The main thesis of this study is that since 1990 South Africa has conducted its nuclear diplomacy by constructing certain norms and its identity in a particular way to serve its national interests. A constructivist analysis of South Africa’s nuclear diplomacy concerning the nuclear non-proliferation export control regimes; the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); the Pelindaba Treaty; and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) suggests that South Africa’s application of three typical middle power diplomatic strategies, namely confrontation, cooperation and parallelism have enabled the country to secure a niche role for itself that has provided the country with some material and non-material rewards. South Africa’s membership of some of the major nuclear export control regimes reflects its socialisation of the norms of non-proliferation, disarmament, and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. South Africa has incorporated aspects of this regime in its nuclear export trade policies and national nuclear-related institutions. Despite this, the South African government’s efforts were undermined by a series of contentious nuclear proliferation-related incidents, most notably the involvement of South Africans in the AQ Khan network. South Africa was a founder member of the IAEA in 1957. Despite this early role in norm construction, South Africa’s relations with the IAEA deteriorated as international opposition to its apartheid policies escalated. Defying international isolation, the country embarked on a nuclear weapons programme that produced six atomic devices. South Africa returned to its designated seat for Africa on the IAEA Board of Governors in 1995. A vocal opponent of the discriminatory nature of the IAEA Statute and supporter of all countries’ right to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, South Africa’s influence in the Agency expanded. Despite this, the country’s candidate for the position of IAEA Director General was not elected. Africa’s position on nuclear non-proliferation originated in the 1960s. Once South Africa’s domestic policies became known and suspicions of its nuclear weapons programme grew, the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) turned its focus to condemnation of South Africa. As a result of the political transition in South Africa; its ratification of the NPT; and the IAEA’s verification process, South Africa joined Africa to establish the African nuclear weapons free zone in terms of the Pelindaba Treaty. As a result the country was elected to chair and host the AFCONE. Despite its historical opposition to the NPT, the country ratified the Treaty in 1991 and has constructed its niche role in the NPT regime through its problem-solving and bridge building roles at various NPT conferences. Therefore, this study concludes that South Africa’s post-1990 nuclear diplomacy has maintained a normative foundation; employed various diplomatic strategies; and was conducted in compliance with the set objectives of the country’s foreign policy. In this, the analysis of the nuclear diplomacy of a state such as South Africa, which discontinued its nuclear weapons programme, provided insights into nuclear diplomacy in general and the nuclear diplomacy of states similar to the South African situation. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

The driving argument of this thesis is that states, particularly the United States, are vulnerable in cyberspace for reasons that go beyond the material vulnerabilities that present studies on state insecurity in cyberspace focus on. This vulnerability in cyberspace is an ontological insecurity. Ontological insecurity reveals itself in the contradictions in official state discourse regarding cyberspace. State security of self—preserving and maintaining the seemingly concrete and consistent nature of what a state is about, how the state is understood in relation to other states, and how the state comes to understand itself through its own conceptions of self-identity—is challenged by cyberspace as a vehicle for massive amounts of information and challenges to state identity in relation to the state's behavior in cyberspace. Therefore, state identity and self-image are challenged in relation to cyberspace in two ways: first, through the vehicle that is cyberspace, and, second, through the practices that the state adopts to secure cyberspace and its broader security aims. The language that states, in this case the United States, use in order to justify surveillance practices and to impose meaning to cyberspace ultimately leads to projections of power that attempt to reinforce state strength and legitimacy vis-à-vis cyberspace, but these attempts fall short; contradictions arise in state discourse, and weaknesses are highlighted through these contradictions. Cyberspace, then, is an ontological as well as physical security threat to states. / Master of Arts

This dissertation aims at exploring and analysing the effects of Japan&rsquo / s trust-based relations in the region of East Asia in the post-Cold War period within the framework of its anti-militaristic state identity and outlook. The main research question is based on how the Japanese policy makers constructed the meaning of the post-Cold War period, opening the ways and ideas to solidify the anti-militaristic state identity and posture. In this sense, Japan provides a significant case study for examining ontological security. The main argument of dissertation is based on building up Japan&rsquo / s ontological security structure in the regional context. Since the end of the Second World War, Japan has pursued an anti-militaristic state identity and posture. This attitude has been the guiding principle of Tokyo&rsquo / s foreign and security policy. In this dissertation, for the continuance of anti-militaristic identity successfully in the post-Cold War period, Japanese policy decision-makers have both configured and further sustained the country&rsquo / s trust-based relations with neighbouring countries in the region. This dissertation was analysed under the five main headings except the introduction chapter: (1) The historical background telling the story of anti-militaristic identity and posture of Japan, (2) Japan&rsquo / s emerging human security agenda in the Post-Cold War period, (3) Japan&rsquo / s cooperative initiatives at the regional level by focusing in particular on APEC and ARF. (4) Japan&rsquo / s relations with the significant others for its identity preservation. (5) The conclusions.

The main aim of this dissertation is to understand the change of Turkish state identity related to foreign policy behaviors after the collapse of the Cold War structure. The research question of this dissertation is why and how Turkey has constructed middle power identity, which is based on liberal foreign policies. This dissertation examines two main purposes. First purpose is to analyze AKP&rsquo / s liberalism based middle power policies from 2005 to 2010 toward the Middle East. In this dissertation, the liberal policies based on middle power are defined as implementing functional diplomacy, mediation role, niche di plomacy, coalition diplomacy, and norm diffusion. Second purpose is to understand the process of how the state constructs its policies. To that end, this dissertation takes notice of state identity, which is constructed by changes of circumstances, norms, state self-perception, and the perceptions of others. This dissertation assumes that the concept of middle power is one of Turkey&rsquo / s state identities in the area of foreign policy. Turkey&rsquo / s middle power behaviors make Turkey consciously aware of its middle power status. This dissertation analyzes the existence of two steps that are pathways for Turkey to understand itself as a liberal middle power in the international arena. The first step is to analyze the policies of &Ouml / zal, Erbakan and Cem. The second step is to examine AKP&rsquo / s foreign policy experiences and ideas, especially the ideas of Ahmet Davutoglu.

1. Abstract The European Union has transformed enormously during the last three of decades from a purely economic institution to a political project which has generated a strong nationalist backlash from several countries, especially in post-Soviet nations, such as Hungary that gained independence not long ago in 1991. However, such signs of Euroscepticism were apparent also elsewhere in Europe, including in Finland where a resurgence of nationalism happened in the form of populist parties and increased Euroscepticism among traditional conservative segments of society. This thesis will examine these phenomena through a historical analysis of Hungary and Finland with the aim of examining and highlighting important features in their national identities that are seen to be triggered through various developments in the context of the European Union, such as the 2008 Financial Crisis, the 2015 refugee crisis and other types of change that has occurred in the enlargement process of the political union that the EU is striving to further. Such developments will be discussed using a theoretical framework of nationalism and through examining different features of a nation, specifically through the ideas of Johann Gottfried Herder, Anthony Smith, and Hans Kohn among others. Hungary and Finland were chosen due to...

This rhetorical analysis of a coal advocacy and a coal-critical environmentalist organization examines how each group constitutes different West Virginian identities that accord with their organizational mission. Based on the constitutive concepts advanced by Edwin Black, Maurice Charland, and Michael McGee, this study has analyzed the ideological narratives, which underlie each argument, and which call into existence two antagonistic West Virginian identities. Whereas the coal industry conceives of a dutiful West Virginian people, who take pride in providing energy to the nation and fueling its economy, the environmentalists interpellate a primitive people who live at the mercy of their environment. In a father-child relationship, the groups take oppositional roles in a mutually constructed drama. Hence, this constitutive analysis of two public opponents strongly suggests that public activist groups derive their identities from conflict and are thus disinterested in resolving their disagreement. / Master of Arts

State responsibility is central to modern politics and international relations. States are commonly blamed for wars, called on to apologize, punished with sanctions, admonished to keep their promises, bound by treaties, and held liable for debts and reparations. But why, and under which conditions, does it make sense to assign responsibilities to whole states rather than to individual leaders and officials? The purpose of this thesis is to resurrect and develop a forgotten understanding of state responsibility from the political thought of Thomas Hobbes. Chapters 1 and 2 examine the two dominant theories of state responsibility and propose a Hobbesian alternative. According to the agential theory, states can be held responsible because they are moral agents like human beings, with analogous capacities for deliberation and intentional action. According to the functional theory, states can be held responsible because they act vicariously through their organs, much as principals act vicariously through agents. What makes Hobbes unique is that he considers states to be 'persons'-entities to which actions, rights, and responsibilities can be attributed-even though they are neither agents nor principals. Hobbes' idea of state personality relies on the concepts of authorization and representation, not of agency and intentionality, nor of functions and organs. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 develop the Hobbesian theory of state responsibility and apply it to three sets of problems. Chapter 3 addresses problems of attribution, such as whether the actions of dictators count as acts of state and whether states can commit crimes. Chapter 4 addresses problems of identity, such as whether revolutions and annexations negate the state's identity and hence its responsibilities. Chapter 5 addresses problems of distribution, such as whether the subjects of the state ought to bear the costs of debts and reparations that their state incurred before they were born. I argue that the Hobbesian theory provides better answers to each set of problems than the agential and functional alternatives.

[pt] Esta tese argumenta que a participação do Brasil na Missão de Estabilização da ONU para o Haiti pode ser compreendida para além das explicações tradicionais que entendem a política externa como uma ponte entre a política interna e a política internacional, resultante de decisões racionais, interesses objetivos e identidades fixas. Partindo da premissa de que as articulações discursivas não são uma construção retórica superficial atrás das quais se encontra uma causa ou explicação real, não se busca discutir quais foram as intenções e motivações dos formuladores da política externa quando decidiram pela participação do Brasil na missão da ONU no Haiti. Rompendo com as perspectivas convencionais acerca do papel da identidade e da diferença nos estudos de política externa, essa tese analisa os discursos e práticas dominantes de construção do estado moderno no Brasil, no século XIX e início do século XX, e como estes funcionam produzindo uma determinada compreensão do self estatal – e da relação entre self e outro. Tal movimento, empreendido a partir do estudo de duas narrativas de pacificação, permite tanto pensar sobre os discursos e representações que tornaram possível a decisão brasileira de liderar o componente militar da MINUSTAH, quanto refletir sobre as constantes tentativas, passadas e contemporâneas, de reproduzir e estabilizar uma identidade específica para o Brasil, e para aqueles que agem, dentro e fora, em seu nome. / [en] This dissertation argues that the participation of Brazil in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) may be understood beyond traditional explanations that understand foreign policy as a bridge between internal and international politics, resulting from rational decisions, objective interests and fixed identities. Based on the assumption that discursive articulations are not a superficial rhetorical construction behind which one may find real causes or real explanations, it does not aim to discuss the intentions and motivations behind Brazilian foreign policy decision makers resolution to participate in the UN mission in Haiti. Contrary to conventional approaches on the role of identity and difference in foreign policy studies, this dissertation analyzes dominant discourses and practices constructing the modern state in Brazil between the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century, and how these discourses and practices produce a specific understanding of the state self – and of the relation between self and other. Through the study of two pacification narratives, this movement allows one to think about the discourses and representations that made possible Brazil s decision to lead the military component of MINUSTAH; it also helps one to reflect on the permanent attempts – past and present – to reproduce and stabilize a specific identity for Brazil and for those acting in its name, both inside and outside.

The thesis aims to give a deeper understanding of the Russian use of soft power by examining identity building. This research is one of very few that shed light on Russia’s ambitions of exploitation of space. Further knowledge in the field is necessary to understand the underlying motives and objectives behind the Russian space program. This in-depth analysis fills a noteworthy knowledge gap. Using the method of narrative analysis as defined by Roselle, Miskimmon, and O’Laughlin (2014,2017), combined with the theory of strategic narratives and state identity as defined by Eriksson et al (2020), the thesis investigates Russian identity building, examining Russian space program under Putin. In particular, Putin’s 2013, 2016 and 2020 Cosmonautics Day video link-ups with the International Space Station are analyzed. This thesis attempts to define Russia’s future space plan and its geopolitical importance in maintaining the nation’s role on the international arena post-soviet. The results indicate that Eriksson et al's definition of cultural narratives about state identity can be found in future Russian space plans.

The aim of following diploma thesis is research on the relationship between state identity and foreing policy of Georgia in period of 1991 - 2014. Although Georgia is situated on the crossroads between Europe and Asia, local elites potray the country as part of the Europe. Georgia is conducting long-term policy aimed at integration into Western structures and this orientation is often explained as the evidence of influence of ideas on foreign policy. Despite significant popularization of research on ideas in international relations, this is not the case of young post-Soviets countries. Using foreign policy analysis together with social constructivist approach, I am analysing development and the core of Georgian state's identity and its relationship with foreign policy. The object is to understand modern history of the country from ideational a foreign policy point of view.