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South Sudan's recent war-to-war transition, and its post-conflict statebuilding experience prior to renewed mass violence beginning in December 2013, has upended conventional wisdom on post-conflict peacemaking. Analysts have been left scrambling to explain the apparent implosion of South Sudan's political and military system, often reverting to problematic or discredited analytical frameworks - including 'ethnic conflict', 'failed states' or variants of the 'greed not grievance' argument - to interpret the violence, or else have emphasised the chaotic and disorderly nature of conflict and governance in South Sudan. This thesis argues that in order to make sense of South Sudan's tragic and unshakeable relationship to political violence, an explanation grounded in the concepts of militarism and militarisation, and the framework of militarised statebuilding, is required. The post-conflict statebuilding process in South Sudan has further militarised social relationships whilst considerably expanding the state, creating an enabling environment for war to occur either on the margins of the political system established in the course of statebuilding, or from within it. Simultaneously, it has compelled those making political and economic claims on the state to do so through engaging with this militarised state infrastructure, or else through organising violence to gain entry into the state. However, this militarised statebuilding project entered a state of crisis since independence in 2011, culminating in the mass violence of December 2013, when the same forces which had propelled the expansion of the state would propel its sudden and violent contraction. This militarised statebuilding process has provided much for some sections of South Sudanese society (and especially its elites), but has also left the country particularly vulnerable to large-scale violence among its vastly expanded and heavily armed military. This framework of militarised statebuilding has the potential to speak to enduring militarism and violence in cases of post-conflict statebuilding beyond South Sudan, and advances debate on the relationship between statebuilding and violence in contemporary international politics.

Cette thèse se penche sur les problèmes de décisions devant être prises de manière séquentielle au sein d'un environnement aléatoire. Lors de chaque étape d'un tel problème décisionnel, une alternative doit être sélectionnée parmi un ensemble d'alternatives. Chaque alternative possède un gain moyen qui lui est propre et lorsque l'une d'elles est sélectionnée, celle-ci engendre un gain aléatoire. La sélection opérée peut suivre deux types d'objectifs. Dans un premier cas, les tests viseront à maximiser la somme des gains collectés. Un juste compromis doit alors être trouvé entre l'exploitation et l'exploration. Ce problème est couramment dénommé dans la littérature scientifique "multi-armed bandit problem". Dans un second cas, un nombre de sélections maximal est imposé et l'objectif consistera à répartir ces sélections de façon à augmenter les chances de trouver l'alternative présentant le gain moyen le plus élevé. Ce deuxième problème est couramment repris dans la littérature scientifique sous l'appellation "selecting the best". La sélection de type gloutonne joue un rôle important dans la résolution de ces problèmes de décision et opère en choisissant l'alternative qui s'est jusqu'ici montrée optimale. Or, la nature généralement aléatoire de l'environnement rend incertains les résultats d'une telle sélection. Dans cette thèse, nous introduisons une nouvelle quantité, appelée le "gain espéré d'une action gloutonne". Sur base de quelques propriétés de cette quantité, de nouveaux algorithmes permettant de résoudre les deux problèmes décisionnels précités seront proposés. Une attention particulière sera ici prêtée à l'application des techniques présentées au domaine de la sélection de modèles en l'apprentissage artificiel supervisé. La collaboration avec le service d'anesthésie de l'Hôpital Erasme nous a permis d'appliquer les algorithmes proposés à des données réelles, provenant du milieu médical. Nous avons également développé un système d'aide à la décision dont un prototype a déjà été testé en conditions réelles sur un échantillon restreint de patients.

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This thesis examines the suitability of airdrop as a means of resupply for the Canadian Forces (CF) in an attempt to reduce forward supply inventories and promote “zero-footprint” logistics. Research methods involved both quantitative and qualitative techniques, consulting CF manuals and subject matter experts. Based on performance, airdrop staged from rear locations or outside the theatre of operations can meet resupply requirements. Although airdrop has longer assembly and loading times than ground based delivery, flight speed and direct routes can make up the difference. However based on interviews with CF personnel, it appears that due to limited availability of aircraft, drop zone requirements, delivery vehicle vulnerability, and the need for backhaul logistics, airdrop could not be used as a sole means of resupply.

This thesis examines the suitability of airdrop as a means of resupply for the Canadian Forces (CF) in an attempt to reduce forward supply inventories and promote “zero-footprint” logistics. Research methods involved both quantitative and qualitative techniques, consulting CF manuals and subject matter experts. Based on performance, airdrop staged from rear locations or outside the theatre of operations can meet resupply requirements. Although airdrop has longer assembly and loading times than ground based delivery, flight speed and direct routes can make up the difference. However based on interviews with CF personnel, it appears that due to limited availability of aircraft, drop zone requirements, delivery vehicle vulnerability, and the need for backhaul logistics, airdrop could not be used as a sole means of resupply.

The number of United Nations interventions in civil conflicts has increased since the end of the Cold War. Traditional peace-keeping has proved ill-suited to deal with them; second-generation, multi-task peace-keeping operations have emerged as a substitute. These new operations have strained UN resources and the willingness of nations to provide troops is not as forthcoming as it used to be. Therefore, the UN has shared in recent years the burden of conflict resolution with regional organisations and ad hoc coalitions. This thesis studies multinational interventions in three conflicts (Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia) and asks what lessons can be drawn with regard to co-operation between the different actors involved on the ground. Moreover, it discusses the problems involved in the transfer of an operation between the UN and non-UN actors.

There is an ongoing debate as to the role of women in Israel's army and to the degree of integration of women into male-dominated military positions. Using qualitative methods (in-depth interviews and participant observation), this dissertation examines the participation of women in the Israeli Defence Forces with a focus on organizational belonging and military status. / Women soldiers find distinct ways of experiencing organizational belonging and gaining status in the army. Much of women's variation in organizational belonging is linked, not to positions held, but, rather, to the kind of base at which a woman served during her service. Those serving in closed bases (at which soldiers stay to sleep), report developing a greater sense of organizational belonging than those serving in open bases (at which soldiers return home to sleep). This distinction is linked to notions of combat. Those serving at closed bases are more likely to serve in close proximity to combat. As well, closed bases are associated with combat more than are open bases regardless of the nature of individual closed bases. Thus, women serving on closed bases benefit from the prestige associated with combat positions as well as from the organizationally bonding experience of staying to sleep on the base. This stands in contrast with women serving on open bases who are more likely to have their sense of organizational belonging affected by their actual army position and rank and tend to seek status through association with higher ranking soldiers such as their officers and commanders. / There has been a great deal of literary discourse concerning women's participation in the IDF concentrating on women's military positions and ranks. While my research relates to this discourse, it differs through its emphasis on base placement over army position/rank. My study concludes with a discussion of my contribution to organizational belonging literature and with reflections on the implications of my findings for both the IDF and Jewish women in Israel.