Military and Veterans Studies Commons^™

Factors That Shape U.S. Public Opinion On Foreign Policy, Julianne O'Connor

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Measuring public opinion is an undertaking requiring precise methods and a clear vision, and even then results can be inconclusive. Yet, understanding how and why a democratic public thinks the way it does, and to what extent those thoughts influence policymakers, is essential to a democracy. This paper will use data from the American National Election Survey to discuss the relationship between level of support for the war on terror and level of perceived effectiveness. Values, political sophistication, knowledge, and self-efficacy can each be used to predict the level of support an individual has for the war on terror, and …

China's Nine-Dashed Map: Maritime Source Of Geopolitical Tension, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The South China Sea (SCS) is becoming an increasingly contentious source of geopolitical tension due to its significance as an international trade route, possessor of potentially significant oil and natural gas resources, China’s increasing diplomatic and military assertiveness, and the U.S.’ recent and ongoing Pacific Pivot strategy. Countries as varied as China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and other adjacent countries have claims on this region’s islands and natural resources. China has been particularly assertive in asserting its SCS claims by creating a nine-dash line map claiming to give it de facto maritime control over this entire region without regard to …

Nato In The Balkans, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This encyclopedia entry examines the contemporary and recent historic role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Balkan countries. It also discusses and emerging security concerns affecting these countries.

Yugoslav-Soviet Split, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Describes the political and military split between the Communist countries of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the years after World War II until Yugoslavia's disintegration in the early 1990s.

The State Partnership Program: States As Global Actors: The Implications Of Nonaggressive National Forces, Ellen Ahlness

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States sought to increase its influence in Western Europe and Central Asia. The primary military mechanism used to increase presence and ideological influence was the State Partnership Program. This program, modeled heavily after the Norwegian Reciprocal Troop Exchange, used reserve forces instead of active duty forces to lessen the aggression levels perceived by Russian command. This use of reserve forces gave individual American states a greater degree of involvement in international military operations. Since the creation of the State Partnership Program, 65 state/country partnerships have been established. The goals have also …

Coastal Defenses, U.S., Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of U.S. military coastal defenses during the period up to and including the War 1812.

Letter To Editor Indiana Magazine Of History, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Letter responding to comparison of Guantanamo bay terrorist detainees with the noted Indiana Civil War case of Lambdin Milligan, ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, who was detained by Union military authorities during the Civil War for his pro-confederate activities and tried by a military court.

The Emergence Of Feral And Criminal Cities: U.S. Military Implications In A Time Of Austerity, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This Land Warfare Paper considers the nature of the emerging global security environment. With the spread of economic liberalism that gained foothold after the conclusion of the Cold War, one might think that the 21st century is the perfect time for the modern democratic state to be a ubiquitous institution. However, between power vacuums developing in formerly autocratic states and economic troubles becoming more prevalent, the atmosphere of the world is increasingly toxic to the values upheld in Western democracy. With that being the case, nation building, and even city building, is presently beyond the scope of the diminishing resources …

The Futility Of Insurgent Leader Assassination, Arian Sharifi

Ex-Patt Magazine

Questioning the utility of using drones to kill insurgent leaders. Lessons for policy makers.

Mixed Motives? Explaining The Decision To Integrate Militaries At Civil War's End, Caroline A. Hartzell

Political Science Faculty Publications

Book Summary: Negotiating a peaceful end to civil wars, which often includes an attempt to bring together former rival military or insurgent factions into a new national army, has been a frequent goal of conflict resolution practitioners since the Cold War. In practice, however, very little is known about what works, and what doesn't work, in bringing together former opponents to build a lasting peace.

Contributors to this volume assess why some civil wars result in successful military integration while others dissolve into further strife, factionalism, and even renewed civil war. Eleven cases are studied in detail—Sudan, Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Rwanda, …

The War Powers Resolution Of 1973 And Its Relevance In The “War On Terror”, Samuel Day

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In September of 2013, President Obama asked Congress to take a vote that would authorize the United States to use military drones against the Syrian army and provide support for the Syrian rebels. This action by President Obama raised the question that many have been wondering since the creation of our country, who has the power to declare war and initiate hostilities against those who threaten the United States? My thesis focuses on the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and the arguments surrounding its Constitutionality, specifically the arguments supporting the Executive or Legislative branches. For my research supporting the argument …

Facing The Apocalypse: Bomb Shelters And National Policy In Eisenhower’S Second Term, Angela A. Badore

Student Publications

This paper explores the issues of civilian defense from a federal perspective during Eisenhower’s second term, particularly focusing on the issue of bomb shelters during the period from 1956-1958. Despite widespread efforts to promote bomb shelters, or fallout shelters, during this period, no significant progress was made toward a federal program. By examining federal efforts such as the Holifield Committee, the Gaither Committee, Operation Alert, and the National Shelter Policy, this paper shows that efforts to set up shelter programs actually made the public and the Eisenhower administration less likely to trust such programs at all.

Peacebuilding After Civil War, Caroline A. Hartzell

Political Science Faculty Publications

Book Summary: This comprehensive new Handbook explores the significance and nature of armed intrastate conflict and civil war in the modern world. Civil wars and intrastate conflict represent the principal form of organised violence since the end of World War II, and certainly in the contemporary era. These conflicts have a huge impact and drive major political change within the societies in which they occur, as well as on an international scale. The global importance of recent intrastate and regional conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Nepal, Cote d'Ivoire, Syria and Libya – amongst others – has served to refocus …

American Military Strategy In The Vietnam War, 1965– 1973, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Books and Book Chapters

For nearly a decade, American combat soldiers fought in South Vietnam to help sustain an independent, noncommunist nation in Southeast Asia. After U.S. troops departed in 1973, the collapse of South Vietnam in 1975 prompted a lasting search to explain the United States’ first lost war. Historians of the conflict and participants alike have since critiqued the ways in which civilian policymakers and uniformed leaders applied—some argued misapplied—military power that led to such an undesirable political outcome. While some claimed U.S. politicians failed to commit their nation’s full military might to a limited war, others contended that most officers fundamentally …

Export Controls: A Contemporary History, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides highlights of my recently published book Export Controls: A Contemporary History. Describes the roles played by multiple U.S. Government agencies and congressional oversight committees in this policymaking arena including the Commerce, Defense, State, and Treasury Departments. It also reviews the roles played by international government organizations such as the Missile Technology Control Regime, export oriented businesses, and research intensive universities.

To Empathize With An Enemy, Rashida Aluko-Roberts

SURGE

I do not like to talk about my time in Sierra Leone, but I think I’m ready to start.

Growing up in Sierra Leone was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I carry with me fond memories of my childhood, growing up on 22 Thompson Street in the one-storey house with red doors and windows and zebra themed paint. Evenings were spent riding bikes with my best friend Fatmata. Weekend afternoons spent playing scrabble and watching our favorite Disney movies with my siblings and neighbors in our living room. Those memories I have kept, happily. [excerpt …

New York Times V. U.S.: Implications And Relevance In The 21st Century, Maria E. Lombardi

Student Publications

In 1971, the New York Times released the first installment in a series later referred to as the Pentagon Papers that would eventually have significant political, social, and historical impacts that are felt even in the 21st Century. Following the first release, President Nixon’s administration sought an injunction against the publication of the remaining contents of the classified study, ultimately becoming an extensive legal process that culminated in the Supreme Court. In a per curiam opinion, the Court ruled that in accordance with Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe and Near v. Minnesota that the federal government did not …

More Effective Human Spaceflight Programs And Their International Security Implications, Bert Chapman, Sarag J. Saikia

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

NASA can more effectively perform its missions by transferring its aeronautic responsibilities to the Federal Aviation Administration and be renamed the National Space Agency. The U.S. must also recognize that space is an emerging arena of international competition and conflict and militarily protect its space assets from China which seeks to use space to restrict the U.S.' ability to defend its strategic interests in regions such as the Western Pacific.

The Complexity Of Armed Conflict In Mindanao: Beyond Economic Deprivation, Discrimination, And Inequality, Nasser Pendatun Lidasan

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Studies on internal conflict focus on bringing a violent conflict to non-violent. Economic development and good governance are most attractive since essential services are provided to people, regardless of ethnic affiliation. Autonomy for minority groups to maintain the integrity of a state is another option. Applied in Mindanao conflict, negotiated settlement, separation, and military victory did not create a lasting peace. This study applies the levels of analysis framework to investigate the conflict and considers the sub-state level as vital. It suggests the role of local actors as crucial in intrastate conflict. It examines the dynamics of conflict at the …

Making War And Securing Peace: The Viability Of Peace Enforcement As A Mechanism For Promoting And Securing Civil War Termination, Shawn H. Greene

Political Science Honors Projects

Peace enforcement—the threat or use of military force to compel belligerent adherence to a civil war settlement—has become increasingly salient in the past decade. Using a hazards analysis of all civil wars and associated third party interventions between 1945 and 2013 in addition to three structured, focused case studies, I argue that peace enforcement operations that 1) utilize the appropriate typological spoiler management strategy and 2) maintain legitimacy and impartiality through close cooperation with UN peacekeepers, are the most successful at catalyzing civil war termination and securing durable peace. I also provide a theoretical framework through which to study peace …

Army Corps Of Engineers, U.S., Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has influenced historical and contemporary economic, environmental, and political developments in the American West.

Defense, U.S. Department Of, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of U.S. Department of Defense activities in the western U.S. including the military's increasing emphasis on Asia-Pacific strategic trends and developments.

An Ever Closer Union: The European Security And Defense Policy And The Development Of Hard Power Capabilities In The European Union, Daniel Stepanicich

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

No abstract provided.

Lessons Learned From Pakistan: A Dissertation On The Bush-Obama Drone Doctrine, Michael A. Pipa

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The first use of the modern day attack drone by the United States was in Afghanistan in mid 2002, and for the past 11 years attack drones have been used by the United States in as many countries as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. When considering the alternatives to using drones, such as sending marines on the ground to complete a mission or flying a piloted jet over enemy territory to gather intelligence, as well as the military power that the use of these vehicles projects, the attack drone has become the weapon of choice in the war on terror for …

Book Review: Virtual War And Magical Death: Technologies And Imaginaries For Terror And Killing, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This is a book review.

Book Review: Routledge Handbook Of Transnational Organized Crime, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This is a book review.

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #20: Rpg-29 Anti-Armor Munitions, David A. Kuhn, Anikh Wadhawan, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Note—Up until recently, weapons that provide for armor and bunker defeat capability at the levels that the RPG-29 is capable of, have not been seen in the hands of the Mexican cartels. The fact that they have successfully obtained them—and the origin and mechanism by which they were obtained should be of extreme concern to everyone.

Vbieds In The Mexican Criminal Insurgency, Robert J. Bunker, John P. Sullivan

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

At least 130,000 people have been killed in the ongoing Mexican “crime war,” and many more have been kidnapped or simply gone missing. Yet despite the significance of these numbers, official reports and news accounts frequently underreport the toll of this war.

Narco Armor: Improvised Armored Fighting Vehicles In Mexico, Robert J. Bunker, Byron Ramirez

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

The introduction of this work analyzes the types and evolution of cartel IAFVs in Mexico. To this analysis can be added “vehicle number 24” in the picture gallery, which highlights fixed 50 cal. sniper rifles and machine guns found in or on various vehicles seized from the cartels. These represent multiple 50 cal. sniper rifles and heavy machine guns on fixed mounts inside vehicles and, in one instance, on the back of a vehicle with armored gun shield protection. While we have seen no photographic evidence of an organic (main) gun placed on cartel IAFVs as of yet, these weapons …

Morton, Oliver Hazard Perry Throck, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Biographical portrait and analysis of Indiana Civil War Governor Oliver Morton.