2024-03-28T14:43:19Zhttps://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/oai/requestoai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/30622019-04-01T08:18:00Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
De Goede, Meike J.
2012-09-03T11:34:40Z
2012-09-03T11:34:40Z
2012-05-07
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3062
This thesis focuses on liberal peace building in the DRC. The thesis takes a critical approach which emphasises local agencies and their engagements with liberal peace building. However, it seeks to bring this critique back to the institutions with which liberal peace building is preoccupied, by focusing on the hidden local that operates within these institutions. This
approach seeks to give new meaning to processes of institution building without rendering institutions irrelevant as a top-down approach.
Focusing on the first legislature of the Congolese Third Republic (2006-2011) this thesis provides a case study of how local agencies consume liberal democracy within the National Assembly, and make it their own. It discusses current liberal peace building practices as a process of mutual disengagement, in which both the local and liberal intervention seek to disengage from each other. Although this results in a lack of legitimacy of the peace building
project both locally as well as with liberal interventions, it also creates hybrid space in which local agencies consume liberal democracy.
The thesis conceptualises these local agencies as being convivial, in other words, they are enabled by people’s relations. The thesis therefore focuses on MPs relations with their electorate, as well as with the executive and other MPs in their party or ruling coalition. In through these interactions local agencies consume liberal democracy – it is accepted, rejected,
diverted, substituted, etc. The thesis concludes that through these practices of consumption local agencies negotiate liberal democracy. The liberal democratic framework is kept intact, but it is not enabled to function as foreseen, because local agencies are responsive to a moral matrix of the father-family. However, the liberal democratic framework itself provides new tools through which local agencies also renegotiate the unwritten rules of the moral matrix of the father-family.
en
Liberal peace
Local agencies
Democratic Republic of Congo
National Assembly
Institution building
Political practices
Informal politics
Consuming democracy : local agencies and liberal peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/78552019-07-01T10:15:14Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Nicholas, Donna
2015-11-26T12:41:01Z
2015-11-26T12:41:01Z
2015-11-30
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/7855
This thesis seeks to show how the reassessment of Arendt’s thought for contemporary international political theory must be grounded in her first major published work, The Origins of Totalitarianism, and, more specifically, in the concept of the political she outlines therein. The thesis begins by examining how Arendt interprets the political sui generis. It shows how this concept, which influences much of her scholarship from the 1950s onwards and serves as a critical measure against which she assesses modern-day events, is disclosed for the first time in Part II of Origins through her engagement with particular topics and phenomena related to European colonial imperialism. Using this somewhat neglected text as a point of departure, the main body of the thesis examines Arendt’s thoughts on three ‘anti-political’ impulses of the contemporary world that have clear international ramifications: sovereignty, nationalism and imperialism. The work is divided into three corresponding sections. Each contains a chapter providing an interpretive study of Arendt’s text on the subject, followed by a chapter applying the key themes, insights and dangers previously highlighted to some of the most intractable global situations today such as the international human rights regime, atomic weaponry and war, biopolitical control, genocide studies and neoliberal globalisation. In so doing, the thesis does not aim to ‘find’ in Arendt’s work determinate answers to the crises of our time, but rather to use her perceptions as critical inspiration to think about them differently.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Arendt
The political
Sovereignty
Nationalism
Imperialism
'The origins of totalitarianism'
Hannah Arendt and the political : the contemporary challenges posed by sovereignty, nationalism and imperialism
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/18942019-04-01T08:18:00Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
McDonald, William Samuel
2011-06-23T08:50:13Z
2011-06-23T08:50:13Z
2011-06-21
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1894
Recent years have seen an increasing interest in the writing of Michel Foucault within political theory. This paper will examine two series of lectures Foucault presented at the Collège de France in which he discussed in detail a cluster of subjects with clear political connotations. Within the 1978 and 1979 series Foucault outlined the concept of governmentality, which he divided into two subcategories: the police-state and liberalism. He also considered socialism’s relationship to governmentality. In this instance, however, he argued that socialism had yet to produce an autonomous governmentality: meaning that it
could not exist as an autonomous political entity, only serving as an appendage to liberal or authoritarian regimes.
The fundamental interest of this discussion is to determine if socialist thought has advanced since Foucault offered his assessment. It is beyond the scope of this paper to survey the entire span of socialist literature produced since the 1970s; rather this paper will focus on the work of Antonio Negri and Micheal Hardt, who represent a particularly important strand in
contemporary socialist thought.
The conclusion drawn is that they have not proposed such a governmentality. In fact it is possible that a political system may appear to exhibit features of multitude but, at the same time, may adopt neo-liberal practices. Hence, multitude cannot
entirely displace neo-liberalism.
However, that is not to say the concept of multitude is without merit. For instance, it offers a method of establishing novel identities and communities, thereby protecting the diversity of cultures across the world. For those reasons multitude constitutes a qualitative step forward in an increasingly globalised political economy.
en
Neo-Marxism
Neo-liberalism
Governmentality
Foucault
Biopolitics
Hardt and Negri
Neo-liberalism, socialism and governmentality : has socialism yet developed an autonomous governmentality?
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/63532021-10-30T02:00:36Zcom_10023_808com_10023_39com_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_809col_10023_88
Rifai, Ola
2015-03-26T14:29:00Z
2015-03-26T14:29:00Z
2014-06-01
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6353
This thesis is about identity clashes during the first two years of the Syrian uprising (from 15th of March 2011 to 15th of March 2013). Chiefly, it attempts to answer the following questions: what roles do identities play in the construction of power among the various identity groups? What were the reasons for the identity clashes that occurred during the Syrian uprising?. How can we evaluate the reproduction of identity during the uprising?. The Alawite, Sunni, Kurdish and Syrian national identities are used to illustrate how in the course of the uprising, these identities were consistently being reproduced as each group vied for power. This thesis argues that during the Syrian uprising these identities were subject to an enduring process of reproduction and reinforcement by discourse directed from above and from below, in which symbolic and materialistic elements played a vital role. The mode of analysis for this thesis is framed by the modernist and symbolist approaches to theories of nationalism and is underpinned by the theory of communal violence.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Syrian uprising
Identity
The war of identities amidst the Syrian uprising : the continual reproduction of sub-state identities and the quest to reconstruct Syrian national identity
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/94742019-04-01T08:18:01Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Reilly, Jonathan
2016-09-12T11:24:25Z
2016-09-12T11:24:25Z
2015
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9474
This thesis examines the contributions to the global constitutional process made by the
human rights machinery of the United Nations. To do this, it considers the philosophical and
theoretical positions related to understanding constitutionalism either as government or as
governance. This contrast is then used to help develop the idea of the constitutional process,
which is followed by a translation of these ideas into the international realm. Subsequently, it
examines the United Nations Human Rights Council from the perspective of a polycentric
international society. This is then followed by an examination of the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from a cosmopolitan perspective. Ultimately,
it is concluded that, whilst the existing contributions made by these organs are seemingly
negligible, the particular theoretical approach undertaken is successful in highlighting certain
opportunities for reforms that have hitherto been unexamined.
en
Human rights and global constitutionalism
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/83502024-02-13T16:30:22Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Antonio-Alfonso, Francisco
2016-03-02T14:55:20Z
2016-03-02T14:55:20Z
2016-06-21
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/8350
Mexico and China established official diplomatic relations in 1972. Since then, their mutual economic, political and social links have been developed in an unprecedented way. However, from the perspective of International Relations, the analytical richness of the relationship is obscured by hegemonic conceptualisations of global power, materiality or teleological truths. The literature dealing with the relation in itself has not prioritised a theoretical or holistic approach. Through an analysis of the discursive production of a series of diplomatic, media and academic sources, this thesis demonstrates that, embedded in the great technological and political transformations of the contemporary world, Mexico‐China relations have embodied a complex process of knowledge formation out of the confrontation of their socially constructed conceptions of time, space and otherness: a cultural encounter. During the period from 1972‐2012, not only did Mexico‐China relations involve state and trade interactions, but also a complex intellectual construction of the world and of themselves ranging from the formation of a common anti‐Western identity and the erection of binary oppositions between them, to the formulation of rich proposals for self-criticism and cultural learning. Mexico-China cultural encounter, therefore, provides a fundamental case for understanding world politics and human interaction from a truly global perspective beyond reductionist views of materiality.
en
2026-02-09
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 9 February 2026
Cultural encounters
Sino-Mexican relations
Non-Western international relations theory
Alterity construction
Third World
Sino-Latin American relations
China
Mexico
Cultural encounters in a global age : knowledge, alterity and the world in Mexico-China relations (1972-2012)
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/152242019-04-01T08:18:02Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Ertl, Alan
2018-07-11T08:36:39Z
2018-07-11T08:36:39Z
1989
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15224
International systems change; integration or disintegration? Homo sapiens seek stabilisation and tend toward a state of equilibrium in life and in times of rapid change, attempt even more to achieve a relative condition approaching a normative status quo. International systems tend also to focus on stabilising behaviour in a like manner as a quantitative enlargement of the Individual phenomenon. Within the European context, expansion (integration) as an attempt to maintain stability may not be achieving the hoped for success because of the do ut des phenomenon. Single collectivities attempt a best possible relationship based on particularistic motives. Theories have yet to focus on the social dimension of integration and tend to selectively single out the more readily available economic and political aspects. Effective, expanded society is the product of mutual feelings, often unarticulated with higher degrees of consonance more prone to integrate, given the extensive range of compatibilities than non-European society's exhibiting dissonance. Individuals, fundamentally motivated by needs, respond to needs in similar fashions, developing linkages. But how can authority shift if the authoritarian state is unwilling to relinquish same? The opposite of authoritarian prejudicial subjectiveness is objective humanistic liberalism, a product highly correlated with education and exposure. Collectivities grow organically from within, through cognition, and during rapid change, International accommodation may develop most effectively only on this basis. An adequate assessment and projection of European Integration may be possible only by determining the causation and degree of the individual commitment.
en
International systems change: integration or disintegration?
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/3542019-07-01T10:16:01Zcom_10023_808com_10023_39com_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_809col_10023_88
Stacher, Joshua A
2007-06-21T09:54:33Z
2007-06-21T09:54:33Z
2007-03-07
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/354
This PhD thesis compares Egypt and Syria’s authoritarian political systems. While the tendency in social science political research treats Egypt and Syria as similarly authoritarian, this research emphasizes differences between the two systems with special reference to institutions and co-optation. Rather than reducibly understanding Egypt and Syria as sharing similar histories, institutional arrangements, or ascribing to the oft-repeated convention that “Syria is Egypt but 10 years behind,” this thesis focuses on how events and individual histories shaped each states current institutional strengthens and weaknesses. Specifically, it explains the how varying institutional politicization or de-politicization affects each state’s capabilities for co-opting elite and non-elite individuals.
Beginning with a theoretical framework that considers the limited utility of democratization and transition theoretical approaches, the work underscores the persistence and durability of authoritarianism. Chapter two details the politicized institutional divergence between Egypt and Syria that began in the 1970s. Chapter three and four examines how institutional politicization or de-politicization affects elite and non-elite individual co-optation in Egypt and Syria. Chapter five discusses the study’s general conclusions and theoretical implications.
This thesis’s argument is that Egypt and Syria co-opt elites and non-elites differently because of the varying degrees of institutional politicization in each governance system. Rather than view one country as more politically developed than the other, this work argues that Syria’s political institutions are more politicized than their Egyptian counterparts. Syria’s political arena is, thus, described as politicized-patrimonialism. Syria’s politicized-patrimonial arena produces uneven co-optation of elites and non-elites as they are diffused through competing institutions. Conversely, the Egyptian political arena remains highly personalized as weak institutions and individuals are manipulated and molded according to the president’s ruling clique. This is referred to as personalized-patrimonialism. As a consequence, Egypt’s political establishment demonstrates more flexibility in ad hoc altering and adapting its arena depending on the emergence of crises.
This study’s theoretical implications suggest that, contrary to modernization and democratization theory’s adage that institutions lead to a political development, politicized institutions within a patrimonial order actually hinder regime adaptation because consensus is harder to achieve and maintain. It is within this context that Egypt’s de-politicized institutional framework advantages its top political elite. In this reading of Egyptian and Syrian politics, Egypt’s personalized political arena is more adaptable than Syria’s. These conclusions do not indicate that political reform is a process underway in either state.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Authoritarianism
Egypt
Syria
Co-optation
Institutions
Elites
Comparative politics
Adapting authoritarianism: institutions and co-optation in Egypt and Syria
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/151602019-04-01T08:18:04Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Frynas, Jedrzej George
2018-07-10T09:26:39Z
2018-07-10T09:26:39Z
1999
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15160
This thesis analyses legal disputes between village communities and oil companies in Nigeria. We have three principal aims. First, the thesis is an attempt to provide a detailed analysis of the nature of legal disputes between oil companies and village communities in Nigeria, particularly in the light of the rise in oil related litigation. Second, the study of litigation is meant to serve as a window to an understanding of social conflicts between village communities and oil companies. Third, the thesis is aimed at making a contribution to the research and the debate on the role of multinational companies in developing countries and on the day-to-day operations of African legal systems. The thesis is organised as follows. Section two analyses the political context of oil operations. Section three provides an introduction to the legal framework by discussing Nigeria's formal legal institutions and oil related statute law. An analysis of a survey of Nigerian lawyers in section four is aimed at evaluating the constraints and opportunities faced by potential and actual litigants in oil related litigation which can either encourage or discourage litigants from engaging in litigation. Focusing on issues such as oil spills and compensation payments for land acquisition, factual evidence from court cases in section five illustrates the adverse impact of oil exploration and production on village communities with a view to identifying the sources of conflict between oil companies and the local populace. A detailed analysis of litigation in section six reveals the principles of tort law upon which oil related cases are based, the legal defences employed by oil companies and legal innovations in oil related cases. Section seven concludes the thesis.
en
Litigation in the Nigerian oil industry : a socio-legal analysis of the legal disputes between oil companies and village communities
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/217642021-04-06T11:04:04Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Mehvar, Ameneh
2021-04-02T15:27:43Z
2021-04-02T15:27:43Z
2020-12-01
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/21764
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-21764
Iran’s nuclear program has been a central concern of the international non-proliferation agenda since 2002 and has provoked many debates in political and academic circles. This thesis explores the impact of the personality of three Iranian presidents, Mohammad Khatami, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Hassan Rouhani, on decisions made by Iran’s leadership on the nuclear issue between 2003 to 2015. A certain degree of continuity, but also change, was observed in the Islamic Republic’s decision-making throughout these 12 years. Iranian officials persistently refused to indefinitely halt fuel-cycle activities. However, they showed variable degrees of flexibility and defiance in accepting restrictions on the country’s nuclear activities. Realism, constructivism, and domestic politics – three prominent approaches to studying nuclear behaviour – cannot provide a comprehensive explanation for Iran’s nuclear decision-making. Situated within the field of political psychology, this thesis demonstrates that the variations in the personalities of the three presidents can explain certain changes in Iran’s nuclear decisions unaccounted for by other theories. Employing a mixed-method approach, this research assesses the presidents’ political beliefs regarding the nature of the political universe and the best strategy to achieve political goals, as well as their leadership styles based on their need for power, conceptual complexity, experience, and interest in foreign policy. In several ways, including by developing a software to measure the conceptual complexity of Persian-speakers, and by geographically and culturally expanding the research on the impact of individual decision-makers on policies, this study makes advances in the field of political psychology. Furthermore, by providing a nuanced analysis of the nuclear decision-making process, as well as the role of the institution of presidency more broadly and the impact of personalities more specifically, this thesis contributes to a better understanding of Iran, of interest to both scholars and policy-makers.
en
2025-11-12
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 12th November 2025
Iran
Nuclear
Presidents
Political psychology
Foreign policy analysis
Leadership analysis
Decision-making
Iranian presidents and nuclear policies : decision-making from the Tehran declaration to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/51492019-07-01T10:16:13Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Mott, Christopher Douglas
2014-08-14T10:12:19Z
2014-08-14T10:12:19Z
2014-06-24
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/5149
This dissertation seeks to make a unique contribution to the study of geopolitics and empire in Central Asia by focusing on both the indigenous developments of grand strategies and their legacies by examining several key points in the history of the region’s geopolitics in order to determine the peculiar and specific nature of regional geopolitical evolution, and how its basic concepts can be understood using such a locally based framework. By putting the focus on several key concepts which hold steady through major societal and technological upheavals, as well as foreign incursion and both the inward and outward migrations, which together create the conditions which I have dubbed ‘The Formless Empire’, it is possible to see the elements of a regional and homegrown tradition of grand strategy and geopolitical thinking which is endemic to the area of Inner Eurasia, even as this concept adapts from a totality of political policy to merely frontier and military policy over the course of time.
This indigenous concept of grand strategy encompasses political, military, and diplomatic aspects utilizing the key concepts of strategic mobility, and flexible or indirect governance. These political power systems originated in their largest incarnations amongst the nomadic people of the steppe and other people commonly considered peripheral in history, but who in a Central Asian context were the original centerpieces of regional politics until technological changes led to their eclipse by the big sedentary powers such as Russia and China. However, even these well-established states took elements of ‘The Formless Empire’ into their policies (if largely relegated to frontiers, the military, and a few informal relationships alone) and therefore the influence of the region’s past still lingers on in different forms in the present.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Geopolitics
Central Asia
Eurasia
History
The formless empire : the evolution of indigenous Eurasian geopolitics
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/27322019-04-01T08:18:05Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Samaranayake, S. V. D. Gamini
2012-06-11T14:47:29Z
2012-06-11T14:47:29Z
1991
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2732
Political violence in Sri Lanka is not a unique phenomenon. It is
a prevalent tendency in many countries of the Third World. Sri Lanka,
since 1971, has experienced a sharp escalation of political violence
which renders it suitable as a case study of insurgency and guerrilla
warfare in developing countries. The author's major thrust is a
comparative review the causes, patterns, and implications of the leftwing
Insurrection of 1971 and the Tamil guerrilla warfare up to the
Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in June 1987. This thesis highlights the
salient socio-economic and political factors, underscoring the view
that ethnicity is the impetus behind the continuing turmoil in Sri
Lankan society.
The author's main hypotheses are that the Insurrection of 1971 as
well as the subsequent Tamil guerrilla warfare were pre-planned and
well-organised, and that the politically violent organisations in Sri
Lanka were mainly a result of the emergence of new social forces which
came about due to socio-economic and political transformations.
The analysis begins with a review of the theories of political
violence. Of these theories Huntington's theory of modernisation
relates more closely to the origin of the political violence movement
in Sri Lanka. The awakening of the earliest guerrilla group, the
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (J. V. P. ), in 1971 lay deeply rooted in
socio-economic and political factors. The emergence of the Tamil
guerrilla organisations stemmed from the long-standing competition
between the Sinhala majority and the minority Tamils for limited
socio-economic resources and exclusive political powers. The study
shows that the socio-economic background of the leaders and members
were diverse and often paradoxical, if not at odds to the groups'
goals. The ethno-nationalist ideologies, strategies and tactics of
the guerrilla organisations, instiled group consciousness and goaded
otherwise ordinary citizens to commit political violence. The pattern
of political violence in Sri Lanka was a highly emotive expression of
anti-establishment and secessionist convictions on the part of the
guerrillas. Finally, the study proposes politico-economic reforms
rather than military options to cope with the problem of political
violence in Sri Lanka.
en
Political violence in the Third World: a case study of Sri Lanka
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/278472023-06-30T02:00:30Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Kacho, Fayaz Ahmad
2023-06-29T11:20:03Z
2023-06-29T11:20:03Z
2022-06-14
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27847
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/525
In 1989 an armed insurgency against India began in Kashmir, followed by the heavy militarisation of the region by the Indian state. While the Kashmir conflict can be traced to the 19th century Dogra regime, this thesis has focused on the particular period from 1989 to 2018, centring the people in the valley, that are the worst affected by this protracted conflict, and their perspectives. Using post-colonial and critical feminist theory within the broader methodology of constructivism, I explore this relational engagement between the Indian state and the people of Kashmir, by focusing on processes and representational practices to understand the Kashmir dispute. In doing so, I move away from the dominant discourse on the Kashmir conflict as an inter-state dispute and focus instead on the intra-state aspects of the dispute.
Using ethnographic data comprising interviews of Kashmiri civil society members, academics, former militants, journalists, and survivors of state violence, alongside resistance artworks, citizens’ and newspaper reports, my research has three major findings:
1) The processes of engagement between social groups are the key sites of collective identity formation. The Indian state’s dominant process of engagement with the people in Kashmir since 1989 has been through militarisation, to the extent that even non-militaristic institutions and processes like the judiciary, peace dialogues, and elections are subordinated to this militaristic approach.
2) Key to sustaining the militarisation of Kashmir is militarism pervading Indian society through nationalistic discourses that are rooted in deified and demonised representations of Kashmir land and Kashmiri people respectively.
3) Despite pervasive state control and surveillance, Kashmiris have broken through state dominance, particularly through creative ways of resistance that include mass protests, writings and artistic works. Voiced directly by the people, these counter-memories and counter-narratives centre the political dimension of the Kashmir conflict and perceive the people of Kashmir as the principal party to the dispute.
Overall, my novel approach provides a fresh and innovative perspective to the Kashmir dispute, that brings the civilian narrative to the forefront while analysing the conflict.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
2027-04-22
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 22nd April 2027
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Militarism
Identity and identity politics
Post-colonialism and critical feminism
Kashmir
Insurgency and counter-insurgency
Power
Counter-memory, representational practices and agency
Ethnography
Militarisation and identity formation : a case study of Kashmir (1989-2018)
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/151682019-04-01T08:18:07Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Ranstorp, Magnus
2018-07-10T10:28:39Z
2018-07-10T10:28:39Z
1995
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15168
The responses by the American, French, and British governments, in efforts to secure the release of their citizens taken hostage in Lebanon, have demonstrated the difficulty for Western states in reconciling their firmly-held principles of no-negotiations and no-concessions in dealing with either the Hizb'allah or its patrons with the actual and practical realities governing any resolution to the hostage-situations in Lebanon, This case-study on the dynamics of the Hizb'allah and its interaction with Iran and Syria provides a basis for the evaluation of the effectiveness of Western government responses to the hostage-crisis in Lebanon using crisis management techniques. This study shows that the abduction of Western citizens by Hizb'allah was motivated either by internal organisational requirements or in alignment with Syrian and Iranian interests, and that mechanisms for the resolution of the hostage-crisis were subject to continuous interaction between Hizb'allah, Iran, and Syria influenced by internal Lebanese, regional, and international events. The Western responses to the hostage-crisis showed limited effectiveness as the crisis management techniques were poorly adjusted in timing and direction to the actual crisis environment. With the exception of the French response, the overall employment of Western crisis management techniques showed disregard for the opportunities and constraints in the fluctuating relationship between Syria and Iran as well as the political environment within Lebanon which the Hizb'allah operates and exists. This was clear by their failure to rely on either Iran or Syria as the only channel in negotiations over hostages without regard to their individual ability to exert its influence over the movement in accordance with shifts in their ties to Hizb'allah's command leadership between 1987-1991 and to the status of the Iranian-Syrian relationship over time, as displayed by the friction between 1986-92. This study provides a new approach in the study of terrorism by merging a case-study of the dynamics of the hostage-crisis with an evaluation of Western responses through crisis management techniques in order to more closely resolve the dilemma of the fulfillment of these states' duty to protect their citizens taken hostage abroad, without major sacrifices in the conduct of foreign policy.
en
Radical Shi'ism in Lebanon: Western government crisis management techniques in dealing with hostage incidents, 1982-1992
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/142152023-02-23T12:43:30Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Vorobyeva, Daria
2018-06-18T15:32:54Z
2018-06-18T15:32:54Z
2018
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14215
The current forced displacement crisis, with over 65 million people in 2017, and more than a third being refugees, means it is higher than since the Second World War. Therefore, integration of external forced migrants (refugees) in host countries is a high priority policy objective of the international community. Yet, the existing refugee regime largely fails in successful integration, including in cases of resettling in perceived ethnic homelands. This thesis comparatively analyses the integration process of Syrian- Armenian forced migrants in the perceived ethnic homeland, Armenia and unrecognised territories of Nagorno-Karabakh, and a regional diaspora centre, Lebanon. The work aims to understand socio-cultural and economic factor impact on the process, and whether some can be regarded as fundamental for the successful outcomes, the role of state and non-state actors in the process, and influence of the psychological state of mind of forced migrants on it.
The selection of case studies is ideal for several reasons. First, institutionally, a host-community (the Republic of Armenia and the Lebanese-Armenian diaspora) is interested in newcomers remaining in the country. Second, NGOs play a central role, thus, due to their decades of experience, allowing to facilitate advanced methods of integration. Third, Armenians integrate into their ethnic kin community, thus arguably improving integration chances. Finally, Armenians have been historically skillful in new societal integration, which bodes well for future successful integration.
The analysis applies the theoretical framework of migration, diaspora and social identity to empirical findings from fieldwork, state and NGO reports and media information. The key argument of the thesis is that although all factors of integration are closely interrelated, economic integration should be perceived as a defining factor in the overall success. Additionally, I argue that, where problematic economic integration is experienced, cultural differences against the host-society and sense of nostalgia become reinforced, thus slowing integration. Finally, whilst I conclude that economic integration generally improves over time, it is likely that where host-society culture is significantly different, newcomers generally remain a distinctive community, even if within an ethnic homeland.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
2023-09-27
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 27th September 2023
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Forced ethnic migrants' integration : Syrian Armenians in Armenia and Lebanon (2011-2016)
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/90282019-04-01T08:18:07Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Tallis, Joshua
2016-06-22T08:24:43Z
2016-06-22T08:24:43Z
2016-12-01
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9028
This dissertation explores the growing field of study around Maritime Security. While an
increasingly common sub-heading in American naval strategy documents, maritime
security operations are largely framed around individual threats (i.e. counter-piracy,
counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics). Here, we endeavor to explore how a seemingly
disparate set of transnational issues fit into a more coherent framework to give greater
theoretical substance to the notion of Maritime Security as a distinct concept. In
particular, we examine, as our research question, whether the Broken Windows theory, a
criminological construct of social disorganization, provides the lens through which to
theorize maritime security in the littorals. By extrapolating from criminology, this
dissertation engages with a small but growing impulse in studies on insurgencies,
terrorism, and piracy to look beyond classic theories of security to better understand
phenomena of political violence.
To evaluate our research question, we begin by identifying two critical components of the
Broken Windows theory, multidimensionality and context specificity.
Multidimensionality refers to the web of interrelated individuals, organizations, and
infrastructure upon which crime operates. Context specificity refers to the powerful
influence of an individual or community’s environment on behavior. These two themes,
as explored in this dissertation, are brought into stark relief through an application of the
Broken Windows theory.
Leveraging this understanding of the theory, we explore our research question by
employing process-tracing and detailed descriptions across three case studies (one
primary and two illustrative)—the Caribbean Basin, the Gulf of Guinea, and the Straits of
Malacca and Singapore. In so doing, we demonstrate how applying the lens that Broken
Windows provides yields new and interesting perspectives on maritime security. As a
consequence, this dissertation offers an example of a theoretical framework that provides
greater continuity to the missions or threats frequently binned under the heading of
maritime security, but infrequently associated with one another in the literature.
en
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Maritime security
Broken Windows theory
Community policing
Everyday security
Good order at sea
Piracy
Terrorism
Trafficking
United States Navy
Coast Guard
Caribbean
Gulf of Guinea
West Africa
Southeast Asia
Strait of Malacca
Littoral
Maritime strategy
Naval strategy
Mahan
Corbett
Muddy waters : framing littoral maritime security through the lens of the Broken Windows theory
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/136712018-07-09T13:42:47Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Ashfaq, Muhammad
2018-06-01T14:55:59Z
2018-06-01T14:55:59Z
2018-06-26
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/13671
Why has international society been unable to develop political and judicial collective-security arrangements to limit external aggression? The thesis argues that efforts to limit aggression in moral and legal theory have created an unjust order in which great powers have used these theoretical traditions to reinforce their power in the global order. The thesis argues that is not a new development but can be found in one of the oldest traditions of moral reflection on war, the just war tradition. To substantiate this point, the thesis critically surveys the philosophers of the ancient Greek, Roman, Medieval Christian Renaissance, and early modern theorists of just war and demonstrates that their just war ideas contain assumptions about exclusion, identity and power reflecting their cultural superiority which underlie the practices and theories of the leading states and justifications of their aggressive wars. The thesis connects these moral reflections to the emergence of modern international law and the European pluralist international society of states based on mutual respect for sovereignty and the norm of non-intervention, highlighting how justifications of its colonial aggression against non-Europeans established an unjust solidarist order against them which persists in the post-Cold War era. To conclude it presents suggestions for improvement in the current pluralist international arrangements to address the issue of aggression.
en
2022-06-26
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 26th June 2022.
The crime of aggression
The just war tradition
Virtue
Justice
Thucydides
Plato
Aristotle
Cicero
Augustine
Aquinas
Francisco de Vitoria
Hugo Grotius
Michael Walzer
International society
Great powers
Hegemonic wars
Preventive and preemptive wars
Interventions
The English School
Collective security
International criminal law
International Criminal Court
Solidarism and pluralism
The crime of aggression : a critical historical inquiry of the just war tradition
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/271252023-04-26T20:39:51Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Niehuss, Antonia Carlotta
2023-03-08T11:09:13Z
2023-03-08T11:09:13Z
2023-06-13
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27125
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/332
Images are special. They have an exceptional ability to make us believe what we see. They can make us feel something much more immediately and intensely than words can. They can be sent to audiences worldwide instantly without requiring translation. And yet, they are deeply ambiguous, being interpreted in manifold ways. All these properties make images powerful political forces. Terrorism is increasingly communicated about with images, as for example the propaganda pictures by the so-called Islamic State or the photographs of Trump supporters storming the US Capitol illustrate. Indeed, governments and media networks, but also the public and those deemed terrorists, all participate in acts of showing and seeing terrorism nowadays – in creating its visuality. Finally, discourses on terrorism are deeply gendered. They construct individuals, states and terrorist groups in deeply gendered terms. How these discourses are gendered is central to the politics of terrorism – shaping how people understand themselves and others and consequently which policies can be taken. However, feminist research on these discourses has mainly focused on language, often overlooking the powerful images forming part of them. But how can we approach these images, with their unique properties, methodologically? How is the visuality of terrorism gendered, and how does it create the conditions of possibility for the politics of terrorism? In this thesis, drawing on insights from the research on visual politics, I use a methodological bricolage to understand terrorism’s gendered visuality and how it links to politics. Specifically, I apply my bricolage to two very different cases of contemporary terrorism, the so-called Islamic State and the 2021 US Capitol storming. Doing so, I uncover the gendered identities and power relations forming a wider gendered Self and Other constructed in their visualities, and how these gendered visualities create the conditions of possibility for the politics of terrorism.
en
2028-01-30
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 30th January 2028
Gender
Terrorism
Visuality
Power of images
Islamic State
US Capitol storming
The gendered visuality of terrorism : a bricolage approach
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/45162019-07-01T10:15:26Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Dario, Diogo M.
2014-03-11T16:34:51Z
2014-03-11T16:34:51Z
2013-11-29
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/4516
The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the use of narratives informed by the discourse of human security in the context of the Colombian conflict during the government of President Alvaro Uribe Velez (2002-2010). Its main contribution is to map the transformation of these narratives from the site of their formulation in the international institutions to the site of their appropriation into domestic settings; and then consider their role in the formation of the actors' strategies and the construction of the subjectivities of the individuals affected by the conflict dynamics. The research proceeds to this analysis through an investigation of the policies for the internally displaced and those relating to the rights of the victims informed by the framework of transitional justice. It shows that, with a combination of narratives of empowerment and reconciliation, they fulfill complementary roles in the construction of the subjectivities of individuals affected by the conflict in Colombia. The dissertation also concludes that the flexibility of the human security discourse allowed the Uribe government to reinforce its position
en
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Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Colombian conflict
Critical security studies
Security in Latin America
Human security
Human security policies in the Colombian conflict during the Uribe government
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/291942024-03-08T03:01:12Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Drennan, Shane
2024-02-08T15:34:58Z
2024-02-08T15:34:58Z
2022-06-21
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/29194
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/740
Social Movement Theory is a compilation of theories and methods from myriad fields of study.
Because social movement theory borrows from so many disciplines, making sense of social movements is driven more by epistemological bias than by a deep understanding of what social movements do for society. I use Aristotle’s “four causes” to give methodological structure to social movement theory, and I use “final cause” as a heuristic to focus and deepen social movement causal analysis.
This thesis is dedicated to resolving social movement theory methodologically, but I accomplish several antecedent tasks. First, I engage Aristotelian causation and his ‘final cause’ so structure and focus social movement theory, demarcating different types of teleological cause. Second, I posit three Natural Teleological drivers of community, justice and power that are integral in making social movements emerge when societies find an imbalance in these three social forces. Lastly, I propose a social movement causation model synthesizes social movement and related research across five causation levels: Natural phenomena, institutional constraining and enabling structures, lifeworld causation and meaning interpretations and understandings, agent-initiated and often goal directed actions, and resultant observable events. Following my exploration of the Egyptian and Syrian ‘Arab Spring’ movements, I find that nonviolent social movements emerge for the sake of sociopolitical reform and evolution and violent social movements are for the sake of destroying something that is offensive and seems unalterable to society so that the people can rebuild that aspect of society anew.
en
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
Social movement theory
Causation
Teleology
Contention
Violence
Nonviolence
Syria
Egypt
Arab Spring
Social movement
Analyzing cause in social movements : synthesizing, structuring and focusing social movement theory using Aristotle’s four causes with a final cause heuristic
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/36072019-04-01T08:18:08Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Ramsay, Gilbert
2013-06-05T08:21:12Z
2013-06-05T08:21:12Z
2011
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3607
Recent years have seen a great deal of interest in phenomena such as Al Qaida ‘terrorism’, Islamic ‘radicalism’ or, increasingly, ‘jihadism’ - on the Internet. However, as I argue in this thesis, much work in these areas has been problematic for a number of reasons. Much literature has been narrowly focused on the security issues which it pre-judges the content to raise, and has therefore taken some aspects too literally while ignoring others. Conversely,
where authors have addressed ‘jihadi’ content or ‘electronic jihad’ as a phenomenon unto itself, they have had difficulty making sense of it within religious studies or political communication frameworks. In this dissertation, I propose an alternative approach. Deliberately eschewing frameworks based on pre-existing conceptions of religion or politics, I draw, instead, on the academic literature on fandom and subcultural media consumption.
Using this conceptual lens, I attempt to analyse jihadism on the Internet (which I define in terms of online consumption of, and identification with self-described ‘jihadi’ content) as a subcultural phenomenon on its own terms. I argue that, without necessarily denying the role that beliefs and ideals expressed in ‘jihadi’ content may sometimes have in sustaining the
physical violence of the ‘global jihad’, the cultural practices which constitute Internet
jihadism have a tactical logic of their own which may not always coincide with the ‘strategic’ interests of ‘global jihad’. By better understanding what ‘ordinary' jihadis, most of whom will never participate in violence, get out of their practices, and how they negotiate the apparent contradictions of their situation, I suggest that we may be better placed to understand not only why some jihadis ‘fail’ to negotiate these contradictions, but also,
perhaps, to raise questions about how popular media consumption works more generally.
en
Consuming the jihad : an enquiry into the subculture of internet jihadism
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/110962017-06-27T16:30:09Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Hanova, Selbi
2017-06-27T12:57:59Z
2017-06-27T12:57:59Z
2017-04-05
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/11096
This thesis examines the influence of state identity narratives on regional cooperation frameworks in Central Asia. It applies the perspectives of ontological security theory to the self-articulation of state identities of Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan to decipher socialization mechanisms in each of the cases. Consequently, it traces the routinization of the state narratives of Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan toward the region and regional organizations.
Ontological security theory argues that, in addition to physical security, states seek ideational security, security of identity and security of being. Using a grounded theory approach to study the formation of the state narratives of Kyrgyzstan and of Turkmenistan and utilizing official and media sources and interviews conducted during fieldwork, the thesis analyzes the process of routinization of state identity narratives, showcasing the narrators, the narratives and the processes of self-articulation. The key process that is traced is the routinization of the state narratives, i.e. the sequence of repeated actions (inter-textualized through speech acts and textual references) that transform the self-articulated stories of the states into the realm of the habitual. This process of routinization is then analyzed within the regional context, examining how these routinized narratives influence inter-state cooperation in Central Asia.
As such, the thesis contributes to two main bodies of literature: the growing literature on the ideational aspects of regional cooperation in Central Asia; and existing research on the role of state identification practices in the foreign policies of Central Asian states.
en
2022-04-24
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 24th April 2017
Central Asia
Regional cooperation
State identity
Ontological security
Narrative analysis
Understanding Central Asian cooperation through state narratives : cases of Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/96172021-07-27T02:01:44Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Azman, Muhammad Danial
2016-10-06T14:44:58Z
2016-10-06T14:44:58Z
2015
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9617
en
Resolving the post-election violence and developing transitional justice institutions through power sharing : power and ideology in Kenya's quest for justice and reconciliation : a justice without punishment?
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/13202019-07-01T10:03:57Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Kupatadze, Alexander
2010-11-15T14:31:43Z
2010-11-15T14:31:43Z
2010
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1320
This dissertation addresses organized crime in post-Soviet Eurasia (Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan) exploring the nexus between politics, business and crime. Based on extensive field research in the three countries the dissertation examines organized crime groups in the region and describes their inter-relationships with political and business elites, then discusses the impact of the three countries’ Coloured Revolutions on crime and corruption. The impacts of the revolutions on organized crime are situated in several variables, among them political opposition to incumbent regimes; the strength of civil society and the role of organized crime groups during the revolutionary processes; personal morals of the leaders and their views on cooperation with organized crime; and the presence and nature of the “pact” between outgoing and incoming elites.
The dissertation also takes into account larger explanatory variables, such as geography, natural resources, industry, and regional wars and documents their role in shaping organized crime. In accounting for the diverging patterns of the three countries in terms of post-revolutionary effects on crime and corruption, the role of the West, defined as a “push” factor for democratization, and the experience of earlier statehood are also considered.
The interaction between elites and criminals is regarded as a crucial part of state formation, and is characterized by shifting dominance between the actors of the underworld and upperworld. The thesis identifies points of cooperation and conflict between licit and illicit actors, and provides insight into the collusive nature of criminal networks in the post-Soviet context, arguing that the distinction between licit and illicit is frequently blurred and the representatives of the upperworld are sometimes key participants in organized criminal activity.
en
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Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
Organized crime
Corruption
Smuggling
Georgia
Ukraine
Kyrgyzstan
‘Transitions after transitions’ : coloured revolutions and organized crime in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/51652019-04-01T08:18:09Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
O'Shea, Liam
2014-08-15T08:23:48Z
2014-08-15T08:23:48Z
2014
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/5165
This dissertation provides an in-depth study of police transformation in Georgia,
Kyrgyzstan and Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It draws upon
interviews with police, NGO workers, politicians and international practitioners,
and employs a comparative-historical approach.
Contra to democratic policing approaches, advocating the diffusion of police
power and implementation of police reform concurrently with wider
democratisation, reform was relatively successful in Georgia after the 2003 Rose
Revolution because of state-building. The new government monopolised
executive power, fired many police, recruited new personnel, raised police
salaries and clamped down on organised crime and corruption. Success also
depended on the elite’s political will and their appeal to Georgian nationalism.
Prioritisation of state-building over democratisation limited the reform’s success, however. The new police are politicised and have served elites’ private interests. Reform has failed in Kyrgyzstan because of a lack of state-building. Regional, clan
and other identities are stronger than Kyrgyz nationalism. This has hindered the
formation of an elite with capacity to implement reform. The state has limited
control over the police, who remain corrupt and involved in organised crime.
State-building has not precipitated police reform in Russia because of the
absence of political will. The ruling cohort lacks a vision of reform and relies on
corruption to balance the interests of political factions.
The contrasting patterns of police reform have a number of implications for
democratic police reform in transitioning countries: First, reform depends on
political will. Second, institutionalising the police before democratising them
may be a more effective means of acquiring the capacity to implement reform.
Third, such an approach is likely to require some sort of common bond such as
nationalism to legitimate it. Fourth, ignoring democratisation after
institutionalisation is risky as reformers can misuse their power for private interests.
en
Police - Former Soviet Union
State-building - Former Soviet Union
State-building - Georgia (Republic)
State-building - Kyrgyzstan
International development - Security sector reform
International development - Police reform
Post-conflict - Security sector reform
Post conflict - Police reform
Police reform and state-building in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/45102019-04-01T08:18:09Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Tsukayama, John K.
2014-03-11T12:32:34Z
2014-03-11T12:32:34Z
2014-06-24
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/4510
This study examines the phenomenon of abusive violence (AV) in the context of the American Post-9/11 Counter-terrorism and Counter-insurgency campaigns. Previous research into atrocities by states and their agents has largely come from examinations of totalitarian regimes with well-developed torture and assassination institutions. The mechanisms influencing willingness to do harm have been examined in experimental studies of obedience to authority and the influences of deindividuation, dehumanization, context and system. This study used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to examine the lived experience of AV reported by fourteen American military and intelligence veterans. Participants were AV observers, objectors, or abusers.
Subjects described why AV appeared sensible at the time, how methods of violence were selected, and what sense they made of their experiences after the fact. Accounts revealed the roles that frustration, fear, anger and mission pressure played to prompt acts of AV that ranged from the petty to heinous. Much of the AV was tied to a shift in mission view from macro strategic aims of CT and COIN to individual and small group survival.
Routine hazing punishment soldiers received involving forced exercise and stress positions made similar acts inflicted on detainees unrecognizable as abusive. Overt and implied permissiveness from military superiors enabled AV extending to torture, and extra-judicial killings. Attempting to overcome feelings of vulnerability, powerlessness and rage, subjects enacted communal punishment through indiscriminate beatings and shooting. Participants committed AV to amuse themselves and humiliate their enemies; some killed detainees to force confessions from others, conceal misdeeds, and avoid routine paperwork. Participants realized that AV practices were unnecessary, counter-productive, and self-damaging. Several reduced or halted their AV as a result. The lived experience of AV left most respondents feeling guilt, shame, and inadequacy, whether they committed abuse or failed to stop it.
en
Abusive violence
Torture
Extra-judicial killings
Stress positions
Terrorism studies
Counter-terrorism
Counter insurgency
CT
COIN
Detainee abuse
Interrogation
Interperpretive phenomenological analysis
IPA
Clean torture
Scarring torture
Cutting torture
Simulated drowning
Water boarding
Command responsibility
Command authority
Human shield
Obedience to authority
Milgram
Zimbardo
Mission focus
Mission shift
Hazing
Forced exercise
Abuser guilt
Abuser shame
War on Terror
War crime
Iraq
Occupation
Special operations
Detainee Interaction Study
Atrocity
Post traumatic stress
PTSD
Abu Ghraib
Communal punishment
Guantanamo
Non-combatant abuse
Self-restraint
By any means necessary : an interpretive phenomenological analysis study of post 9/11 American abusive violence in Iraq
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/103752021-08-20T02:01:35Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Angelopoulou, Maria
2017-02-27T16:01:24Z
2017-02-27T16:01:24Z
2014
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/10375
Adopting a critical cosmopolitan outlook the thesis identifies a constructive engagement
with the European project at a time when the crisis of the Euro-zone is still threatening
the very existence of the European Union. The purpose of the study is to determine
whether cosmopolitanism is feasible in Europe. I argue that the EU can be conceived as
a catalyst of cosmopolitanism without being cosmopolitan per se due its so far limited
internal and external contexts of cosmopolitanism. In the case of the EU’s limited inner
cosmopolitanism, I seek cosmopolitan alternatives for the EU to overcome the crisis on
the basis of an institutional and civil society analysis within the conceptual framework
of cosmopolitan democracy. Instead of adopting the terminology of governance either
for or by the people, my cosmopolitan approach focuses on governance with the people.
The case of Greece is of utmost importance for my research as it reveals the causes and
gravity of the crisis. It also broadens the empirical basis of cosmopolitan studies by
embodying both the dynamics and challenges posed to cosmopolitanism which are
exemplified in the paradoxes provoked; on the one hand there is aggravation of (fascist)
nationalism and domination of economics on politics perhaps leading to Greece’s de-
Europeanisation; on the other hand the dynamics of a paradigm shift towards a post-crisis
cosmopolitanism are revealed. That kind of cosmopolitanism needs to take under
consideration the role of contestation and to redefine its position in the era of global
capitalism for the confrontation of the crisis. In the case of the EU’s limited external
cosmopolitanism, my analysis of Turkey’s possible impact on the EU and the
reverse aims to demonstrate that Turkey’s integration can contribute to the formation of
a cosmopolitan, post-Western EU and post-national Turkey. What is of crucial
importance for both cosmopolitan and Europeanisation studies is that the endogenous
process of change within Turkey which is interlocking with the external dynamics of the
EU may potentially lead to a distinctive ‘hybrid’ type of cosmopolitanisation neither
merely European nor simply Asian. The conclusions drawn from this multiple case study
suggest that the current crisis may open new meanings for cosmopolitanism in
Europe.
en
Cosmopolitanism in Europe-in-crisis : the cases of the EU, Greece and Turkey
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/164192023-12-19T03:01:19Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Lewis, Olivier Rémy Tristan David
2018-11-08T17:11:26Z
2018-11-08T17:11:26Z
2018-12
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/16419
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-16419
This thesis answers the question “Why does security cooperation occur between Western states?”. The basic answer is: “Because most state actors do not want their states to integrate”. In other words, cooperation occurs as a coping mechanism, as an imperfect substitute for integration. But the thesis does not only investigate the reasons for cooperation, what Aristotle called the final cause. The thesis also examines the material, formal and efficient causes of cooperation. Such an unorthodox causal explanation of cooperation is based on a Critical Realist philosophy of social science. The application of this philosophy to the empirical study of International Relation is rare, making this thesis original.
Beyond the philosophy of social science, the thesis’ research design, many of the cases, and much of the data are also rarely used. The research design is an embedded multiple-case study. The states studied are the United States of America, France and Luxembourg. Within each state, the embedded subcases are three types of state security organisations: the armed forces, law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Rarely have these three types of security organisations been compared. Similarly, Luxembourg is seldom studied. Comparing different types of states and different types of state security organisations has not only allowed the main research question to be answered. It has also allowed temporal, spatial, national, and functional variation in cooperation to be identified and theorised. The empirical evidence studied includes participant observation (at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and documents (e.g. state policy documents, annual reports by organisations, reports by parliaments and non-governmental organisations, autobiographies, books by investigative journalists, articles by newspapers and magazines). The thesis is also based on a score of elite interviews (e.g. with ambassadors, diplomatic liaisons, ministerial advisors, foreign ministry officers, military commanders, etc.), and the careful study of both declassified and classified archival records.
en
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Embargo period has ended, thesis made available in accordance with University regulations
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Cooperation
Security
Armed forces
Law enforcement
Intelligence
Critical realism
Explaining military, law enforcement and intelligence cooperation between Western states
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/36212019-10-31T03:04:11Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Kleidosty, Jeremy Scott
2013-06-07T09:07:07Z
2013-06-07T09:07:07Z
2013
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3621
In the spirit of comparative political theory, this thesis analyzes the ideas that have shaped Western and Islamic constitutional discourse and assesses the extent to which they intersect at key historical and philosophical points. This goal is placed within a larger debate of whether Islam and constitutionalism are mutually exclusive. The thesis begins by positioning itself against Samuel Huntington and Elie Kedourie, who argues that Islam is inherently incompatible with constitutional governance. It then addresses the idea of constitutionalism as described by Western thinkers on three constitutional concepts: the rule of law, reflection of national character, and placing boundaries on government power. These are examined through the lens of a particular canonical text or thinker, Cicero, Montesquieu, and The Federalist Papers, respectively. This is followed by an examination of Muhammad's "The Constitution
of Medina." Islamic corollaries to the constitutional ideas discussed earlier are then examined. Al-Farabi's On the Perfect State, ibn Khaldun's asabiyya (group feeling)
in the Muqaddimah, and the redefinition of the state in the 19th century Ottoman
Tanzimat reforms are discussed. Following this, the thesis looks at a moment in
history where these two traditions intersected in 19th century Tunisia in the work of Khayr al-Din al-Tunisi, undertaking a detailed analysis of the introductory section of his book The Surest Path to Knowledge Concerning the Conditions of Countries.The abstract philosophical questions that motivated this inquiry suddenly have unquestioned practical implications. In recognition of this, the conclusion of the thesis summarizes the findings of this work to look at how theorists might address the pressing constitutional concerns of various states and peoples.
en
Print and electronic copy restricted until 1st May 2018
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations
A comparative assessment of constitutionalism in Western and Islamic thought
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/203612021-07-27T11:15:40Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Fjaestad, Kristin
2020-07-29T11:42:24Z
2020-07-29T11:42:24Z
2020-07-28
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/20361
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-20361
In recent years, re-emerging development actors are said to be changing, and even challenging, the international aid landscape. This thesis examines how Kazakhstan, an authoritarian, post-Soviet state, has formulated its policy of official development assistance (ODA) and performed its identity as a donor. The thesis argues that Kazakhstan’s donor identity and ODA policy are constructed through discursive encounters of development between Kazakhstani state actors and representatives of the international development community. To advance this argument, it examines Kazakhstan’s transformation from recipient to donor during the period 1991–2017. The thesis both applies and extends Hansen’s post-structuralist framework of the mutual constitution of state identity and policy to Central Asia and the policy area of ODA. In doing so, it contributes to the literature in two ways: empirically, it adds an in-depth case study of an authoritarian post-Soviet state to the growing literature on emerging donors and the ongoing changes in the development aid landscape. It also extends the scholarly debate about the relationship between identity and policy as well as the role of international actors in policymaking in Kazakhstan.
The thesis answers two main research questions: How has Kazakhstan, an authoritarian, post-Soviet state, been constructed as a donor of development aid? In this process, how is development represented, negotiated and contested by the actors involved? The research questions are answered by applying discourse analysis to official documents and media articles from both Kazakhstani and international sources, as well as 30 interviews carried out during fieldwork in 2014 and 2016. Three key encounters with the international development community are found to be shaping Kazakhstan’s transformation: First as an aid recipient, then as an aspiring donor seeking membership of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and finally as a donor partnering with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to provide and institutionalise ODA. The thesis concludes that Kazakhstan’s ODA policy, in contrast to those of other emerging donors, largely concerns the country’s linkage to and recognition by established development actors, the DAC and the UNDP, as its main Others instead of the recipient countries, the Kazakhstani public or civil society. Through its close linkage to the DAC and the UNDP, Kazakhstan’s donor identity and ODA policy have reaffirmed the authority of these established actors.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
2025-05-19
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Electronic copy restricted until 19th May 2025
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
State identity
Development assistance
International development
Discourse analysis
Kazakhstan
Identity and development : Kazakhstan’s transformation from recipient to donor of development assistance
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/93182019-04-01T08:18:09Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Lind, Peter Spears
2016-08-17T07:16:21Z
2016-08-17T07:16:21Z
2016-06
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9318
This thesis examines how the norm of nonintervention has interacted with the norm of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to construct a new normative architecture of international order. Nonintervention has long served as a deeply embedded norm in the international normative architecture. However, conflicting interpretations of how to respond in cases of egregious intra-state human rights abuses have fuelled contestation surrounding the potential for international protection measures including the projection of force. Drawing from international relations theory, I embrace a social constructivist approach with insights from the English School to explore the nature of normative structures and their role in undergirding international society. While foreign policy decisions reflect a spectrum of normative and non-normative considerations, norms serve as resources that guide and shape the behaviour of actors. Outlining the emergence of R2P and its invocation through empirical cases of mass atrocities in Sri Lanka (2009), Libya (2011), and Syria (2011-2015), this thesis traces the contestation of nonintervention through cases of intra-state humanitarian crises. I conclude that nonintervention has recurrently challenged R2P as a means of securing international order and the rights of independent political communities, with its persistent salience serving as a barrier to intervention and more expansive interpretations of R2P.
en
The contestation of nonintervention : international order and emergence of the responsibility to protect (R2P)
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/153552019-04-01T08:18:10Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Hulsman, John C.
2018-07-13T10:36:45Z
2018-07-13T10:36:45Z
1996
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15355
This thesis applies a schools of thought analysis to American foreign policy in the post-Cold War era. In chapter 1, it discusses what a schools of thought analysis involves and its usefulness as an analytical tool, with particular reference to Franz Schurmann's book, The Logic of World Power, an earlier attempt at an overarching review. In chapters 2-4, it classifies and analyses the specific schools of thought of American foreign policy in the post-Cold War era; the democratists, the neo-realists, and the institutionalists. It illustrates how general schools of thought predilections lead to policy preferences with reference to five issue areas in the post-Cold War era; US-Western European .relations, US-Russian relations, American initiatives in Bosnia, the MFN controversy with China, and the American position on regional and global trade pacts (Nafta and Gatt). It also classifies various opinion-makers in the overall schools of thought analysis by matching their specific policy preferences in the five issue areas to the general schools of thought positions. In chapter 5, it places individual administration and legislative decision-makers into the model, using the same techniques applied to the opinion-makers in chapters 2-4. In chapter 6, it uses schools of thought analysis as a template for analysing the Clinton administration's response to the Bosnian crisis, with particular reference to US-Russian relations and US- European relations. It identifies overall administration stances regarding these three areas by classifying White House initiatives using the schools of thought rubric. In chapter 7, having identified overall American foreign policy initiatives regarding Bosnia, Russia, and Western Europe and having placed individual political actors within the assessment, it is able, through the fusion of bureaucratic analysis and schools of thought analysis, to determine how specific policy inputs advocated by decision-makers partly due to their schools of thought orientation, lead to overall American foreign policy outputs. In chapter 8, it concludes by reassessing schools of thought analysis, both in relation to the Bosnian crisis and in general, and evaluating its worth as an analytical tool. This thesis represents an attempt to relate theory directly to political processes and specific policy-makers. By its use I am trying to both classify and analyse the intellectual and practical nature of the American foreign policy-making process in the post-Cold War era.
en
A paradigm for the new world order : a school of thought analysis of American foreign policy in the post-Cold War era
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/216152021-08-14T14:49:05Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Zajontz, Tim
2021-03-11T15:12:59Z
2021-03-11T15:12:59Z
2020-07-28
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/21615
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/44
Over the past decade, infrastructure development has turned from a peripheral phenomenon into a key pillar of cooperation between China and Africa. This study scrutinises the political economy of Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa – both in theoretical and empirical terms. Informed by a critical realist philosophy of science, this research has been characterised by an iterative methodological movement between conceptual abstractions and the concrete cases under scrutiny, viz. Zambia’s road sector and the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA). Drawing on David Harvey’s theory of spatio-temporal fixes, the study posits that Africa’s recent infrastructure boom is driven by Chinese overaccumulation. A strategic-relational approach to the structure-agency conundrum is employed to trace African state agency in the unfolding of the Chinese ‘infrastructural fix’ and to assess how African governments are differentially constrained and enabled by their particular structural contexts. With respect to Zambia’s road sector, it is argued that the infrastructural fix has been fostered by the government’s ambitious, debt-financed infrastructure development agenda as well as by ‘not so public’ procurement processes. More recently, Zambia’s shrinking fiscal space has caused a shift in the governance of the ‘fix’ from public debt financing to private project finance, thereby heralding new rounds of accumulation by dispossession. In the case of TAZARA, the Chinese infrastructural fix has not yet materialised because of a changing balance of political forces in Tanzania. President Magufuli’s time in office has been characterised by rigid state interventions vis-à-vis foreign investment, a relative strengthening of legal-rational bureaucratic procedures and the resuscitation of developmentalist policies. This has translated into strategic pragmatism and cautious cost-benefit analyses regarding a Chinese participation in TAZARA. The study concludes that the extent to which Sino-African cooperation in the infrastructure sector affords ‘win-win’ results is largely contingent upon African state actors and their differentially constraining structural contexts.
en
2025-06-24
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 24th June 2025
China
Tanzania
Zambia
Infrastructure
TAZARA
Debt
Spatio-temporal fix
David Harvey
Critical realism
Road development
Economic governance
China-Africa relations
Strategic-relational approach
Spatial fix
The Chinese infrastructural fix in Africa : a strategic-relational analysis of Zambia’s ‘road bonanza’ and the rehabilitation of TAZARA
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/156992019-08-23T14:30:58Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Smith, Kathryn
2018-07-24T15:31:57Z
2018-07-24T15:31:57Z
2017
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15699
Contextualised in food security literature and globalisation literature and NGO and
agency reports on food security, Sating Hunger argues that ineffective global food
governance is one of the causes of worsening global hunger, in addition to issues such
as the commoditisation of food, climate change effects, the financialisation of
agriculture and land degradation. The global food governance literature suggests that
global governance is vital to establishing a stable and effective food security regime,
yet to date, no overall description of the global food governance field exists and the
dynamics of the field have remained largely unexamined. Bourdieu’s Field Analysis
is modified and used as a method to map out the current food governance field and
identify key actors and their positions, according to measures of economic capital,
political capital and ‘democratic legitimacy’ capital. Four sectors in the field are
delineated; the ‘agrifood’ Trans National Corporation sector, the International
Organisation sector, the Aid and Charitable Organisation sector and, marginalised at
the outer limits of the field, Civil Society Organisations. The dominance of private
actors in the global food governance space is revealed, and the Field Analysis also
presents the Gates Foundation as a dominant governor in the field.
The results from the Field Analysis are combined with interviews with ten executives
from these sectors to reveal a siloed food governance field with conflicting agendas.
One organisation from each sector is also examined by case study to illustrate their
practices and detail the attribution of the symbolic capitals in the Field Analysis.
The problem of food insecurity is then reframed and recommendations are made
including establishing the Right to Food, regulation and scrutiny of agrifood
corporations, reform of the food governance field and establishing a new central body
in the governance space. Some policy recommendations are also made.
en
Sating hunger in an age of plenty : the global food governance space and its role in the establishment of an effective food security regime
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/143392019-04-01T08:18:14Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Lazarus, Wendy
2018-06-20T12:58:42Z
2018-06-20T12:58:42Z
2002
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14339
This study evaluates, through history and analysis, the value of extradition as a method of combating international terrorism during the past two decades, from the perspective of the U. S. experience. Through the adoption of an integrated framework, a case study approach is applied with the intention of illuminating major themes and issues relevant to state response and terrorist extradition, while exposing several underlying themes about the political relationship between extradition and terrorism. Historical analysis demonstrates that current methods of rendering fugitive terrorists are not just the simple application of international rules, but an evolving process of law. Alternatives to the use of extradition are also examined, with particular reference to state sponsored terrorism, their impact on extradition, the prospects for military retaliation, and the potential for alternatives such as an International Criminal Court. The evolving nature of terrorist extradition is examined in concert with the changing nature of terrorism itself, and how ultimately this influences not only the law, but also law enforcement. By utilising such an approach, the study seeks to extricate the fundamental issues behind U.S. extradition policy, and ultimately the usefulness of extradition as a tool against terrorism.
en
Extradition as a method of combating international terrorism : a U.S. perspective
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/270882024-01-23T03:01:24Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Lubrano, Mauro
2023-03-02T12:44:02Z
2023-03-02T12:44:02Z
2022-11-29
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27088
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/320
This doctoral thesis presents a preliminary theoretical framework on how terrorist organizations innovate their strategy. The project carries out a structured, focused comparison among three historical organizations (ETA, PIRA, and Red Brigades) and, in doing so, investigates the rationale and dynamics of the strategic innovation process. The ensuing theoretical framework delineates strategic innovation as a process displaying a gradual and progressive build-up, and articulated in the stages of Evaluation, Formulation, Adoption, and Implementation. While the first two stages involve a range of different actors, the leadership and the decision-making bodies play a considerable role in adopting and implementing innovations. Contrary to previous scholarship, the framework also discusses how strategic innovation is not necessarily related to escalations in violence. Similarly, it highlights an important difference between strategic change and strategic innovation. Finally, the case studies also explore the important role that cultural artefacts play in the innovation process. While acknowledging the limitations of the proposed theoretical framework, the thesis also presents a few suggestions for future research.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
2027-09-27
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 27th September 2027
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Strategic innovation
Terrorist innovation
Modus operandi
Change
Terrorism
The slow route to victory : understanding strategic innovation in terrorist organisations
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/65352019-04-01T08:18:14Zcom_10023_234com_10023_39com_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_235col_10023_88
McConaghy, Kieran
2015-04-22T14:37:28Z
2015-04-22T14:37:28Z
2015-06-23
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6535
Although there has been a wealth of academic literature which has examined counter-terrorism, both in the general sense and in case study focused approaches, there has seldom been an engagement in terrorism studies literature on the nature of the state itself and how this impacts upon the particular response to terrorism. Existing literature has a tendency to either examine one branch of the state or to treat (explicitly or implicitly) the state as a unitary actor.
This thesis challenges the view of the state as a unitary actor, looking beneath the surface of the state, investigating intra-state dynamics and the consequences for counter-terrorism. I highlight that the state by its nature is ‘peopled’, demonstrating through comparative analysis of case studies from Spain, France, and the United Kingdom, how the individual identities and dispositions of state personnel at all levels from elites to entry level positions determine the nature and characteristics of particular states.
I show that if we accept that the state is peopled, we must pay attention to a series of traits that I argue all states exhibit to understand why campaigns of counter-terrorism take the shape and form that they do. I posit that we must understand the role that emotional and visceral action by state personnel in response to terrorism plays, how the character of particular state organisations can impact upon the trajectory of conflicts, and how issues of intra-state competition and coordination can frustrate even the best laid counter-terrorism strategies. Furthermore, I show how the propensity for sub- state political violence to ‘terrorise’ populations makes the response to terrorism a powerful political tool, and how it has been deployed in the past for political gain rather than purely as an instrument to improve security.
I conclude that future academic analyses of counter-terrorism must take this into consideration, and likewise, state personnel must be mindful of the nature and character of their state should they wish to effectively prevent terrorism and protect human rights and the rule of law.
en
Terrorism
Counter-terrorism
The state
Political violence
Northern Ireland
Spain
Basque
France
Algeria
Ireland
United Kingdom
Security
Ethno-nationalism
Nationalism
Terrorism and the state : intra-state dynamics and the response to non-state terrorism
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/263782022-11-29T03:01:16Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Sundlisaeter, Tale
2022-11-11T12:51:10Z
2022-11-11T12:51:10Z
2022-11-29
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/26378
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/220
Norway’s main impetus for developing national military satellite-based capability was the 1977 introduction of the EEZ, through which Norway became responsible for vast maritime areas in the High North. These capabilities also underpinned Norway’s intelligence mission that entailed monitoring Russian military activity, especially the Kola Bay-based Russian strategic forces in the vicinity of Norway. Norway developed niche technologies for military use predominantly based on civilian satellites, and ESA became an essential instrument as it enabled Norway to develop indigenous satellite-based services for the Norwegian Armed Forces. Norway in turn used this capability to reinforce its military relations with the United States and key allies within the NATO framework. Following the pivotal military space strategic review in 2014/2015, the Norwegian Armed Forces developed a function-oriented management structure and incorporated space as a new military domain. National security implications of space were finally incorporated into Norwegian space policy, and Norway has since developed a wide range of national space capabilities, all of which support the nation’s defence and security objectives.
This thesis examines how Norwegian military space activity fits into the nation’s overall defence and security policy and argues this activity and the associated national capability development has emerged as a strategic asset in Norwegian alliance policy. This activity reflects upon relations between national policymakers and practitioners, and has contributed to obscure the notion of civil-military separation in Norway. The activity also demonstrates the existence of two unofficial space doctrines in Norway. One focuses on intelligence and the other on force enhancement. The 2020 appointment of the Norwegian Intelligence Service as Norway’s military space authority demonstrates the value of space for intelligence activities supersedes other uses of the domain. Lastly, the study has identified a notable discrepancy between Norwegian military space activity and how space is addressed in national military doctrine.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Space
Space power
Spacepower
Norway
Small states
Policy
Defence policy
Security policy
Defence and security policy
Military space
Military
Military space power
Domestic politics
National security
Space policy
Strategy
Space strategy
Doctrine
Space doctrine
Space capability
Space club
Russia
High North
Arctic
High north policy
Arctic policy
Military affairs
Military strategy
Military doctrine
NATO
Bilateral relations
Intelligence
Military intelligence
ISR
Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
Satcom
Satellite communications
Military space strategic review
Norwegian space policy
Norwegian space strategy
Norwegian military space policy
Norwegian military space strategy
Norwegian military space doctrine
Revolution in Military Affairs
RMA
Network Centric Warfare
Security studies
Space security
Military bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
Space program
Military space program
Military space capability
Inter-service rivalry
Space and intelligence
Space and the military
Program space
International relations
Small state contributions to global politics
International relations of outer space
Bureaucratic organisation
Policy development
Norwegian policy development
Policymakers and practicioners
Civil-military separation
Dual-use
Norwegian Intelligence Service
Norwegian Navy
Norwegian Air Force
Norwegian Defence Research Establishment
FFI
International affairs
Global politics
Satellite
Satellites
Space-based
Intelligence studies
Studies in intelligence
Space power doctrines
Western European Union
WEU
Military access to space capability
Military space activity and international affairs
Military space activity and foreign affairs
Deterrence and reassurance
Integration and screening
Space as a security policy tool
Space as a foreign policy tool
Space and foreign policy
The second space age
Space surveillance
Satellite reconnaissance
Small satellites
Space systems
Network-centric defence
Net-centric defence
Net-centric warfare
Network-based defence
Commercial satellites
Commercial space
New space
Cyber defence force
Cyfor
Commercial satellite imagery
Imagery intelligence
Imint
Aissat-1
Norwegian Armed Forces
Norwegian Ministry of Defence
Norwegian Space Agency
Haakon Bruun-Hanssen
Norwegianspace
Norwegian space
Space authority
Military space authority
Øystein Bø
Arctic great power
Norwegian space power
Svalbard
Svalbard archipelago
Svalbard Treaty
Space law
International space law
Space legislation
Maritime patrol aircraft
Space operations
Space middle power
Space middle powers
Space as a strategic asset
Norwegian doctrine
Norwegian joint doctrine
Military space activity
Jan Eirik Finseth
Kjell Grandhagen
Nils Helle
Rune Jakobsen
Petter Jansen
Henry Kjell Johansen
Stig Eivind Nilsson
Richard B. Olsen
Odd Egil Pedersen
Per-Egil Rygg
Tom Rykken
Lars Saunes
Nils Andreas Stensønes
Terje Wahl
James Armor
James E. Cartwright
James R. Clapper
David A. Deptula
Lance Lord
Peter Marquez
Kevin O'Connell
Jean-Daniel Testé
Johann-Dietrich Wörner
European Space Agency
ESA
Kingdom of Norway
Space and defence policy
Civil-military
Space power in the High North : perspectives from the kingdom of Norway
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/131162018-04-11T11:56:05Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Papamichail, Andreas
2018-04-11T11:51:44Z
2018-04-11T11:51:44Z
2018-06-26
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/13116
Humanitarian interventions tend to be justified by claims to the existence of an obligation upon ‘us’ (the benevolent saviours) to intervene militarily when a state is responsible for large-scale atrocity crimes against its own population. However, this justification is paradoxical, given that there is rarely held to exist a commensurate obligation to address structural violence (even when ‘we’ may be partly responsible for, or complicit within, structures that are violent). The paradox arises because structural violence can be harmful – even evil – in its own right, and can also lead to – or exacerbate – direct violence. Hence, intervening militarily, and inevitably causing further harm in the act of intervening, results in a moral shortfall. This shortfall is indicative of a prevailing understanding of harm that is blind to the potential for structures to be violent.
In responding to the paradox, I adopt a critical cosmopolitan perspective to argue that because structural violence can be harmful on a great scale, and because it is co-constitutive of direct violence, we ought not to countenance intervening with the use of military force (with what this brings in the form of inevitable intended and unintended harm) to stop direct violence without also considering and addressing violent structures, especially if they are violent structures that we are, ourselves, embedded within. Therefore, it is morally imperative to engage in an ongoing process of illumination and addressing of evil structures to rectify the harms they cause, alongside any efforts to stem direct violence, if any sort of intervention is to be legitimate and just. This requires us to a) expand our understanding of harm and evil at the global level, and b) engage in consistent and sustained deliberative processes that bring to the forefront structural violence and structural underpinnings of direct violence.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
2021-03-09
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 9th March 2021
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Humanitarian intervention
Cosmopolitanism
Structural violence
Responsibility
Crimes against humanity
Deliberative theory
Libya
Legitimacy
International law
Structural violence and the paradox of humanitarian intervention
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/5562019-07-01T10:16:20Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Michel, Torsten
2008-11-20T14:29:13Z
2008-11-20T14:29:13Z
2008-11-27
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/556
The thesis sets out to critique recent accounts dealing with the notion and role of ontology in IR theorising as it can be found, for instance, in Alexander Wendt and more recently in the writings of critical realists. The main aim of these treatises on ontology is to provide a new perspective for IR theory that is in line with a more general critique of epistemological foundationalism and strict empiricism. Thereby these accounts rely upon an interpretation of scientific realism as it can be found in the Philosophy of Science.
The thesis shows how these approaches to ontology on the one hand overcome epistemological foundationalism but, on the other hand, reaffirm a form of ontological foundationalism through the apodictic positing of ‘intransitive objects’ that exist outside and independent of the human mind. Such an approach, rather than leading to a new and better conception of ontology, reifies the same biases of Cartesian subjectivity, the designative nature of language, a correspondence theory of truth and the problem-laden concept of freedom as it was conceived in Kant’s third antinomy. In response to these approaches whose general aim at reconceptualising ontology must be welcomed, the thesis develops a new approach that does not recreate the same problems in a different fashion but tries to overcome them through a reconceptualisation of the term ontology itself. The basis for the thesis is to be found in post-Husserlian phenomenology, a body of literature that has so far been widely ignored in IR theorising. By explicating the main tenets in the thought of such eminent philosophers as Heidegger, Gadamer, Merleau-Ponty and Ricoeur the thesis reconstructs the notion of ontology on the basis of an enquiry into the meaning of being in general and human being in particular. From this perspective a new approach to the notions of agency, language, truth and freedom becomes possible without recreating the rifts and foundationalisms that characterises many approaches to social and political relations.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Ontology
IR theory
Critical realism
Shrouded in darkness : a phenomenological path towards a new social ontology in international relations
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/151622019-04-01T08:18:16Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Choi, Jin-Tai
2018-07-10T09:43:10Z
2018-07-10T09:43:10Z
1993
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15162
Acts of violence involving civilian aircraft and airline facilities, as well as air travellers have been exploited by terrorist and others since 1931. This form of international terrorism is more than an attack on the rights of the innocent and rule of law. It constitutes a great threat to global peace. Although such attacks represent a small percentage of total terrorist incidents, it is clear that acts of violence directed at civil aviation are not limited by geographical or political boundaries. As escalating threats to civil aviation have caused great concern to the international community without regional exception, governments have introduced security measures against such attacks. The deterrent or diversionary effect of tight security programmes have been reflected in a perceptible shift of terrorist attention to easy targets and other forms of attack. However, governments and the civil aviation industry have failed to keep ahead of changing threats. They upgraded their security capabilities to tackle only the known methods of terrorist attacks. This short-sighted approach is the most serious concern for the safety of civil aviation. It cannot be emphasised too strongly that both the nature and the level of the security threat change frequently and must be monitored constantly in order to foresee possible danger and to consider how to cope with such threats. The international community must not allow the perpetrators of aviation terrorism to get so far ahead of the world's aviation security system. To achieve this aim, aviation authorities must develop long term plans to tackle terrorist activities against civil aviation. This will be a monumental task. However, where there is a will, there is a way.
en
Acts of violence against civil aviation: historical survey, perspectives and responses
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/110192019-04-01T08:18:16Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Moradian, Davood
2017-06-19T11:50:40Z
2017-06-19T11:50:40Z
2006
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/11019
This thesis sets out to research the concept and institution of punishment in three
cultures and systems of classical Athens, Islam and International Criminal Justice.
The second overall objective of this thesis is to establish how the insights from these
three traditions can enrich our understanding of the concept of punishment and also
designing humane, just and effective methods of punishment. I will argue that our
response to wrongdoing can be divided into three distinct categories: punitive
measures, impunity, and forgiveness. This thesis will contend that western-oriented
concept and methods of punishment have paid inadequate attention to the third category, forgiveness. This imbalance between the three categories of responses to
wrongdoing has led to the crises of self-definition and effectiveness of the leading
theories and methods of punishment. I propose that in order to address some of the
conceptual and institutional deficiencies of modern institutions of punishment, we must contemplate communitarian, restorative and cross-cultural approaches, in particular in the context of post-conflict justice and international criminal justice. I identify the Islamic concept and institution of punishment as a suitable model that can make valuable contributions to such an endeavour. In examining the concept and institution of punishment, I will also argue that the institution of punishment of a given society/tradition is a gateway that sheds light on other aspects and institutions of the society. As such a closer examination of the institution of punishment in the cultures under investigation would question the popular views and prejudices about democratic Athens, Islamic world, and liberal democracy.
en
Punishment across borders : transnational conceptions of punishment ; the conception of punishment in classical Athens, Islam and international criminal justice
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/5382019-07-01T10:04:17Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Kaussler, Bernd
2008-10-24T14:24:02Z
2008-10-24T14:24:02Z
2008
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/538
This thesis aims to conceptualize what is often referred to in diplomacy, as a policy of “constructive engagement”, by employing neoliberal-institutionalist theories and conflict resolution approaches. The adopted “model for constructive engagement” serves as the theoretical framework and centres on the basic assumption that non-coercive diplomacy coupled with the offer of incentives is best suited at resolving conflict as well as promoting human rights in international relations. Rather than looking at determinants of foreign policy making, the thesis focuses, therefore, on the actual exercise of power and influence in international relations. As such, power, both in terms of a state’s available assets as well as seen as a form causation, is considered the crucial variable in determining diplomatic manoeuvring and negotiation behaviour. The empirical context for the research project is provided by the case of British-Iranian relations during the period from 1989 to 2004. The narrative is divided into two parts: the first one deals with the impact of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini on bilateral relations and investigates British diplomacy towards Tehran, which followed the European Union’s policy of “Critical Dialogue” with Iran. Whilst the promotion of human rights was on the agenda of the “Critical Dialogue”, findings indicate that contrary to other EU member states, most notably Germany, Whitehall was able to genuinely pursuing a policy of “constructive engagement”, demanding meaningful changes in Iranian behaviour. However, findings also show that Britain’s priority was at resolving the “Rushdie affair” and not necessarily at promoting and protecting human rights in Iran. The second part of the narrative looks at the “Comprehensive Dialogue” which was implemented by the European Union in 2000 and established a direct linkage between economic rewards and the improvements of human rights in Iran. Whilst the Iranian government and parliament met EU demands, the country’s maze of power centres, most notably those dominated by hardliners and conservatives, worked against any meaningful improvements in the protection and respect of human rights. Both narratives indicate to what extent diplomacy and negotiations were influenced by domestic constituents, referred to as the Two-Level Game, as well as by asymmetries of interdependence between the EU and Iran. Overall, the data implies that constructive engagement, whilst subject to political and economic interdependence, constitutes an effective form of human rights diplomacy.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Defending the “Satanic Verses” : constructive engagement: British-Iranian relations and the right to freedom of expression (1989-2004)
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/281512024-02-01T22:13:10Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Van Der Meer, Anneleen
2023-08-11T10:45:44Z
2023-08-11T10:45:44Z
2023-11-28
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/28151
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/577
The purpose of this study is to understand why states use chemical weapons as a strategic choice. The prevailing understanding of chemical weapons has been that there is limited military utility to these weapons, which makes it more puzzling to understand why states would risk the negative attention generated by the norm against these weapons. However, it is necessary to consider that the use of chemical weapons could be a strategic choice, not despite the strong norm, but because of the strong norm. This requires insights from the operational, the strategic, and the political levels of warfare. This research assesses these levels with reference to the Soviet-Afghan War, the Iran-Iraq War, and the Syrian Civil War, and it presents a typology to understand the effects of norm transgression. The case studies in this research confirm that various operational demands can be well-met with chemical weapons, but this requires ample time and scope for practice. At the strategic level, chemical weapons affect morale and communicate resolve, and can be instrumental in achieving significant effects by amplifying momentum. At the political level, breaking the norm affects political identities, the formation of allegiances, and the integrity of the international society, which impact the shape and direction of a war. In each of the cases, the strategic effects of the use of chemical weapons have been different. In order to ground these effects in a single conceptual framework, I applied the concept of liminality to understand the process by which the introduction of chemical weapons on a battlefield creates space for disorder. This disorder can be resolved through power reversal or towards normative stability, or it can be left unresolved to be exploited. Crucially, while such disorder can be used by defensive parties to prevent loss, it is not a war-winning strategy.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Chemical weapons
Norm transgression
Strategy
Liminality
Chemical warfare
English school
Strategies of chemical warfare : understanding the purposes of norm transgression in war
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/8202019-07-01T10:11:50Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Quaintance, Michael Kimo
2009-11-30T16:05:14Z
2009-11-30T16:05:14Z
2009-11-30
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/820
One of the key features of the 2002 United States National Security Strategy was an abrupt shift from the traditional U.S. approach to proliferation threats that prioritized deterrence and promotion of nondiscriminatory nonproliferation norms, to an approach called counterproliferation that emphasized military preemption and direct challenges to adversarial state identity. This thesis asks the question, what caused counterproliferation to largely replace deterrence and nonproliferation as the central national security policies of the U.S. concerning unconventional weapons? The thesis argues that to understand this policy change requires not merely an appreciation of changes in the post-Cold War international security environment, but also an examination of how culturally shaped threat conceptions among American policymakers interacted with capabilities development and policy institutionalization within the U.S. military. As no current theory adequately addresses those dynamics, complimentary strategic culture and organizational theory models are presented as the framework for analysis. This thesis will contend that policy shift from NP to CP resulted from the merging of strategic cultural efforts aimed at legitimizing conceptions of proliferation threats as originating from state identity, with a military organizational drive to avoid uncertainty through the development of counterproliferation capabilities. Together these strategic cultural and organizational responses to shifting proliferation threats altered the menu of choice for policymakers by institutionalizing and legitimizing a policy response that directly challenged existing nonproliferation norms and practices. This thesis relies on a detailed case study of the evolution of counterproliferation policy from 1993 to 2002, with particular focus on the analysis of public discourse, declassified policy planning and Department of Defense documents, and participant interviews.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Counterproliferation
Nonproliferation
U.S. National Security Strategy
Strategic culture
Organizational theory
From bad weapons to bad states: the evolution of U.S. counterproliferation policy
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/186582023-12-07T17:15:34Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Valk, John-Harmen
2019-10-14T13:34:50Z
2019-10-14T13:34:50Z
2018-06-26
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/18658
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-18658
Scholars in the field of International Relations have recently sought to re-engage
religion out of the recognition that the so-called global resurgence of religion has
challenged the previously prevailing epistemological and ontological assumptions
which implied that religion was at most a marginal factor to the study of international
politics. This thesis enters into the renewed conversations regarding religion and
international politics by arguing that in order to take seriously the real challenge
presented by the global resurgence of religion there is need to understand religion as
poetic discourse. Appealing to the thought of the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, it
characterizes poetic discourse as that which constitutes a world of desirability and in so
doing speaks to human existence as effort and desire. So oriented according to
characteristics of desirability, a poetically-disclosed world in turn brings into relief
alternative ways of understanding the scope of possibility and impossibility,
practicability and impracticability. Religion as poetic discourse thus presents important
resources for the potential transformation of international political community.
Recovering the legitimacy of poetic discourse in the face of critiques of religion that
rightly bring into relief the challenges stemming from the disenchantment of the world,
the thesis underscores that religion understood as poetic discourse is necessarily tied to
the exercise of interpretive, practical judgment. What the global resurgence of religion
most significantly raises, therefore, is a challenge to those approaches, two of which this
thesis critiques, which would seek to attain to a science of praxis at the level of
international politics by denying their own poetic character.
en
2023-06-08
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Electronic copy restricted until 8th June 2023
Religion as poetic discourse and the theorization of international politics
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/273662023-11-30T03:01:37Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Hunfeld, Katharina Charlotte Martha
2023-04-10T09:13:50Z
2023-04-10T09:13:50Z
2022-11-29
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27366
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/388
Global justice continues to be one of the major fields of discussion in political philosophy, political theory, International Relations, and other subfields. While global justice is an academic area with an explicit global outlook, it is in no way a global debate: scholars at the centre of disciplinary theoretical debates do not hear or centre non-Western voices. Prevailing views about the ethics and politics of global justice reflect and continue to reinforce problematic ontological assumptions and unquestioned epistemic privileges aligned with knowledge- and norm-entrepreneurs in the Global North. This thesis advances two specific contributions to global normative thought. Firstly, I develop a decolonial critique of the mainstream global justice literature and contend that the virtually exclusive consideration of Western thought and the marginalisation of, for example, African thought in the global justice debate constitutes
an instance of epistemic injustice. This thesis engages extensively with the notion of coloniality in order to understand and analyse the ways in which the global justice debate, as an academic discourse, implicitly reproduces those relations of power that emerged as a result of Empire, colonialism, and enslavement. Apart from foregrounding and problematising the pervasive, enduring epistemic traces of the colonial encounter in the debate on global justice, this thesis also makes a second, positive contribution, namely
by engaging with African ubuntu thought as a constructive decolonial approach to global justice. Looking at the issues of epistemic injustice, global poverty, gender inequality, ecological justice, and the politics of time, I discuss the ways in which ubuntu is a particularly promising starting point for decentring and pluralising the dominant Western ontological framework underlying the debate. As a relational understanding of human existence, ubuntu calls attention to the importance of collective practices of care, community, and solidarity building, with significant potential for making visible and advancing decolonial efforts.
en
2027-10-23
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 23rd October 2027
Global justice
Coloniality
Epistemic injustice
Coloniality and the global justice debate : a decolonial approach to global normative theorising
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/234452021-10-09T10:53:31Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Tumu, Sneha Reddy
2021-06-29T14:31:00Z
2021-06-29T14:31:00Z
2021-06-29
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/23445
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/84
This thesis explores the experiences of North African and Indian soldiers in the First World War in Palestine and Syria. In 1917, Britain’s and France’s manpower shortages faced them with the dilemma of whether to continue deploying colonial soldiers against their co-religionists in the Ottoman Empire. They also confronted the risks of enemy propaganda and war weariness. What then persuaded them to rely on colonial troops? And what consequences did that dependence carry for empire? Crucially, how did the soldiers see and experience the war in Palestine and Syria? Contrasting the incentives for the North African and Indian soldiers to serve, and their operational capabilities in the field, offers a rich canvas for comparing the two colonial armies. It also helps gauge war’s capacity to shape the position of the military within a society. The thesis demonstrates that the threat from the Ottoman jihad provides an inadequate framework for looking at these issues, given the hybrid and complementary identities of the soldiers, as members of their own tribes and communities and as colonial subjects. In turn, the soldiers’ own wartime experiences influenced their subsequent military identities.
Conventional chronology has limited our understanding of the transformative nature of the Great War, and the colonial experience of it, by framing it as ‘la Guerre de 1914-1918’, an event with a definite beginning and end. Soldiers’ letters and officers’ memoirs argue otherwise. This thesis breaks new ground through its engagement with the Marginal Front, conceptualised here as the war’s lesser-studied intersectional aspects–the East-West connections, the colonial home fronts, and the Middle East battlefields, between 1917 and 1923. With International Relations increasingly questioning the origins of power in global politics, at the heart of this research is an investigation of the nature of knowledge, and the enduring influence of colonial constructs on the social sciences.
en
2026-02-08
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 8th February 2026
North Africa
South Asia
Palestine
Syria
First World War in the Middle East
Colonial knowledge and power
Ottomans
British and French colonial history
Postwar politics
Marginal Front
Jihad
North African and Indian soldiers in the First World War in Palestine and Syria, 1917-1923
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/278302023-06-29T02:01:29Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Wang, Ruoxi
2023-06-28T14:52:39Z
2023-06-28T14:52:39Z
2023-11-28
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27830
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/520
CSC 201809210004
Abstract redacted
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
2026-06-16
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 16th June 2026
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Timing matters : China's contestation of human protection norms in South Sudan and Myanmar
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/5362019-07-01T10:05:50Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Beattie, Amanda Russell
2008-10-21T14:36:49Z
2008-10-21T14:36:49Z
2008-06-25
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/536
Identifying human suffering as a socio-political phenomenon challenging the well-being and development of individuals, this work argues that International Relations requires a re-evaluation of its political structures in light of the ends articulated within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its associated International Human Rights Regime. Noting the problem of being, the particular problem of modern cognitive epistemologies this work seeks to ground an alternative philosophical conception of the individual framed within an account of natural law morality. Distinguishing itself from the epistemology of the received view of Modernity, the morality of natural law frames an alternative account of agency, agents, and the community.
In its pre-modern form, natural law accounts for both the theoretical and practical reasoning capacities of the agent noting the ontological equality of every individual similar to modern cosmopolitan assumptions. It distinguishes itself from these accounts noting the relativity, and not universal ends of moral deliberations reflected in the tradition of casuistry. Articulating a moral taxonomy reflecting the ends of ‘the good’ this methodology is at odds with the stability of static political structures. Consequently, the natural law community is able to sustain an account of political pluralism, developing the unique qualities and characteristics distinguishing each and every agent. The plurality of life paths, alongside the equality of being, is reflected in the common good, the institutional representation of the personal relationships sustaining and furthering the development of morality mirroring the well-being and development of the moral agent.
Articulating the art of politics, the cumulative appraisal of these ideas reveals an objective account of being political. Endorsing ‘being human in common’, it further institutionalizes the relationships of being reflected in the synthesis of philia and agape relations accounting for a personal account of politics. Noting the influential nature of coordinated political action, reflected in an ethic of love, this objective interpretation synthesizes local knowledge and customs alongside the universality of ‘the good’ addressing the particular developmental needs of suffering agents. Culminating in an account of the politics of potential, a realistic appraisal of the ends of this account of being political is mindful that political change, both solitary and in common, reflects the equal capacity of the agent to do both good and evil.
Consequently, the hope of the politics of potential distinguishes itself from modern interpretations of politics equally aware of both the positive and negative attributes of contemporary human nature affecting those agents endeavoring to embark on the task of international institutional design.
en
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Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
International relations
Natural law
Obligations of love : international political thought & the tradition of natural law
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/66022019-04-01T08:18:17Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Beeny, Tara Michelle
2015-04-30T12:24:49Z
2015-04-30T12:24:49Z
2015-06-23
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6602
This dissertation interrogates the positionality of postconflict reconstruction efforts in Iraq within the broader discourse of the liberal peace and liberal reconstruction. It examines how U.S. policymakers planned and articulated the reconstruction of Iraq in relationship to historical examples, specifically the cases of West Germany and Japan. It questions how U.S. policymakers understood and utilized the examples of post-World War II reconstruction and the effect those examples had on the policymaking process.
This dissertation traces the role historical memory plays in the formation and articulation of foreign policy by examining the use of historical analogies in planning the political, economic, and civil reconstruction of Iraq. It finds that the largest factor contributing to miscalculation in the invasion and occupation of Iraq was not conservative hawkishness, or liberal ineffectiveness, but rather a common mythology shared by many members of the U.S. foreign policy community, including the Bush administration, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the most prominent Washington think tanks.
This common mythology asserts that U.S. and Allied postwar reconstruction efforts in West Germany and Japan were unequivocal successes that led directly to the liberal democracies and neoliberal economies found today in Germany and Japan. This conventional wisdom shapes which policies appeared viable to U.S. policymakers, and resulted in undeserved optimism during the postwar planning for Iraq. This dissertation concludes that the lessons of postconflict reconstruction in Iraq remain contested. Lacklustre results in Iraq have not caused U.S. policymakers to re-evaluate their understanding of the U.S. role in postconflict reconstruction. Rather, the case of Iraq is being absorbed into the existing conventional wisdom, with believers in postconflict reconstruction claiming Iraq was simply planned poorly, or was not met with the kind of resources and commitment that could have led to success.
en
Postwar reconstruction
Iraq
Liberal peace
Liberal reconstruction
World War II mythologies and the prewar reconstruction of Iraq
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/24692019-07-01T10:10:58Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Tom, Patrick
2012-03-27T15:28:48Z
2012-03-27T15:28:48Z
2011-11-30
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2469
This thesis critiques liberal peacebuilding in Africa, with a particular focus on Sierra Leone. In particular, it examines the interface between the liberal peace and the “local”, the forms of agency that various local actors are expressing in response to the liberal peace and the hybrid forms of peace that are emerging in Sierra Leone. The thesis is built from an emerging critical literature that has argued for the need to shift from merely criticising liberal peacebuilding to examining local and contextual responses to it. Such contextualisation is crucial mainly because it helps us to develop a better understanding of the complex dynamics on the ground. The aim of this thesis is not to provide a new theory but to attempt to use the emerging insights from the critical scholarship through adopting the concept of hybridity in order to gain an understanding of the forms of peace that are emerging in post-conflict zones in Africa. This has not been comprehensively addressed in the context of post-conflict societies in Africa. Yet, much contemporary peace support operations are taking place in these societies that are characterised by multiple sources of legitimacy, authority and sovereignty.
The thesis shows that in Sierra Leone local actors – from state elites to chiefs to civil society to ordinary people on the “margins of the state” – are not passive recipients of the liberal peace. It sheds new light on how hybridity can be created “from below” as citizens do not engage in outright resistance, but express various forms of agency including partial acceptance and internalisation of some elements of the liberal peace that they find useful to them; and use them to make demands for reforms against state elites who they do not trust and often criticise for their pre-occupation with political survival and consolidation of power. Further, it notes that in Sierra Leone a “post-liberal peace” that is locally-oriented might emerge on the “margins of the state” where culture, custom and tradition are predominant, and where neo-traditional civil society organisations act as vehicles for both the liberal peace and customary peacebuilding while allowing locals to lead the peacebuilding process. In Sierra Leone, there are also peace processes that are based on custom that are operating in parallel to the liberal peace, particularly in remote parts of the country.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Peacebuilding
Statebuilding
African traditional political institutions
Chiefs
Agency
Liberal peace
Hybridity
Hybrid forms of peace
Liberal peacebuilding
Traditional and indigenous peace-making
Post-liberal peace
Conflict
Hybrid political orders
The everyday
Peace
Democratisation
Marketisation
Critical theory
Problem-solving scholarship
The liberal peace and post-conflict peacebuilding in Africa : Sierra Leone
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/122002019-10-21T10:04:17Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Galai, Yoav
2017-11-30T11:58:21Z
2017-11-30T11:58:21Z
2017-11-07
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12200
This dissertation interrogates the political use of the past in global politics, with a focus on Israel/Palestine. Collective memory is mostly theorised in IR as determinant of national identities. Similarly, in the field of Memory Studies, collective memory is mostly confined to “Methodological Nationalism.” My main argument is that while national narratives purport to be stand-alone stories of the past, or monological narratives, they are in fact in constant negotiation with other stories of that past, they are dialogical. Furthermore, their dynamic transcends the boundaries of the nation state and of transnational institutional politics. To encapsulate these cross-narrative intertextual relationships into a framework that would enable productive analysis, I suggest the re-articulation of the dialogical relationships as transnational constellations, which focus first and foremost on the narratives themselves.
en
2022-11-22
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 22nd November 2022
Narrative
Memory
Israel
Palestine
Transnational constellations of the past
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/19822021-12-09T03:02:17Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Donnelly, Faye
2011-08-16T08:54:22Z
2011-08-16T08:54:22Z
2010
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1982
This thesis responds to the longstanding call from constructivist and poststructuralist
scholars for a turn to discourse. It focuses on the paradox of the ability of language to
act as a constituting and constraining device within an agent-structure discussion. The
Copenhagen School (CS), its attention to language and its concept of securitization is
examined in terms of its strengths and weaknesses, including bringing discourse onto
the security agenda to an unprecedented extent. This thesis seeks to speak security at a
deeper level and move securitization beyond the moment of utterance and the notion
of agents breaking free of rules that would otherwise bind, as well as beyond a
singular definition of security. It is proposed that the CS framework can be
theoretically complemented by Wittgenstein’s notion of language games on board.
The analytical shift made by juxtaposing a speech act and a language game also
foregrounds the link between language and rules. Wittgenstein’s idea of ‘acts of
interpretation’ is also considered, and substantive questions are raised about what the
language of security legitimates in principle and in practice. The Bush
administration’s justifications for the 2003 Iraq war are taken as a point of departure,
and covers how the Bush administration deployed the language of security to justify
highly controversial moves. Their narrative about the use of the pre-emptive use of
force without an imminent threat existing and ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’
such as those seen in the Abu Ghraib photographs in the name of security exemplify
that words matter. The arguments conclude that adjustments are needed in the way
security is currently spoken in IR theory.
en
Beyond securitization : a critical review of the Bush administration and Iraq
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/26312019-04-01T08:18:19Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Parks, Mark E.
2012-06-04T15:18:19Z
2012-06-04T15:18:19Z
1988
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2631
The overall purpose of this thesis is to question
the value of the use of models regarding decision-making
as it effectively operates within the
environment of US armaments procurements. For
example, conceptual framework models such as
bureaucratic politics, organisational outputs,
incrementalism, and others are far too simplistic
in their application to this subject - they only
tend to distort reality. The thesis argues that
the process is far too complex with decisional
centres shifting throughout the life of any one
given system, thus necessitating a more realistic
conceptual approach. Evidence of this is provided
throughout the discussion of the organisational
processes and the roles of those involved in the
procurement process. Moreover, it becomes apparent
that those in the highest positions of decision-making
(for example, Presidents, Secretaries of
Defense, etc.) are at times least likely to be
involved in decisions, dependent on the stage of
development of the weapon system. Further, other
groups (for example, Congress, Joint Chiefs, etc.)
commonly perceived as the decisional centres have
little, if any involvement during the earlier
stages in the life of a weapon system. The
possibility of their involvement increases as the
system enters what the author refers to as the
hardware phase, when monies must be appropriated.
In other words, the system becomes politicised and
the expertise of those in higher positions becomes
salient, because they are chosen for their political
and managerial skills - not their expertise in
detailed defence matters. Even the weight of their
decisions during the hardware phase is questionable
due to the fact that lower level "experts", referred
to as DoD Components, with longer periods of tenure,
are consistently directing upwards their appraisals
of new systems requirements, threats, etc., thus
setting the parameters for the higher positioned
decision maker. Following the description of the
organisational processes and the roles of those
involved, the discussion turns to the case study of
the F-16 to validate these points. The purpose is
not to research a case study and then attempt to
extrapolate from it axioms of weapons procurement.
The exercise is intended to yield credence to the
points referred to above.
en
Comparative analysis of decision-making processes with respect to U.S. armaments procurement: a case study of the F-16
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/155312019-04-01T08:18:19Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
De Graaf, Anne
2018-07-18T11:19:35Z
2018-07-18T11:19:35Z
2018
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15531
This thesis asks how voice enables youth to claim agency within divided societies, and what are the implications of this in terms of conflict and peacebuilding? It is an analysis of the significance of young people's voices to international relations. The research is framed in terms of human rights and human security, children's rights, and recognition theories. Its aim is to draw conclusions both about the nature of voice and agency, or power, and about how the framing of the present research in this area impacts the ability of the discourse to take into account the significance of listening to those who are marginalized. From these starting points the thesis will explore questions such as the following: In what ways do children have a voice? If young people had more of a voice, would it make a difference? Does having a voice lead to power? If so, does this create a culture of respect for this voice, and in turn an increase in the speaker's ability to claim agency? Does increasing participation have an impact upon people's likeliness to resort to violence? These aspects are important because they contribute to knowledge and frameworks for peacebuilding in post-conflict areas and the link between voice and violence may provide a key to reducing youth violence in post-conflict areas, but most significantly, hearing young voice could contribute to a sustainable peace, envisioned by and cultivated by the very generation that must own that peace if it is to become lasting.
en
Speaking peace into being : voice, youth and agency in a deeply divided society
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/27542019-07-01T10:14:47Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Rasquinha, Joseph Dominic-Savio
2012-06-12T15:30:51Z
2012-06-12T15:30:51Z
1992
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2754
The formation of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) in
1981 was perceived by most observers to be a collective security response to
the Iran-Iraq war. Despite this view, the group has endured ten years of
integration in a turbulent region and has survived: external threats to its
sovereignty, Islamic fundamentalism, the decline of oil prices, internal
unrest, attempted coups, and the invasion and occupation of a constituent
member. This poses the question: has the integration of these countries
proved to be a success? This thesis attempts to answer this question with
the aid of a three dimensional analysis.
The first dimension examines the theory and practice of
integration. Its primary objective is to provide an insight into integration.
As the GCC can, at best, be categorised as a Customs Union, this chapter
concentrates on Free Trade Areas and Customs Union theories and
explores their relationships with tariffs, protectionism, developing
countries, and politics. A review of the empirical analyses in the field is
essential due to the fact that a mathematical technique is applied to GCC
trade in the latter part of this thesis. The existence of political, economic
and manpower factors are found to be more detrimental to the GCC's
interests than its adherence or convergence to the theory and practice of
integration.
An analysis of these three factors constitutes the second
dimension of the thesis. This commences by examining the Islamic
antecedents of the member countries, pan-Islamism and nationalism in
the 19th century, and Middle Eastern efforts at integration from the
decline of the Ottoman Empire to the present. The establishment of the
existing GCC nations and an examination of their natural resources,
demography, industry, infrastructure, agriculture, and fisheries is covered,
as is the impact of the 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait and the BCCI
liquidation. A review of manpower factors includes an examination of
the labour market in the pre and post 1973 period with emphasis given to
the role of expatriate and indigenous labour. In addition, the influence of
education, women in the workforce, nationality, and residence policies on
indigenous labour is discussed.
The third dimension reviews the prospects of the GCC. This
is performed through the construction and utilisation of matrices which
examine the similarity or dissimilarity of GCC trade to the World,
Developed and Developing Countries. United Nations Standard
Industrial Trade Category (SITC) data up to 3-digits, has been used to
construct twenty seven 22 x 22 matrices. Nine of these matrices indicate
GCC trade with the Rest of the World and are linked to economic and
financial literature on the Gulf in order to examine their credibility.
Eighteen matrices which indicate trade with the Developing and
Developed World indentify potential trade creation, trade diversion and
prospects.
It is the conclusion of the thesis that the GCC has not
succeeded in its integration efforts. The lack of co-ordination to perform
as a single unit in economic, political, and military areas, the
undemocratic political systems, the exploitation of expatriate labour, the
segregation of indigenous labour, and most importantly, the wasted
opportunities indicated by the matrices of greater trade creation with the
Developed and Developing Countries contribute significantly to the
ineffectiveness of the group.
en
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
The integration of the Gulf Co-Operation Council (GCC): problems and prospects
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/108272021-11-02T14:41:09Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Morfini, Nicola
2017-05-24T08:32:46Z
2017-05-24T08:32:46Z
2016-12-01
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/10827
en
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2026-11-01
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 1st November 2026
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Title redacted
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/275902023-06-16T22:45:25Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Oberholtzer, Jenny Elizabeth
2023-05-11T21:06:02Z
2023-05-11T21:06:02Z
2023-06-13
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27590
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/454
Chaplains in the United States’ and United Kingdom’s militaries occupy an unusual position as the sole providers of confidential counseling available to service members, thanks to a quirk in tradition and law. Nominally, all chaplains meet a similar set of criteria: the appropriate graduate degree in the United States, or the appropriate ordination in the United Kingdom; the appropriate number of years in service; and the endorsement of an approved ecclesiastical body. In practice, these can mean very different levels of preparation, especially when it comes to pastoral counselling. This thesis explores ecclesiastical endorsements, chaplain selection, and training in two multi-religious militaries, as well as what these chaplains face while working in the field. Using semi-structured interviews with retired chaplains, documented requirements from militaries, ecclesiastical endorsers and religious education programmes, this thesis finds that chaplains are asked to serve in roles that their educations and endorsements may not have fully prepared them for. Moreover, due to doctrinal restrictions attached to ecclesiastical endorsements, further education will simply not prepare some chaplains for the pastoral needs of some service members. Nonetheless, the modern chaplain continues to fill vital needs for these militaries as a whole: providing an unofficial connector, who can serve as a knowledgeable insider, outside of the chain of command; an expert on issues of religion and ethics; a facilitator for religious needs in a stressful environment, and a truly confidential counsellor, who has the time and remit to sit with anyone who needs an ear.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
2028-04-25
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 25th April 2028
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Religion
Military
Chaplaincy
United States of America
United Kingdom
Pastoral care
Counselling
Modern military chaplaincy : neither fit for purpose, nor obsolete
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/70662023-11-15T17:09:25Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Chernobrov, Dmitry
2015-07-28T15:19:06Z
2015-07-28T15:19:06Z
2015-06-30
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/7066
Abstract redacted
en
2026-08-22
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Electronic copy restricted until 22 August 2026
The portrait of an other : metaphor, stereotype and the drawing self in international perceptions
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/9382019-04-01T08:18:21Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Viktorova Milne, Jevgenia
2010-06-24T09:05:02Z
2010-06-24T09:05:02Z
2010-06-22
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/938
This thesis investigates the advantages and limitations of applying culture to the analysis of violent conflict and peacebuilding, with a particular focus on liberal peacebuilding in Sierra Leone. While fully aware of the critique of the concept of culture in terms of its uses for the production of difference and ‘otherness,’ it also seeks to respond to the critique of liberal peacebuilding on the account of its low sensitivity towards local culture, which allegedly undermines the peace effort. After a careful examination of the terms of discussion about culture enabled by theoretical approaches to conflict in Chapter 2, the thesis presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of cultural aspects of conflict and peace based on the processes and effects of meaning-generation (Chapter 3), developing the conceptual apparatus and vocabulary for the subsequent empirical study. Instead of bracketing out the recursive nature of cultural theorising, the developed approach embraces the recursive dynamics which arise as a result of cultural ‘embeddedness’ of the analyst and the processes which s/he seeks to elucidate, mirroring similar dynamics in the cultural production of meaning and knowledge. The framework of ‘embedded cultural enquiry’ is then used to analyse the practices of liberal peacebuilding as a particular culture, which shapes the interaction of the liberal peace with its ‘subjects’ and critics as well as framing its reception of the cultural problematic generally (Chapter 4). The application of the analytical framework to the case study investigates the interaction between the liberal peace and ‘local culture,’ offering an alternative reading of the conflict and peace process in Sierra Leone (Chapter 5). The study concludes that a greater attention to cultural meaning-making offers a largely untapped potential for peacebuilding, although any decisions with regard to its deployment will inevitably be made from within an inherently biased cultural perspective.
en
Culture
Peacebuilding
Liberal peace
Violent conflict
Sierra Leone
Returning culture to peacebuilding : contesting the liberal peace in Sierra Leone
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/41252021-01-05T16:24:54Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Khor, Laura
2013-10-29T14:08:42Z
2013-10-29T14:08:42Z
2013-11-30
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/4125
The central question of this thesis examines how Malaya/Malaysia and Singapore learned and adapted successful terrorist disengagement programs and policies; through their unique and non-military rehabilitation programs. The methodology is a comparative case study analysis of Malaysia and Singapore. In order to understand how the countries of Malaya/Malaysia and Singapore adapted a colonial-era counter-insurgency program to disengage Communist Terrorists into a program that now rehabilitates radicalized Islamist Terrorists, an analysis of the periods of the Malayan Emergency and the post-Cold War era of Malaya/Malaysia and Singapore is necessary. The argument presented in this thesis contends the colonial framework and policies of the Malayan Emergency had a positive impact on Malaysia and Singapore; which both countries have further developed and learned as a foundation for their successful terrorist disengagement programs and policies to counter radical Islamist groups and individuals. The hypothesis is that successful counter-insurgency operations must include disengagement programs, rather than purely military solutions or strategies to ensure countries success in counter-insurgency operations and strategies. The Malaysian counter-insurgency disengagement program and the Singapore counter-insurgency disengagement program can provide lessons for modern day counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism programs and policies.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
2022-10-23
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 23rd October 2022
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Malaysia and Singapore
Terrorist rehabilitation
Malaysia and Singapore's terrorist rehabilitation programs : learning and adapting to terrorist threats
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/171982024-02-22T15:48:57Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Kluczewska, Karolina
2019-03-01T16:39:57Z
2019-03-01T16:39:57Z
2019-06
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/17198
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-17198
This thesis examines actors, interactions and normativities involved in development aid in Tajikistan. It analyses trajectories of six global paradigms which are promoted in the country by Western donors: good governance, local knowledge, local ownership, organised recruitment, women’s empowerment and doing business. The thesis advances three main themes. First, it analyses why and how national donor agencies and international organisations foster the selected paradigms in the country. Second, it highlights local actors’ perspectives on donors’ interventions and describes everyday practices of re-appropriation of the paradigms, such as compliance, brokerage and acts of subversion against donors. Third, the thesis identifies arising contestations of the paradigms by local non-governmental organisations and the government, as well as alternative imaginaries of development emerging on the ground. Theoretically, the thesis is situated within critical development studies and represents a theoretical bricolage rooted in three distinct strands of academic literature: International Relations’ research on norm diffusion, anthropology of development and the post-development theory. Methodologically, the thesis argues in favour of political ethnography. Its methodological bricolage includes action research, interviews, participant observation and visual research practices. Overall, the thesis contributes to the literature on contemporary Tajikistan; development practices in Central Asia; and critical imaginaries of development.
en
2029-02-14
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 14 February 2029
Tajikistan
Central Asia
Development
International organisations
NGOs
Political ethnography
Development aid in Tajikistan : six global paradigms and practice on the ground
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/25362019-07-01T10:12:11Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Kappler, Stefanie
2012-04-04T11:39:10Z
2012-04-04T11:39:10Z
2012-06-19
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2536
This thesis aims to investigate EU peacebuilding in Bosnia-Herzegovina, focusing on the ways in which EU actors engage with local cultural actors and vice versa. Given that, in the liberal peacebuilding tradition, civil society has been considered a key actor in the public sphere, peacebuilding actors have tended to neglect seemingly more marginal actors and their subtle ways of impacting on the peacebuilding process.
However, this thesis contends that processes of interaction are not always direct and
visible, but centre on discourse clusters, which I frame as imaginary ‘spaces of agency’.
Through the creation of meanings within a space of agency and its translation into other imaginary spaces, actors develop the power to impact upon the peacebuilding process, often in coded ways and therefore invisible in the public sphere, as peacebuilding actors, including the EU, have created it. A typology of the modes of interaction and possible responses between spaces helps understand the complexities and nuances of peacebuilding interaction.
The thesis uses this framework to analyse several exemplary spaces of agency of the
EU, rooting them in institutional discourses with specific reference to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Based on this, I investigate a number of responses to those spaces on the
part of local cultural actors, as well as how the latter contribute to the emergence of
alternative localised spaces, where the EU’s spaces fail to connect to the everyday dimensions of peace. I suggest that this represents a way in which local actors try to
claim the ownership of peacebuilding back in subtle ways. This also points to the ability
of actors that have traditionally been excluded from the peacebuilding project to
contextualise abstract and distant processes into what matters locally, as well as their
capacity to reject and resist when the EU’s spaces remain irrelevant for local peacebuilding imaginations.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Peacebuilding
European Union
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Local agency
Resistance
Culture
'Mysterious in content' : the European Union peacebuilding framework and local spaces of agency in Bosnia-Herzegovina
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/275282023-08-24T02:01:56Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Abozaid, Ahmed M.
2023-05-08T14:50:54Z
2023-05-08T14:50:54Z
2023-06-13
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27528
https://doi.org/10.17630/sta/423
This thesis is occupied with answering the following question: Why do the States kill their citizens? Or, what propels state violence and the suppression of political dissents? By emphasising on the Islamicate world I argue that the durability of state violence, which is mainly the result of the state/authority’s fear of the transformative power of the population, can be explained via (new)interpretations of the 14th-century historian ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ibn Kh̲̲aldūn’s thought. Ibn K̲h̲aldūn claimed that states were fundamentally established and consolidated upon violent and repressive foundations, or what I call the K̲h̲aldūnian trilogy of ʿasabiyya, al-shāwkāh, and al ghālābāh wa al-qāhr (i.e., the dominant groups, force majeure, repression, and domination).
Moreover, he claimed that the main tool that constituted and consolidated the authority of the ʿasabiyya has been the excessive use of violence and coercion. This violence took two main intertwined forms: (1) physical, which conducted by the police and the army; (2) discursive, via the systematic process of politicization of Sharia rules and law.
To understand the dynamics of state-society relations in the Islamicate World apart from colonial knowledge, I present a theoretical conversation between Ibn K̲h̲aldūn and Walter Benjamin’s rechtsetzende and rechtserhaltende Gewalt (or lawmaking and lawpreserving violence) on one hand, and Max Weber on the other hand, on state violence and how the state acts towards the opposition and those who challenge its authority. Additionally, to unpack the relationship among Sharia, authority, and resistance, I build on Ibn K̲h̲aldūn’s notions to dismantle Weberian presuppositions on state, violence, and legitimacy. Besides Ibn K̲h̲aldūn the thesis primarily rests on Edward Said’s travelling theory, which is used to trace the modern readings of Ibn K̲h̲aldūn and examine its relevancy and applicability in unpacking the articulation between Western/colonial laws and the Islamic tradition of governance.
This thesis inverts the concentration (in both theory and practice) on non-European authorities and offers an alternative reading of the state’s monopoly of violence that, in its conceptualization, breaks the colonial predominance. This is a critical inquiry that reviews the history of state violence, questioning and challenging the official narrative concerning the methods of its use
against those who challenge authority. Therefore, instead of adopting or reproducing official narratives, the thesis deconstructs them. Moreover, it presents a critical exploration and radical counter-narrative of the history of Islamicate authority.
en
2027-09-01
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Restricted until 1st September 2027
International relations
Political theory
Comparative politics
Sociology
State theory
Violence
Authority
Legitimacy
Decolonising the study of state : a neo-K̲h̲aldūnian perspective on authority, violence and resistance
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/110942017-06-27T12:54:01Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Zhirukhina, Elena
2017-06-27T10:52:52Z
2017-06-27T10:52:52Z
2017-03-23
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/11094
This thesis was inspired by the question of how the state addresses irregular challenges for its survival and reputation. It used an example of the confrontation between illegal armed groups (IAGs) operating in the North Caucasus and the Russian state in 2007-2014. Investigation started by asking to what extent do repressive and reconciliatory counter tactics decrease the level of violence produced by illegal armed groups?
The thesis was situated in-between of deterrence and backlash theories to examine (in)effectiveness of repressive and reconciliatory policies. It accounted for (in)effectiveness by investigating whether the policy decreases or increases the level of insurgency-related violence; namely, whether it causes deterrence or backlash, in the case of repression or, alternatively, whether it causes conformity or backlash in the case of reconciliation.
The thesis operationalised its main variables by disaggregating the strategy into separate repressive and reconciliatory tactics. It considered, on the one hand, three types of IAGs tactics: armed assault, bombings (suicide bombing, vehicle bomb, bomb placement, bomb tossing, firing, fake bomb) and hostage taking. One the other hand, the state tactics were divided into four categories: repressive indiscriminate (regime of counterterrorist operation, clash, and shelling), repressive discriminate (special operation, shooting, arrest, seizure, and detection), reconciliatory indiscriminate (involvement of civil society through dialogue, and socio-economic development), and reconciliatory discriminate (amnesty and reintegration).
The thesis expected targeted repressive operations to suppress active IAGs members, whereas socio-economic incentives to contribute to maintaining the success of violent repressive operations.
To test these hypotheses, the thesis relied on large empirical data, specially collected from the open sources, including 3270 episodes of IAG-initiated violence and 6114 governmental repressive actions. Data for reconciliatory efforts was taken from official statistics. The thesis used a generalized linear negative binomial and a generalized additive negative binomial model to assess the relationship between governmental policies and the level of violence.
The thesis found that discriminate violence does indeed decrease attacks. However, it causes an immediate strong backlash effect at first, and only with considerable time and magnitude of repression eventually leads to the reduction of violence. The more discriminate repression is applied the less backlash it causes. Unlike repression, reconciliatory tactics produce a decrease in attacks. Thus, the thesis found partial support for both deterrence and backlash models. It, however, showed that deterrence effect overcomes initial backlash reaction.
en
2022-04-24
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 24th April 2022
Counterterrorism
Counterinsurgency
Repression
Reconciliation
North Caucasus
Russia
Conflict resolution
Tactics
Discriminate
Indiscriminate
The state application of repressive and reconciliatory tactics in the North Caucasus (2007-2014)
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/48952019-04-01T08:18:22Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Ayazbekov, Anuar
2014-06-19T11:55:47Z
2014-06-19T11:55:47Z
2014-06-24
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/4895
This thesis presents a foreign policy decision-making analysis of Kazakhstan’s foreign relations in the initial post-independence period. The study applies a neoclassical realist theoretical framework in order to provide the understanding of Kazakhstan’s external behaviour. The thesis conceptually assumes that the integration of the presidential decision-making element in the analysis of the republic’s foreign policy is essential to account for Kazakhstan’s foreign strategies, which would otherwise appear to be anomalous from the deterministic perspective of the structural theories of international relations. The set objective of the work is to produce a theoretically informed historical narratives of Almaty’s policymaking during three episodes in the republic’s diplomatic history – the elaboration of a distinct balancing strategy; the relinquishment of the nuclear arsenal; and the Nagorno-Karabakh peace mission.
The reconstruction of events behind the decisions made by president Nursultan Nazarbayev and his key advisors through the assessment of primary materials sourced from the archives of Kazakhstani foreign policy demonstrates that foreign decision-making process played a crucial role in the identification of national interests and development of appropriate policy responses in each of the episodes under examination. Chapter IV illustrates how the nation’s policymakers developed a unique balancing strategy to ascertain the country’s sovereignty and eliminate security risks under overwhelming geopolitical pressures that emanated from Russia and China. Chapter V discusses the episode when Nazarbayev was subjected to direct international pressure to surrender the inherited Soviet nuclear arsenal on the terms imposed by the USA, in response to which Nazarbayev devised a deliberately ambivalent and protracted strategy in regard to the republic’s nuclear status. Chapter VI reveals the adaptability of the republic’s policymaking to the changing international context as the regression of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace initiative demonstrates. The exposition of intricate policy planning and profound diplomatic endeavours reflected in archival documents reinforces the thesis’s premise about the non-deterministic nature of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy.
en
Kazakhstan's foreign policy
Neoclassical realism
Nuclear decision-making
Kazakhstan after independence
Independent Kazakhstan and the 'black box' of decision-making : understanding Kazakhstan's foreign policy in the early independence period (1991-4)
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/20802019-04-01T08:18:22Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Fox, Senan James
2011-12-02T10:34:23Z
2011-12-02T10:34:23Z
2012-06-19
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2080
This thesis examines the deep bilateral tensions surrounding the East China Sea (ECS) disagreements between Japan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the period from August 19th 2003 to June 18th 2008 from an actor-centred constructivist liberal viewpoint. The East China Sea disputes could be described as a conflicting difference of opinion over a) the demarcation of maritime territory and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) in which potentially significant energy deposits exist and b) the ownership of the strategically important and historically sensitive Pinnacle (Senkaku/Diaoyu) Islands. This research addresses the question of why, given the fact that China and Japan have a strong interest in co-operation and stable relations with each other, small incidents in the ECS blow up into larger problems, cause approaches to the East China Sea to wax and wane, and move the relationship in a direction that goes against preferred national objectives? In attempting to unravel this puzzle, this work argues that domestic politics and popular negative sentiment have been the major issues that have greatly amplified and politicised the ECS problems and have significantly affected positive progress in negotiations aimed at managing and stabilising these disputes. By examining these, the thesis addresses the question of why China and Japan have been so constrained in their attempts to find a workable bilateral agreement over disputed energy resources and demarcation in the East China Sea. It also indirectly deals with the question of why the conflicting legal complexities surrounding these disagreements contributed to both states so fervently maintaining and defending their claims.
en
East China Sea
Japan
China
People's Republic of China
Hu Jintao
Junichiro Koizumi
Senkaku Islands
Diaoyu Islands
Pinnacle Islands
Maritime disputes
Chinese nationalism
Japanese nationalism
Exclusive economic zones
UNCLOS
Chinese domestic politics
Japanese domestic politics
Actor-centred constructivist liberalism
Liberalism
Constructivism
Anti-Japanese sentiment
Anti-Chinese sentiment
Yasukuni Shrine
Uncharted waters in a new era : an actor-centered constructivist liberal approach to the East China Sea disputes, 2003 - 2008
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/188642021-03-01T11:54:45Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Arynov, Zhanibek
2019-11-06T16:35:03Z
2019-11-06T16:35:03Z
2019-06-25
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/18864
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-18864
This thesis comparatively examines perceived images of the European Union (EU) in two
countries of Central Asia (CA): Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The study departs from the
point that the literature on Central Asian geopolitics, as well as on EU-CA relations in
particular has paid little attention to the role that the Central Asians play in international
interactions in the region. Taking a constructivist approach as an umbrella framework, the
thesis argues that how Central Asians perceive the EU is an integral part of its identity and
its roles in the region, as well as of the outcome of its policy. Therefore, examining the
Central Asian perspective to the EU and EU-CA relations should be an equally important
aspect of scholarly attention. Having justified the importance of studying perceived images,
the thesis goes on to draw from Image Studies to conceptualize the notion of ‘image’. It
claims that the image is a complex phenomenon consisting of various internal components,
but the core of image in International Relations is constituted by two components: (1)
perceptions of the Other’s power/capability and (2) perceptions of whether the Other poses
a threat or represents an opportunity. The empirical analysis of the thesis develops around
these two aspects. The objective of the thesis, however, is not just to reveal what the
perceptions are, but also to answer how these perceptions come into being by identifying
the factors influencing perceptions. Finally, as images are relative notions and become fully
meaningful only through comparison, this thesis also analyzes self-images of the EU and
reflects on to what extent the EU’s perceived images contrast to its self-images. The thesis
concludes by arguing that in many respects, the EU is perceived positively in Kazakhstan
and Kyrgyzstan. However, this positivity is being slowly diminished as a result of an
increasing image of ‘Decaying Europe’.
en
2024-03-21
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print copy restricted until 21st March 2022. Electronic copy restricted until 21st March 2024
Decaying beauty? : image(s) of the European Union in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/63232021-07-23T09:10:30Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Afolabi, Babatunde Tolu
2015-03-25T14:49:27Z
2015-03-25T14:49:27Z
2015-06-23
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6323
This dissertation examines the involvement of Liberia's religious and diaspora groups in the peace process that ended the 14-year Liberian Civil War (1989-2003). Its aims include determining the extent of, the rationale for, as well as the effects of the involvement of Liberia's religious and diaspora groups in the peacemaking efforts that were undertaken in the course of the Liberian conflict.
While findings show that a multiplicity of factors were responsible for the eventual resolution of the protracted conflict, they also reveal that the action of both religious and diaspora actors influenced the trajectory of the conflict and the outcome of the peace process. The religious actors, being the initiators of the Liberian peace process, played such roles as mediators, dialogue facilitators, watchdogs and trustees of the entire process. Although their efforts were mainly influenced by the desire to fulfil the divine mandate to 'tend to the flock', achievable only in a peaceful and stable environment, religious actors' peacemaking roles also presented an opportunity to regain some of the societal influence that organized religion, especially Christianity, enjoyed during the 158 years of minority 'Americo-Liberian' rule.
For diaspora actors, whose roles ranged from being founders and sponsors of warring factions, to providing succour to Liberians back home through remittances, and subsequently engaging the peace process, attaining political power through the barrel of the gun or through peaceful means served the same purpose.
In achieving the dissertation's aims, a historical analysis of Liberia's socio-political environment is undertaken. Also examined are the roles played by various international, regional and national actors, either as peacemakers or as sponsors of various warring factions engaged in hostilities, as well as relevant theories or paradigms such as Conflict Transformation, Social Capital and Liberal Peace. This empirical study employed the means of qualitative research methods, obtaining primary data through interviews conducted in Liberia, Ghana, the USA and Nigeria.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
2023-02-04
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 4th February 2023
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Liberia
Peace process
Religion
Diaspora
Peacemaking
The politics of engagement : diaspora and religious actors' involvement in the Liberian peace process
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/40352019-04-01T08:18:23Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Herbert-Burns, Rupert
2013-09-04T08:25:26Z
2013-09-04T08:25:26Z
2012
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/4035
The playing field upon which actors, both state and non-state, develop strategies to secure
existing supplies of oil and seek access to new ones is as systemically, politically and
strategically complex is as it is geographically vast. In considering this activity, the
terminology used by pundits and journalists to describe the significance of issues such as oil
demand, the complexities of access to petroleum and concerns over security threats to
supplies of oil is familiar. Juxtapositions such as the ‘geopolitics of oil’, ‘energy geopolitics’,
the ‘geopolitics of resource wars’ and the ‘geopolitics of oil and gas’ are all familiar. But what
do they mean when they use ‘geopolitics’ in this context? Thus, by extension, can petroleum
geopolitics - a hybrid conceptual construction used in this thesis - be disassembled into its
component parts, analysed and systematically understood. This is the aim of this thesis.
This thesis contends that the very nature of oil and gas reserves, the processes of exploration
and production, and the means that govern and characterise the transportation of petroleum
overland and by sea is inherently geopolitical - that some core features of geopolitical theory
and key geopolitical concepts are pivotal in determining the ontology and process of the
international oil business. Indeed, so central has oil been to the advancement of industrial
capacity, technology, warfare, transportation and economic prosperity of states since the 20th
century, it could be argued that petroleum is the single largest determinant of the geopolitics
that characterises the modern international system.
In order to address the interrelationship and correlations between core aspects of the
petroleum industry and causal geopolitical phenomena, I begin by advancing a framework of
analysis that systematically binds key geopolitical features and concepts – specifically:
Spatial Phenomena; Environmental Ontology; Territorial Access; Geopolitical Features;
State and Non-state Concepts; and, Strategic Resources and Geopolitics - with examples of
empirical findings revealed in subsequent chapters in the thesis. Fundamentally, this process
works to assess causality and correlations between geopolitical phenomena such as space and
distance, sovereignty, territory, boundaries, chokepoints, resource nationalism,
transnationalism, resource security and conflict, and the features and processes inherent in
petroleum reserves and the exploration, production and transportation of oil and gas.
The framework is followed with a sequential analysis of the three empirical foci of the
project: the ontology of oil and natural gas reserves; the planning and processes of exploration
and production; and, the processes of the conveyance petroleum. I have concentrated my
research to activities within Eurasia, which comprises the traditional continents of Europe and
Asia, and the Indo-Pacific maritime realm, which extends eastwards from the Red Sea to the
western Pacific Rim. After systematically assessing the empirical findings and examining key
areas of geopolitical theory, I conclude that there is an identifiable and logical correlation
between geopolitical phenomena, petroleum reserves, and the means to produce and distribute
oil and gas between source and market.
en
Petroleum geopolitics : a framework of analysis
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/27892019-07-01T10:15:34Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Freas, Erik Eliav
2012-06-15T13:48:11Z
2012-06-15T13:48:11Z
2006
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2789
My dissertation
examines
Muslim-Christian
relations
in Palestine during the British
mandate period, specifically, around the question of what constituted
Palestinian-Arab identity. More broadly
speaking, the dissertation
addresses the topic within the
context of the larger debate
concerning the role of material
factors (those
related to
specific
historical developments
and circumstances) versus that of
ideological
ones. in
determining
national
identities. At the beginning
of the twentieth, century, two models
of
Arab
nationalism were proposed-a more secular one emphasising a shared
language
and culture
(and thus, relatively
inclusive
of non-Muslims) and one wherein
Arab identity
was seen as essentially an extension of the Islamic
religious
community, or umma.
While
many
historians dealing
with
Arab
nationalism
have
tended to focus
on the role of
language (likewise, the role of
Christian Arab
intellectuals), I
would maintain that
it is the latter
model that proved
determinative
of
how
most
Muslim Arabs
came to conceive of their identity
as Arabs. Both
models
were essentially
intellectual
constructs; that the latter
prevailed
in the end reflects the
predominance of material
factors
over
ideological
ones.
Specifically, I
consider the
impact
of social, political and economic changes related to the Tanzimat
reforms and
European
economic penetration of the nineteenth century; the role of proto-nationalist
models of communal
identification-particularly
those related to religion; and
finally,
the role played
by
political actors seeking to gain or consolidate authority through the
manipulation of proto-nationalist symbols.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Muslim-Christian relations in Palestine during the British mandate period
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/143962019-04-01T08:18:25Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Zimmerman, Mélanie A.
2018-06-21T12:30:53Z
2018-06-21T12:30:53Z
2003
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14396
The organised crime industry on a whole generates an estimated gross criminal product of $800 billion USD annually generated from traditional crime industries like money laundering, cigarette and narcotics trafficking and prostitution. As a result of the new, globalised world, organised crime is diversifying its activities, penetrating legal sectors and further corrupting political systems. In general, it has been quick to adjust to the new economic opportunities and new technologies that this global village has to offer, and has been far more efficient in exploiting every available opportunity than its police and justice counterparts in preventing it from doing so. The face of international organised crime has changed to include new, sometimes smaller, often more dangerous actors, and has seen the traditional crime families metamorphose to keep up with the new environment. Diversification, penetration, legitimisation are the new guiding motto. The Sicilian Cosa Nostra has sought alternative ways to generate additional profits whilst reducing the risk factor. In order to branch-out, escape prosecution and yet remain within a pivotal and strategic position, the Cosa Nostra has chosen, amongst other havens, the French Riviera. Today, political and popular mobilisation and interest in combating organised crime is minimal, largely relegated to folklore status, crime annals, and the cinema industry. However, no judicial tool or innovation can have concrete and effective applications if the political will is not predominant and if concerted international co-operation is not enforced. The risk, should this trend continue, is that organised crime will become a dominant and decisive actor in State affairs, may continue to take over unstable micro-states and pervert the democratic process and the rule of law around the world. The threat is not so much to stand by and wait as crime develops further, but how long this lack of reaction can continue before it becomes irreversible.
en
International organized crime : godfathers on the Riviera : the international reach of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the mechanism to combat it
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/186242022-06-30T08:52:09Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Hughes, Thomas
2019-10-08T09:57:44Z
2019-10-08T09:57:44Z
2018-12-07
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/18624
This thesis makes a post-positivist historical analysis of the place of humanitarian intervention
as a foreign policy tool for the UK. It starts by asserting that the UK wishes to behave in a
visibly moral manner. It explores this claim, and offers a history of the development of
humanitarian intervention over the last several centuries and its overlap with the just war
tradition, leading to the modern concept of ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P). It identifies a link,
based on a ‘just’ approach to war, between humanitarian intervention and the preparedness to
conduct post-intervention stabilisation; in essence, why a ‘just’ intervention only remains
legitimate when a ‘just’ outcome is achieved. All stabilisations do not necessarily involve
lengthy and resource intensive efforts, however this thesis argues that because it is extremely
difficult to predict what might happen in the aftermath of a humanitarian intervention, an
intervening actor must be prepared to commit to stabilisation of the most complex kind, rather
than token or limited efforts, in order to have any chance of achieving a measurably ‘just’
outcome. A number of criteria by which to measure the ‘just’ nature of humanitarian
intervention are identified.
This thesis contains two historical case studies: The first examines the UK’s efforts to counter
the transatlantic slave trade in the nineteenth century. It focuses on the costs, in blood and
treasure, and on political factors at home and abroad. It provides a useful example of how a
morally-justified action can become protracted by the need to achieve a ‘just’ outcome, and
how other national interests also exert a significant competing influence on such an aim. The
next case study, on the failure to achieve a ‘just’ outcome in Libya after intervention in 2011,
shows what can happen when there is no preparedness to conduct meaningful stabilisation.
In order to understand why the UK might be unwilling to commit in the future to a long-term
complex stabilisation, this thesis goes on to explore the nature of modern stabilisation, and
identifies why, whilst stabilisation can take many forms, the most complex and comprehensive
form of stabilisation is a potentially lengthy costly activity, using an empirical analysis of the
costs of recent stabilisation operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Next, the relevance of
humanitarian intervention in the current geopolitical climate is examined, with reference to the
West’s and others’ actions in Syria. This thesis then introduces the concept of upstream
intervention as a potentially attractive alternative, but, points out that the concept is both
undeveloped and untested. It finally asks therefore, what place humanitarian intervention has
as a foreign policy tool for the UK.
en
2026-12-07
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Electronic copy restricted until 7th December 2026
The limitations of using hard power for humanitiarian intervention by the United Kingdom
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/41982019-07-01T10:17:38Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Weinstein, Sarah F.
2013-11-13T15:21:16Z
2013-11-13T15:21:16Z
2013-11-30
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/4198
The status of female service members in the United States military evolved significantly during the years between 2001 and 2013 due primarily to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the changing nature of warfare, and military manpower requirements. However, despite women’s increased participation in combat and throughout the organization, there is limited understanding of how gender is constructed in the military, its consequences for women’s status, and the nature of cultural change in the organization. This thesis analyzes gender construction in the military across three levels: official documents, recruiting, and service member experience. Discourse analysis is used to uncover the dominant discourses articulated at each level and to understand what identities and policies are legitimated or prohibited. The primary finding is that there is no monolithic construction of gender in the military or single understanding of women’s status and the nature of military culture. The most prevalent discourses illustrate movement towards a more inclusive organization, where gendered traits are downplayed relative to traits understood as ‘gender-neutral,’ equally available to both men and women. The desire to maximize military effectiveness is central to discourse at the official level. Recruiting is the only level of analysis without an explicit challenge to women’s equal service in the military. Service members, articulating their identity and that of those they work with, subordinate femininity, but allow women who reject feminine traits to participate on equal footing with men. The January 2013 decision by the Department of Defense to lift policies that formally exclude women from some types of combat reflects the policies articulated in the dominant discourses uncovered across the three levels of analysis. What new discourses will emerge and how the dominant discourses in the organization will change as a result of this new policy, comprise areas deserving future research.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Gender
Military
Service member
United States
War
Iraq
Afghanistan
Integration
Combat exclusion
Warfare
Construction
Soldier
Manpower
Military recruiting
Women's experiences
Hegemonic masculinity
Feminized masculinity
Military culture
Identity
Gender neutral
Femininity
Masculinity
Constructed service : gendered discourses across the United States military
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/155802019-12-17T03:05:12Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Shahin, Ahmed Fahmy
2018-07-19T10:38:02Z
2018-07-19T10:38:02Z
2017
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15580
Egypt could be described as a unique case in the region with regard to Arab Uprisings. Egypt appears to be the only country in the Arab Uprisings states that tread on a different path. It survived the revolutionary wave without neither collapse nor sustainably democratise. Hence was the idea of this research: how could one explain the Egyptian case?
I attempt to analyse the Egyptian politics through the lenses of legitimacy. Thus, this thesis studies the legitimacy of the postcolonial Egyptian state. It aims to show that through studying legitimacy; the reasons and dynamics behind the regime change/stability and the underlying logic of political change in Egypt could be understood. To achieve this goal, this thesis analyses the concept of legitimacy and its application on Egypt’s contemporary history. Three basic sources of legitimacy are identified as the most crucial in terms of their impact of political change in Egypt: eudaemonic, institutional, and ideological legitimacy.
I argue that legitimacy is linked to state-formation: The relative weights of the abovementioned legitimacy components vary from one state-formation’s phase to the other, as every phase structurally determines which component is more important than the other, or, in other words, the phase of state formation invites the relevant type of legitimacy component for the ruler to rely on. However each ruler indeed can choose the proper legitimacy type that fits the state-formation’s phase the country is going through, or avoid it and use, to the detriment of his rule, other legitimacy types. In this regard, Nasser created benchmarks of legitimacy that his predecessors found themselves obliged to, at least, not to ignore, otherwise facing the wrath of the people. Sadat and Mubarak attempted to reply more on institutional legitimacy to make for their decreasing levels of eudaemonic and ideological legitimacy.
Although democratic legitimacy (a branch of institutional legitimacy) gained primacy after the Arab uprising in Egypt and the collapse of the Mubarak regime, many factors with the limitations of democratic legitimacy on the top of them caused the collapse of the political sphere after the brief democratic opening. Without a wide consensus on the state identity and the limits of the use of power, electoral democracy helps only to embody the deep divisions in the nation especially on the identity lines. This thesis thus argues that legitimacy, with its three components, is a pre-requisite to full sustainable democratisation.
en
The quest for legitimacy : the Egyptian state from Nasser to Sisi
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/39702019-07-01T10:15:40Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Marsden, Sarah V.
2013-08-19T09:24:29Z
2013-08-19T09:24:29Z
2013-11-30
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3970
Existing scholarship suggests terrorism is an ineffective method of political contestation; groups rarely achieve their political objectives and are often disrupted by the security services. These findings invite us to look again at the dominant rational choice paradigm, which suggests that terrorism is selected as the best strategy to achieve predetermined goals. Unpicking the assumptions underpinning this model using historical case studies, comparative analysis and typology development, this thesis broadens our interpretation of what those who use terrorism seek to achieve. It does so via a tripartite framework. First, employing a new reading of American pragmatist thought, interpreting militant group goals as culturally and socially mediated problems opens up a new vista of outcomes, in particular examining the way terrorism seeks to change relations between people. Second, using Social Movement Theory as its organising framework, an empirically derived typology of militant groups sets out the background political conditions and organisational characteristics of 28 dormant groups. Using existing models of interpreting outcomes to assess these historical cases demonstrates the unmet challenges of providing robust explanations for why terrorism ends and what it achieves. Third, the thesis explores the promise of a mechanism and process-led approach to explaining outcomes. It does so through in-depth examination of two historical case studies: Kach and the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army. Despite being classified as failures, using largely neglected primary sources, the case studies reveal a range of fascinating and important outcomes that still resonate in Israel and Yemen today. Most of these methodological and conceptual tools are being applied to the question of terrorism’s outcomes for only the first or second time. In doing so, this thesis offers greater depth than existing scholarship on how terrorism ends, by looking beyond measures such as success and failure in interpreting outcomes, whilst affording greater breadth through its ability to make comparative assessments at the level of mechanisms and processes. The result is a more detailed and robust set of explanations as to how terrorism ends and what it achieves, illustrated through detailed historical case studies of two interesting, yet often neglected, groups.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Terrorism
Social movement theory
Israel
Right-wing
Yemen
Militant Islamism
Typology
Terrorism's outcomes
Comparative historical analysis
Contentious politics
How terrorism ends : understanding the outcomes of violent political contestation
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/203772021-07-27T10:40:14Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Armstrong, Elizabeth
2020-07-30T13:53:55Z
2020-07-30T13:53:55Z
2020-07-28
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/20377
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-20377
Across peacebuilding and political-economy literature, there is mounting recognition that a political peace abstracted from economic realities is unlikely to hold, especially where horizontal inequalities go unaddressed. Concurrently, there is growing evidence suggesting the need to engage for-profit initiatives and actors in peacebuilding to address pragmatic, everyday concerns. Against the backdrop of hybrid peacebuilding theses and by innovatively bringing complementary but divided peacebuilding, political economy and social psychology scholarship together, this thesis considers the question, In the context of post-liberal peacebuilding literature and the increasingly acknowledged need to address socio-psychological infrastructures of conflict, under what conditions and through which strategies might for-profit initiatives contribute to the establishment of agonistic relations between communities experiencing protracted conflict? Utilizing Daniel Bar-Tal’s (1998, 2007) eight themes of societal beliefs as a point of reference, the research interrogates how for profit activities might engage with existing institutions, actors, and programmes, and what their legitimacy, priorities and motives might be.
Presenting a unique contribution to the literature on a complex contemporary conflict with implications for regional Asian power dynamics, the research is grounded in and presented against the context of Myanmar’s transition from authoritarian rule; a context within which peace and economic reform are overtly and inextricably intertwined with elite majority, structural power, and weaponised social norms. The thesis presents an analysis of original data collected from three active, hybrid, for-profit initiatives undertaken in active conflicts which seek to transform perceptions of other at the local level, acknowledging that ‘top-down’ peace and constitutional reform processes are underway. The thesis reveals original evidence that small-scale, for-profit initiatives may be uniquely placed at the local level to establish agonistic relations by enabling contact between communities which would otherwise not be engaged in peacebuilding, and that, when appropriately structured, such initiatives have the potential to ‘unlock’ the prevailing conflictive ethos. In doing so, the thesis advances the dual concepts that a ‘reboot’ is needed in our understanding of how peace is conceived, and that iterative steps which advance agonistic relations, integrated more closely with for-profit and community realities, are likely to be the future of peacebuilding rather than the grand bargains of the past which favour well positioned elites and replicate conflict cycles.
en
2025-06-10
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 10th June 2025
Peacebuilding
Myanmar
Hybrid peace
For profit
Asia
Pragmatic peace
Business and peace
Unlocking the conflictive ethos in protracted conflicts : can for-profit initiatives support agonistic peacebuilding in Myanmar?
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/151652019-04-01T08:18:27Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Hill, Robin Edward
2018-07-10T09:51:58Z
2018-07-10T09:51:58Z
1991
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15165
Crimes of violence involving civil aviation interests and airline passengers have developed and diversified since their original perpetration in the 1930s. Intergovernmental cooperative efforts to suppress the offences have largely been based upon international legal, administrative activities, with the intention of producing a near-global, standardised regime of norms concerning the apprehension, extradition, prosecution and punishment of persons responsible for acts of aviation hijacking, sabotage and airport attack. While the suppressive dualities of the regime have been demonstrated in terms of common air crimes, the internationally recognised norms have had little effect in countering the act ions of fanatical offenders motivated by political aims. While concentrating upon law-based policy options premised on the notion of deterrence, governments have failed fully to recognise a pressing need for preventive activities to be improved as a principal component of crime suppression machinery. With terrorist weaponry and abilities becoming increasingly sophisticated, with most available aviation security staff and apparatus being unreliable in processes of detection and with the civil aviation market expanding rapidly, imprecise and unenforced state-imposed standards of aviation security require radical and global upgrading - an expensive and politically difficult option for most governments to consider. Proposals for intergovernmental security development schemes need urgent consideration, with passenger-financed options offering some practical solutions to otherwise potentially insoluble problems. Ultimately, prospects of advancement must depend upon the political will of major governments, which continue to regard the integrity of aviation security systems as a low priority for global standardisation.
en
Problems of international cooperation to improve standards of aviation security with reference to the passenger
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/36292021-01-12T12:28:57Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Warnaar, Maaike
2013-06-07T11:30:41Z
2013-06-07T11:30:41Z
2012
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3629
The foreign policy ideology that is communicated by the rulers and foreign policy makers of the Islamic Republic of Iran between 2005 and 2010 builds on the identification of Iran as a changed nation through the 1979 Revolution, and presents Iran as an example for other nations in a changing world. This dissertation shows how Iran's foreign policy behaviour can be made sense of in the context of this ideology. For this purpose, Iran's foreign policy
behaviour, regionally and internationally, is discussed against the background of the
ideology as communicated by Iran's president and supreme leader as to show this behaviour was made possible in the context of the discourse. Also, the dissertation provided
two case-studies, one on the nuclear issue and one on the 2009 events, to show how the
discourse on these specific issues stands in relation to foreign policy behaviour, and how
this fits with Iran's broader discourse. It show's how the Islamic Republic's foreign policy behaviour is not only made possible in the context of ideology, but ideology is also reinforced through foreign policy. Particularly, as Iranian leaders are engaged in an active shaping of the international order to the advantage of the Iranian regime and the goals they see for the Iranian nation.
en
2022-06-22
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Electronic copy restricted until 22nd June 2022, pending formal approval
"We belong to the future, the tyrants belong to the past" : the Islamic Republic of Iran's regime's foreign policy discourse and behaviour in the period 2005 until 2011
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/164012023-12-05T03:02:32Zcom_10023_234com_10023_39com_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_235col_10023_88
Englberger, Florian
2018-11-05T15:38:02Z
2018-11-05T15:38:02Z
2018-12-07
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/16401
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-16401
This thesis seeks to delineate what change in divided societies such as Northern Ireland is possible. Two steps are necessary to answer this question: first, to explain the potency of nationalism. I contend that taking the evolutionary history of humans and a human need to belong into account is essential for an understanding of A.D. Smith’s ethno-symbolist approach to nationalism. We need to acknowledge that human beings emerged from small-scale settings and are therefore conservative beings who seek those patterns of familiarity that make up the ordinary ‘everyday’. They are also prejudiced beings, as prejudice helps to break down a complex world into digestible pieces. The ethnic state excluding an ethnic ‘other’ is an answer to these calls for simplicity. By establishing an apparent terra firma, a habitus, symbols of an ethnic past and national present speak of nationalist narratives that provide a sense of ontological security. In (Northern) Ireland, ethno-national communities based on prejudiced understandings of history have long been established. In this second step I maintain that change that violates the core potent national narratives cannot be achieved. The Provisional IRA’s change from insurrection to parliament became feasible because a radical break with republican dogmas was avoided. Sinn Féin, despite a rhetorical move towards ‘reconciliation’, still seek to outmanoeuvre the unionist ‘other’. The history of Irish socialism, on the other hand, has been a failure, as it embodied a radical attempt to banish the ‘other’ from the national narrative. Regarding ‘post-conflict’ Northern Ireland, I argue for a peacebuilding approach that leaves the confinements of hostile identity politics, as these mass guarantors of ontological security possess only limited potential for relationship transformation. We need to appreciate those almost invisible acts of empathy and peace that could be found even in Northern Ireland’s darkest hours.
en
Embargo period has ended, thesis made available in accordance with University regulations
Nationalism
Ethnicity
Sociobiology
Ethnic conflict
Northern Ireland
Narrative change
Social psychology
Conflict resolution
Dealing with nationalism in view of a human need to belong: the feasibility of narrative transformation in Northern Ireland
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/139002019-04-01T08:18:28Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Rologas, Mitchell
2018-06-11T12:30:42Z
2018-06-11T12:30:42Z
2002
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/13900
This is an intellectual biography of Hans Morgenthau. Morgenthau was a German Jew who, in fleeing Nazi Germany, emigrated to the United States in the mid-1930s. He subsequently came to have an important impact upon the nascent discipline of International Relations in the United States in the immediate post-war period. His book Politics Among Nations was the first major textbook to be used in International Relations within American universities and through a number of editions it came to sell something like half a million copies. Morgenthau was also active as a public commentator on international politics and, in particular, American foreign policy and he became a prominent opponent of the Vietnam War in the 1960s and early 1970s. The central claim of this thesis is that Morgenthau's intellectual contributions and political activities can only be properly understood when set in the broader intellectual and political contexts both of Germany where he was educated and the United States where he spent the second half of his life.
en
Hans Morgenthau : intellectual in the political sphere
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/203782021-07-27T11:01:59Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Dalton, Maria
2020-07-30T14:47:20Z
2020-07-30T14:47:20Z
2020-07-28
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/20378
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-20378
What is a tea lady? Tea ladies are often popularly understood as marginal figures. However, throughout the 1990s peace process in Northern Ireland, women who were referred to as the ‘tea ladies’ by skeptical male counterparts were central figures in the Province’s path towards peace and reconciliation. This thesis explores the role of women as peacemakers and peacebuilders in 1990s Northern Ireland. It offers a multi-level analysis of women’s contributions at the community, political and British governmental level. Through the use of interview data and archival evidence, this thesis plays an important role in restoring women’s voices and experiences to the historical record. The argument put forward is that, in order to fully understand and appreciate many of the contributions made by the women discussed in this thesis, it is vital to consider the impact of ‘micro-gestures’ and daily occurrences, whether they be the toss of a wig, a hug, or a friendship spawned from an interface Christmas party. In order to fully appreciate the significance of the achievements made by peacemakers and peacebuilders, whether they be male or female, attention must be given to the barely visible and the unquantifiable- the violence that did not happen, the lives that were not lost. As well as offering a detailed women’s history of the Northern Irish Peace Process, this thesis will engage with wider theorizations on gender and peacemaking and illustrate the ways in which gender has the potential to impact change at the peace table.
en
2025-04-30
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 30th April 2025
Northern Ireland conflict
Women peace and security
Peace processes
Northern Ireland history
More than just tea ladies! : the role of women in the Northern Irish Peace Process 1990-2000
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/4372019-07-01T10:05:54Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Huang, Juin-lung
2008-03-04T16:29:41Z
2008-03-04T16:29:41Z
2008
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/437
The purpose of this thesis is to defend Athenian democracy against a long-established suspicion that the Athenian government, with its radical form of popular participation, was not only incompetent but also dangerous. There are two serious misunderstandings in this traditional view; one is the myth of the decline of Athens after the death of Pericles, the other being the outright denial of Athenian democracy by its philosophers, Xenophon and Plato. These two common presumptions about Athenian history and philosophy are therefore examined.
The historical examination focuses on three important events: the law reform, the reconciliation and the trial of Socrates. All of them were conducted by Athenian democracy at the end of the fifth century B.C., a period of time that is often cited for the failure of democracy. However, it is found that the democracy demonstrated its excellent ability to manage political conflicts through the laws and the reconciliation. As to the infamous trial of Socrates, there were reasons for the popular suspicion of the Philosopher’s way of life.
Following what we have learnt in the historical survey, we search for responses to the three events in the works of Xenophon and Plato. There are passages, though often dismissed by scholars, which indicate remarkable recognition of the democratic achievements in domestic politics. As regards the trial of Socrates, there are also signs of second thoughts in their works that reveal understandings of the democracy’s condemnation of philosophy. The works of Socrates’ pupils show mixed evaluation rather than outright denial of Athenian democracy.
The traditional suspicion of Athenian democracy is therefore problematic due to its misconception of Athenian history and philosophy.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Athenian democracy
Athenian history
Direct democracy
Law reform
Reconciliation
The trial of Socrates
Xenophon
Plato
Law, reconciliation and philosophy : Athenian democracy at the end of the fifth century B.C.
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/143952019-04-01T08:18:30Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Richards, Anthony
2018-06-21T12:18:25Z
2018-06-21T12:18:25Z
2003
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14395
This thesis outlines the evolution and roles of the political fronts in Northern Ireland and their potential for attaining political change. It will assess the impact of a number of selected 'variables', both 'internal' and 'external', on the utility (or lack of utility) of these fronts. The variables that have been selected for consideration are: 1) Ideology, structure and leadership, 2) The notion of violence as a habit, 3) Popular support, 4) State response and 5) Other factors and events in the External Environment. Alexander George's 'structured, focused, comparison' methodology will be employed and the selected cases are the Irish Republican Army, the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force. Although all of the 'variables' have had a significant impact the thesis argues that the greatest motivation behind the use of Simi Fein has been the desire to mobilise or tap perceived existing support. In the case of the loyalist political fronts the domestic external environment, specifically the perception that the loyalist working classes had been manipulated by 'respectable' unionist politicians, was the most important factor behind their greater use. Paradoxically, it is unionist culture (such as its 'law abiding' nature and division of labour ethos) that has presented the most significant obstacle to their utility. The thesis will then assess whether or not political fronts represent moderation towards the use of violence on the part of the groups. It will suggest that they have in the loyalist cases. Although the following argues that political fronts are very much part of the 'terrorist machinery' as the political voices and propaganda outlets for terrorist groups, and that it is a misconception to view them as the 'moderate half of a movement, the thesis will contend that Sinn Fein has also ultimately come to represent moderation towards the use of violence. The conclusion will then suggest that the selected variables be tested in other examples and, assuming that Sinn Fein has come to represent moderation towards the use of violence, will then attempt to draw some lessons from the case of the IRA and its political front that might be considered when studying other cases.
en
Political fronts of terrorist groups : a comparative study of Northern Ireland political fronts, their evolution, roles and potential for attaining political change
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/44052019-11-27T17:21:19Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Riungu, Eunice Muthoni
2014-01-20T14:14:12Z
2014-01-20T14:14:12Z
2012
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/4405
This thesis is a study of the impact of militarisation, conflict and Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) proliferation on women and children amongst the pastoralist communities of North East Africa. It explores the way pastoralists communities’ lives have changed over the decades with the introduction of SALW to make cattle rustling a lethal pastime that involves all members of society but with implications for the vulnerable population caught between warring groups. The study delves into the variety of options facing them, such as the fact that the dangers posed by introduction of SALW in turn militarises the vulnerable population caught between being helpless bystanders or taking up arms to defend their herds or else perish from hunger when the remaining stock are stolen at gunpoint.
After an introductory chapter examining thematic issues involved in the complex web knitted by militarisation, conflict, SALW proliferation, cattle rustling and pastoralist communities, the thesis examines circumstances surrounding the need to wage war on neighbours in cattle raids pitting pastoralist communities’ against governments interested in the pursuit of politics that disfavour their interests. The following chapters examine various aspects of this complex militarisation/SALW proliferation/cattle rustling web placing it in the context of the subsequent implications for both the pastoralist communities’ vulnerable population and the security of the entire region. It delves into ways the vulnerable population is impacted upon with a view to show that the side effects have far-reaching implications for the pastoralists and citizens of the states they belong to. We analyse existing efforts to combat proliferation and instruments aimed at protecting the vulnerable population in armed conflict with a view to ascertain their strengths and challenges. We finally examine possible ways out of the quagmire resulting from the marriage between SALW proliferation and cattle rustling and conclude by offering policy recommendations.
en
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted permanently
Conflict
Small arms and light weapons
Militarisation
North East Africa
Horn of Africa
Pastoralists
Women in conflicts
Children in conflicts
Ethnic wars
The impact of militarisation, conflict and small arms & light weapons proliferation on women and children : a case study of the pastoralists of North East Africa
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/151662019-07-15T10:18:54Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Cameron, Gavin
2018-07-10T10:21:29Z
2018-07-10T10:21:29Z
1998
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/15166
This thesis considers the factors that affect the escalation of terrorist violence. Terrorists often have an emotional and psychological stake in preserving the identity, the character, and, above all, the existence of their group. This has the effect of subverting ends to means: the ideology and goals of the group become secondary in importance to the necessities of organisational survival. At the same time, terrorism is generally a highly inefficient means of achieving strategic political objectives. Confronted by the failure of their campaign and unable to move from violence, since that would endanger the group's survival, terrorists may conclude that their best option is to increase the level of violence that they employ. In the past, self-imposed restraints and the fear of a backlash have often prevented terrorists from resorting to highly lethal acts of violence. However, recently these dynamics have been combined with "non-traditional" terrorism that finds greater levels of violence not only acceptable, but necessary. Such terrorism has encompassed a range of motivations, but much of it reflects a growing dependence on religion, often combined with other factors, as legitimation. Undoubtedly, such groups aspire to higher levels of violence than has been the case with other, more traditional terrorist organisations. Consequently, they may be more willing to regard mass terrorism as justifiable. These factors are considered in the context of the increased opportunities for nuclear proliferation, arising from the collapse of the former Soviet Union, and the increased feasibility of biological or chemical terrorism. The thesis concludes by arguing that, whereas non-conventional terrorism was once a remote threat, the changing nature of terrorism, combined with its intrinsic escalatory and self-perpetuating nature, means that the threat of nuclear terrorism has never been greater than it is now.
en
What factors would make terrorists resort to nuclear weapons?
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/94382019-04-01T08:18:31Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Flaherty, Christopher
2016-09-06T10:35:47Z
2016-09-06T10:35:47Z
2017-06-19
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9438
Theoretical understandings of war have been dominated by the thought of Clausewitz for a number of decades. His thought is valid in many respects, but for various reasons it is open to misinterpretation and misunderstanding; furthermore, a number of his observations (particularly on the prevalence of chance and uncertainty in war) are not fully explored and substantiated theoretically. This thesis is an attempt to present and elucidate a new theoretical understanding of war’s nature which complements Clausewitz’s theories and addresses these concerns: this is the understanding of war as a form of violent conflict which is not bound by rules.
The thesis consists of five main chapters. The first is an in-depth study of Clausewitz, which will provide an exegesis of his theories and highlight the deficiencies in his thought, before positing how understanding war as ‘violent conflict without rules’ could be used to address and explain them. The second chapter is a study of the theory of rules, examining in particular the role they play in moderating conflict: we can find that amongst other things, rules lend predictability and psychological security to a contest, restrict the scope of physical harm and tend to preserve the political and social status quo. As war lacks rules (in the sense that there are no ‘rules of war’ as there are ‘rules of chess’), it therefore lacks these benefits. A following chapter on the laws and customs of war will address cases where war appears to be bound by rules, and clarify my position.
The final two chapters explore the implications of war’s lack of rules with reference to two areas which are most commonly associated with war. The fourth chapter on strategy will explore how this military concept is necessitated by war’s ruleless nature; the final chapter will examine the uniquely violent, physical nature of war through the same theoretical prism, and will show how the technological innovation associated with war is a consequence of its lack of regulation, and a potent contributor to the chance and uncertainty which plagues warfare.
en
War
Clausewitz
Rules
Theory
Strategy
Military technology
Law of war
A theory of war as conflict without rules
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/9932020-09-28T17:55:02Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Dumas, James M.
2010-09-17T11:22:45Z
2010-09-17T11:22:45Z
2010-06-22
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/993
According to conventional wisdom winning hearts and minds is one of the most important goals for defeating terrorism. However, despite repeated claims about U.S. efforts to build popular support as part of the war on terror during the first seven years after 9/11, a steady stream of polls and surveys delivered troubling news. Using a counterinsurgency and social movement informed approach, I explain why the United States performed poorly in the race for Muslim hearts and minds, with a specific focus on problems inherent in the social construction of terrorism, the use of an enemy-centric model while overestimating agency, and the counterproductive effect of policy choices on framing processes.
Popular support plays wide-ranging roles in counterterrorism, including: influencing recruitment, fundraising, operational support, and the flow of intelligence; providing credibility and legitimacy; and, sanctifying or marginalizing violence. Recognizing this the U.S. emphasized public diplomacy, foreign aid, positive military-civilian interactions, democracy promotion, and other efforts targeting populations in the Muslim world.
To explain the problems these efforts had, this thesis argues that how Americans think and talk about terrorism, reflected especially in the rhetoric and strategic narrative of the Bush administration, evolved after 9/11 to reinforce normative and enemy-centric biases undermining both understanding of the underlying conflicts and resulting efforts. U.S. policy advocates further misjudged American agency, especially in terms of overemphasizing U.S. centrality, failing to recognize the importance of real grievances, and overestimating American ability to implement its own policies or control the policies of local governments. Finally, the failure to acknowledge the role of U.S. policies counterproductively impacted contested framing processes influencing the evolution of mobilization. The resulting rhetoric and actions reinforced existing anti- American views, contributed to the perception that the war on terror is really a war on Islam, and undermined natural counter narratives.
en
Counterterrorism
Social movement theory
Counterinsurgency
Terrorism and political violence
Political Islam
Social construction
Framing narratives
Public opinion
Models and agency
The race for Muslim hearts and minds : a social movement analysis of the U.S. war on terror and popular support in the Muslim world
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/27992019-07-01T10:19:36Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Muir, Angus
2012-06-18T08:07:39Z
2012-06-18T08:07:39Z
2001
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2799
The final
quarter of the twentieth century saw the emergence of a variety of
security threats, perhaps the most pernicious and
least
understood of which
has been the
rise of religiously motivated violence and terrorism. While
a great
deal has been
written on
this phenomenon, much
has been in the form
of
individual
case studies and those more
inclusive
examinations which
have been
offered
deal
more with the causes of religious
violence and not the underlying processes of
justification
and operational activity.
In
cases
where such an approach
has been
attempted these have been
conducted
in
a cursory
fashion,
presenting generalisations which are not necessarily valid across the entire
spectrum of religious violence.
The
purpose of this thesis is to offer a
holistic
examination
of violence within the three revealed religions
(Judaism, Christianity
and
Islam) in
order to
establish common
features in the conduct of violence across the faiths
and to provide a
framework
whereby the ideological
and operational processes and mechanisms can
be
understood collectively rather than individually. In the process, a number of commonly
accepted generalisations regarding religiously motivated violence will
be
modified or
challenged.
The
method chosen consists of the identification
of a number of
key
components common to all revealed violent groups, ranging
from the formation
of an
ideology
which
justifies
violence to the tactics that are employed, and these key
components are then used to examine the behaviour
of three distinct
group types. The
three group types are represented by ten case studies, chosen to reflect the variety of group
types that have
existed and continue to exist.
The
objective
is to present a
broad
framework
which will enable a greater understanding of
how
religiously motivated
violence
is justified both to internal
and external audiences, the manner
in
which this
violence
is
expressed operationally, and the degree to which the course and trajectory of
group violence may
be
anticipated.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Destruction and redemption : the conduct of revealed religious violence in the contemporary era
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/113772023-11-22T03:02:38Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Clivaz, Emmanuel
2017-08-04T13:50:26Z
2017-08-04T13:50:26Z
2014
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/11377
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-11377
This research focuses on assessing the effects of policing operations on tactical
deployment operated by non-state actors. The theory advanced by this work,
labelled SMORG theory, is first and foremost an attempt to move from
fragmented to comprehensive knowledge.
At the theoretical level, it provides policy makers and practitioners with a better
understanding of policing instruments, and especially highlights the limits of
coercion and deterrence when dealing with non-state actors. At the
methodological level, it demonstrates how to scrutinise the protest space in its
entirety, by providing an innovative set of tools to analyse the temporal and
spatial distribution of forms of protests on diverse theaters. At the empirical
level, it reveals the evolution of conventional, confrontational and violent forms
of protest in South Lebanon, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Israel, during the period
1982 to 2011; it further precisely assesses the effects of policing operations on
tactical deployment operated by non-state actors on the same theaters.
en
Embargo period has ended, thesis made available in accordance with University regulations
Forms of protest and tactics : a strategic interaction on the effects of policing operations on tactical deployment operated by non-state actors in South Lebanon, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Israel: 1982-2011
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/37192019-04-01T08:18:33Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Salmon, Trevor
2013-06-18T15:08:31Z
2013-06-18T15:08:31Z
1987
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3719
In this century the Irish have claimed, at critical moments, that they were neutral and that they have established a policy of traditional neutrality. In the last generation they have also claimed, on occasion, to be nonaligned. These claims are tested by identifying the true nature of neutrality and variables by which a state's claim to be neutral can be assessed, and by identifying the essence of nonalignment. That essence is inapplicable to developed European states. Given that neutrality per se can only apply in time of war, the variables are adjusted to reflect a peacetime policy 'for neutrality' in the event of war. For this purpose the model presented by three European neutral countries is examined and used to generate variables against which to test the Irish claims. The identified variables are: (i) due diligence with respect to neutral rights and duties; (ii) the extent to which Irish claims have been recognised by others; (iii) the disavowal of help by them and; (iv) the extent of their freedom of decision and action. In addition, and partly reflecting the claim to non-alignment, two other variables are used: (v) lack of isolationism, willingness to ameliorate world problems, and impartiality and; (vi) the attitude to identity, nation- building, unity, stability and self-determination. Ireland has consistently failed to meet the criteria associated with either 'of' or 'for' neutrality, whilst its record on variable (v) is mixed. Its concern with variable (vi) has been pervasive, but ineffectual. Nonetheless, Ireland has not been committed to co-belligerency, although neither non-aligned, neutral nor an alliance member. It is in a ‘sui generis’ position, particularly, but not only, within the European Community.
en
Irish security policy : neutrality, non-aligned or 'sui generis'?
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/185702019-11-08T16:23:02Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Sarah, Francois Mathieu Gael
2019-09-27T08:03:23Z
2019-09-27T08:03:23Z
2018
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/18570
Among the counter-revolutionary figures who emerged after the French Revolution, the figure
and works of Louis de Bonald (1754-1840), unlike those of Joseph de Maistre, remain shrouded
in obscurity. Yet, he was in his own time recognised as the foremost critique of the excesses of
the revolutionary period. His attempt at articulating a traditionalist philosophy of society and
authority deserve to be better known among scholars if only because of the originality of his
doctrine of the primitive revelation, which seeks to give an account of human knowledge based
upon a particular understanding of human reason, and of the nature and function of language.
His works also contain most invaluable insights about the ways in which societies are
constituted, through a trifunctional and tripersonal understanding of the structure of social
hierarchy. From his engagement on the questions of relations of the religious and the political,
Louis de Bonald’s works seems ideally framed for providing a fresh perspective to the study
of political theology. The acknowledged indebtedness of some of the modern proponents of
political theology, e.g., Carl Schmitt, is sufficient a motive for attempting a delineation of the
main features of Bonald’s political, social and epistemological doctrines in the light of an
analogy of social forms. However, Bonald’s vindication of the traditional social and customary
institutions is also to be complemented by a commitment for a jusnaturalist understanding of
the dignity, freedom and rights of human beings as put forward by the luminaries of the
Aristotelean-Thomist school, namely Jacques Maritain and Charles Journet. The present
attempt at redefining political theology, in the light of Bonald’s thought, regards the social as
a fundamental category of being. It is from the perspective of the permanence of society, in its
immutable structure and logic of self-conservation, that man’s social nature can be properly
understood.
en
Society and analogy : notes on the contribution of Louis de Bonald to political theology
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/9502019-04-01T08:18:33Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
O'Connor, Simon
2010-06-30T14:53:01Z
2010-06-30T14:53:01Z
2010-06-22
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/950
Amnesties are evidently contentious issues. The issue of immunity and impunity is significant in the peace versus justice debate. What this thesis attempts is to explain the grant of amnesty as a legally permissible exception from the norm that those who commits crimes are to be punished – the very premise of punitive law. The demand is ever more so in respect of those crimes most atrocious.
It approaches the topic from a legal rather than a moral perspective. Analysing the grant of amnesty through the perspective of legal obligation, the paper seeks to demonstrate that this is the first question to ask, by reference to the fact that, if logically inconsistent with the legal system prevailing, any amnesty will lack legal validity. And legal validity is the key both to the grant of amnesty and equally can inform on the same arguments its rescission.
In order to demonstrate thus amnesties legal validity, it is necessary the paper contends to first consider the question of obligation and to do so from the historical perspective of the Roman legal maxim that underlie existing legal regimes, domestic and international. It then turns, by reference to Kant to the notion of permissive laws and how such are properly considered contingent exceptions. The paper then turns to its core chapter on deontic logic, where it seeks to demonstrate the logical consistency of amnesty with legal norms and systems. And finally illustrates the manner in which amnesty acts as a derogation with only provisional effect on the validity of individual norms rather than negating the norm of punitive law per se.
In conclusion the paper argues that by virtue of utilising contemporary legal notions of purposive interpretation, we can properly limit the scope and application of amnesty by reference to and only to its legal validity.
en
Amnesty
Permissive law
Hans Kelsen
G.H. von Wright
Deontic logic
Accountability for amnesty
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/177782021-03-15T17:02:04Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Di Mauro, Giovanna
2019-05-29T13:18:24Z
2019-05-29T13:18:24Z
2019-06-25
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/17778
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-17778
Since the late 1990s, politically engaged art has been flourishing in many post-Soviet states, and more recently artists from the region have gained the attention of Western media. In Moldova, despite the lack of public interest and sometimes government hostility toward politically engaged artists, the production of engaged art continues. Yet, academic studies of this form of political engagement have been extremely limited. This thesis fills this gap and considers political engagement through the arts as an unconventional form of political behaviour.
The analysis rests on data collected through semi-structured interviews, life stories, online newspapers, audio-visual material, direct observation of artworks and rehearsals. This research aims to assess Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory applied to the post-Soviet space. The thesis argues that factors such as transnational funding, social capital, cultural capital and migration can contribute to an understanding of political engagement in Moldova. Finally, the thesis uses an interdisciplinary approach incorporating debates from international relations, sociology of art, international political sociology, cultural studies, art history and performance studies.
en
2024-05-23
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 23rd May 2024
Political engagement
Moldova
Art and politics
Life-stories
Pierre Bourdieu
From stage to street : the transnational production of politically engaged art in post-Soviet Moldova
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/21132019-07-01T10:10:39Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Whiteford, Sarah
2011-12-14T10:27:25Z
2011-12-14T10:27:25Z
2011-11-30
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2113
This thesis provides a moral analysis of micro-regional forces in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, using the framework of the New Regionalism Approach (NRA). It presents an original contribution to the field through the addition of the Ghanaian-Ivoirian case study, as well as a unique application of Martha Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach to the NRA. In an attempt to counter the view that borders in Africa are artificial, arbitrary and the result of colonial imposition, this research employs the Capabilities Approach, providing a narrative of both positive and negative impacts resulting from the opportunity created by borders in West Africa.
The way in which the Ghanaian-Ivoirian border is used by individuals in their security strategies in the face of economic deprivation and physical threats represents a positive impact of borders. Conversely, the role of borders in the continued prevalence of human trafficking in West Africa is also questioned in this piece, providing a balanced account of the impact of borders.
This research concludes that the Ghanaian-Ivoirian border presents opportunities that can be exploited to both positive and negative ends at the micro-regional level. This interpretation suggests that any complete account of borders in West Africa more broadly ought to employ a moral framework in addition to a multi-levelled scale of analysis.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Ghana
Côte d'Ivoire
New Regionalism Approach
Africa
Borders
Micro-regionalism
Capabilities Approach
eRegionalism
Dividing lines, converging aims : a moral analysis of micro-regionalism in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/5522019-07-01T10:09:10Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Schick, Katherine Anne
2008-11-10T16:10:27Z
2008-11-10T16:10:27Z
2008-11-27
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/552
The suffering that initially prompts ethical reflection is frequently forgotten in the generalised rational response of much contemporary International Relations theory. This thesis draws on Theodor W. Adorno and Gillian Rose to propose an alternative approach to suffering in world politics.
Adorno argues suffering and trauma play a key role in the task of enlightening Enlightenment. They emphasise the concrete particularity of human existence in a way that is radically challenging to Enlightenment thought. Understanding suffering helps to drive a negative dialectics that preserves the non-identical (that which cannot be understood, manipulated or controlled by reason), holding it up against the instrumentalism and abstraction that have prevented Enlightenment thought from fulfilling its promise.
Part One reviews contemporary approaches to international ethics in a way that draws out their affinity with the Enlightenment thought Adorno criticises. Despite their variety, liberal and Habermasian approaches to international ethics tend to be rational and problem-solving, to assume moral progress, to underestimate the importance of history and culture, and to neglect inner lives. They approach ethics in a way that pays too little attention to the social, historical, and cultural antecedents of suffering and therefore promotes solutions that, whilst in some ways inspiring, are too disconnected from the suffering they seek to address to be effective in practice.
Part Two deepens the critique of modern ethics through an exposition of Adorno's work. It then draws on Adorno's conception of promise, Rose's writing on mourning and political risk, and a broader literature on ways of working through trauma to propose an alternative way of being in the world with ethical and political implications. I advocate a neo-Hegelian work of mourning, which deepens understanding of the complexities of violence and informs a difficult, tentative, anxiety-ridden taking of political risk in pursuit of a good enough justice.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
International relations
Suffering
Adorno
Rose
Trauma and the ethical in international relations
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/34162019-07-01T10:07:20Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Weeks, Douglas M.
2013-03-22T09:42:52Z
2013-03-22T09:42:52Z
2013-06-25
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3416
The contemporary threat of terrorism has changed the ways in which government and the public view the world. Unlike the existential threat from nation states in previous centuries, today, government and the public spend much of their effort looking for the inward threat. Brought about by high profile events such as 9/11, 7/7, and 3/11, and exacerbated by globalisation, hyper-connected social spheres, and the media, the threats from within are reinforced daily. In the UK, government has taken bold steps to foment public safety and public security but has also been criticised by some who argue that government actions have labelled Muslims as the ‘suspect other’. This thesis explores the counter-terrorism environment in London at the community/government interface, how the Metropolitan Police Service and London Fire Brigade deliver counter-terrorism policy, and how individuals and groups are reacting. It specifically explores the realities of the lived experience of those who make up London’s ‘suspect community’ and whether or not counter-terrorism policy can be linked to further marginalisation, radicalism, and extremism. By engaging with those that range from London’s Metropolitan Police Service’s Counterterrorism Command (SO15) to those that make up the radical fringe, an ethnographic portrait is developed. Through that ethnographic portrait the ‘ground truth’ and complexities of the lived experience are made clear and add significant contrast to the aseptic policy environment.
en
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Radicalisation
Extremism
Public safety
Public security
Al Muhajiroun
Ethnography
London Metropolitan Police Service
London Fire Brigade
Marginalisation
Social constructionism
Social movement theory
CONTEST
Salafism
Community
Radicals and reactionaries : the polarisation of community and government in the name of public safety and security
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/18502019-04-01T08:18:34Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Lotze, Walter
2011-05-31T11:57:09Z
2011-05-31T11:57:09Z
2011-06-21
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1850
This research makes use of a Constructivist approach to norm development, in particular the concept of the norm life cycle, to assess the emergence and development of the responsibility to protect as a norm in international society in relation to the conduct of interventions on humanitarian grounds. This study finds that the responsibility to protect emerged relatively rapidly in international society as a norm relevant to the formulation and implementation of international responses to conflict situations characterised by the commission of atrocity crimes. Indeed, between 2001 and 2010, this study finds that the responsibility to protect norm became codified and entrenched in international organisation, and could therefore have been expected to influence state behaviour, and the discourse surrounding that behaviour, in relation to the conduct of interventions on humanitarian grounds.
However, through an assessment of the application of the norm through the United Nations and the African Union to the conflicts in the Darfur region of Sudan from 2003 onwards, the study finds that the norm, while featuring relatively prominently in discourse surrounding Darfur between 2007 and 2008 in the United Nations, appears to have receded thereafter, disappearing from discourse by 2009 altogether, and appears not to have been useful to the attainment of its content goal, namely preventing or halting the commission of atrocity crimes, in the case of Darfur. Indeed, the norm may even have contributed to complicating, as opposed to facilitating, international engagement on Darfur.
This study explores the apparent contradiction between the emergence and entrenchment of the responsibility to protect norm in international society at the same time as the norm appears to have increasingly faded from discourse surrounding international responses to the conflicts in Darfur, and assesses the implications of this both for the future development and utility of the norm, as well as for future responses to conflicts characterised by atrocity crimes on the African continent.
en
Responsibility to protect
Norms
Darfur
African Union
United Nations
Protection of civilians
Humanitarian intervention
Intervention
Interventionist norm development in international society : the responsibility to protect as a norm too far?
Thesis
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/203722021-07-27T11:11:17Zcom_10023_86com_10023_26col_10023_88
Dzhuraev, Shairbek
2020-07-30T10:23:46Z
2020-07-30T10:23:46Z
2020-07-28
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/20372
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-20372
The thesis examines the relationship between ruling regime turnovers and foreign policy in two small post-Soviet states, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. It particularly seeks to establish how had the changes of ruling regimes in these countries influenced the degree of extremity in their foreign policies. The thesis employs an analytical framework of "3-i: ideas, interests and institutions" to assess a multivariate nature of domestic sources of foreign policy. The study covers two consecutive regime turnovers in each country, including the “colour revolutions” in the early 2000s and subsequent power transitions in the early 2010s.
The thesis argues that ruling regime turnovers influence foreign policy through enabling changes in foreign policy ideas of new ruling elites, affecting the dynamics of political competition and ruling regime security, and shaping the organization of decision-making institutions. In particular, the rise of risk-taking foreign policy in both countries was associated with a combination of a) proactive foreign policy beliefs of new leaders, b) greater political insecurity of the ruling regime, and c) concentration of foreign policy powers in the hands of decision units. The absence of one or more of the above conditions, in turn, produced relatively moderate foreign policy. The findings demonstrate that foreign policy outcomes reflect a concurrent and constitutive interplay of ideas, interests and institutions, reminding of the importance of a multidimensional approach to the subject.
The thesis’s contribution to regional foreign policy analysis literature is three-fold. First, this study demonstrates the value of assigning explanatory value to the concepts of ruling regime turnovers and foreign policy extremity. These concepts help examine foreign policy as a process with its dynamics and patterns in contrast to a “snapshot” view of foreign policy as an ad hoc event to be explained. Second, the thesis takes a multi-causal analytical framework to study foreign policy, moving beyond conventional single-cause approaches. Finally, and more broadly, the thesis demonstrates that small post-Soviet states, such as Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, can be studied as “normal” polities within existing FPA approaches. Foreign policies of these states, in other words, do not have to be reduced to the function of their size, type of political regime or idiosyncrasies of leaders.
en
2025-06-02
Thesis restricted in accordance with University regulations. Print and electronic copy restricted until 2nd June 2025
Kyrgyzstan
Georgia
Foreign policy
Domestic matters : regime turnovers and foreign policy change in post-colour revolutionary Georgia and Kyrgyzstan
Thesis
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