International peacekeeping has gained a high profile in international relations and more so, in the post cold war era. The profound increase in the occurrence of civil wars globally and the consequent high demand for the UN to intervene has compelled the world body to delegate its peacekeeping powers to regional organisations. SADC is one of many regional organisations around the world which are faced with the challenge of developing peacekeeping capacities to resolve local conflicts. This thesis endeavours to investigate the prospects of peacekeeping in Southern Africa with specific reference to the involvement of South Africa as a regional power with the wherewithal to play a leadership role in this regard. This is done within the theoretical framework that is provided by the Realist school of thought in international relations. Furthermore, the concept of national interest as defined by Realism will be utilised to explain why countries in Southern Africa in general and South Africa in particular become involved in regional peacekeeping initiatives. The issue of whether the Republic should be involved and how much it should be involved has provoked an intense debate within the country. This debate will therefore be instructive in understanding the dynamics that influence the country's foreign policy behaviour towards the region in relation to playing a leadership role in regional peacekeeping initiatives. The central issue implicit in the debate is the fact that most of the SADC member states that are expected to contribute towards these initiatives have weak economies. This economic weakness in turn leads to the thorny issue of having to seek foreign assistance from western countries from which the region is trying to gain greater independence. This presents the region with a paradox because foreign assistance has serious implications for the SADC countries' sovereignty. It is in this context therefore, that this thesis examines economic development in individual SADC countries and in the region as a whole to establish whether they are in a position to develop a sustainable regional peacekeeping capacity. The contention of the thesis is that economic development is closely related to peacekeeping because without a sound economic base Southern Africa or any other region for that matter, will not be able to develop a viable peacekeeping capacity. On the other hand, keeping the peace in the region is itself important for economic development because it is only in a peaceful environment that economic development can take root.

This thesis examines the security problematic of African states and focuses more particularly on the SADC region. It links the security problematic with the transactionalist approach to (supra)national integration and the concept of a security community, introduced into internatIonal relations theory by Karl Deutsch and his colleagues. In relation to the (in)security of SADC member states, the thesis attempts to demonstrate that national integration of these states (i.e. the establishment of an amalgamated security community) has at least to accompany if not precede the establishment of a security community at the regional level (i.e. a pluralistic security community). Since threats to the security of SADC member states are mainly nonmilitary in nature, the 'realist' concept of security is broadened to include political, economic, societal and environmental aspects of security at different levels. Furthermore, Deutsch's concept of a security community is redefined in line with the 'new security thinking' and adapted to the situation in African states. Moreover, this thesis attempts to demonstrate that it is essential for SADC member states to become strong and socio-economically cohesive in order to improve their competitiveness in relation to developed states, especially in their ability to deal with internal and ransnational/regional threats to their security, which are (in)directly caused and perpetuated by the lack of national integration, inefficient state-making and underdevelopment - the sources of their weakness.

M.A. (National Strategy) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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The South African Government adopted a new policy approach to national security in 1996. Whilst this contemporary approach is acknowledged, particularly in raising the political profile of issues such as poverty, environmental matters and human rights, it nevertheless raises concern about its sustainability in the long term, particularly with regard to the overwide agenda that views national security in the broad sense to incorporate political, military, economic, social and environmental matters. This concern resulted in the need to appraise the significance of the factors that underpin the fundamental shift in South Africa's approach to national security; to conduct an assessment of the understanding and perceptions held about South Africa’s approach to the national security; and to propose some measures which Government can use to sustain the new approach to national security including possible areas for further research. This study was carried out following a qualitative research methodology that combines both the descriptive and analytical approaches. The descriptive approach largely draws from the literature survey of primary and secondary sources while interview questions were formulated with the intention of eliciting perceptions held by a selected group of individuals about South Africa’s approach to national security. The findings confirmed that notwithstanding the elevation of the political profile of nonmilitary issues in the country’s new paradigm on national security, its most 100 important shortcoming is to seemingly automatically elevate these nonmilitary issues to the status of national security issues. The research finding also established that South Africa’s contemporary approach to national security is understood differently by the different strata of society, including a skewed perspective within the security forces. Most importantly, the study indicates that there is a requirement to adjust and align the imperatives of 1994 with the emergent realities of 2004 and beyond through the institution of requisite changes with a focus towards an integrated national security policy. It is therefore clear that a number of issues regarding South Africa’s current approach to national security need to be further debated and researched including the underlying assumptions, but also the further operationalisation and implementation of national security policy. / Dissertation (MSS(Security Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Political Sciences / MSS / unrestricted

The aim of the dissertation is to analyse the concept of international terrorism in Africa from 1990-2004 at a continental level and then investigate the extent of measures developed to counteract this threat. The dissertation puts forward four assumptions to be explored and tested: <ul> <li>Africa’s unstable political, economic and social structures cause weaknesses within the continent which international terrorist organisations can exploit and use to their own advantage. </li> <li>Africa’s history of civil wars makes the continent an easy target for international terrorist organisations to garner support for their organisations. </li> <li>The current counter-terrorism policies and measures are not effective enough to deter international terrorism on the African continent, as in some countries there is still an ongoing struggle for political control. </li> <li>The “Global War on Terrorism” has played a supportive role in Africa’s counter-terrorism policies. </li> </ul> The analysis investigates why international terrorism occurs in Africa, and which factors facilitate this. To achieve its aim, the study focuses on aspects such as the historical background of international terrorism in Africa; the current international security and terrorist environment; the present African security environment; and international and continental counter-terrorist policies within Africa. This dissertation aims to illustrate the issues facing Africa in combating and curbing international terrorist activities on the continent. It describes attempts by international and continental organisations to develop measures designed specifically to establish counter-terrorist agencies and policies in Africa. / Dissertation (Master of Security Studies)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

The late 20th and early 21st centuries have seen a phenomenal growth in society's use of information technology. Criminals, including terrorists and terrorist organizations, have also adopted information technologies. Information technologies are used to enhance the efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness of terrorist activities and offenses. Investigating terrorist use of information technologies creates a number of challenges for law enforcement officials. While some of the challenges are encountered during conventional criminal investigations, terrorist investigations also present unique challenges. Through content and typological analysis, this study examined open source information to identify, categorize and propose a model of these challenges. Four primary categories were identified: technology, methodology, legal, and administration and human resources challenges.

Orientador: Andrei Koerner / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T10:20:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Storti_JanainaMarques_M.pdf: 1482527 bytes, checksum: b10d2643bb449e236e1b90c9ddacc74a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Com o fim da Guerra Fria os Estados Unidos se consolidam no cenário internacional como a única superpotência em termos políticos, militares e econômicos. A partir da queda do inimigo soviético, perspectivas emergem a fim de identificar quais ameaças seriam capazes de colocar em xeque a segurança nacional dos EUA. Neste período, estas novas ameaças foram definidas em duas instâncias, uma considerando as ameaças estatais, relativas aos estados hostis aos EUA bem como os estados delinqüentes os quais representavam ainda uma ameaça generalizada à segurança internacional, e a outra considerando as ameaças não estatais, focadas principalmente no terrorismo como fonte de insegurança e instabilidade internacional. Tendo isto em vista, essa dissertação analisará o documento National Security Strategy dos governos de George H. W. Bush (1989-1993), William J. Clinton (1993-2001) e George W. Bush (2001-2009) com o objetivo de compreender como este define as ameaças aos Estados Unidos, bem como estabelece prioridades estratégicas e objetivos, a fim de direcionar como as ameaças serão enfrentadas. Ao mesmo tempo, será feita uma contraposição entre a análise do documento e as ações desempenhadas pelos governos nas questões de segurança nacional. / Abstract: With the end of the Cold War the United States consolidate themselves in the international scenery as the only superpower in political, military and economic terms. Since the fall of the Soviet enemy, perspectives emerge in order to identify which threats would be able to put in check the national security of the USA. In this period, these new threats were defined in two instances, one considering the state actors, relative to hostile states to the USA as well as the rogue states which ones represented a generalized threat to the international security, and the other considering the non-state threats, focused mostly in the terrorism as a source of international insecurity and instability. Having this in mind, this dissertation will analyze the National Security Strategy release of the governments of George H. W. Bush (1989-1993), William J. Clinton (1993-2001) and George W. Bush (2001-2009) in order to comprehend how these documents define the threats to the United States, as well as how it establishes strategic and objective priorities in order to address how the threats will be faced, at the same time, will be made a comparison between the document analysis and the actions performed by the governments in the national security issues. / Mestrado / Mestre em Relações Internacionais

Japan adopted a new legislation in 2016 which indicated a shift in Japanese security and foreign policy. Since the end of World War 2, the Japanese constitution has renounced war, threat, or use of force as a means of settling international disputes with other nations. Possessing military capabilities for anything other than self-defense were also restricted. This has caused several implications for Japan's foreign policy. While it allowed for more resources to be allocated to the reconstruction of the country after World War 2, Japan could never send its troops abroad to defend Japanese nationals or allies. However, that changed in 2014 when Shinzo Abe and his government began working on reinterpreting the constitution leading to the 2015 defense legislation “Legislation for Peace and Security” which allowed Japan for the first time in 70 years to send troops overseas to its allies for collective self-defense. This study is an analysis of the decision making process behind the Japanese foreign policy decision to expand its military’s capabilities and international cooperation. This study utilises foreign policy analysis to analyse both domestic and international factors which could have contributed to the Japanese foreign policy decision.  This study's conclusions were based on several factors: Firstly, the change in the geopolitical landscape in East Asia as a result of an emerging China and the beheading of two Japanese journalists, highlighted the restrictions imposed by article 9. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces wouldn’t be able to cooperate militarily with its allies, nor could it help its nationals abroad. With the help of its majorities in both the upper and lower houses of the National Diet, Abe’s government was able to expand the capabilities of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces whilst still maintaining Japan’s pacifist security policy. The Legislation for Peace and Security was perceived to not challenge the decades of Japanese pacifism whilst strengthening Japan's military capabilities.

The primary aim of this thesis is to assess whether and to what extent serious crime and specifically violent and organised crime, poses a national security threat to South Africa since 1994. To achieve this, the study focuses on serious crime in South Africa before 1994; serious crime trends and characteristics between 1994 and 2009; crime prevention and national security polices developed after 1994; public perceptions of safety and security after 1994; and the consequences of serious crime. In this regard three assumptions were formulated for assessment namely: − South Africa exhibits many of the national security issues of the developing world, as manifested in predominately internal threats to security. − Serious crime is one of the main threats to South Africa’s national security, and continues to have an extremely negative impact on all spheres of life, especially on the country’s social, economic, security and political environments. − There has been increasing concern over the occurrence of crime, particularly serious crime, in South Africa since 1994, despite certain statistical decreases. All three of the assumptions could be verified in the study. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Political Sciences / DPhil / Unrestricted