The aim of this essay is to explain how IR theory relates to the European Union. Thisis motivated by the extensive use of empirical and descriptive studies on the EU. Togenerate knowledge on how theory relates to the EU, two seemingly differenttheories are compared. Neorealism and social constructivism are used to generatehypotheses, which are then tested on a quantitive study on the EU’s Common Foreignand Security Policy. The study covers the years of 2003-2005 and uses a statisticalmethod to present to empirical findings, which is supplemented by previous studieson EU’s foreign policy. The theoretical framework enables comparison of the twoemployed theories’ explanatory powers. The essay concludes that none of the theoriesprovides satisfactory explanations of in regard to EU’s global power and/or influence.Nevertheless, they are able to explain different aspects of the developments of EU’sforeign policy. Further theoretical studies should be undertaken in order to highlightthe issues of theory vis-à-vis the European Union.

By adopting a multilevel approach to understanding decisions taken in security and defence policies by European member states, the paper argues that the development of the European Security and Defence Policy, the proliferation of ad-hoc coalitions of the willing, and the subcontracting of security tasks from the UN has worsened the challenge of parliamentary accountability in foreign, security and defence policies. The paper evaluates how the European Convention has sought to bridge the parliamentary accountability gap in Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and in European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The outcomes of the Convention on the future of Europe are not meeting its initial ambition to put foreign, security and defence policy among the priorities for the European Union¿s constitutional design. CFSP will become more integrated, on an intergovernmental rather than supranational model and under the large states¿ control. The major innovation is the creation of the position of Foreign Affairs Minister whose autonomy remains still uncertain, especially in his/her relationship with the President of the European Council. ESDP¿s operational capabilities and scope are both extended while coalitions of the willing are institutionalised and a defence core group could emerge. The contrast remains between a slower integration of CFSP and a faster progress of ESDP. Given the significance of proposals in ESDP, the new powers proposed by the European Convention to be given to national parliaments and the European Parliament in this policy area are too weak to close the existing parliamentary accountability gap.

Beginning in the 1990s, the United States and Japan began redefining their bilateral security alliance. This redefinition also prompted Japan to change its security policies. To what extent and in what ways have changes in the U.S.-Japan security alliance contributed to these changes? I argue that these changes are the result of negotiations of the Japan-U.S. Joint Declaration on Security Alliance for the 21st Century, signed on April 17, 1996, and the occurrence of an exogenous event. I also argue that the negotiated changes only progress to a certain point, at which time an exogenous event acts as a catalyst to continue change. I examine two cases of policy change associated with exogenous events (the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 North Korea Missile Crisis). Finally, I summarize my results that Japan was able to change its security policies through negotiations and through a series of systematic steps that follow a consistent trajectory of change; but exogenous events have continued the change that started as a result of the negotiations and the systematic steps. / Master of Arts

Although US remained the strongest military power in international system after the Cold War, it was still deeply concerned how to retain its military dominance in the longer term, that could guarantee US further predominance in solving major international issues. Three US military transformation initiatives, namely the transformation of the US conventional forces, the development of missile defence systems and long-range conventional precision-strike capability, are considered as the main instruments to maintain US military dominance in the future. Considering that for Russia and China, which are perceived as the major US opponents, the US military transformation emerged as a big challenge, the research problem is formulated as an attempt to understand whether and how the US military transformation poses a threat to Russia and China’s security and in turn, how this affects Russian and Chinese security policy towards the United States. Accordingly, the goal of the dissertation is to examine the impact of the US military transformation on Russian and Chinese security policy since the end of the Cold War and until 2010. The offence-defence balance theory provides the theoretical and analytical basis for the research. The results of the research have shown that US has managed to achieve an offensive advantage in the conventional offence-defence balance against Russia and China and has had a real possibility to gain such an advantage in the nuclear offense-defence balance... [to full text] / Po Šaltojo karo JAV išliko stipriausia kariniu požiūriu valstybė, tačiau, nepaisant to, JAV buvo itin susirūpinusi savo karinio pranašumo išlaikymu ateityje, kuris leistų užtikrinti tolesnę JAV lyderystę sprendžiant svarbiausius tarptautinius klausimus. JAV karinio pranašumo išlaikymo priemonėmis po Šaltojo karo tapo trys karinės JAV tranformacijos iniciatyvos: konvencinių pajėgų transformacija, priešraketinių gynybos sistemų ir ilgo nuotolio tikslaus konvencinio smūgio pajėgumų kūrimas. Atsižvelgiant į tai, kad Rusijai ir Kinijai – oponuojančioms JAV valstybėms, JAV karinė transformacija tapo dideliu iššūkiu, disertacijoje tyrimo problema apibrėžta kaip siekis suprasti, ar ir kaip JAV karinė transformacija kelia grėsmę Rusijos ir Kinijos saugumui, ir kaip tai veikia Rusijos ir Kinijos saugumo politiką JAV atžvilgiu. Atitinkamai darbo tikslas buvo ištirti JAV karinės transformacijos poveikį Rusijos ir Kinijos saugumo politikai nuo Šaltojo karo pabaigos iki 2010 m. Puolimo-gynybos balanso teorija buvo pasirinkta kaip disertacijos tyrimo teorinė ir analitinė prieiga. Disertacijos tyrimas parodė, kad, nepaisant įgyto konvencinio puolimo pranašumo ir realios galimybės siekti branduolinio puolimo pranašumo, JAV nevykdė agresyvios saugumo politikos Rusijos ir Kinijos atžvilgiu. Rusija ir Kinija jautriai reagavo į JAV karinę transformaciją, stengdamosi įgyti konvencinį puolimo pranašumą, išsaugoti branduolinį puolimo-gynybos balansą, o taip pat užkirsti kelią JAV susikurti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

The objective of this thesis is to analyze the changes in Israeli security policy. The thesis consists of four main parts. In the first part, the factors influencing the formation of Israeli security policy such as history, religion, ideology and threat perceptions are examined. Israeli military doctrine and its offensive, defensive and deterrence strategies are identified as the most important subcomponents of the security policy. The following part analyzes the changes and continuities in Israeli threat perceptions and the implementation of the military doctrine during and after the six main wars of the War of Independence, the war against Egypt in 1956, the Six Day War, the War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War and the War in Lebanon in 1982. In the third part, the changes in Israeli security policy during 1990s are scrutinized. With the peace process, Israel&rsquo / s existential threat perception decreased but new threat perceptions of terrorism and conventional and nuclear military buildup in the region emerged / therefore security was redefined by the Israeli political and military decision-makers. In the last part the impact of the collapse of peace process and Sharon&rsquo / s coming to power on Israeli security policy is analyzed. Sharon&rsquo / s period can be defined by offensive security strategies aiming at preventing terror which has been the top security problem since the Al Aqsa Intifada. As a result, this thesis argues that Israeli security policy did not indicate significant changes until 1990s, however during 1990s Israeli security situation and security policy changed as a response to the regional and international developments. Post-2000 period witnessed changes as well with Sharon&rsquo / s returning to offensive strategies.

Practitioners and academics clearly established that participation in the EU system of foreign policy-making transforms national foreign policies. Whilst there have been detailed studies of the impact of participation in EU foreign policy on the original fifteen member states there are, as yet, few academic studies that have thoroughly investigated the impact of progressive integration in the area of EU foreign and security policy on the new (i.e. those who joined since 2004) member states. This thesis aims to address this deficit by focusing on the impact of Poland's participation in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It examines the processes of 'downloading', as it is argued here that involvement in CFSP has had a direct effect on both the procedures of foreign policy-making in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and, on the substance of Polish foreign policy as well as the impact of 'uploading' from member states to the EU level and 'crossloading' between EU member states. The thesis addresses the relevant conceptual issues and provides an outline of the academic debate regarding Europeanisation and foreign policy. It identifies three mechanisms that are responsible for change: conditionality, socialisation and learning. It suggests that a member state first adapts its national foreign policy to bring it in line with the EU's acquis politique and introduces basic changes in its institutional procedures in order to effectively participate in the EU's CFSP. Only later, does socialisation and learning result in changes to how national foreign policy is made, which then facilitates both changes to the substance of national policy and the uploading of national preferences to the EU level. A two-phase model of change is introduced which identifies April 2003, when Poland first became an active observer within the EU, as the date when Europeanisation began. The thesis provides a brief explanation of the transformation of Polish foreign policy after 1989, in order to provide contextual background for the four substantive chapters which follow: one procedural on the changes in the Polish MFA and three related to policy substance. The latter three chapters examine the Europeanisation of policy towards Poland's East European neighbours in general and policies towards Ukraine and Belarus in particular. The thesis concludes with a set of methodological and conceptual observations followed by analysis of the empirical findings.

Many organizations have a problem with synchronizing individual values regarding information security with expectations set by the relevant security policy. Such discordance leads to failure in compliance or simply subversion of existing or imposed controls. The problem of the mismatch in understanding the security policies amongst individuals in an organization has devastating effect on security of the organization. Different individuals hold different understanding and knowledge about IS security, which is reflected on IS security policies design and practice (Vaast, 2007). Albrecthsen and Hovdena (2009) argue that users and managers practice IS security differently because they have different rationalities. This difference in rationalities may reflect the mismatch between the security policies and individuals’ values. In this research, we argue that occurrence of security breach can change individuals’ values in light of security policy of organization. These changes in the values can be reflected on the compliance between individuals’ norms and security rules and standards. Indeed, organizations need to guarantee the compliance between security policy and values of their employees. Thus, they can alleviate or prevent violations of security of organization. However, it is difficult to find a common method that all organizations can adopt to guarantee the synch between security rules and individuals’ norms. The main aim of this research is to investigate how people perceive information security policy and how their perceptions change in response to security breaches. Besides, this research aims to investigate the relationship between individuals’ values and security policy. Thus, organizations can have the intended level of compliance between individual norms and security rules and standards. With the aid of the Repertory Grid technique, this research examines how a security breach shapes people’s values with respect to security policy of an organization. To conduct the argument, this research offers an assessment mechanism that aids the organization to evaluate employees’ values in regard to security policy. Based on that evaluation, the organization can develop a proper mechanism to guarantee compliance between individuals’ norms and security rules. The results of this research show that employees in an organization hold different perceptions regarding the security policy. These perceptions change in response to security incident. This change in perceptions dose not necessarily result in better compliance with the security policy. Factors like the type of breach and people’s experience can affect the amount of change in the perceptions. Contributions, implications, and directions for future research of this study will be discussed.

Lors du développement des applications ubiquitaires, il est essentiel de définir des politiques de sécurité et de développerdes mécanismes de sécurité pour assurer la confidentialité et l’intégrité des applications. De nombreux langages de spécification de politiques se concentrent uniquement sur leur puissance d’expression. Les défis émergents dans les systèmes ubiquitaires ne peuvent pas être résolus par ces approches. Par exemple, la sensibilité au contexte est un élément central des systèmes ubiquitaires. Les approches existantes tiennent rarement compte des informations contextuelles dans leurs langages. Cette thèse propose une approche générative pour spécifier et implanter les politiques de sécurité dans les applications ubiquitaires. Pour définir une politique de sécurité, nous proposons un langage de spécification qui tient compte des informations contextuelles. Il permet aux développeurs de spécifier les règles de la politique et les entités requises (e.g. la description spatiale, les rôles, le contexte). Les politiques sont implémentés par des systèmes de réécriture, ce qui offre une grande puissance de vérification. Pour appliquer une politique, nous proposons une architecture qui intègre les concepts importants des politiques de sécurité (sujet, contexte, objet) dans des applications ubiquitaires. Pour mettre en oeuvre notre approche, nous avons enrichi une approche existante pour le développement des applications ubiquitaires. La spécification de la politique de sécurité et la description de l’application ubiquitaire enrichie sont utilisées pour générer un canevas de programmation qui facilite l’implémentation des mécanismes de sécurité, tout en séparant les aspects sécurités de la logique applicative. / When developing pervasive computing applications, it is critical to specify security policies and develop security mechanisms to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the applications. Numerous policy specification languages only focus on their expressive power. The emerging challenges in pervasive computing systems can not be fulfilled by these approaches. For instance, context awareness is a central aspect of pervasive computing systems. Existing approaches rarely consider context information in their language.This thesis proposes a generative approach dedicated to specifying and enforcing security policies in pervasive computingapplications. To specify a policy, we propose a context-aware policy specification language which helps developers to specify policy rules and required entities (e.g. spatial description, roles, context information). Policies are implemented by term rewriting systems which offers great verification power. To enforce a policy, we propose an architecture that embeds important concepts of security policies (subject, object, security related context) into pervasive computing applications. To apply our approach, we enriched an existing approach which is dedicated to develop pervasive computing applications. Based on the policy specification and the enriched pervasive computing application descriptions, a dedicated programming framework is generated. This framework guides the implementation and raises the level of abstraction which can reduce the workloads of developers.

This thesis deals with technologies of SELinux security policy writing. Furthermore the thesis analyzes userspace of GNU/Linux operating system with special focus on KDE desktop environment. On the basis of this analysis a bottom-up methodics to create a security policy is devised. Acquired knowledge is then used in practice when realizing the main goal of the thesis, which is to create example security policies for chosen KDE applications. When describing technologies of security policy writing the thesis draws information from available sources of information. Input for userspace analysis are available electronic sources of information and author's own experience with analyzed applications. This is used with common philosophic principles to devise bottom-up methodics of policy writting. Following act of policy building draws from defined security goals, acquired knowledge, created methodics and defined usecases. Theoretical contribution of the thesis is devised methodics of userspace policy building. Main practical contribution are then created example SELinux policies for chosen KDE applications. The structure of the thesis follows its goals. For them three parts are created: background research of available resources, author's own theoretical contemplations and practical output of the thesis. Those parts are then devided into sections according to needs of each topic.

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