As Kingsley Davis stated, ‘the study of population offers one of the unique and indispensable approaches to an understanding of world affairs’ (Davis 1954, p.vii). In the discipline of International Relations, valuable security and political implications have been yielded by examining how population growth constitutes violent conflicts in traditional security studies (e.g. Choucri 1974; North and Choucri 1971). Non-traditional security (NTS) also develops its own problem-solving approach, e.g. human security, to solve demographic-related issues encountered by humankind such as famine and unemployment (UNDP 1994). Despite both traditional and NTS studies having established their material approaches, the ideational relationship between security and population dynamics has yet to be studied in detail. Specifically, this dissertation examines how ideational relationship is/can be established by ‘securitising’ population dynamics, i.e. how to rhetorically make population dynamics a security threat. The thesis adopted a combined analytical framework of the Copenhagen School and the Paris School in the case of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to identify how the ideational relationship between security and population dynamics was established. It first adopts the securitisation framework to examine how the PRC rhetorically constructed population growth as a security threat and introduced its emergency measure, i.e. the one-child policy. The dissertation then reveals the politics of the prolonged securitisation by evaluating the one-child policy as a technique for governmentality of unease and demonstrates how this constitutes the shift from securitising population growth to population decline. This dissertation argues that population dynamics can be constructed as (the cause of) numerous security threats through a successful securitisation. With the case of the PRC, the thesis demonstrates the de facto politicisation of population growth before the late 70s, and how the de jure securitisation was adopted in a Communist manner to legitimise the world’s strictest population policy, i.e. the one-child policy, as its emergency measure to solve various existential threats posed by population dynamics. In addition, the study of politics of securitisation in the case of the PRC further unfolds the struggles of priorities among different actors, which brings us political, practical and relational implications about this governmentality of unease that lasted for almost 4 decades. A deeper understanding of how our ideas of demography shape what we call ‘security threats’ sheds lights on how states formulate comprehensive security agendas by taking population dynamics into account due to its immense importance to threat construction. Other security actors such as international organisations, private sectors, and even individuals can more easily convince relevant audiences to legitimise the securitisation of the specific demographic-related threats they are facing. As Sciubba put it, ‘population dynamics could be a challenge or an opportunity’ (Sciubba 2011, p.3). Accumulating knowledge of the ideational connections between security and population dynamics increases the ability of various security actors to confront these challenges through a successful securitisation, which contribute to preventing numerous demographic-related threats from happening or at least easing these pains of humankind.

Graphene-family nanomaterials (GFNs) have attracted a great deal of attention both in academia and in industry for a range of applications relevant for homeland security. In this thesis, an array of graphene-based hybrid materials and aerogels are synthesized for use as novel thermo-electrochemical energy harvesters and for ascorbic acid biosensing devices. The graphene-family nanomaterials include graphene oxide-GO, thermally reduced GO-rGOth, nitrogenated functionalized graphene-NFG, graphene aerogel-GA, nitrogen-doped graphene aerogel-NGA, multi-walled carbon nanotube aerogel-MWCNT, single-walled carbon nanotube aerogel-SWCNT, graphene and nanotube combined ‘hybrid’ aerogels-Gr:(SW/MW)CNT of various ratios, along with multilayered nanostructured architectures such as gold (AuNP) and silver nanoparticles (AgNP) decorated NFG coated with a thin layer of polyaniline (PANi). Precursor aerogel materials were also analyzed to demonstrate the effect of mesoporous architectures and the interplay of various components in augmenting physical-chemical properties. These precursors were combined through multiple deposition schemes including electrodeposition, hydrothermal synthesis, and freeze drying techniques. This project was developed in an effort to enhance electrochemical properties through modification of the morphology, surface and structural properties, making them more suitable for thermal energy harvesting and bio-sensing applications. Hydrothermal synthesis created chemical bridged interfaces, interconnectedness, and improved electrical conductivity besides increasing the surface area of mesoporous aerogels created by freeze-drying. This causes an increase in the number density of electrochemically active sites. The surface morphology, lattice vibrations, and electrochemical activity of the materials were investigated using electron microscopy, micro-Raman Spectroscopy, and electrochemical microscopy techniques [namely cyclic voltammetry (CV), alternating current electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (acEIS), amperometric techniques, and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM)]. For thermoelectric and thermoelectrochemical power measurements, a custom-designed set up was made for creating a temperature gradient across two legs of a thermocell and experiments were performed in various device configurations (a) symmetric and asymmetric, (b) single thermocells, and (c) multiple (“in-tandem”) thermocells. Interestingly, we observed changes in conducting behavior from Ohmic to semiconducting and polarity shifts from positive to negative or vice versa on introduction of the redox electrolyte solution. The parametric correlations (thermopower and resistivity or conductivity) are established and the results are discussed in terms of the polarity switching behavior observed for some of the aerogels combinations.

This thesis discusses how local forces, despite being the weaker actor in a proxy relationship, manipulate external powers’ support to pursue their own objectives. Three factors – practical advantage, relative will, and diverging objectives – explain this counterintuitive power dynamic. First, local forces have better local knowledge, more extensive networks, and greater legitimacy, which give them leverage and make them desirable partners. Second, local forces' involvement is often existential rather than selective; unlike external powers, local forces are thus unconstrained by domestic political vulnerabilities. This enables them to close the significant power gap with external powers. Third, local forces' objectives may diverge from their sponsors', creating incentives for exploitation and manipulation of external support to pursue their own agenda, regardless of the external powers’ interests. These three factors effectively explain the dynamic between the Soviet Union and Cuba during the Angolan civil war and the relationship between the U.S. and the Kurds in the fight against ISIS. Cuba mostly operated within the Soviet strategic parameters, while at the same time manipulating Soviet support to forward its own interests in Africa. The Kurds manipulated U.S. support while fighting ISIS to acquire territories and to pursue autonomy and independence, goals inconsistent with US interests. Further research is still needed to identify under what conditions local partners will wield this counterintuitive power, since there also are cases in which this does not take place.

Since the initial stages of 1980s, the global world faced the huge shift. Many security scholars try to challenge and review the mainstream security studies that derived from a combination of Anglo-American, statist, militarized, masculinized, methodologically positivist, and philosophically realist thinking. ¡§The Welsh School¡¨ of Critical Security Studies is one of the most important approach. The Welsh School thinks about security as developing in the light of the Frankfurt School, and brings the tradition of ¡§critical¡¨, ¡§epistemology position¡¨, and ¡§emancipation¡¨ to the security studies. The Welsh School separate the core of critical security studies(CSS) into three concepts: security, emancipation, and community, therefore, this study try to explain and review these concepts. Firstly, CSS tried to ¡§deepen¡¨ the concepts of ¡§security¡¨, deconstruct statism and bring the referent to individual, and then ¡§broaden¡¨ the agenda of security to discuss the traditional and non-traditional issues in the globalization world. Secondly, CSS emphasize the relationship of theory and practice, and expect to achieve their goal-¡§emancipatory politics¡¨. Via the construction of emancipatory community, people could released from contingent and structural oppressions, and create a free and equal environment. Despite the states still the major referent in international institution and security environment, and the main concept of The Welsh School still not practice in contemporary politics, but the first task of CSS is to bring a revision of the world, and then create a comprehensive and humanity security thinking.

This project asks the question of how different aerial strategies can affect the characteristics of aerial campaigns in conflict. It begins by developing a new categorization of aerial strategies that distinguishes aerial strategies by how targeted thy are. Data is collected on the type of strategies that were used in aerial campaigns from 1914 to 2003. A preliminary analysis of aerial strategy choice is conducted, studying the effect of military doctrines on strategy choice. The project also takes into consideration the role that ground forces, both those of the state carrying out the aerial attack and of its opponent, will play in determining the effect of aerial strategies on campaign duration and outcome.

This thesis argues that women are increasingly recruited by terrorist organizations because they are perceived as high benefit and low cost perpetrators. Female terrorism is an increasing trend, as it is particularly effective and becoming more effective over time. Its effectiveness results from cross-cultural, deeply imbedded stereotypes of female behavior. Women are seen as nonviolent in the cultures from which female terrorists emerge and in which they perpetrate their attacks, and are therefore given more lenient security measures at security barriers. In addition, security policies reflect these stereotypes, as some only apply to men. The literature on the topic of gender and terrorism often addresses individual motivations for terrorism and misses the practical element of group strategy that is vital to understand in order to effectively defend against the trends of female terrorism. I found that terrorist groups are rational actors and thus choose to deploy women because they are low cost and high benefit. Terrorist groups learn through interactive exchanges with the target population or government and act accordingly. While the goal of gender equality may be used in secular terrorist organizations’ rhetoric, women’s involvement in terrorism does not necessarily equate to western-style feminism or gender equality. I illustrate the racial implications that are upheld and replicated through stereotypes about terrorism. Muslims are portrayed as terrorists to bolster the government’s interest in securing votes for its foreign policy agenda. I argue that stereotypes persist because of the media’s drive for profit as well as the perceived need for narrative fidelity, although this type of reporting benefits terrorist groups and impairs the target state’s security. If understood and addressed properly, this trend of female terrorist lethality can be undermined through policy recommendations. International organizations that adopt these policy recommendations together may effectively reduce female terrorist lethality, terrorism in general, and increase global security.

abstract: This thesis seeks to build upon the empirical use of the Copenhagen School of security studies by evaluating and investigating speech-acts in recent Guatemalan newspaper media as they relate to drug trafficking within the geopolitical borders of Guatemala, particularly induced by Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel. The study attempts to engage a critical theoretical framework to study securitization within the country and thereby build upon the theory by conducting real-life analysis. Using a research program that is made up of content and text analysis of national press and presidential speeches, I test several hypotheses that pertain to the processes of Guatemala's current drug trade and drug trafficking securitization. By coding securitizing speech-acts and discursive frames in the national print media, I identify the national elite, the power relations between the national elite and citizenship, and attempts to dramatize the issue of drug trade. Upon analyzing the findings of such securitization, I propose several hypotheses as to why the national elite seeks high politicization of drug trade and the implications that rest on such drastic measures. This thesis itself, then, has important implications: it uses empirical tools to help further the theoretical foundations of the Copenhagen School, it examines the process of securitization study from a real world context outside the developed world, and it presents important information on the possible consequences of securitizing drug trade. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Political Science 2011

Fighting for Status investigates how status concerns affect states’ decisions in the domain of international security. Ironically, while there is widespread agreement within the political science discipline and the foreign policy community that status matters, there exists relatively little in the way of focused research on how and when it does so. Thus, our understanding of status in international politics has been guided so far by intuition, not by evidence, and this has left us with a significant gap in our understanding of how status affects foreign policy behavior and international outcomes. Relying on the assumption that ‘status matters’ has left us with no extant theory of variation in states’ concern for status and little understanding of its specific implications for foreign policy or international conflict. What is needed –and what my research is designed to provide –is a systematic investigation into the ways in which the desire to increase or prevent the loss of status affects the behavior of states and leaders, especially as these concerns relate to the propensity for violent conflict. Using a diverse array of methods and data, I provide evidence on the relationship between status concerns and conflict. I use a large-n, cross-national analysis to investigate the effects of status dissatisfaction on international conflict at several degrees of intensity. I find that states that are attributed less status than they are due based on material capabilities are overwhelmingly more likely (than satisfied states) to initiate militarized disputes at almost every level of intensity. Two case studies –focusing on Germany and Russia in the World War One era –corroborate these patterns in historical cases of great importance and help to form a more complete picture of how status concerns affect political decision-making. Finally, I use a laboratory experiment and a unique sample of real-world political and military leaders to shed light on the causal pathways through which status concerns affect escalation behavior. Here I find that negative emotions are a key pathway through which concerns over relative status impair judgment and decision-making. / Government

In its approach to the Palestinian-Jordanians’ issue, this dissertation employs a security-based theory and technique, which deal with the issue as a securitization case-study. It employs a modified version of the securitization theory offered by the Copenhagen School to evaluate the classical Jordanian national security strategy toward Palestinian-Jordanians. It addresses, reviews, weighs and evaluates the four strategies and tools of the Jordanian securitization model toward Palestinian-Jordanians: exclusionism, tribalism, cooptation and ideologization, which present the independent variables of this study. This evaluation process is based on a multi-standard strategy, which discusses the goals, the evidence, the outputs and the structure of the Jordanian securitization model since Black September 1970. In terms of methodology, the dissertation adopted a multi-method strategy, which used field research, participant observation and elite interviewing as primary methods for data acquisition. In its security-based re-reading of the modern Jordanian history and its evaluation of the Jordanian national security strategy, the dissertation concludes that the Jordanian securitization model has led to a number of dangerous adverse reactions and hazards, which threaten Jordanian national security. The awakening of the extreme versions of nationalism, the rise of social/tribal violence and the emergence of the radical Islamist Salafi-Jihadi movement are examples of the hazardous outputs of the classical Jordanian national security strategy. Although the classical strategy has succeeded in maintaining the physical survival of the state/regime in Jordan since 1921, it has failed to cure the structural crises of statehood and nationhood, which the Jordanian state suffers from. Also, the classical strategy has failed to decisively answer the strategic questions of "what is Jordan?" and "who are Jordanians?". This strategic failure of the classical Jordanian national security strategy toward Palestinian-Jordanians rings alarm bells about the strategic and urgent need for an alternative national security strategy based on egalitarianism, modernism, populism and democratization.

The spread of disinformation on social media platforms has in the last few years gained much scholarly attention, in particular its ability to alter democratic processes. The focus of this thesis has however been on the discourse surrounding disinformation rather than disinformation itself, more precisely, the construction and perception of disinformation as a security threat. Disinformation is an issue which is rapidly evolving with the creation of new technologies and opportunities. The aim of this thesis has been to investigate if this has led to a shift in the perception of disinformation as a threat and therefore a change of policy for the EU. This was realised through the utilisation of Carol Bacchi's WPR approach toolkits, in combination with the foundational principles derived from securitization theory. The thesis shows that the EU’s perception of disinformation as a threat has evolved from mainly focus on the decline of public trust and democratic processes. To also include and recognise a more multifaced view of the issue with a larger focus on manipulation, technology driven threats and media literacy deficiency.