The thesis provides a theoretically informed understanding of the ongms and development of the diplomatic and security culture of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It explores the meaningfulness and relevance of the . ASEAN way' as a framework for political and security co-operation, as seen by regional leaders in Southeast Asia, and examines to what extent interpretations of its core principles and associated practices have evolved over time. These include the principles of sovereign equality, non-intervention and non-interference, quiet diplomacy, mutual respect, and the principle of not involving ASEAN to mediate bilateral disputes among its membership. The origins of the' ASEAN way' are explored in the context of the rise of Asian nationalism as well as experiences of alienation and subsequent reconciliation or accommodation between the governments of the founding members. Its development is analysed against the backdrop of changes in the strategic environment in East Asia and challenges to its core principles and practices. As regards indirect and direct intramural challenges the thesis explores the nature of proposals to attain a political solution of the Cambodia conflict in the 1980s, especially that of 'cocktail diplomacy', and Thailand's 1998 proposal for 'flexible engagement', put forward in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. In relation to extramural challenges, the thesis explores to what extent ASEAN has been successful in winning acceptance of its diplomatic and security culture as a framework for regional co-operation in the post-Cold War period by the People's Republic of China and the United States. It also assesses to what extent ASEAN has insisted on or modified the extramural and intramural dimensions of the' ASEAN way' to accommodate the challenges posed by these two regional great powers. TIle thesis argues that while the' ASEAN way' is indeed changing, this change, at least for the moment, focuses mainly on extending the range of issues and contexts traditionally defined as internal affairs in which other ASEAN governments may now legitimately become involved. Considerations about ASEAN cohesion, regime security and regional influence do not suggest that principles and related practices, such as quiet diplomacy or restraint, are no longer relevant to ASEAN decision-makers.

This thesis analyses Kazakhstan's foreign policy towards its neighbours after the country became independent. The conceptual and empirical framework focuses on what international and domestic factors can help to explain Kazakhstan's foreign policy towards Russia, China and Central Asia, mainly during the period between 1991 and 2001. The research includes a critical review of primary and secondary sources and interviews. The thesis operates on the premise that Kazakhstan's relations ""ith Russia, China and Central Asia illuminate how both the international and the domestic environment provide explanatory factors to better understand Kazakhstan's foreign policy. By using some of the core tenets of Realist, Liberal and post-colonial domestic-based theories about the foreign policy of weak states, the main features and elements of Kazakh foreign policy can be identified. In particular, the thesis argues that international factors in the area of security as postulated by Realist theory, and economic factors as postulated by Liberal theory, have shaped Kazakhstan's foreign policy. In addition, the research confirms that domestic factors are also important for an understanding of Kazakh foreign policy. The two environments interact with and influence one other and thereby constitute Kazakhstan's complex foreign policy context. The thesis contributes to scholarship in the field of area studies and international relations. It is of immediate relevance to both academic and policy debates.

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This study investigates the adaptability and the endurance of International Organisations (IOs). Since IOs emerge under specific external circumstances and conditions, it is questionable whether they can easily continue to exist and remain relevant once their external circumstances have changed. The specific reasons for a continued need for IOs, the extent of the necessity for adaptation and the specific circumstances and conditions enabling or disabling IOs to adapt, endure and remain relevant are not entirely clear and under-researched. For further specification, this research tests relevant theoretical assumptions in three case studies of regional organisations in Northern Europe. For the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), the Nordic Council (NC) and the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM), questions of organisational adaptability, future relevance and endurance are particularly topical as the enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004 and increasing Europeanization have confronted them with new external circumstances. The study utilises international relations theories and organisational theories as a theoretical framework. For the application of theoretical assumptions on international institutions' adaptability and endurance to the case studies, three analytical models have been elaborated. They include organisational adaptability and endurance as dependent variables and several independent variables. Methodologically, this thesis is a qualitative study. Applied research methods include a qualitative content analysis of primary and secondary sources and semi-structured interviews. The study establishes that the CBSS, the NC and the NCM have gone through various difficult phases, in which their relevance for future regional cooperation was doubted. In response, they implemented several changes, created future purposes and survived so far. Although to different extents, all three showed at least some ability to adapt. The study sheds some light on the three regional organisations' adaptability and the requirements for endurance, provides some empirical evidence to test three analytical models and contributes to the theoretical debate on these aspects, providing also a springboard for future research. Several of the findings are applicable to other IOs.

Peace agreements are gendered and typically marginalise women and their concerns. The silence on gender issues in peace agreements often leads to the exclusion of women from post-conflict reconstruction and entrenches gender discrimination. A decade ago, in October 2000, the UN adopted Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The Resolution called for the inclusion of a gender perspective in all peace activities including in peace agreements. This thesis critically assesses the implementation of Resolution 1325 in peace agreements. It does this by analysing 112 agreements signed between October 2000 and the end of December 2008. The research employs content analysis techniques as the method to study the texts of the selected agreements and particularly to establish the nature and number of provisions on gender issues. The results of the research indicate that since the adoption of Resolution 1325, references to women in peace agreements are increasing. In particular, there has been a focus in peace agreements on addressing women‘s political participation and the issue of sexual violence. However, the results of the analysis also revealed that the objective of mainstreaming a gender perspective has not been achieved. The reality remains that most of the peace agreements studied in the period under review did not pay any attention to women and gender issues. The research also conducted in-depth interviews with an elite group of experts from the field of peacemaking, to obtain a deeper understanding of the dynamics of gender mainstreaming in peace agreements from a practitioner perspective and uncover some of the reasons behind the inadequate implementation of Resolution 1325. The interview data revealed that in many cases the failure to implement Resolution 1325 in viii peace agreements can be related to the peace mediation process including the absence of clear guidelines to mediators and the mediators‘ lack of gender awareness and gender expertise. The thesis concludes by identifying key recommendations for the successful implementation of Resolution 1325 in peace agreements.

This thesis is primarily concerned with determining the driving influences discursive constructions have had on the conventionalization of United States nuclear strategy since 1945. Ever since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the US has struggled to make nuclear weapons a usable component of warfare and lift the unconventional characteristic later assigned to them. Utilizing constructivist theory and the Discursive Practices Approach described by Roxanne DOty, l I will analyze significant texts from the entire nuclear era. These cases advised policy and formed the foundation for US nuclear strategy during the Cold War and into the 21 sI century. I claim that these discourses have constructed a system of signification that has interlinked the strategies of using nuclear weapons in combat. Focusing on discursive practices as a unit of analysis can help establish how this 'reality' is sustained and how it makes practices and policies in US nuclear strategy possible. Moreover, I assert that US self-understanding of its identity, and that of the 'other', has pushed policy towards conventionalization and led to the evolution of strategy. I argue that regardless of changes to the international structure or technological advances, the continuity of US identity representations continue to be upheld. This continuity leads discourse and policy towards common ways of solving the socially constructed problem that is the usability of nuclear weapons. While it might be assumed that nuclear strategy and conventionalization policy is derived from 'objective' threats, such as an adversary's nuclear arsenal, I hope to show that this is not the case. Key Elements: Discursive Practices Approach, discourse analysis, constructivism, identity, conventionalization, tactical nuclear weapons, and US nuclear strategy.

Modern environmental problems are often so extensive that they do not respect national boundaries and cannot be managed by one country acting alone, so their management is attempted through regional or international agreements. The focus of academic research in international relations has been on issues associated with the challenge of achieving international cooperation, Le. on regime formation, and less attention has been paid to the actual effectiveness of implementation after. these' treaties come into force. Hence this thesis aims to investigate the issue of the effectiveness of international environmental regimes by looking at how effectiveness can be defined, and how it can be evaluated in a particular case. The main research question addressed in the thesis is 'What is environmental regime effectiveness and how is it evaluated?' The Mediterranean Action Plan I Barcelona Convention (MAP) was chosen as a case study because existing studies of its effectiveness present sharply contrasting views and, as a long established regime, it may have changed over time. ~xisting approaches to measuring effectiveness in the academic literature are characterised by a debate over institutional versus environmental effectiveness. It is argued that a complete theoretical framework would require inter alia evaluating both the institutional and environmental components of a regime, and also the interaction between them. A study using Q methodology reveals the existence of many discourses on MAP's effectiveness among practitioners. An examination of MAP's environmental effectiveness, shows that the environmental impact of regimes cannot be easily measured, and that the role of science in regime operation should be examined instead. The analysis of MAP's institutional effectiveness identifies a combination of qualitative criteria as determinants of institutional performance. Finally, an overall evaluation ofMAP based on the theoretical framework proposed in the thesis, shows a decline in its effectiveness compared to the early years of its operation. It is argued that it is the combination or trade-off of benefits in both environmental and political terms, that is the key to a regime's success.

This thesis critically explores contemporary liberal international relations theory. It argues that philosophical, empirical and epistemological challenges to the dominant liberal cosmopolitan position require a re-examination of a tradition of liberal thought that cultivates ideas drawn from the often obscured non-Kantian ancestry of liberal theory. This tradition is presented here as developmental communitarianism. This tradition is constructed to present the Hegelian-liberal theory of Mervyn Frost, the communitarian-liberal theory of Michael Walzer and the <I>political </I>liberalism of John Rawls as important alternatives to the current orthodoxy of Kantian cosmopolitanism. After an exploration of the current empirical and theoretical debates that explore the issues surrounding globalization, interdependence and the philosophical justification of international relations theory this thesis argues that constructivist reasoning provides the only secure grounding for a political theory of international relations. The requirements of constructivist reasoning, taken principally from the work of Onora O'Neill, are simply that acceptable international relations theory must be accessible to all relevant others. That is, it must not rely upon dubious or highly contestable pedicates. Cosmopolitanism, despite a rich and much called upon history and O'Neill's comprehensive development of its grounding principles, cannot and does not fulfil these requirements. The arguments it uses in defence of contemporary liberal claims that urge the creation of a greater human rights culture, or claim to have discovered the necessity of a greater <I>ius-cosmopoliticum </I>or to insist on the dissolution of sovereign boundaries, are shown to be wanting in many respects. In seeking to establish a genuinely constructivist liberal theory the principal claim of this thesis is that the developmental communitarian method of Frost, Walzer and Rawls and the reconstructed conceptions of liberal international ethics that they offer shows the way forward for a just liberal solution to the problems of contemporary international politics.

Despite the existence of a multiplicity of both national and international drug control agencies, the production, trafficking and use of controlled drugs continues worldwide. As a reaction, many nations are making moves to re-evaluate domestic drugs control legislation, and institute alternative approaches to the issue of drug use. However, an obstacle exists that restricts this process. This barrier is the United Nations. The organization is not only responsible for the creation and implementation of prohibitive international legislation; it also helps sustain an axiomatic image of prohibition as the recognized standard of governmental behaviour. The perpetuation of this international norm encourages adherence to its policies. This thesis argues that the roots of such a situation are attributable to the exceptional efforts of the US; particularly the enormous influence that the nation has had upon the operation of the UN drug control apparatus and, therefore, the drafting of UN conventions. It is argued that between 1945-1965 the US exploited its position of dominance within the organization to promote ideals concerning the prohibition of certain drugs for anything other than medical and scientific purposes. Despite often subordinating international drug control to Cold War foreign policy concerns during this period, US prominence within the organization has ensured that prohibitive ideology remains the dominant theme of UN sanctioned international law. The thesis concludes that the ability of sovereign nations to develop domestic drug control policies that are in line with each country's specific socio-cultural needs is impeded. Such restrictive conditions mean that it is less likely that effective national drug legislation will ever be implemented. The consequences are liable to be costly in financial and social terms, both nationally and internationally.

This thesis asks ‘To what extent have US-Russian tensions affected European Union policy in the wider Black Sea region?’ partly to help answer the broader question of ‘Are we in the process of changing from a state dominated, anarchic and realist world to one where effective regional and global organisations take precedence?’ Both the United States and Russia are referred to as ‘modern’ states with ‘realist’ foreign policies, whilst the EU is described as ‘postmodern’ or ‘post-sovereign’. Now the EU extends to the Black Sea coastline there is a clash between the realism of the US and Russia, and the post-sovereign politics of the EU, whose policy is to resolve conflicts and promote a stable and peaceful European neighbourhood. Tensions and policies are systematically analysed using methods which include interviews and documentary analysis. NATO enlargement is argued to have contributed to the war in Georgia and the hastening of the Eastern Partnership policy. Tensions over an anti-ballistic missile system, Black Sea access, energy security, territorial integrity, spheres of influence and conventional forces are also shown to have affected the implementation of EU policies, as well as causing policy changes in some instances. One change in EU direction has been from bilateral only relations with eastern partners to both bilateral and multilateral relations (partly through Black Sea Synergy) in an attempt to promote regional cooperation as well as Europeanisation. The research concludes that US-Russian tensions, inter alia, have affected EU policy, which could point towards the triumph of realism in the Black Sea region. However, in the more recent post-Bush era, cooperation has become more visible. The thesis also argues that there is a situation of ‘balanced multipolarity’ (between Russia, the EU, Turkey and the US) in the region, which could lay the foundation for a cooperative security community to develop.