The thesis deals with the issue of energy security in geopolitically strategic region of South Caucasus. The focus is on analyzing the development of energy policy in the individual countries of the region since the collapse of the Soviet union. On this basis is determined the most important security challenge: Armenia. This challenge results from the need to counteract the influence of external actors in the region and to address long-standing regional conflicts that would contribute not only to the stability of the South Caucasus, but also help to fully realize the potential of the region as an important transit corridor for Caspian and Iranian energy resources.

Analyzing four congressional hearings that publicly discuss the CIA’s ‘secret’ drone program, this thesis considers the interaction between publicity and secrecy in facilitating practices of later-modern warfare. Specifically, I examine the content of these drone hearings within the broader context of leaks, Obama administration speeches, and public interest in CIA drones to better understand how open secrecy engages with public oversight. I argue these hearings are deceptively productive. While they largely fail as oversight events, the hearings facilitate numerous unexpected outcomes—including the normalization and entrenchment of the CIA drone program. Paradoxically then, publicity proves essential to the maintenance and acceptance of secret programs. This project concludes by raising questions about the geopolitical implications of the changing spatiality of war when traditional means of oversight and accountability may no longer prove effective.

Orientador: Bernardo Mançano Fernandes / Resumo: O debate em torno do processo de land grabbing, entendido neste trabalho como controle do território – o poder de controlar o território e o acesso a este através de distintas relações diretas e indiretas – intensificou-se a partir da crise de sobreacumulação de 2007/2008. Concomitante a crise financeira, emergem outras crises [ou um receio ou discurso de escassez] como alimentar, ambiental, climática e energética. Os maiores alvos deste processo são os países do Sul global, porém o processo de controle do território está além da dicotomia Norte-Rico-Apropriador e Sul-Pobre-Apropriado. A América Latina é um dos principais alvos do processo e apresenta diferentes peculiaridades, como diferentes formas de apropriação e controle do território – compreendido através da multiescalaridade e multidimensionalidade; forte presença do capital regional; marcante compreensão de estrangeirização como sinônimo de land grabbing e a história do processo. O Paraguai, nosso recorte territorial, é uma nação que historicamente – desde o final da Guerra da Tríplice Aliança, em 1870 – é afetada pelo controle e estrangeirização do território, onde os maiores controladores são os empresas e pessoas físicas oriundas da Argentina, Brasil e, recentemente, Uruguai. A partir do estudo da territorialização do agronegócio argentino, brasileiro e uruguaio no Paraguai, o nosso objetivo é analisar a nova dinâmica territorial criada pelo processo de estrangeirização inserido em um processo mais amplo de contro... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Doutor

The purpose of this study is to examine the seldom researched Swedish geopolitical interests inNorway in the first half of the 17th century, with the brief 1658 conquest of Trondheim as itscentral event of inquiry. Through the study of privy council protocols and chancellor AxelOxenstierna’s correspondence, the study builds a case for the confluence of security, commerce, andthe concepts of nations as the influencing factors that shaped Swedish imperial foreign policy in thedecades leading up to the dramatic war of 1658, yielding a theoretical construction of the Empire’sBaltic doctrine, or the Oxenstierna doctrine, as an explanatory model for Sweden’s early modernexpansion patterns. Subsequently through understanding of the Empire’s expansionist rationaleleading up to 1658, the conquest of the Norwegian province of Trondheim is put in a new light ashaving been an interruptive and complicated re-imagining of what the Swedish Empire should be.

The paper clearly shows that Russia has been diversifying its export routes during past 20 years, in order to by-pass third countries and to avoid paying additional transportation fees. The overall Russian export capacities of oil and gas are increasing, but in the same time the export volumes are stagnant. In case of oil transportation, pipelines are progressively substituted by sea transport, which enables Russia to participate on the world market. Situation with gas is different. Despite increasing export capacity Russia nowadays export almost the same amount of gas to the same locations as it did in 1990. It means that if there is any political or economical pressure it is laid against transition countries, which can be substituted, rather than against importing countries. Russian economical gains from export are following increasing oil and gas prices. To make the gains even higher, Russia initiated transition to world gas prices in the CIS countries as well as at the domestic market. To support the hypothesis of this thesis that primary goal of Russia is to increase its economical gains rather than to strengthen its political leverage, it is important to mention that majority of energy disputes of past twenty years were ignited by quarrel over prices and were settled by trade agreement. The...

Megan Ouellette Abstract Abstract This study constitutes an analysis of American conceptualizations of the Czech Republic as presented in presidential materials from 1989 to 2009 and American media reporting the cancellation of the Third Site of ballistic missile defence from 14-25 September 2009. It draws on the previous research offered by constructivist interpretations of international relations and the field of critical geopolitics to explore how, and for what purpose, certain American sources of geopolitical reasoning have portrayed the Czech Republic. By comparing and contrasting the ways in which the Czech Republic has been conceptualised in presidential materials over a period of twenty years and in media sources over a two-week period relative to a particular event, the study identifies trends and thematic (in)consistencies in American "mental maps" of the Czech Republic. It shows the extent to which media reporting on President Obama's ballistic missile defence policy shift recycled pre-existing conceptualizations of the Czech Republic broadcasted on the presidential level over the twenty years prior to the policy shift. The results of content analyses of each set of texts reveal that the Czech Republic holds specific symbolic and strategic value that ultimately points back to a particular...

This thesis deals with Russian and Ukrainian foreign policy. The challenge is to analyse the attitude of Russia and Ukraine towards NATO and CIS and the role of both States in the shaping of other groupings in the post-Soviet space. Russia was claiming to get back its super power status and NATO enlargement considered as threat. On the other hand Ukraine was seeking security guaranties and partners to counterbalance the imperial ambitions of Russia. CIS and some other groupings in the region posed for Russia instruments of economic and political domination of post-Soviet space. On the other hand, Ukrainian attitude in relation to CIS integration under the Moscow's leadership was very restrained and vigilant. Kiev initiated other groupings independently from Moscow. In this work were preferred descriptive and empirical analytical techniques. There was used method of comparison more precisely double case study. Geopolitics was chosen as theoretical framework. The results of comparison help us to make a conclusion about the impact of Russian and Ukrainian policy in relation to NATO and CIS towards each other and post-Soviet space. There were found fundamental differences between Russian and Ukrainian attitude towards NATO and CIS or rather post-Soviet space. In these cases the differences resulted...

This thesis deals with the Russia's foreign policy pursued by presidents Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev, respectively. The studied phenomenon is viewed through the lens of the theory of neo-Eurasianism, coined by the Russian philosopher and political scientist Alexander Gelevich Dugin. The starting point of the neo-Eurasian geopolitical theory is a conviction that the current world order is unipolar and that the U.S.-led globalization is an instrument of its reproduction. The alternative to the hostile, free development of nations curtailing, Atlantic order is represented by multipolarity which, according to the neo-Eurasian theory, will supposedly be established through the messianic mission of Russia-Eurasia, which has nevertheless first to free itself from the Atlantic bond. Application of the neo- Eurasian theory in the context of Russian foreign policy since 2000 then points to the conclusion that Russia's foreign policy can, to some extent, be considered neo-Eurasian.

This thesis presents an analysis and confrontation of the classical and current strategic naval thinking aimed to discover whether the classical theories of naval power are still relevant for the current strategic thinking of the United States of America and operational conduct of the U.S. Navy. This is done by creating a theoretical analytical framework based on the analysis of the works of two chosen classical naval thinkers Admiral A.T. Mahan and Sir Julian S. Corbett. This theoretical framework is then applied to the analysis of the current American strategic documents: National Security Strategy, National Military Strategy and Naval Strategy. By applying the theoretical framework to the analysis of these documents, the thesis will confirm or disproof the relevance of the classical naval thought to the current one. The thesis further continues to apply the theoretical framework to the part of the thesis, which analyses the Pacific Fleet of the United States and their area of responsibility in order to identify the strategic challenges that the Pacific Fleet encounters in its area of responsibility. Further analysis is focused on identifying and evaluating the reactions of the Pacific Fleet to the identified challenges.

Cette thèse de doctorat se fixe tout particulièrement pour objectif d’apporter un éclairage sur la problématique de la production des éléments de terres rares aux États-Unis. Ces minéraux, aux qualités nucléaire très particulières, constituent des intrants cruciaux dans certaines technologies et industries stratégiques : technologies « vertes », technologies d’information et de communication, ainsi que dans les technologies militaires. Ces minéraux stratégiques constituent aujourd’hui un enjeu géoéconomique mais aussi géopolitique et environnemental majeur. En 2011, 97 % des éléments de terres rares dans le monde proviennent de la Chine (qui dispose donc d’un monopole), selon l’United States Geological Survey. Cette position de la Chine a soulevé des inquiétudes chez les responsables américains concernant l’accès à ces ressources minérales, de manière évidente depuis 2010. Cette recherche questionne le rôle crucial joué par les acteurs au sein des agences étatsuniennes dans l’objectif d’élaborer une politique solide pour faire face au risque géopolitique lié à la vulnérabilité des États-Unis face au risque de ruptures d’approvisionnement de ces minéraux stratégiques. Ces minéraux sont donc une source de conflit international, surtout en raison de la montée de la Chine comme un nouveau joueur sur la scène internationale, dotée d’un quasi monopole sur les terres rares. Situé à la croisée des préoccupations géoéconomiques et géopolitiques et environnementales, il a semblé nécessaire de comprendre quels enjeux essentiels soulèvent ces minéraux stratégiques : enjeux géoéconomiques, défis géopolitique ou danger écologique ? C’est donc en ces termes que nous examinerons la question des minéraux de terres rares par les États-Unis. / This doctoral dissertation particularly aims at shedding light on the issue of U.S. rare earth production, a group of minerals with very special qualities nuclear, which are vital inputs in certain strategic industries and technologies: green technologies, information and communication technologies, as well as in military technologies. These strategic minerals constitute nowadays one of the major challenges associated with geo-economic, geopolitical and environmental issues. In 2011, China has provided approximately 97 percent of the world’s rare earth minerals (near-monopoly) according to U.S. Geological Survey data. This position of China has raised concerns about access to these mineral resources among American officials, obviously since 2010. This research discuss the crucial role played by actors within the U.S. Agencies to develop a robust policy to deal with the geopolitical risks about U.S. vulnerability to a supply disruption of these critical strategic minerals, as part of a source of international conflict, especially with the rise of China as a new player on the international stage. Located at the crossroads of geo-economic, geopolitical, and environmental concerns, it seems necessary to understand what key impasses constitute rare earths strategic minerals, economic power or geopolitical challenges or ecological danger? It is in these terms that we will deal with the issue of rare earths as considered by the United States.