Niklas Luhmann's theory of autopoietic social systems challenges traditional social science by dissolving the individual as an analytical category and replacing it with the functional structures of social systems. The opaque complexity of this model of thought has rendered it extremely difficult to understand and apply, which has obstructed its reception on the part of empirically oriented scholars. This paper investigates the political and military strategy of Guatemala's armed forces during the 1960s-1990s civil war from the perspective of the theory of autopoietic social systems. It thereby illustrates and illuminates Luhmann's highly abstract theoretical framework and demonstrates its scope and limits as an explanatory model guiding empirical research in the social sciences. By the same token, it lends moderate support to the universality claim Luhmann makes for his radical systems perspective and proposes new avenues of thought that could lead to a better understanding of Third World politics. / Master of Arts

Hierarchies within organizations like the military have often contributed to feelings of subordination and have contributed to lower employee autonomy and a decrease in job satisfaction, motivation, and performance. Other constructs, such as those relating to personality, have been eluded to explain the variance in the poor outcomes. However, despite the research on dominance, autonomy, and personality constructs, there has been little investigation to bridge together the structure and dynamics of personality and autonomy. By applying interpersonal, boundary, control, and contingency theories, this quantitative study bridged the gap between hierarchical levels of military rank, the personality construct of relative dominance, and perceived autonomy in a convenience sample of United States Air Force pararescuemen ( N = 72). Based on a multiple linear regression and post hoc logistic regressions, results indicated that relative dominance and military rank equally and significantly explained the variance in total perceived autonomy for pararescuemen. These findings question the current rank-centric military hierarchy and highlight the importance of personality and qualitative factors that influence perceived autonomy in pararescue, a critical variable throughout organizational psychology. These findings have positive social change implications by encouraging a paradigm shift from a rank-centric to position-centric structure for pararescuemen, a shift that may improve personnel/resource management; reduce organizational costs for military personnel; and increase overall job satisfaction, motivation, performance, recruitment, and retention.

The purpose of this master’s thesis was to explore what psychological skills were used by complexly physically injured military members who had self-reported successfully recovered. Data collection included the OMSAT-3 questionnaire, a semi-structed interview, and a second semi-structured interview with participants who volunteered. One manuscript was written. Using both deductive and inductive thematic analysis, the manuscript explored what psychological skills were used by complexly physically injured (N= 8, Mage= 36) military members. The findings revealed sixteen skills were used, four skills commonly used amongst all participants (i.e., goal setting, confidence, commitment, and motivation). Collectively, the findings from this master’s thesis contributes to the literature by providing a novel exploration into what mental skills may be used throughout rehabilitation from grave injury.

Rocío Lougedo Novillo Master Thesis Assessing Coherence Within the CSDP A Top-Down Analysis of Military Capabilities Developed in the EU in the last Twenty Years Abstract in English Ever since the establishment of the European Security and Defense Policy in 1999, the European Union has strived to develop a more holistic and coherent foreign policy apparatus. This paper examines this 20-year process of military capabilities reform in order to assess the level of coherence in the field of defense and security policy. For this purpose, this thesis sets a Top-Down analytical framework built around five variables specifically designed for measuring capabilities. Through this framework, and based on the pertinent data gathered, this study will assess the global level of coherence (or incoherence) among targets, expectations and outputs, as well as it will identify the perils and uncertainties that could jeopardize further integration on the European defense sphere.

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The United States Air Force (USAF) has increasing needs for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators. Automation may enable a single operator to manage multiple UAVs at the same time. Multi-UAV operation may require a unique set of skills and the need for new operators calls for targeting new populations for recruitment. The objective of this research is to develop a simulation environment for studying the role of individual differences in UAV operation under different task configurations and investigate predictors of performance and stress. Primarily, the study examined the impact of levels of automation (LOAs), as well as task demands, on task performance, stress and operator reliance on automation. Two intermediate LOAs were employed for two surveillance tasks included in the simulation of UAV operation. Task demand was manipulated via the high and low frequency of events associated with additional tasks included in the simulation. The task demand and LOA manipulations influenced task performance generally as expected. The task demand manipulations elicited higher subjective distress and workload. LOAs did not affect operator workload but affected reliance behavior. Also, this study examined the role of individual differences in simulated UAV operation. A variety of individual difference factors were associated with task performance and with subjective stress response. Video gaming experience was linked to lower distress and better performance, suggesting possible transfer of skills. Some gender differences were revealed in stress response, task performance, but all the gender effects became insignificant with gaming experience controlled. Generally, the effects of personality were consistent with previous studies, except some novel findings with the performance metrics. Additionally, task demand was found to moderate the influence of personality factors on stress response and performance metrics. Specifically, conscientiousness was associated with higher subjective engagement and performance when demands were higher. This study supports future research which aims to improve the dynamic interfaces in UAV operation, optimize operator reliance on automation, and identify individuals with the highest aptitude for multi-UAV control.

This thesis examines the commemoration of Indian soldiers who died during the First World War by the Imperial War Graves Commission, Britain's official government body overseeing all imperial commemoration efforts. For the soldiers of the Indian Army their war experience was split between the Western Front in Europe and Mesopotamia in modern-day Iraq. They were also far more ethnically, religiously, and lingually diverse than their British and Dominion counterparts. In order to examine how geography, religion, and the imperial relationship affected Britain's commemoration of India's war dead, this study uses the Commission's own records to recreate how the IWGC created its policies regarding Indian soldiers. The result shows that while the Commission made nearly every effort to respect India's war dead, the complexity of their backgrounds hampered these efforts and forced compromises to be made. The geography of the war also forced a clear definition between the memories of Indian soldiers who died in Europe and those who fell in Mesopotamia.