This thesis covers the situation of the Iraqi press landscape after the toppling of Saddam’s regime on the 9th of April 2003. In particular, it attempts to disclose American interventions in the work of the Iraqi press in the period 2003-2006. It examines three main aspects of these interventions, as briefly summarized below: press legislation; planning and construction of new press entities; and attempts to influence pro-American press coverage following the invasion. Within a few weeks of the fall of Saddam’s regime, Iraq witnessed the launch of many newspapers, after many decades of government oppression and censorship. The phenomenal mushrooming of Iraqi local newspapers was used by the U.S government as an indication of success in democratizing a country in which the local press had suffered from the oppression of different military governments, and finally of Saddam Hussein and his notorious son Uday. However, this thesis shows that the flood of newspapers caused anarchy in the press market. As a result there was confusion among many readers about the credibility of the new press, because of the lack of professionalism in its coverage. - The existing, laws active in Iraq restricted the freedom of the press, and there was a need to establish a new legal framework for the media. The U.S Army’s first reforms abolished several articles of the press laws. This study shows, however, that these reforms had questionable practical effect. The reforms abolished laws relating to the Ba’ath regime and Saddam Hussein, which were in fact already redundant, given the collapse of the regime. Meanwhile other articles in the Iraqi penal code, prescribing measures to punish newspapers, journalists or editors, were left intact when they should have been changed or cancelled. In addition, the Coalition Provisional Authority added an article that gave the head of the CPA the right to close or to punish any media entity if they violated certain conditions. - The thesis shows that the Americans’ early plans to shape the Iraqi press were mostly motivated by the need to create a press friendly to the American occupation, and to confront anti American messages or campaigns. The Department of Defense handled the early plans to “build” such media entities, but the Pentagon was not successful, as the main contractor was oriented more towards information control, and lacked experience in building media organizations. As a result of this the U.S plans for the Iraqi media in general stumbled, and did not make the expected progress. - American intervention in the Iraqi press was not limited to attempts to create an official “friendly” press, but extended into persistent efforts to influence the local “independent” press. This thesis uses evidence based on original interviews with leading figures from the Iraqi press to build up a detailed picture of these attempts. Different American military units or institutions used different procedures to pass messages that were directed to helping polish the image of the American soldiers, and at the same time demonize their “enemies”. One of these procedures was to create friendly “independent” newspapers, covering certain events that would show the U.S Army as helping to establish new public services. The other favoured procedure was to bribe local journalists to cover such events and publish them in existing newspapers, or to pay newspapers to publish articles written by American soldiers and then translated into Arabic.

The central research question of the thesis concerns the bargaining and negotiating strategy, as well as the negotiating process, at the GATT and the WTO in relation to developing countries. The key questions this study set out to answer were: considering the vast power disparity developing countries face in multilateral trade negotiations in the GATT/WTO institution and among a number of available strategies, what is, then, the most effective bargaining strategy, under what conditions? The thesis has sought to make a principal argument corresponding to the research question of this study, based on the findings of the case of Thailand’s participation at the Uruguay Round negotiations. Firstly, the thesis shows that Thailand, along with other developing countries with the same level of economic development and a similar level of experience in multilateral trade negotiations, has not been able to rely on merely one negotiating strategy in order to attain the sought after outcomes. The thesis then illustrates that bargaining strategies have to be exercised in all channels. To further systemise, bargaining strategies could possibly be grouped into three levels: (1) international, where coalition building and mixed strategy of distributive and integrative tactics can be utilised; (2) regional, where regional agreements/regional-based coalitions can be utilised as a springboard for bargaining; and (3) domestic, where the role of individual officials and ministers can feed into the effectiveness of the bargaining strategies being conducted. Therefore, the thesis argues that the limited bargaining power of developing countries makes coalition-building an especially crucial and most appealing tool for their effective diplomacy. The thesis also argues that the most effective bargaining tactics are those of a mixture of distributive and integrative tactics, as stipulated by Odell. The thesis contends that Thailand’s experience seems to throw light on the inadequacies of the conventional accounts of domestic-driven negotiation analysis that assume the great role of domestic institutional inputs in the trade policy formulation process. They assume that trade negotiators and officials arrive at the negotiating position after having calculated and balanced inputs from diverse interests within the state. It is believed that negotiation alternatives for any country are direct outcomes of the particular alignment of domestic actors and interests. However, the finding suggests that a very different dynamic is at work in Thailand. Finally, the thesis has maintained that the driving force in trade policy and negotiating strategy in Thailand remains in the hands of the state, mainly via bureaucratic officials. Therefore, new development in negotiation analysis is needed that is of relevance to developing countries’ experiences, since many developing countries with very different political structures and societies have reacted in very similar ways at the international level.

This research analyzes China's socialization in the international Arms Control and Disarmament (ACD) field. Constructing the theoretical framework of "dynamic interaction between state and institution" in order to reconcile the "problem of agend and structure" debated in IR, the research identified the formative effects on China during the last two decades in general and in the post-CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) period in particular, which engaged China in the international ACD institutions and regimes. The socialization effects on China are recognized at the three levels: China's norm internalization (perspective), institutionalization (domestic institutions) and comprehensive participation in the international ACD regimes and institutions. The evidence based on documentary works and a few interviews suggests that the engagement in international institutions is promoting a Chinese nexus in these institutions, creating new Chinese interests and socializing China into building consensus to resolving international ACD issues. The evolution and differentiation of Chinese perspectives on ACD issues resulted into the view that stresses China's role and responsibility within the regimes. The "new security concept" based on mutual security and restructuring of domestic ACD institutions in the late 1990s were the products of the socialization that "dynamic interaction" fostered. During the CTBT talks, China showed the norm-complying and establishing attitude. China also committed to the nuclear test ban norm by sustaining the nuclear test moratorium since 1996. The socialization process led China to more comprehensive and constructive participation in the international ACD institutions and regimes as China joined the Zangger Committee and supported the FMCT (Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty) after its accession to the CTBT. As constructivists argue that state can reshape structure by process. China reconstituted its interests and identities throughout the interaction with the international ACD institutions. China's more proactive role within ACD institutions and regimes will give it more constitutive socialization influence, but the role is basically entrenched in "state enhancement functionalism."

This thesis provides a critical interrogation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and global distributive justice. The central argument of the thesis is that global corporations display profound effects on people‘s life chances, which should render such corporations subject to principles of global distributive justice. Such principles, it is argued, ought to reflect the complex realities of the political-economic circumstances within which corporations operate. Thus the thesis provides an account of global distributive justice that speaks to both political philosophical attempts to ground discussion of global justice in the extant realities of globalisation, as well to critical accounts of the corporation within the global economy that as yet lack a normative foundation on which proposals for reform can be based. The thesis argues that both statist and cosmopolitan conceptions of justice have neglected the important role corporations play in many unjust circumstances. In an attempt to reconcile the gap that often exists in political philosophy between theory and practice, the thesis discusses two sets of normative standards that it argues ought to apply to corporate activity. The first set, the ideal-aspirational set, draws on Rawlsian ideas to do with property-owning democracy, and argues that a fully just corporation on this reading would set restrictions on corporate size, profit and executive remuneration, as well as requiring a change from concentrated ownership in the hands of a few, to widespread ownership. The second set of ideas, those of concessive theory - to which priority is given - concedes to the facts of global corporations and global capitalism, and addresses both substance and procedure in relation to global distributive justice. In relation to substance, a do no harm principle is suggested as the basic normative minimum standard by which corporate activity should be assessed. In relation to procedure, the application of an all affected interests principle would give those who experience the profound effects of corporations a right to a say in decisions taken that affect their lives. Cutting across these principles are five conditions that would work towards their implementation throughout global corporate activity. These conditions are: pre-consultative learning, transparency and disclosure of information, a consultative forum, evaluation, and the opportunity for redress. The thesis concludes with an assessment of the UN Global Compact and an analysis of the extent to which the Compact meets the ideas of thesis, as well as making recommendations for reform of the Compact on the basis of these ideas.

The aim of the thesis is to provide an understanding of the practical and conceptual significance of foreign, security and defence policies within the changing epistemology of the state, and the impact of the development of such policies upon the process of European integration. In order to achieve this analysis the thesis proceeds by examining the linkage made in traditional International Relations and Strategic Studies discourse between the state and security before considering alternative concepts whereby the state is becoming detached from its role as the primary provider of security in the international system. This is followed by an examination and assessment of the man theories of integration International Relations. An historical bridging chapter then highlights the relationship between foreign and security policy and the process of European integration. The two core empirical chapters focus upon the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI) and are linked by a short chapter assessing the significant of the second Treaty on European Union, concluded at Amsterdam. The former traces factors leading to the inclusion of CFSP into the Treaty on European Union (TEU) at Maastricht followed by an outline of the institutional structures established and an assessment of CFSP in operation. The latter considers the factors promoting and preventing the EU’s acquisition of a defence capability. In particular attention is drawn to the significance of reform within the Atlantic Alliance, the future of the Western European Union (WEU) and the national positions of the British and French governments. The content of these chapters has required constant updating as circumstances change. A great deal of information for these chapters is, therefore, based two series of elite interviews, the first with British officials and Members of the European Parliament conducted during the summer of 1997; the second with personnel from EU, WEU and NATO institutions, conducted in March 1999. Finally a conclusion is reached as to the significance of such developments in assessing the nature of the European Union.

This thesis examines the causes behind the slow progress of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in coming up with a regional policy framework for the protection of migrant workers. I argue in this thesis that normative structures within the association and its relevant member countries do not sufficiently support the establishment of such protection policy for migrant workers at the regional level. The research puzzle is tested by taking a case study that is looking at ASEAN's major workers sending countries, Indonesia and the Philippines. At the regional level the case study includes analysis on the institution of ASEAN and the ILO as well as Malaysia as the region's main workers receiving country. I analyse this puzzle by using two level games approach and complementing the approach with the analytical framework of sociological institutionalism. Two level games approach has previously offered explanations on how domestic level politics can influence regional policy negotiations to the extent that they constrain policy makers and disturb the policy process. I utilise this analytical framework by combining it with sociological institutionalism which allows further analysis into the substance of previously mentioned constraints and how these constraints are administered. The analysis reveals that supportive ideas to migrant workers protection within the domestic institutions of Indonesia and the Philippines are not equipped with sufficient strength to overcome contradicting ideas at the regional level. Identities and discourses between societal and governmental institutions in both countries lack consolidation on the form and substance of workers protection. This subsequently constrains policy makers' actions in a regional policy formulation involving institutions at the regional level whose ideas on workers protection are contradictory. What I have also uncovered is that, although identities in ASEAN support workers protection, ASEAN's main discourses of non-interference and consensus impede the establishment of a coherent workers protection policy.

From 2003 to 2009, the EU launched five military conflict management operations within the framework of the European Security and Defence Policy. This thesis examines their success. To this end, the thesis develops a definition and a set of criteria for success. It applies this theoretical framework in an empirical case study of success in the five EU operations, which were undertaken in Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and the Central African Republic. Having established the level and nature of their success, the thesis goes on to examine the conditions under which ESDP military conflict management operations can be successful. The key finding of the research is that for an operation of this nature to succeed, it is necessary that it secures sufficient support internally, within the EU, and externally, outside the EU, from domestic, regional and international actors involved in the conflict and its management.

Since the Second World War, there has been a shift away from interstate warfare to a relative increase in intra-state conflict and insurgencies. In addition, a growing number of these insurgencies can be described as ‘transnational’, in that they are supported by outside state and non-state actors and may also pursue activities beyond their borders. This thesis attempts to analyse and explain the shift from interstate warfare to the emergence of transnational insurgencies. This study proposes and evaluates two possible explanations. First, interstate warfare is thought by many scholars to be declining in value as changing technology, economic systems, and domestic and international politics have raised the costs and constraints of interstate warfare while yielding reduced benefits. Second, there is evidence that transnational insurgencies are more effective and possess wider capabilities than domestic insurgencies by utilising transnational networks for external support, strategic alliances, and illicit activities. The study evaluates whether these factors have deterred interstate warfare while incentivising indirect methods through the initiation or support of transnational insurgencies. This thesis first reviews indirect warfare and the development of insurgencies over history and, in particular, how they have qualitatively changed since 1945 in their transnational relationships and activities. It then provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the changing value of direct interstate warfare and the strategies and calculus by which states outsource to insurgencies as an alternative to interstate warfare. Third, it reviews the transnational networks and the changing effectiveness and capabilities of transnational insurgencies. Finally, it concludes with a case study of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, examining the decision and outcome of state outsourcing to Afghan insurgencies (i.e. the Northern Alliance).

This paper-based thesis consists of five interlinked chapters/articles that explore dimensions of both the style of governance and the state-building endeavour in the West Bank in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, primarily between 2007 and 2013. This governance and state-building project came to be known as the Fayyadist paradigm, or Fayyadism, in reference to the former Palestinian Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad. The thesis examines the transformations that occurred under Fayyadism in the two spheres of security and economy, and elucidates their consequences on the people’s security and well-being, as well as the broader dynamics of resistance against the Israeli military occupation and settlercolonialism. Therefore, the primary contribution of this thesis is empirical and ethnographic in nature. This thesis examines the transformations in the security sphere at three levels. First, to historicise Fayyadism, the thesis contextually analyses the evolution of Palestinian security forces and reforms over the past two decades. Second, the thesis unpacks and critically assesses perceptions about the Fayyadist paradigm by drawing on the findings of an ethnographic fieldwork investigation conducted at two sites in the occupied West Bank, namely Balata and Jenin refugee camps, as well as the associated relevant literatures. Third, this thesis investigates in-depth the security campaigns to induce “law and order” as a defining feature of the Fayyadist paradigm, and through a bottom-up ethnographic approach, analyses the consequences of Fayyadist security campaigns on the people’s security in Balata and Jenin refugee camps and on the broader dynamics of resistance against Israel. This thesis examines and analyses the transformations in the economic sphere at two levels. It addresses the interaction between Fayyadism and the aid industry through an aid-dependency lens to examine whether the transformations that occurred under the Fayyadist paradigm impacted donors’ operations and the overall framework of the aid industry. It also utilises theories of contentious politics to analyse the implications of the Fayyadist paradigm’s neoliberal economic model and the authoritarian transformations it induced, and also to expand the conceptual underpinnings of the contentious politics theories through proposing the notions of contentious economics and resistance economy.

This research aims to unravel whether joint policies and supranational solutions can be forged within the sui generis 'laboratory' of the European Parliament (EP). enabling a European collective identity to emerge rather than simply the sum of national sentiments, preferences and ambitions. In particular, it intends to ascertain whether vested national interests expressed by the various Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have been overcome within their respective political groups, on the way to becoming effective and cohesive parties at European level. In order to validate or refute the above hypothesis, foreign policy, traditionally regarded as a sacred domain and stronghold of the nation state, is taken as a yardstick. Whilst bearing in mind the EP's limited competence in this field, the question at the heart of the thesis is whether the European Parliament is likely to become a genuine international actor or whether it is likely to remain a forum for discussion, functioning as the 'voice of conscience' and 'dissent' of the Community and its member states. As such, the research explores the parliamentary dynamics behind the definition of a common position vis-a-vis two major events of the 1990s: the Gulf and the Yugoslav crises. A qualitative investigation into the role of the political groups combined with a quantitative analysis of MEP voting behaviour is carried out in order to assess the interactions within and between the political alignments of the polychromatic Europarliamentary spectrum with respect to the aforementioned cases. Whereas the political groups reached a level of internal cohesion vis-a-vis these crises, the views of the European Parliament appeared rather ambiguous due to intergroup divergences. It is the contention of this thesis that the political groups have come to constitute embryonic transnational political parties which are deemed to play an increasingly important role in the development of the European Parliament, in the evolution of party politics at European level as well as in the European Union's policy-making.