This diploma thesis is puzzled with influence of NATO on Army of Czech Republic (ACR)'s armaments and if this influence is key factor in decision making regarding new acquisition projects or if other factors have bigger impact on decision making in question. NATO with the USA as its main sponsor is more benevolent than Warsaw Pact of which The Czech Republic was part during Cold War. Even though we can observe attempts to force member states into increasing their defense budgets from position of power, the main principle in new armament acquisition is standardization, which is based on semi-voluntary bases. However, in case of The Czech Republic standardization is not starting factor for new acquisition project. Change in security environment after Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014 forced states to into increasing their defense budgets, which was manifested itself in summit in Wales in 2014, where NATO member states promised to allocate 2% of GDP by 2024. However, it was observed that not all states will meet this deadline and that size of state do not play significant role. Increasing of defense budget allowed ACR to start long awaited modernization projects. This diploma thesis found that not NATO but outdated equipment with fear from being dependent on Russian provisioning plays a key role.

Gender inequality persists in the workplace, including in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The CAF is struggling to attain their goal of increasing the representation of women in uniform from 16% to 25%. One factor that may be contributing to their struggle is the cultural response of empowerment messaging to gender inequality. Empowerment messaging coveys that women can succeed in life through personal agency and optimism about the future. However, this seemingly positive messaging has the negative effect of increasing attributions of women’s responsibility for gender inequality while disregarding systemic barriers (i.e., women should overcome sexism because they have personal agency and the individual choice to do so). I contend that the CAF is using empowerment messaging in some of their public messaging, and I propose that the negative effects of empowerment messaging will generalize to the CAF context. In two experiments (total N = 812), exposure to empowerment messaging from a CAF video directly increased the burden placed on women to solve gender inequality in the CAF and indirectly predicted more blame placed on women for causing gender inequality in the CAF. This research suggests that institutional empowerment messaging meant to motivate and inspire women may in fact harm women. The CAF and other institutions struggling with gender inequality should avoid using empowerment messaging in their public communications to prevent harming women, especially with their focus on increasing the number of women in their organizations. / Graduate / 2023-08-10

This study examined the curriculum evolution process of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) and its predecessor, the Army Industrial College (AIC), as it was influenced by a variety of factors between the years 1924 and 1988. Most of the published material used for this study was found in the library of the National Defense University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, DC. Additionally, current and past College faculty and staff members were interviewed. Six main questions served to guide and focus inquiry for this study. These questions concerned how the curriculum evolution process was affected by (1) various influential persons, (2) recommendations of commissions and boards, (3) social, economic, and political phenomena, (4) military and civilian faculty, (5) educational philosophy, and (6) technological advances. Using the historical method, the study identified five distinct periods in ICAF's curriculum history: 1924-1941, during which AIC's original curriculum sought to forestall a recurrence of industrial mobilization problems; 1943-1964, which saw the emergence of economic mobilization as the overarching curriculum theme; 1964-1975, a time when a strong leader completely restructured the curriculum theme to emphasize management and active learning; 1975-1984, a period when NDU was created as the joint college umbrella, applied behavioral science was introduced, and the curriculum theme returned to mobilization; and 1984-1988, during which the conceptual frameworks of joint and combined warfare and the systems approach guided the continuing search for academic excellence and rigor. The study found that each of the potential change agents affected the way the curriculum evolved. However, the most influential factor was the occasional person who interpreted the significance of a multiplicity or phenomena in an innovative fashion, and consciously chose to restructure curriculum. Commandant, Lieutenant General August Schomburg and Dean of Faculty and Academics, Colonel Barry M. Landson, were the two most effective individuals in this regard. Consequently, the study concluded that, for the most part, curriculum planning was not an orderly, systematic, and analytical process. Generally, curriculum change was found to be incremental and often based on which subjects received greatest media attention or the relative argumentative forcefulness of proponents. / Ed. D.

This study assessed the changing mission of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces as it evolved from the institution's founding as the Army Industrial College in 1924 to its 70th anniversary in 1994. The study drew heavily from archival materials in the Special Collections of the National Defense University in Washington, DC. The problem investigated in this research was to analyze how and why the institution's mission changed over time within the context of internal and external forces and events. Based upon the historical method of research, the study identified six periods in the institution's development over seven decades: its origins in the aftermath of World War I from 1918 to 1924; its growth in the interwar years, 1924 to 1940; the institution's temporary closure and subsequent reconstitution as the Industrial College of the Armed Forces during and after World War II, from 1940 to 1947; a formative period during the Cold War from 1947 to 1962; its continuing evolution throughout the Vietnam era from 1962 to 1974; and finally the College's modern development as a joint service educational institution from 1974 to 1994. The study found that the institution has changed dramatically over much of this century, just as the world and the country's national security concerns have changed profoundly in the same period. The mission of the College has evolved from a narrow focus on training military officers in procurement and industrial mobilization to that of a graduate institution dedicated to educating a select group of promising senior military and civilian officials in the political, economic, and resource dimensions of national security. Over time, the focus has shifted from training to education, from military to national issues, from internal and external educational programs to primarily internal ones, and from a predominant interest in domestic issues to an equally strong concern for international matters. The study finds that a variety of internal and external events and forces have impelled these changes. A wide range of influential individuals and stakeholders, bureaucratic power structures, governmental agencies, special review boards, and various political, economic, military, and social considerations have influenced the mission of the College. The study also concludes that several factors have likely contributed to the institution's relatively unusual longevity as a government entity. Its dual identity as an educational institution and a government organization set apart from the mainstream bureaucracy has had a favorable influence. So too has the institution been aided by the unique service it has provided to multiple customer constituencies. In fact, the College's mission has made it unique as an institution of adult education and learning in this country and perhaps the world. / Ph. D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, School of Historical Studies, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis attempts to trace the effect of the increased size and complexity of armies and navies in the early VIth Century on the English supply services, and also to analyse selected campaigns as a test of governmental efficiency. The provision of ships, guns, gunpowder, and hand-weapons is first discussed, in relation to national self-sufficiency. Ship timber was occasionally imported, but England could, if necessary, have done without foreign supplies; the timber problem was not a pressing one at this period. Naval stores (pitch, cordage etc.) on the other hand, were almost always imported, and the Baltic had thus already acquired something of its later strategic importance. Equally important were the Netherlands. In 1509 all but the smallest artillery was obtained there. This was remedied by the beginning of large-scale bronze and cast-iron gun-manufacture in England; but England still depended on the Netherlands in 1550 for saltpetre (for gunpowder) and copper (for bronze). Werner Sombart's contention that military requirements stimulated the growth of large-scale industry is discussed; shipbuilding and cannon-founding support his argument, provided that the small-scale of industry in general at this period is borne in mind.