The emergence of the European Union (EU) as an international actor is an important development for Europeans, but also for the international community. The EU constitutes a new actor in international affairs. It goes beyond the nation state and seeks to construct a new international order based on rules. This new international actor must deal with a complex security environment, in particular in the Mediterranean region. This thesis seeks to determine how security perceptions in the region will influence the EU’s roles and responsibilities in the Mediterranean region as a new security actor. A detailed analysis of security discourse from both the EU and Southern Mediterranean shows that there are similar security concerns throughout the Mediterranean. Issues like terrorism or illegal immigration are securitised across the region, whereas issues like regional conflicts or weapons of mass destruction are considered security threats in specific areas, in particular the Eastern Mediterranean. Furthermore, security discourse also coexists with strong references to a common Mediterranean identity. This sharing of security perceptions and references to a common identity allows us to conclude that there is indeed a regional security complex in the Mediterranean. After determining the existence of a regional security complex in the Mediterranean, an analysis of the individual actors participating in the Euro- Mediterranean RSC, at different levels, was conducted. This analysis shows that the EU occupies a central role in the region as a global great power. Moreover, an analysis of the RSC in the Mediterranean region shows that it is an unstable security complex, susceptible to internal and external transformation in the medium to long term. As such, the EU could play a more substantial role in the Mediterranean, exercising greater influence to stabilise the region; leading the region away from instability and moving it towards a more institutional framework for conflict resolution. In this role, the EU will need to be more active throughout the region, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean. It must assume its position as a great power but with its particular capabilities and characteristics. The EU must then emphasise mediation and regional integration, including south-south integration in its policies towards the Southern Mediterranean.

The last decade has witnessed a dramatic resurgence in the United States capabilities of deploying her military forces around the world, particularly, in the Persian Gulf region. The region's security and stability, due to its extensive oil reserves, is crucial for the well being of the global economy. This thesis is a study of the interaction between the United States' policies and Persian Gulf regional developments in the new system of power relations in the region. No bilateral interaction can be understood properly without a reference to the multilateral context in which it occurs. Therefore, in this study the Persian Gulf region is used as the unit of analysis and the interaction is studied in the context of regional security and stability as methods of assessing the effects of the two interacting factors. The study traces both regional developments and US policies towards the region in a period of approximately three decades since the British withdrawal in the early 70s and it attempts to construct an analytical framework for the study of the effect of regional developments upon US policies in the region. The most salient features of the present work and its original contribution to the literature of the Persian Gulf studies are as follows: 1. Using a systemic approach, it defines the Persian Gulf as a geopolitical region and rejects the concept that it has sub-systemic relations to the Middle East. 2. It shows instead that the region is a subsystem of the international system. The interaction between US policies and regional developments is directly assessed without reference to intermediate levels. 3. Three systems of power relation have been proposed as the main framework for the study of the United States' role in the region from the time of the British withdrawal from the region. 4. A distinction has been made between "security of the Persian Gulf region" and "security of the foreign power interests in this region" in order to assess the interaction between US policies and the regional developments. 5. It presents for the first time the idea of "dual functional effects of regional developments" and shows that the role of the United States in this region is a function of two complementary variables of "threats" and "opportunities". This study applies different methods in dealing with its different procedures of analysis namely: "analysing historical background"; "conceptual clarifications"; "explaining the problematic"; "hypothetical illustrations"; "reasoning" and "theory building and prescription. " However, it mostly uses a normative analysis of rational (not actual) choices.

This dissertation is a case study of the EuroMed Partnership (EMP). It aims to examine the complex political, economic and social interrelationships in the EMP, and their impact on regional security in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The main thesis proposed here is that regional integration is taking place to the point of a regional security complex being established among EMP-member countries. This would contrast with the Middle East Regional Security Complex suggested by Buzan and Waever (2003). The dynamics observed reflect realist concerns with security among members. They also display neo-liberal integration approaches as well as the regional reciprocal (re-)constructions of structure, interests, and identities as suggested in the constructivist literature. A triangulated mix of qualitative research methods is utilized with primary data from elite interviews, as well as from official publications of member governments and institutes. Secondary data from analyses by other researchers provide comparison data for this dissertation. It will contribute to a framework for understanding the shifting security environment in the Euro-Mediterranean region from 1995 to the present in terms of regional integration, peacemaking and peacekeeping.

This diploma thesis deals with the Arctic geopolitical region from the perspective of one of the most influential regionalist concepts in the modern IR theory and international security studies - the regional security complex theory developed by Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver from the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute. The main aim of the thesis is to examine whether such a specific geopolitical region as the Arctic could be analyzed from the perspective of this theory and defined as a regional security complex with a unique security dynamics and an intense interconnection of major processes of securitization and desecuritization. This research question seeks to suggest a theoretical and analytical tool for studying the specific regional dynamics of the Arctic, and alternatively identify shortcomings of the theory in confrontation with the case and propose possible theoretical modifications. The diploma thesis concludes that the Arctic can be classified as a regional security complex in terms of Buzan's and Wæver's theory, although as an emerging one with rather weak securitization interconnections yet with a big potential to develop into a strong and dynamic security complex. The application of the Arctic case to the theory however showed that there is a need for some theoretical modifications to make...

This is a study of regional security in the Middle East from a Critical Security Studies perspective. The main aim of the thesis is to provide an account of the pasts, presents and futures of regional security in the Middle East cognisant of the relationships between the three in one's thinking as well as practices. This is achieved through the threefold structure of the thesis, which looks at Cold War pasts (Part I), post-Cold War presents (Part II) and possible futures (Part III). The thesis also has a set of more specific aims. First, it aims to present a critique of prevailing security discourses in theory and practice with reference to regional security in the Middle East and point to unfulfilled potential immanent in regional politics. Second, the thesis aims to explore the mutually constitutive relationship between (inventing) regions and theories and practices of security. And finally, it aims to show how Critical Security Studies might allow one to think differently about the futures of regional security in the Middle East. The overall thesis is that the Critical Security Studies perspective presents a fuller account of regional security in the Middle East; it offers a comprehensive framework recognising the dynamic relationships between various dimensions and levels of security, as voiced by multiple referents.

The purpose of this study is to critically evaluate three scholarly perspectives -- balance of power, institutional, and security complex -- to examine the evolving dynamics of security interdependence and inter-state relations among Southeast Asian states and external powers since 1945. This study is thus a comparative evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the three methods in their empirical analysis of the regional security dynamics of Southeast Asia.¶ There is much merit in the balance of power approach. It tracked the consequences of the bipolar Cold War rivalry on Southeast Asia. Its logical construction led it to be concerned with alliances, coalitions and alignments. But it has not satisfactorily explained the relatively benign conditions after the Cold War. The institutional approach similarly emphasizes material explanatory factors (although, in its case, not exclusively so). It identifies the emergence of institutions when groups of countries find it in their mutual interest to cooperate through rules and norms. But the approach may prove to be incomplete in assessing ASEAN's post-Cold War behaviour. As an analytical device, the security complex is deployed to provide a corrective to the over-emphasis (of the other two approaches) on the systemic dynamics. By identifying regional and local dynamics interacting with systemic dynamics via patterns of amity and enmity, it offers explanatory accounts of the behaviour of regional states in situations where the other two approaches fail to do satisfactorily. Moreover, it provides a framework for the deployment of constructivism, which identifies the ideational process whereby interdependent regional states respond to changes in both the power and amity-enmity attributes.¶ This study concludes that security relations among Southeast Asian states and in their relations with external powers after the Cold War, are better examined using the three approaches in a complementary manner. In this way, the influence of local amity-enmity patterns is seen to impact on balance of power and institutional situations.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

This thesis examines the roles and significance of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West Africa States) in conflict prevention, crisis response and security-building processes in West Africa, particularly since 2000. The importance of developing regional institutions and capacities for peace and security-building in Sub-Saharan Africa has been widely recognised since at least the mid-1990s. Not only has the African Union developed important peace and security building aims and roles, but so too have several of the sub-regional organisations in Africa, including ECOWAS in West Africa. In the late 1990s, ECOWAS Member States achieved a number of noteworthy sub-regional agreements on ECOWAS norms and mechanisms for conflict prevention, crisis response, and peace and security –building in West Africa. These agreements and mechanisms have subsequently been further developed since 2000, in a dynamic process that was informed by experience with efforts to respond to a range of crises and conflicts in the region. This thesis critically examines this process, focussing particularly on the extent to which, and how, ECOWAS norms, institutions and mechanism have continued not only to develop but also to be influential in practice. Our research demonstrates that the ECOWAS agreements and norms established by 2000 have continued subsequently to be dynamically developed and used by ECOWAS member states and West African networks, in close interaction with several international partners. It argues that these norms and mechanisms have played significant roles in influencing actual policies, practices and missions. They have therefore proved to be more than shallow symbolic or paper agreements, despite the political fragility and divisions of the region and most of its states. We argue that this cannot be adequately understood using single explanatory frameworks, such as Nigeria’s hegemonic influence or instrumental influence of external Actors such as UN, EU or USA, as has often been suggested. Adequate explanations need to combine these factors with others, including relatively consistent investment in regional norms and institutions by coalitions of some West African states (including Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria) together with civil society and parliamentary networks. Our research then examines in detail the extent to which, and how, ECOWAS norms and mechanisms on conflict prevention, crisis response and security sector reform were significant and influential in ECOWAS’ responses to the crises and conflicts in Cote D’Ivoire, Mali and to a lesser extent in Gambia since 2003; and also how these crises were in turn influential in the further development of ECOWAS norms in these areas. We demonstrate numerous weaknesses in the implementation and effectiveness in these norms; and limitations in their diffusion and influence. However, we argue that such weaknesses and limitations are typical of regional peace and security norms everywhere, including much more stable and developed regions. Equally significant is that substantial coalitions exist between ECOWAS member states and stakeholders. Despite obvious tensions, ECOWAS, AU, UN and other countries such as France continue to work to address inherent tensions and develop mutually beneficial collaborations that enhance effective conflict prevention in the sub-region. The study draws on the knowledge created within this this thesis to propose a framework for conflict intervention. / Allan & Nesta Foundation

None / In the post-Cold War era, China, Japan and Taiwan entered the new phase of their relationship and were forced to reconsider their security and political dialogues. Despite of the US presence in East Asia, they are becoming more active players in the region, thus, shaping a regional “pseudo-strategic” triangle. The main focus in the research is security issues and concerns among the China, Japan and Taiwan in that period without active interference of the US. In 2002, China and Japan celebrated thirty years of relations` normalization. However, some scholars are not optimistic about future intentions of both countries. Contemporary Chinese and Japanese diplomats try to rely on the friendship diplomacy; however, their efforts in an official level still are described as “a mirage of good relations.” Therefore, in the future, China and Japan will keep “equal-but-distant” relationship. On the contrary, even though Japan and Taiwan do not have official relations, however, they both are getting closer by intensifying “unofficial” channels of communication. Overall, one can see that China, Japan, and Taiwan are interested in peace and stability in the region; yet, it remains unclear, whether all of them mean the same thing by security and stability; therefore, this is an important question for future research and security studies of East Asian region.

This study presents a detailed examination of the Arab League's history, development, structure and roles in an effort to understand the cause of its failure as a regional security organisation. The research's point of departure is a questioning of the nature and scope of this failure in terms of the interplay between the conditions under which it was formed and the many actors and dynamics that had a long term-impact on the prospects for the League. To this end, the study looks at the League's conditions of emergence and Arab-Arab relations with the focus on Arab national security as the main concept determining its security role. The research synthesises methods of analysis from the existing literature and schools of thought so as to identify where and why failure and success occurred in relation to international relations theories, the security and international organisations literature, and comparable international models. The development and conditions affecting the League as discussed in the research demonstrate that none of the existing broad theories or approaches can fully explain the League's failure; however, the constructivist approach, although never before applied in this context, is shown to offer the most relevant approach for explaining this organisation and its unique parameters. The research also examines the role played by the Arab League in regional peacekeeping and conflict prevention in the context of Arab national security, with Palestine as a case study.