Diarmament at the beginning of the 21st Century: Development of the contractual approaches on the reduction of strategic arms between the United States of America and the Russian Federation The aim of this diploma thesis is the theoretical assumption of the contemporary development of treaties instruments dealing with the disarmament dilemma from the international law's point of view, or setting the new (or renegotiated) treaty approach on reduction of the strategic arms between the Russian Federation and the United States of America into the wider context of international treaties, analysis of the new disarmament treaty denoted as The New START Treaty, which replaced START I Treaty, and its comparison with the previous treaties and drafts of treaties. In doing so this thesis also summarises the longer-range development of the bilateral treaty approaches on the reduction of strategic arms between the United States and Russia, or the Soviet Union respectivelly, which goes back deep into the times of the Cold War and comprises the crucial negotiations of SALT and INF treaties. The thesis focuses not only to the text of the treaties and their drafts alone but also on the particular stages of negotiations. Then, The New START Treaty is the subject of more detailed analysis in the final two chapters, as...

Esta dissertação aborda o tema do desarmamento nuclear, numa tentativa de compreender a dinâmica pela qual o desarmamento se opera em nível internacional. A limitação à questão nuclear permite descrever o aparato jurídico-institucional existente para obter o abandono das armas nucleares e, ao mesmo tempo, identificar quais são e como se manifestam os obstáculos para sua concretização. A pesquisa toma como referência inicial o ensaio À Paz Perpétua, de Immanuel Kant, especialmente por suas proposições para sobrepor imperfeições da realidade atual por meio de uma evolução pautada pela razão e pela moral. No projeto kantiano, o filósofo acaba concebendo bases que podem ser úteis como referência para o fortalecimento gradual do desarmamento nuclear. A pesquisa contextualiza, assim, o surgimento das armas nucleares e a evolução da era nuclear, procurando identificar em que medida sua existência é contrária a um convívio harmonioso internacionalmente. Por se tratar de um trabalho jurídico, a parte central da dissertação é composta por detalhada análise dos tratados, convenções, organismos, resoluções e decisões judiciais internacionais relacionados ao controle e tentativa de banimento das armas nucleares. A avaliação crítica desses mecanismos jurídicos permite verificar um processo de evolução gradual, semelhante à que é concebida no ensaio de Kant para a obtenção da Paz Perpétua. Assim, apesar de representarem passos concretos rumo à meta do desarmamento nuclear, sendo interessante verificar como esses passos se retroalimentam fomentando bases mais sólidas para a busca desse fim, eles ainda são marcados por graves imperfeições e fragilidades. Com o intuito de compreender mais adequadamente os obstáculos enfrentados para o aprimoramento e pleno funcionamento do aparato jurídico desenvolvido em torno dessa problemática, a pesquisa é complementada pela análise de questões atinentes às Relações Internacionais, por meio da utilização de diversas referências bibliográficas e análise de contextos políticos específicos, possibilitando melhor compreensão de como os elementos políticos interferem para a plena consecução das normas estabelecidas internacionalmente. Essa compreensão é essencial para possibilitar passos adicionais na busca do banimento completo das armas nucleares. / This dissertation discusses nuclear disarmament in an attempt to understand the dynamics by which it operates internationally. Limiting its scope to the nuclear issue makes it possible to describe the existing legal and institutional apparatus required to forgo nuclear weapons and, at the same time, identify what are and how behave the obstacles posed against its accomplishment. The research uses as its initial reference Immanuel Kants essay Perpetual Peace, particularly its propositions about overcome shortcomings of the present by means of an evolution guided by morals and reason. Kant establishes foundations that can be useful to gradually strengthen the means to bring about full nuclear disarmament. Thus, this research contextualizes the emergence of nuclear weapons and the ascent of the nuclear age, seeking to assess to what extent these weapons are deleterious to a peaceful international environment. The central part of the dissertation is a detailed evaluation of the international treaties, conventions, organisms, resolutions and judicial decisions related to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, which allows to verify a gradual evolution similar to the one conceived by Kant in order to obtain Perpetual Peace. Despite these developments can be interpreted as concrete steps towards the nuclear disarmament goal, they are still imperfect and fragile. Aiming to understand properly what are the obstacles against theirs full effectiveness, it was also developed an analysis regarding international relations and politics, basing upon relevant authors and specific political backgrounds, allowing a better comprehension of the interferences presented against the total accomplishment of the international norms. This understanding is essential to allow additional steps in pursuit of the complete proscription of nuclear weapons.

Liberia emerged from 14 years of brutal civil conflict, demobilized and “reintegrated” large numbers of ex-combatants, but there are still concerns about ex-combatants’ re-engagement in violence. Yet, adequate knowledge and empirical evidence about this are still sketchy. Qualitative fieldwork among ex-combatants conducted in five locations in Monrovia from 2012-2013, suggests that ex-combatants are re-marginalized. This research presents excombatants’ current status, their re-marginalization, and factors indicative of their re-engagement in violence in post-conflict Liberia. The study contends that ex-combatants were apparently not satisfied with the outcome of the DDRR programme, as it failed to reintegrate them successfully. The study developed a four dimensional analytical framework that includes, (a) re-marginalization (b) re-criminalization (c) exploitation, and (d) economic insecurity, which are then applied to the outcome of the reintegration of ex-combatants in Liberia. On the basis of the data collected in fieldwork, the analytical framework reveals how these factors and dynamics interacted and facilitated the occurrence of violence. The study argues that an awareness of ex-combatants’ vulnerability and re-marginalization should put state actors in a position to better predict their violent inclinations. It further notes that ex-combatant re-engagement in violence is largely manifested at the political and economic levels and this has the potential to lead to a renewed conflict if not mitigated. This study by no means completes the tasks of research and analysis on violence and excombatants, but it outlines theoretical propositions and conclusions, which can hopefully spark further debate and collective efforts among researchers to push this field of study forward.

This thesis examines the intersection between sex, gender, and armed conflict through an analysis of the female combatant experience. It combines anecdotal evidence and quantitative data from various armed conflicts within the past 50 years to reveal how sexism and gendered conceptions of war influence virtually all aspects of the experience of women and girl combatants. Recognizing sexism as a major player in the recruitment, wartime treatment, demobilization, and reintegration of women and girl combatants, it identifies disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs as intervention points where gender-aware planning and implementation can improve outcomes for female combatants in the transition to peace.

Ein „Schurkenstaat“ weniger? Nach langen Verhandlungen haben die Vereinigten Staaten Nordkorea im Herbst 2008 von ihrer schwarzen Liste der Terrorunterstützer gestrichen und locken jetzt sogar mit einem Friedensvertrag. Es bleibt jedoch abzuwarten, welche Früchte die Nordkoreapolitik des neuen US-Präsidenten Obama tragen wird.

"Vor dem Gipfeltreffen in Moskau hatten die Präsidenten Russlands und der USA einen Neustart in den bilateralen Beziehungen und ein Zwischenergebnis bei den Verhandlungen über die Reduzierung der strategischen Offensivwaffen versprochen. Was wurde erreicht und was bleibt zu tun?"

Throughout the Cold War, many publicly influential and socially committed scientists participated in a wide array of efforts to push U.S. foreign policy toward nuclear disarmament. Some of these scientists, such as Linus Pauling and Carl Sagan, relied on their credibility as respected public authorities to sway public opinion against nuclear weapons. Other scientists, such as Eugene Rabinowitch, quietly pursued informal, quasi-diplomatic methods. Still others, such as Hans Bethe, George Kistiakowsky, and Jerome Wiesner, worked within the government to restrain the arms race. Though rarely working in concert, all these scientists operated under the notion that their scientific expertise enabled them to articulate convincing and objective reasons for nuclear disarmament. But the U.S. government went to great lengths to neutralize these scientific arguments against nuclear weapons with a wide array of tactics all aimed at undermining their scientific credibility. Some scientists who offered moral reasons to end the arms race found their loyalty questioned by the state. When prodisarmament scientists offered strictly technical reasons to oppose to nuclear weapons, the government responded by promoting the equally technical objections to disarmament held by pronuclear scientists. At still other times, the government attempted to co-opt the arguments of its scientific challengers. In addition, scientists’ professional identity as objective and apolitical experts hampered scientific antinuclear activism. From the beginning of the Cold War to the 1980s, scientists continuously challenged nuclear weapons in a variety of ways; the government likewise continuously reshaped its responses to meet this challenge, and in so doing crafted a method of scientific containment. Thus the result of this incessant struggle was the consistent defeat of scientists’ dissent. By the time the Cold War ended, it did so on terms unrelated to scientists and nuclear weapons. / text

This thesis examines the evolution of international humanitarian concern culminating in adoption of a Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) banning these weapons in May 2008. It is based on systematic analysis of official documents, extensive interviews, participant-observation, and several bodies of international relations (IR) theory. Part I explains the research methodology and discusses the theoretical context for the thesis. It is argued that several core assumptions of rationalist-materialist approaches to IR theory impede understanding of the CCM's emergence, and thus the thesis adopts an interpretivist framework. The four chapters of Part II analyse international efforts on cluster munitions including prior, failed attempts to restrict cluster munitions, the emergence of an international campaign from 2003, ensuing activity involving states, international organisations and civil society, and the CCM's eventual negotiation involving more than 100 states. Part III marries this empirical account to theoretical analysis of four thesis propositions. It is concluded that non-state actor-engendered processes of evidence collection and analysis, learning and frame alignment were central to the Oslo process's emergence. The Oslo Declaration's particular humanitarian framing (to ban cluster munitions causing unacceptable harm to civilians) and the structure of the subsequent 'define-and-ban' discourse permitted convergence between states over prohibiting these weapons. Nevertheless, they contain implications for other international efforts aimed at controlling means of armed violence.

The recent developments in negotiations to reduce nuclear weapons in Europe mark a watershed in attitudes towards nuclear deterrence and security. On the one side lie all the old beliefs and assumptions about nuclear defence and security that have been common parlance for the last forty years and more. On the other side lies a unique opportunity to develop a new relationship of increased mutual trust between East and West that could ultimately lead to substantial reductions in the world's nuclear arsenal. The object of this thesis is to establish how much information already exists about attitudes towards nuclear deterrence and the processes of attitude change. From there, to extend these boundaries of knowledge in the belief that if we are able to understand more exactly what people think about nuclear deterrence, why they hold these attitudes and how attitudes change then we will be in a better position to ease the transitional stage between one set of attitudes and another.

Thesis (Ph.D) -- Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Adviser: Dick Shultz. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 403-422). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;