In a post-Cold War, post-9/11 world, the advent of US global supremacy resulted in the installation, perpetuation, and dissemination of an Absolutist Security Agenda (hereinafter, ASA). The US ASA explicitly and aggressively articulates and equates US national security interests with the security of all states in the international system, and replaced the bipolar, Cold War framework that defined international affairs from 1945-1992. Since the collapse of the USSR and the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, the US has unilaterally defined, implemented, and managed systemic security policy. The US ASA is indicative of a systemic category of knowledge (security) anchored in variegated conceptual and material components, such as morality, philosophy, and political rubrics. The US ASA is based on a logic that involves the following security components: 1., hyper militarization, 2., intimidation, 3., coercion, 4., criminalization, 5., panoptic surveillance, 6., plenary security measures, and 7., unabashed US interference in the domestic affairs of select states. Such interference has produced destabilizing tensions and conflicts that have, in turn, produced resistance, revolutions, proliferation, cults of personality, and militarization. This is the case because the US ASA rests on the notion that the international system of states is an extension, instrument of US power, rather than a system and/or society of states comprised of functionally sovereign entities. To analyze the US ASA, this study utilizes: 1., official government statements, legal doctrines, treaties, and policies pertaining to US foreign policy; 2., militarization rationales, budgets, and expenditures; and 3., case studies of rogue states. The data used in this study are drawn from information that is publicly available (academic journals, think-tank publications, government publications, and information provided by international organizations). The data supports the contention that global security is effectuated via a discrete set of hegemonic/imperialistic US values and interests, finding empirical expression in legal acts (USA Patriot ACT 2001) and the concept of rogue states. Rogue states, therefore, provide test cases to clarify the breadth, depth, and consequentialness of the US ASA in world affairs vis-a-vis the relationship between US security and global security.

The present study focuses on the factors that can increase or decrease military-economic involvement in communist regimes. This anomalous form of military behavior, labeled as the Military Business Complex (MBC), emerged in various communist regimes in the 1980s. However, in the early 2000s, the communist governments of China and Vietnam began to decrease the number of industries managed by their military institutions, while these industries increased in Cuba. This current study asks why the Cuban MBC regime increased in the early 2000s, while the Chinese and Vietnamese ceased or reduced their MBC involvement. Through a comparative analysis of all three military institutions, this study argues that certain evolving elements within the communist-party-military spectrum in Cuba caused it to expand its military managed-economy. By highlighting the different patterns of MBC evolution in communist regimes, this study sheds light on the general phenomenon of how military institutions exert political and economic influence.

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible reasons why Muslim youth are increasingly becoming attracted to radical Islam in the UK. Recent studies involving focus groups of Muslim youth across the UK and opinion surveys were used to measure youth's level of religious guidance, integration in society and feelings of hostility or of an enemy image of Islam. It was found that alienation from traditional methods of religious education, parents/ imams, is the possible first step that makes youth more vulnerable to outside Islamist groups. The second step is the lack of integration due to discrimination and feeling as an enemy within society. The enemy image includes the government's decision to invade Iraq and the perception that Muslims and Islam are under attack. There is a strong need for youth to reconcile their national and religious identities in order to be active citizens in the future.

This thesis examines the foreign policy of Venezuela during the period of the Betancourt Doctrine (1945-1948 and 1959-1963), and Caldera's Ideological Pluralism (1969-1973). The study seeks to determine whether, and to what extent the pursuit of political and economic interests and ideology determined Venezuela's foreign policy. Based on primary and secondary sources, this study examines political economy and ideology and how these affected the outcome of Venezuela's foreign policy. The major finding of this thesis is that Venezuelan foreign policy was a pragmatic one but it was rationalized within an ideological framework. In fact, Venezuela was most concerned in pursuing its domestic economic and political interests but these were hidden behind an ideological facade.

Plagued with poverty, the countries of the Caribbean have grappled for years with numerous development models. As in many Third World countries, tourism has been used as an economic development strategy. Criticisms of the tourism industry have frequently been severe. So much that during the formation of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, the tourism industry was intentionally avoided and other industries favored. One of the most critical questions asked of tourism is whether or not the economic gains of the industry are worth the detrimental social, political and environmental effects on the host country. It is the objective of this thesis to examine the relationship between international tourism and socio-economic development in the Caribbean, and to determine whether or not the deficiencies of the industry prevent it from being a beneficial development tool.

The Chinese Communist Party’s legitimacy is crumbling within China. The government’s approach to policy making, ethnic minorities, corruption, and the environment has not satisfied citizens. Rather, as the CCP fails to address each of these domestic concerns the population grows increasingly skeptical, even critical of their ability to lead. In order to counter and distract from this dissatisfaction, the CCP is driven towards an increasingly active foreign policy. The CCP has curated a Chinese brand of nationalism founded in the “Century of Humiliation.” By providing constant reminders of the atrocities suffered at the hands of foreign invaders, the government’s intent is to establish an “us versus them” mentality that unites Chinese citizens not against the CCP, but against other countries. In the East China Sea, China has managed to incite tensions over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands without aggressive military action; rather, a government-established history and well-placed propaganda has mobilized Chinese citizens against Japan. In the South China Sea, the CCP has been able to justify its military buildup by claiming historical and legal right to the area. By pointing out the multilateral institutions that have come together in the interest of combating China’s supposed “peaceful rise,” the CCP is able to justify its salami tactics in the region as self-defense. By finding enemies in Japan and South China Sea countries, the CCP is able to act as the righteous defender of China abroad, solidifying its approval and legitimacy with citizens.

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Human trafficking affects every country in the world regardless of a country's history, laws, economic status, anti-trafficking efforts, or religious beliefs. Trafficking in persons has largely resulted from mass globalization during the 20th century. Human trafficking is a violation of the most fundamental human rights and must be addressed in a critical way in order to protect and prevent further trafficking. Child trafficking is one aspect of the trafficking of persons which fundamentally violates the rights of children. Child trafficking and exploitation is currently plaguing many countries including The Republic of Cameroon. Both the practices to combat trafficking and progress trafficking are evident with reference to the government of Cameroon and Cameroonian society. The objective of this project is to identify and explain how the government of Cameroon and its citizens are both combating and progressing child trafficking and exploitation.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the work of Richard Rorty to questions of ethics in International Relations. Beginning with discussion of Pragmatism in this chapter, and Rorty's political beliefs in the second, the paper moves in Chapter Three to the means by which Rorty has come to hold his ethical beliefs. This takes the reader through discussions of the contingency of language, self and community to the notions of irony and liberal ironism. Chapter Four contrasts the (neo)Pragmatist conception of progressive, piecemeal social change to traditions which eschew such a notion in favor of immanent critique. Discussion in chapter five moves to the application of this neopragmatist line of thought to the discussion of solidarity and human rights, bringing all of the various strands of this paper together. In the conclusion, two apparent inconsistencies in Rorty's thought are clarified.

In 1966 Nigeria joined the extended list of nations where the military through the coup d'etat substituted themselves and their policies in place of civilian regimes. This thesis deals with the problem of the coup d'etat in that nation with a specific focus on the coups of 1966 and 1983. The major emphasis centers on factors that are significant in the occurrence of the coup d'etat. Nigeria presents an interesting case study because at the time of independence it was not expected to be plagued by the specter of unstable civil-military relations that was rampant in other parts of Africa and Latin America. This study thus, set out to analyze societal conditions to attain valid reasons why the constitutional government had been so easily displaced by the military. This study hypothesizes that the failure of political elites to acquire confidence and support for societal institutions significantly enhanced the atmosphere that was conducive to the coup d'etat. This approach pays specific attention to societal conditions such as, weak institutions and elite inefficiency to make its case. This study describes the failure of the elites to rally mass support for societal institutions as the critical variable in the occurrence of the coup d’état. It is my genuine hope that this study will contribute to the debate on the coup d’état by adding the concept of internal dynamics to the institutional theories. In this regard, this study hopes to determine to what extent internal societal conditions are relevant in the occurrence of the coup d’état.