves and prepare for the worst. Even though they were ignorant to the effects of such an attack, Americans tried desperately to prepare their homes and families. The government published articles, pamphlets, short films, and held drills …

Geneva International Centre For Humanitarian Demining Annual Report 2011, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

Annual narrative report on the work of the GICHD during 2011.

A Comparative Analysis Of The Transitional Effect Of Democratic Regime Change On Human Rights Development, Alana Mcelhinney

Political Science Theses and Capstones

It has been a long-standing topic of discussion within the field of political science on the extent to which the establishment of democratic regime characteristics influences the development of human rights. While there is considerable research in the areas of democracy and human rights, what the literature lacks is research towards the growth of democratic regime characteristics being causal to the development of human rights practices. This analysis shows that a transition in democratic regime characteristics is directly linked to the development of human rights. After completing case-study analysis and developing causal theory I take data from the years 1981 …

Cover & Front Matter

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Deterring And Dissuading Nuclear Terrorism, John J. Klein

Journal of Strategic Security

While nuclear deterrence theory may be well-suited to dealing with nuclear-armed states, its suitability for deterring nuclear terrorism has frequently been questioned since 9/11. While terrorist organizations do not necessarily act uniformly or according to the same underlying beliefs, many of the most aggressive organizations are motivated by an ideology that embraces martyrdom and an apocalyptic vision.1 This ideology may be based on religion or a desire to overthrow a government. Consequently, terrorists motivated by ideology who intend to use a stolen or improvised nuclear device against the United States or its interests may not care about the resulting military …

Policy Intervention In Fata: Why Discourse Matters, Nazya Fiaz Dr.

Journal of Strategic Security

Despite years of wide-scale counterterrorism measures in Pakistan's FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), the injection of substantial funds, and the "close" collaboration between the United States and Pakistan, the ugly truth is that the extremism and militancy in FATA continues to recruit members. Moreover, there is little indication that the killing of Usama bin Ladin will have any significant effect on reducing support for militancy. While taking stock of these realities, this article will not seek to rehash the many successes and failures of the counterterrorist operations in FATA. Instead, its purpose will be to argue that while the causes …

A Systems-Based Approach To Intelligence Reform, Austen Givens

Journal of Strategic Security

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 prompted the most comprehensive changes to the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) since its creation via the National Security Act of 1947. Recent structural and organizational reforms, such as efforts to enhance information sharing and recruit speakers of hard-target languages, have also triggered new challenges to successful transformation. In light of the systemic problems facing the IC, this paper argues that systems engineering, a discipline increasingly useful in organizational change, offers a more efficient, holistic approach to the intelligence reform process than the status quo. Systems engineering views the IC as an integrated and …

Evaluation Of The Un Mine Action Programme In Nepal, Ted Paterson, Prabin Chitraker, Abigail Hartley

Global CWD Repository

This evaluation looks at the UN Mine Action Programme in Nepal, which comprised two distinct but complementary components: one managed by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and the other by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The aims of the evaluation were to:

1. assess the efficacy of the UN Mine Action Programme in Nepal
2. identify strengths and weaknesses in the relationships, structures, capacity development and processes that have been established
3. make recommendations for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of similar programmes

Risk Quadruplet: Integrating Assessments Of Threat, Vulnerability, Consequence, And Perception For Homeland Security And Homeland Defense, Kara Norman Hill

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Risk for homeland security and homeland defense is often considered to be a function of threat, vulnerability, and consequence. But what is that function? And are we defining and measuring these terms consistently? Threat, vulnerability, and consequence assessments are conducted, often separately, and data from one assessment could be drastically different from that of another due to inconsistent definitions of terms and measurements, differing data collection methods, or varying data sources. It has also long been a challenge to integrate these three disparate assessments to establish an overall picture of risk to a given asset. Further, many agencies conduct these …

Ten Years Of Gwot, The Failure Of Democratization And The Fallacy Of “Ungoverned Spaces”, David P. Oakley, Patrick Proctor

Journal of Strategic Security

October 7, 2011, marked a decade since the United States invaded Afghanistan and initiated the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). While most ten-year anniversary gifts involve aluminum, tin, or diamonds, the greatest gift U.S. policymakers can present American citizens is a reconsideration of the logic that guides America's counterterrorism strategy. Although the United States has successfully averted large-scale domestic terrorist attacks, its inability to grasp the nature of the enemy has cost it dearly in wasted resources and, more importantly, lost lives. Two of the most consistent and glaring policy flaws revolve around the concepts of filling "ungoverned spaces" and …

Value Focused Thinking For Nation Building In Afghanistan: A Regional Perspective, Muhammad S. Riaz

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an effort to mathematically model the nation building effort that is underway in Afghanistan. The thesis examines this nation building effort from the perspective of a local person who understands Afghan culture better than a foreigner. The thesis employs value-focused thinking to categorize the factors that we need to focus on for nation building in descending order of priority. This research adds a new dimension to the models already available in the literature and is likely to be more readily embraced by the local people who are sometimes in conflict with American priorities.