Thesis advisor: Seth Jacobs / This dissertation examines the intersections of transnational anarchist terrorism, American foreign relations, and national security in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As such, the primary purpose is to examine how cultural concerns exert an influence over discussions of national security in the United States. In the face of an unprecedented wave of bombings and assassinations around the world, Americans made clear that anarchist terrorism was a dual menace. First, the actual threat of violence posed an external security problem that needed to be addressed. Government officials as well as private individuals debated the need to protect public officials, curtail press freedoms, punish anarchist crimes, and cooperate with other states to suppress anarchist violence. At the same time, however, many Americans expressed concern that by overreacting and making acceptable the passage of measures that would erode traditional values in the name of providing security, anarchist terrorism posed a second—greater—threat to American society. The failure to satisfactorily resolve those conflicting priorities, this dissertation argues, set the boundaries within which discussions over how to protect society from the threat of anarchist violence—both real and imagined—would take place. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History.

As an important tool of state- and nation- building, capital city relocation is a policy option that is currently considered in more than 30 states around the world, including South Africa. The project is especially appealing for post-colonial states. At its core, it involves a physical move of governing institutions to a new location a city that either already exists, or is constructed specifically for the purpose of serving as a capital. The relocation is likely to affect political, economic and societal status quo within a state including matters of national security. The latter is a sensitive matter for post-colonial states, but the link between capital city relocation and national security is not well understood. The study develops a framework that analyses the capital city relocation - national security nexus, to assess the overall impact of the project, as well as the specific benefits and drawbacks for security. The framework relies on Buzan's five-sector approach to security, and employs it to develop a list of indicators to track changes to national security of the post-colonial states post-relocation. Hence this study aims to contribute to the strand of the Security Studies literature and to fill (in part) an evident lacuna on capital city relocation, by exploring the cases of Nigeria (1991) and Kazakhstan (1997) from a security perspective. / Mini Dissertation (M Security Studies)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Political Sciences / MSecurity Studies / Unrestricted

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The aim of this work will be to analyze the final phase of the Cold War. The 1980s was an extraordinary period for anyone interested in the history of the Cold War. Not only did the Cold War end or bring their final stages, but even before the 1980s, with a similarly almost unprecedented limitation of tensions between the two major players in the East-West conflict, the US and the Soviet Union. In my diploma thesis I will analyze the basic premises of the "triumphalistic" and "revisionist" schools of the Cold War. Diploma thesis from the concept of "national security approach". The conclusion of the work is that Ronal Reagan has had an impact on the end of the study wars and thus does not apply the conclusions of the "revisionist" school. However, there are no conclusions that apply only to cases where only diplomatic and compromise measures are involved.

The tensions between China and the special administrative region of Hong Kong have increased rapidly during the last decade. Freedomhouse have concluded that Hong Kong is going through a development that is characterized with less freedom, and less democratic reforms and towards a more authoritarian path. This study aims to understand and explain the conflict between Hong Kong and the mainland China from a national- and internal securityconcept. The results indicates that China prioritize its national security first and therefore it wants to preserve the states values. When the citizens of Hong Kong in several ways have protested against the restrictions imposed on them or when the​ one country, two systems-f​ ramework have been perceived as disrespected, Beijing have responded in a maximalistic way. China have defined internal threats to its system and against the party CCP but it have cost the people of Hong Kong's legitimacy towards them, a development of a own national identity and can lead to even more negative economic consequences for the special administrative region of Hong Kong.

This thesis examines the way in which China's share of the rare earths global industry is constructed as a threat. The central argument of the research is that the US discourse presented a new form of danger through the lens of classical geopolitical thinking, thus, creating a new type of prospective conflict derived from resources that are perceived to be scarce and yet relatively abundant. It argues that the construction of this 'threat' that the US faces is a constant articulation of perceived vulnerabilities in shaping geopolitical identities and reinforcing ideologies through which are carried out by different actors. Rare earths are crucial for modern conditions and their applications include commercial, military and green technology but mining and production are neither economical nor environmentally friendly. The People's Republic of China is the principal exporter of these rare metals, but because of a territorial dispute in the South China Sea in 2010 it has been labelled as a monopoly power. This study seeks to examine the constructed threat that China poses to the US. China, here, is not only constructed to be a resource hungry giant but also a malicious state that would utilise its 'monopoly' status as geopolitical leverage. The thesis will employ discourse analysis and wisdoms of...

Why do foreign policy decision makers care about the credibility of their own state’s commitments? How does organizational identity shape policymakers’ concern for credibility, and in turn, their willingness to use force during crises? While much previous research examines how decision makers assess others’ credibility, only recently have scholars questioned when and why leaders or their advisers prioritize their own state’s credibility. Building on classic scholarship in bureaucratic politics, I argue that organizational identity affects the dimensions of credibility that national security officials value, and ultimately, their policy advocacy around the use of force. Particular differences arise between military and diplomatic organizations; while military officials equate credibility with hard military capabilities, diplomats view credibility in terms of reputation, or demonstrating reliability and resolve to external parties. During crises, military officials confine their advice on the use of force to what can be achieved given current capabilities, while diplomats exhibit higher willingness to use force as a signal of a strong commitment. I test these propositions using text analysis of archival records from two collections of U.S. national security policy documents, eight case studies of American, British, and French crisis decision making, and an original survey experiment involving more than 400 current or former U.S. national security officials. I demonstrate that credibility concerns affect the balance of hawkishness in advice that diplomats and military officials deliver to leaders as a function of organizational identity.

Thesis (M.M. (Security))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2013. / Every country has the sovereign right to decide who may or may not enter its territory. Possession of a visa does not guarantee automatic admission to the Republic of South Africa (RSA). It only authorises the holder to proceed to the Republic to report to an immigration officer at a port of entry for the purpose of being examined as to his / her ability or otherwise, to comply with the entry requirements. The purpose of a visa on the one hand is to ensure proper screening of applicants so that undesirable persons are not admitted to the Republic and on the other hand to facilitate the entry of approved applicants at South African ports of entry. Visa provides immigration officers with the necessary information to ensure that applicants are admitted for the correct purpose and period into the RSA. Visa and immigration policy together determine who can come into South Africa for admission. This paper explores visa process at the South African High Commission in Swaziland in the context of national security. The survey for visa applicants and staff members at the mission was conducted in order to determine the challenges that are faced during visa processing. The paper concludes by putting forward suggested recommendations that can assist in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the visa process at the mission in the context of national security.

The World Trade Organization’s agreements contain a national security exception, that allows WTO members to circumvent their international trade obligations under the organization if they find it necessary to protect their essential security interests. The exception embodies the complex and difficultly navigated line between national security and free trade. National sovereignty is a matter that is widely considered to go beyond the interests of trade, a notion from which the need of a security exception spawns, while circumvention of the WTO obligations for any other reason than honest and real intent to uphold security clearly undermines the system.  To date, two WTO panels have interpreted a subparagraph of the national security exception, namely the case where a member may adopt measures they find necessary for the protection of their essential security interests in times of war or other emergency in international relations. To satisfy the requirements under this provision, a member must adhere to the principle of good faith by articulating its essential security interest, and elucidate the link between these interests and the trade restrictive measures adopted. However, the panels failed to properly scrutinize the existence of good faith. Instead, fulfillment of these requirements was determined by how close the emergency in international relation lied to the hard core of armed conflict. In this essay, it is argued that the failure to properly review good faith leaves a legal loophole that enables abuse of the exception for purely economic reasons. Previously, the atmosphere of the trading system allowed security and economic matters to more easily be kept apart. However, recent developments of national trade policies and the rise of new economic powers have changed the balance of the geoeconomic order.  Because uncodified powers no longer efficiently suppress security disputes from entering the WTO, this essay concludes that the security exception might have to be clarified to prevent abuse. Considering the changes to the trading regime’s state of play, the main discussion held is on whether an evolutionary interpretation of the term “emergency in international relations” could help remedy the loophole in the national security exception. As the multilateral trading system is facing challenges much different from the post-war environment in which the exception was drafted, the security exception must be interpreted in a dynamic manner to ensure compliance with the intention of its drafting parties.

I denna uppsats granskas militariserad säkerhet i relation till kvinnors osäkerhet. Uppsatsen genomsyras av ett genusperspektiv och berör skadliga sociala normer såsom våldsuttryck knutna till maskulinitetsideal, nationens betydelse, maskuliniseringen av den säkerhetspolitiska arenan och hur den Amerikanska armén använde sig av feminisering som förhörsmetod i det skandalomsusade Irakiska fängelset Abu Ghraib. Uppsatsen finner att militariserad säkerhet utgör ett hot mot kvinnors säkerhet i och med den könsmaktsordning som upprätthålls och förstärks i samband med konflikt och militär närvaro och som resulterar i specifikt våld riktat mot kvinnor och feminiserade grupper.