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This research paper explores the nuanced perspectives of South Asian nations, primarily India and Pakistan, on the global efforts toward nuclear disarmament. Against a complex regional security landscape, historical conflicts, and evolving nuclear doctrines, this study employs a qualitative research design, drawing on document analysis and existing literature. The findings reveal divergent views between India and Pakistan, often shaped by intricate factors of security considerations, regional dynamics, and domestic political influences. The paper discusses the implications of South Asian stances on global disarmament efforts. It proposes potential pathways for fostering dialogue and cooperation in pursuing nuclear disarmament in the region. Through an in-depth examination of South Asian perspectives, this research contributes valuable insights to the broader discourse on nuclear disarmament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares immigration reforms across democratic and autocratic states. Mobilising two large-scale datasets, it first challenges the prevailing notion that political regime types inherently dictate immigration policy outputs. The analysis shows that although immigration is central to political debates worldwide, reforms are not that frequent and, when enacted, their restrictiveness does not consistently differ by regime type. Instead, restrictions focus on border controls and openings on entry and integration policies regardless of the political regime in place. The paper then mobilises case studies from around the globe to delve into the policy dynamics underpinning immigration reforms across regimes. It shows that while all migration states grapple with the multifaceted challenges that immigration raises, autocratic politics offers a broader toolkit to resolve the trade-offs between cultural, rights-based, economic and security issues. This creates unexpected opportunities for open immigration reforms under autocratic politics, a dynamic I call the 'illiberal paradox' as a counterpart to the 'liberal paradox' observed under democratic politics. To advance theory-building across the democracy/autocracy divide, the paper concludes by arguing that the liberal and illiberal paradox concepts are not exclusive to democratic or autocratic regimes, respectively, but are valuable analytical tools to understand immigration politics across the political regime spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWhile human rights are an integral part of liberal democratic rule, the extent to which public opinion in democracies prioritises human rights in other countries relative to other competing foreign policy priorities is not clear. This is particularly the case when a country that systematically breaches human rights also poses a serious security threat and there are incentives to improve relations with the regime in power. To assess whether and how the public values human rights vis-à-vis national security in foreign affairs, this paper utilises survey questions that capture the public’s relative preferences between the two in South Korean public opinion regarding relations with North Korea. It provides evidence that when a democratic government attempts to improve relations with a regime committing grave human rights violations, public opinion in the democracy deprioritises human rights in favour of reducing military tension. The findings shed light on the trade-off that exists in attempts to improve relations with a regime that is both a security threat and a systematic violator of human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last twenty years, the EU has made increasingly greater efforts to boost defence cooperation among MS. To strengthen the EDTIB and avoid duplication of capabilities, the EU has encouraged "European preference" in arms procurement and MS' defence collaborative projects, also by seeking to expunge defence offsets from the single market. Against this backdrop, on 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. What impact has the war in Ukraine had on EU defence cooperation? Has the war impacted MS in a similar fashion or unevenly, reinforcing defence integration dynamics for some, while kickstarting disintegration for others? Two years on, a thorough analysis of the impact of the war on EU defence cooperation is still missing. This paper fills this gap by exploring three levels of analysis – arms collaboration, arms procurement, and offsets – and by comparing pre-invasion evidence with data from the post-invasion period. The analysis suggests that the Russo-Ukrainian war has negatively impacted EU defence cooperation, potentially increasing both fragmentation and non-EU dependencies. However, although MS' threat perception and their ability to reap industrial benefits remain important to explain EU defence cooperation, integration or disintegration dynamics do not neatly map onto the geographical or size divides identified by the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tensions between China and Taiwan have been heightened significantly lately. This paper is aimed at investigating the cross-Strait relations from Taiwan's perspective concerning, in particular, Taiwan's economic policy toward China. Indeed, China has long been Taiwan's largest trading partner; yet, political relationship between the two has fluctuated over time. On the one hand, China has been an attractive market for Taiwanese businesses, but one the other hand, there have also been economic and security concerns about Taiwan's dependence on China. This paper shows the connections between political and economic factors which jointly affect Taiwan's economic policy toward China. It argues that there may be a general equilibrium—a median voter—but it has often been distorted by the institutional constraints in Taiwan's political process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper spotlights lessons for health security intelligence across the 'Five Eyes' countries. The COVID-19 pandemic and recent worldwide patterns related to climate change have highlighted the crucial supporting role intelligence analysis may play in comprehending, planning for, and responding to such global health threats. In addition to the human lives lost, the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed serious national security concerns, notably for economic, societal, and in some cases, political stability. In response, a greater emphasis must be placed on intelligence. The paper has three goals. First, it outlines the major thematic areas where key 'Five Eyes' intelligence communities' (ICs) skills were tested in supporting the management of COVID-19: 1) the origins of SARS-CoV-2, 2) disinformation campaigns, and 3) early warning systems. The article then explores how such factors have impacted ICs' ability to provide decision-making support during COVID-19. Finally, the article discusses how 'Five Eyes' ICs may strengthen capacity in the three crucial areas. The 'Five Eyes' ICs must act swiftly but methodically to assess the security-based analytic lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to maximize preparation for the next inevitable pandemic, whether caused by a natural disaster, climate change, or state or non-state threat actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of national security threats on a nation's economic growth and fiscal policy based on a case study of the Korean peninsula. I construct four measures of provocations using a newly-assembled list of North Korean provocative events going back to 1960. The results show that the overall impact of North Korean provocations on South Korea's short-run economic growth is negligible. Since inter-Korean relations have gone through four phases, this paper also estimates the impact of provocations over each subperiod. Provocations had a significant impact on South Korea's economic growth during 1960-1970 and 1992-1997 when inter-Korean tensions were high, but the effects took on different signs. While provocations decreased South Korea's economic growth during 1992-1997, it had a positive impact on South Korea's macroeconomy before 1970. This paper provides evidence that the effect of national security threats may vary with the responses from the government and political factors such as the relation between the targeted country and the country that inflicts the threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how climate change and the environment have been incorporated into Spain's security documents and policymaking. We have examined forty-plus documents issued by Spain's National Security Department to identify the evolution of the climate and environmental discourse. A keyword filter helped to single out the eleven most environmentally relevant documents, which have been qualitatively analysed to better understand the context in which environmental language is used. In our work we identify how both common practices of security analysts and policy-makers different level policies have been strongly influenced by environmental knowledge, and, therefore, incorporated new considerations into security policies as well as. Our findings suggest that climate is not the only challenge incorporated into security documents. Other environmental issues such as desertification, access to water, energy transition or loss of biodiversity are also included, which implies that they are part of a broader concept of national security more in line with the new challenges of the twentity-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My goals in this paper are to elaborate further an approach to civil-military relations going beyond control to include effectiveness; and, to argue that outsourcing by the Department of Defense (DoD) results in opportunity costs making very difficult the implementation of the national security strategy of "great power competition." The current acquisition authority for outsourcing impedes DoD accessing cutting-edge technology generated by "startups." In an earlier era of strategic competition, the main US response was to create the National Aeronautics and Space Agency with a new acquisition authority – "other transaction authority" (OTA). In the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2018 Congress stipulated that OTAs should be the preference for DoD in science and technology and prototyping, and education in OTAs be provided. This education has not been implemented. Consequently, a key element of the US great power competition strategy, which is the acquisition of new technology, goes wanting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a comparative study of Israel and Singapore to understand the national security policies of geographically smaller states. These states are militarily powerful, geographically small, and in close proximity with much larger potential adversaries. These states are also different in terms of their relationship with that much larger state as well as their independence narratives. Israel remains in a state of conflict with Iran through Syria and through terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel was created through war. On the other hand, Singapore has a complicated relationship with Malaysia based on suspicious cooperation. Malaysia also allowed Singapore independence given differences in the voting behavior of Singaporeans. Both states share a military strategy of preemption or prevention. Since these states are geographically small, striking first may offer Israel and Singapore a better chance at avoiding annihilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the global interconnected economy, China-made information-collecting technologies such as closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras have become popular products for routine video-based surveillance. Hikvision and Dahua are the two largest global suppliers of CCTV cameras, with both companies supplying their products to over 200 countries. Despite their popularity, national security concerns are commonly cited when adopting these cameras, citing manufacturer links with the Communist Party of China (CPC), cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and sales recorded in the Xinjiang region, that has records of human rights violations. This paper is structured in three parts: first, we explore the predominance of China-made information-gathering technologies in Australia; second, we summarise common national security concerns usually associated with China-based technology manufacturers; and third, we propose regulatory measures to regulating China-made CCTV cameras in Australia. The paper suggests that while state and Federal decision-makers are free to remove Chinese CCTV surveillance cameras, they should avoid overt politisation. Overall, a stronger focus should be placed on evaluating cybersecurity risks of Internet of Things (IoT) information-collecting technologies and considering their timely and effective regulation from the perspective of individual and national interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's defense white papers have long been dismissed as lacking substance and offering little useful information on China's real strategic intentions and military capabilities. Nevertheless, since 1998 Beijing has continued to issue defense white papers on a regular two-year frequency. Indeed, in recent years it has accorded greater importance to these documents. This paper argues that China's defense white papers warrant more attention than they have received so far. An examination of the making of the white papers, the functions designated for these documents and their evolving content and structure reveals not only the different nature and purpose of the Chinese white papers compared with their counterparts in Western countries, but also important changes and continuities in China's strategic outlook and its evolving perceptions of the role of the use of force in the context of the country's re-emergence as a major player in international affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long understood as the key document in Britain's Cold War history, the Duncan Sandys Defence White Paper of 1957 nevertheless has a largely forgotten context: home defence. This article argues that understanding this context allows important new conclusions to be drawn concerning the drafting, presentation and the reception of the document and the deterrent strategy it expounded. It argues that the Paper failed to establish a new doctrine for civil defence which reconciled the policy with the wider deterrent strategy. In doing this, the Paper presented a muddled policy to the public: one which failed to justify the reductions in civil defence provision but which stressed the destructive power of thermonuclear weapons. This had the effect of encouraging the critics of the government's nuclear strategy to flag up the absence of adequate civil defence measures and highlight the 'admission' that there was no defence against the hydrogen bomb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political economy impacts and influences a state's military strategy. This article focuses on how the integration of the US political economy in the Indo-Pacific drives US Navy officers and the broader national security state to establish the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). Investigating the strategic thought of senior Naval officers shows that they think far beyond military threats and engage with the United States and the Indo-Pacific political economy. Even as the US Navy competes with China's military, its FOIP strategy benefits corporate elites in both China and the US, whose cooperation creates a mutually supportive economic relationship. This argument leads to the finding that the US hegemony in the region is a strategy that avoids a bipolar 'New Cold War' of an entirely de-coupled US and China. The FOIP supported by the US Navy continues to integrate China into regional and global economies, even as it attempts to push back against China by gathering allies and partners. The emphasis on international political economy highlights how the region is a network of 'patchwork' relations, where states rely on one another for economic prosperity. Through investigating speeches and strategic papers from US Naval officials, this paper demonstrates how the US competes and cooperates with China in the context of relations in the region that are in constant flux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article was written at the request of the Secretary of Defense Task Force on DoD Nuclear Weapons Management. While this analysis suggests that certain types of terrorists can be deterred from certain types of attacks, it is less optimistic about the use of nuclear weapons in a terrorist deterrent strategy. A broad approach to deterrence may be effective against certain types of terrorist groups and attacks, making it crucially important to disaggregate the terrorist threat when setting policy. The article goes on to address two types of terrorist groups with a “global reach” that pose a serious threat to the United States: non-state actors driven by doctrines permitting catastrophic attacks and state-sponsored groups capable of carrying out catastrophic attacks. The analysis reveals a number of previously unappreciated tradeoffs and paradoxes associated with the deterrence of terrorists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crop nitrogen (N) use efficiency has been recognized as a useful indicator to measure the overall progress of the country towards achieving the sustainable development goal. Moreover, national level N use efficiency indicators are essential for improved estimate of global N budget and environmental impact assessment. We made an attempt to calculate the indicators of N use efficiency for rice at national and regional level in India. We utilized the data from research papers (23 no) published in reputed scientific journals and theses (83 no) submitted to different state agricultural universities over a period of 46 years (between 1972 and 2018). The partial factor productivity of N for rice in India ranged from 39.8 to 68.0 kg kg−1 with a national average value of 52.8 kg kg−1. The national average agronomic N use efficiency and nitrogen recovery efficiency (REN) were 18 kg kg−1 and 42.6%, respectively. Conducive agro-climatic condition coupled with improved crop management resulted in higher REN (>50%) in northern zone states of India. Whereas, rain-fed eastern and central zone states have REN<40%. The partial N balance (PNB) in rice ranged from 0.72–1.42 in India. The states with lower PNB need to reconcile their N addition with crop N uptake by adopting N responsive varieties and advanced fertilizer management to prevent environment degradation and economic loss. The findings of this study have significant implications for N budget estimation and policy decisions on hunger, food security and environment at national and global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of utilitarian, political, and cultural/identity-based factors of Euroscepticism on a nationwide representative sample of ethnic Georgians. Hierarchical multiple logistic regression showed that for ethnic Georgians, utilitarian factors are the strongest predictors of support for the EU integration, followed by cultural/identity and political variables, supporting the rational choice theory. These predictors are, in turn, anteceded by popular perceptions of the EU in Georgia. Mediation analysis revealed that the perception of the EU as a source of peace and security precedes the hope for an increase in national security with its support (political predictor). Likewise, the perception of the EU as a champion of economic development antecedes the hope for reduced poverty in Georgia (utilitarian predictor). On the other hand, the perception of the EU as a threat to national traditions does not predict Euroscepticism. We elaborate on this result through an examination of the current political atmosphere of Georgia, where we determine that fears of losing national traditions are outweighed by fears of economic and political insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal's role in protecting fundamental rights under China's One Country Two Systems practice. It starts by giving an account of the constitutional and legal framework for Hong Kong's judicial protection of human rights. It examines the Court's efforts in obtaining constitutional jurisdiction, employing generous interpretation approach to rights guarantees, reforming standards such as proportionality and reasonableness for scrutinising rights restrictions, and broadening reference inputs by comparative approach and amicus curiae for interpretation of rights provisions. It indicates that through these ways the CFA has developed freedom-friendly common law constitutionalism and formed judicial preferences in favour of personal liberty. It advocates that the so-called conservative performance of the CFA on rights issues in national security cases may be its efforts to secure judicial independence and the common law system in a changing political climate. The article posits that due to the CFA's strong foundation in judicial protection of human rights, and its recent efforts to incorporate national security law into common law, it is well-positioned to play a crucial role in preserving the way of life for Hong Kong residents as China's Hong Kong policy enters a new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To expedite the construction of barriers along the border with Mexico, U.S. Secretaries of Homeland Security have waived an extensive array of laws since 2005 when authority for such actions was first delegated to that position as part of the REAL ID Act. This paper contextualises the political origins of what is referred to as Section 102(c) waiver authority, shows how these waivers are used to dramatically expand border barrier construction, and reviews legal challenges. In doing so, it connects the use of waivers in governance as viewed through the study of law with the theoretical prominence of Agamben in the discipline of geography. By examining the specific ways in which these legal practices and their geographic expression have institutionalised a state of exception that pushes the boundary of legal acceptability, we arrive at a more transdisciplinary understanding of the role of states of exception as a tool of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic debate on the interplay between politics and intelligence is dominated by the U.S. experience. Our research, based on interviews with over sixty individuals in the Canadian intelligence and national security community and including political staffers, provides a new case study: that of Canada, a middle power with considerable access to intelligence through the Five Eyes partnership. We found that cases of hard politicization of intelligence analysis are virtually non-existent in Canada. The most important factor explaining this finding is Canada's structural position in the world, or how its geography shapes the broader context of interactions between intelligence and politics. Beyond this, six more specific factors at the domestic level also matter: the relative unimportance of foreign and security policy as political issues, few opportunities, a lack of political benefits, low intelligence literacy generally among policy makers, poor transparency in national security decision making, and a tradition of non-partisanship in the civil service. The paper concludes by reflecting on this assessment: while hard politicization remains a rarity in Canada, the shields that have prevented the emergence of politicization will likely be increasingly tested in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Southeast Asia has gone through a remarkable transformation in recent decades and seen peaceful change since the end of the Cold War era despite great power interference and rivalry and ongoing territorial disputes including the South China Sea conflict. The region has transformed its image from the so-called Balkans of the East in the 1960s and 1970s to an economically competitive and peaceful region today. Despite these accomplishments, the record of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in maintaining regional peace and security has also been seriously challenged, particularly at the domestic and transnational level. The paper argues that the Southeast Asian experience of peaceful change calls for a different framework of analysis that goes beyond the traditional International Relations theories which do not provide a compelling answer to whether regional peace has prevailed. It reviews ASEAN's approaches to managing peace and security in Southeast Asia and brings close attention to domestic and international dynamics. The paper claims that the Southeast Asian states' approach to positive peace, reflected in the notion of comprehensive security and the building of national and regional resilience, is instructive in understanding peaceful transformations in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks empirically at how the UK's policy of securitisation within education impacts on the meso-level space of cultural ethos and pedagogy within two majority non-white secondary schools and one majority non-white further education college. It does so primarily by documenting how British Values and Prevent policies enabled through the British Government's Counter-Terrorism and Security Act have impacted on institutional ethos both in terms of objective structures and staff subjectivities. It is argued here that the security-curriculum ensemble is a recognition of this meso-level space by central government and represents a development in moves made to restrict access and agency within this space, and even to circumscribe this space through symbolic violence. This paper concludes by urging school/college leaders to exercise their agency at the meso-level; to recognise this space as a place for democratisation and decolonisation as an equitable alternative to enforced cultural 'upgrading' and in(ex)clusion presented through securitisation policy that is in reality an instrument of symbolic domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As drone technology advances, the potential for illicit criminal exploitation of these unmanned capabilities has been escalating. There has been an ever-growing concern about the peril posed by a drone attack delivering a biological payload into a vulnerable terrorist target. To achieve a more realistic understanding of this threat and to enhance existing national security arrangements to this scenario, this paper attempts to provide a novel approach for counter policies and procedures for the prevention, preparedness and response. With this in mind, criminal activities attempting to conduct a bioattack by means of an UAV are insightfully scrutinized. To do this, the phases of perpetration provide the basis for this discussion. In each phase of commission, the potential threat indicators of malevolent non-state actor activities are identified and accordingly, the most effective countermeasures designed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration of people across international borders has long been an area of concern for the UK and was a key issue in the public debate surrounding Brexit. This paper examines this preoccupation with the movement of people in the context of the coordination of security and development in UK government policy. The UK responded to the migration crisis of 2015 by announcing the diversion of significant development funding to prevent the movement of people. This paper examines the UK development policy discourse of the past 2 decades through an analysis of key policy documents from the UK's Department for International Development (DfID) and traces the changing ways in which the issue of migration has been framed in DfID's policy. It argues that in UK development policy, whereas migration used to be discussed in terms of how it impacts on poorer countries, migration is now framed as a risk to UK national security. Development aid is now framed as a solution to the problem of migration. This paper argues that this is consistent with a broader shift in the merging of security and development in UK policy where development aid is expected to address potential risks to UK national security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does the notion of state security inform national approaches to managing cross-border in-migration in the increasingly interconnected but volatile Northeast Asian region? This paper explores this question by focusing on the intermestic politics of labor importation. Specifically, it theorizes the multidimensionality and multifunctionality of security fears that inform Japan's and Taiwan's approaches to the admission of low-skilled foreign workers. The paper proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework that explicates these relationships and argues that Northeast Asian labor importation regimes were formed at the intersection of a threefold logic of state security. Whereas economic security acted as an enabling (inclusionary) factor in both Japan and Taiwan and motivated the acceptance of foreign workers, internal security in Japan and external security in Taiwan acted as constraining (exclusionary) factors, which directly and distinctively conditioned the resulting policies. Moreover, ever since their inception in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, the divergent policy regimes have been interlocked in these economic-internal and economic-external dynamics of state security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan occupies an elevated role in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and hosts its so-called flagship project, the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Existing literature has often interpreted this project from a geopolitical perspective, as a vehicle through which a rising China projects influence on a peripheral country and advances its own centrality in international affairs. While such motivations certainly played a major role in getting the project off the ground, they are not the sole determinant of its design, or the heated controversies it triggered within Pakistan. This paper seeks to capture both dimensions by analysing the development of CPEC, and the handling of the conflicts it sparked, through a lens of overlapping centre–periphery relations: one between China and Pakistan at the international level, and one between Islamabad and peripheral regions and groups within the country. I argue that this model best captures the pivotal position and resulting agency of national governments in shaping local BRI implementations. It also shows how the BRI is not a straight case of Chinese influence radiating outwards; rather, contestation by local actors in turn forces adaptations in Chinese foreign and security policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safeguarding national security requires ensuring cyber security of a nation. While India has a wider law framework to ensure national security as against wrongs committed in real world, it is yet to match this framework to suit to the regulatory framework essential to address concerns raised due to the abuse of cyber technology. Though Indian laws including substantive legal provisions empowers the State to regulate acts affecting national as well as cyber security, its procedural rules suffers from being outdated and thereby irrelevant in addressing the concerns specific to cyber space. Ensuring national security requires access to data, both personal as well as non-personal data. While recent legal developments have been focusing on extending wider protection to privacy including data privacy, the State agencies strive to access data, which at times are crucial to the enforcement of laws in general and to ensure national security in specific. Jurisdictional issues further complicates the matter. As a result, the law enforcement agencies expect proactive coordination from internet intermediary in facilitating access to data, e-surveillance, decryption, internet traffic data monitoring, etc. Intermediaries on the other hand are also legally mandated to ensure data privacy, freedom of speech and other rights of internet users. This often has led to the conflicting concerns requiring new legal response. This paper will overview the existing laws as well as assess the changes Indian law is currently undergoing in these regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights deficiencies in Uganda's national security civilian intelligence services' oversight systems and their implications for the democratic governance of the security sector. It argues that the intelligence sub-sector in Uganda still lags behind as far as adhering to democratic governance norms is concerned. The legislature and civil society organizations which are supposed to ensure that intelligence organizations operate within the rule of law find veritable challenges due to some legislative ambiguities. The paper recommends that the laws governing intelligence services should be amended to give more definite mandates to the legislature and other oversight bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of American exceptionalism in guiding US national security concerns has often come under scrutiny in the past from security analysts and policy makers alike. The US is not alone in projecting its exceptional values in its foreign policy articulations. Indian foreign policy assertions also stress India's unique civilizational qualities that make it capable of pursuing a "peaceful" modernity as opposed to the "violent" modernity of the West. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the idea of exceptionalism impacts the national security cultures of the two biggest democracies of the world. What are US and Indian exceptionalism in the context of international relations? How do they translate into the national security cultures of a superpower and a rising power? Is their national security culture driven by fear or hope, trust or mistrust, flexible or rigid strategies? These are some of the issues that this paper seeks to address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1840s Italian society began to see the Mediterranean region as a dangerous place to live, owing to what was regarded as threats represented by Austria, Great Britain, France, and even Russia and the United States. This conviction resulted from various affairs both within and outside Europe, where the same powers were accused of behaving in an overtly aggressive way, which was used as an argument for the political unity of Italy's various states in order to give them greater strength for defence. Since danger was seen all around, this unity became important for both the peninsular Italians and the Sicilians, who agreed on the need to establish an Italian league with federal land and naval forces. The principal objective of this paper is to show that the question of Sicily's future was seen as a question of not only Italy's security, but also of its future position in the Mediterranean as a whole, and that the de facto unanimous support of Sicily's membership in the league in 1848 resulted from this self-protecting response that, moreover, already contained proto-imperialist tendencies in which for geostrategic reasons the island played an important role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper seeks to provide an answer to the question which has hitherto not been significantly explored in the relevant academic scholarship: Why did China block India's (and other countries) attempts to designate Masood Azhar – head of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM/Jaish) as terrorist under UN Security Council 1267 committee rules? According to the extant literature, China's actions are explained broadly by India-China rivalry and India-Pakistan rivalry resulting in a strategic and 'all weather partnership between China and Pakistan against their common enemy India. This study argues that China's actions are also explained by its New (Asian) Security Concept and the ensuing China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), domestic (in)stability in Pakistan and China's geo-strategic interests. China is deeply perturbed by the socio-economic-political instability in Pakistan. China was concerned that if Masood Azhar was designated as a terrorist under UNSC 1267 Committee rules, Jaish and other terrorist organizations would take up arms against the Pakistani state (as in the past) which will create further instability in Pakistan and undermine CPEC and China's geo-strategic interests. Thus, the paper provides a more comprehensive and nuanced grasp of China's reluctance to designate Masood Azhar as a terrorist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sea has increased in importance as a source of useful resources. The nation that has control of its immediate and external seas is in a good position to choose how much or how little of sea resources it wants. It is the importance of the sea and the sea lines of communication to nations that has made thoughts such as maritime power, sea power, naval strategy ... etc significant to them. The paper also examined the naval and constabulary relevance of the Nigerian Navy to its maritime environment. The study relied on primary and documentary data. The documentary data were sourced from books, newspapers and annual reports. The secondary sources used were subjected to textual and contextual evaluations. The primary sources was basically interviews with some important actors in the era. The paper's study of the Nigerian Navy also identified the roles of a small navy and their importance to the maritime environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intelligence in defence organizations is widely seen as an under-researched topic. This paper assesses this claim and, by means of a metareview, systematically analyses the body of literature that has focused on intelligence in defence organizations between 2009 and 2018. The review includes 13 key journals on intelligence studies (e.g., Intelligence and National Security), military studies (e.g., Small Wars and Insurgencies) and conflict and peace studies (e.g., Journal of Strategic Studies). The analysis provides insight on the focus areas, the timeframes and conflicts that are addressed as well as the authors involved. Based on this, the paper provides suggestions for further research into intelligence within defence organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil society has become an active player in the public reception and handling of the 'refugee crisis', especially through the use of social media. People willing to engage are able to connect in a low-threshold, local, and interactive way, while also keeping connected to similar movements in other EU countries. This process of connection and collaboration can be regarded as an instance of 'bottom-up' Europeanization processes, in which national and subnational actors work together transnationally to reach a common goal. Social media as fora for exchange allow efficient communication, present a possibility to directly lobby the decision makers (e.g. local politicians), and provide an apt tool for the planning of collective actions. The internet offers de-securitising forces a forum for presenting alternative discourses on migration, contributing to de-securitisation processes by moving away from the predominant framing of migration as a threat. The present paper therefore aims to look at 'bottom-up' Europeanization and new possibilities for collaboration through the internet as a transnational, de-securitising open forum for discussion. A group of civil society pro-refugee activists in South Tyrol (Northern Italy) and their transnational activities will serve as a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa entailed a proliferation of policy tools for EU external migration governance. After the signature of Mobility Partnerships, the EU launched Migration Compacts, whose inner logic is to 'avoid the risk that concrete delivery is held up by technical negotiations for a fully-fledged formal agreement'. This paper examines the development of the EU's external migration governance and frames it into a formalization/informalization dichotomy. We argue that the EU-led securitisation of migration has contributed to the increasing informalization of EU-third countries agreements. The case of Jordan is relevant in understanding the EU's approach, as a strategy to muddle through in a region in turmoil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that human intelligence is the fundamental form of intelligence, and that cognitive activity is the premier component of the intelligence process. As practiced in the national security paradigm, intelligence is essentially humankind's attempt to replicate human intelligence in purposeful social groups. Further analysis suggests that the pursuit of advantage is the central focus of true intelligence. Accordingly, a new universal definition defines intelligence as the capacity for reasoned foresight that enables advantageous action. The traditional cycle is subsequently re-conceptualized as a cognition-centric Intelligence Enterprise Model (IEM) that provides a more useful framework for future intelligence enterprise development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biometric technical capabilities enable the collection, storage, transmission, sharing, matching, and analysis of biometrics to enable decision making and actioning in support of national security objectives. United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2396 (2017) and UNSCR 2322 (2016) calls upon member states to investigate foreign terrorist fighters and share biometrics and contextual information, which requires a close alignment between military operations, border security, and law enforcement investigations. A system of systems design of biometrics technical capabilities allows for closer alignment between relevant entities to support national security objectives. However, this alone is not sufficient and there is a need for legislation and organizational policy to enable national and international biometrics collection, storage, transmission, sharing, matching, analysis and actioning. This paper discusses the complex Australian legislative and policy considerations to enable the biometric system to support the criminal justice, law enforcement, military and intelligence systems to meet national security objectives. Sharing of biometrics data and contextual information to meet national security objectives need to be balanced with privacy concerns and civil liberty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France's power projection in West Africa was perceived as a credible threat to Nigeria's national security and leadership aspiration in the sub-region. In recent times, however, Paris' deepening engagements with the Sahelian states in the context of the counterterrorism fully aligns with Nigeria's national interest. It is against this background that this paper interrogates the importance of counterterrorism operations in enhancing collaborative relationship between Nigeria, France and the Francophone states in Lake Chad region. Drawing on interview data and extant literature, the study makes three arguments. First, the earlier rivalry between Nigeria and its Francophone states was critical to the Boko Haram resilience, especially in its formative years. Second, the trans-border insurgency of the sect, particularly following the declaration of the caliphate in the region, was central to the renewed security partnership among the affected states, culminating in the re-invigoration of the MNJTF. Finally, the study argues that the cooperation against terrorism by France and Nigeria is positively redefining relations between the two powers. Despite the cooperation, security crisis ignited by the group remains pervasive in the region, and hence the suggestion for the rejigging of MNJTF to incorporate socio-economic anti-terrorist dimensions to address the worsening developmental condition in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues for a re-examination of China's engagement with Africa. Rather than offering broad continental generalisations, or concentrating only on individual country case-studies, researchers and analysts would be better served by recognising and understanding the specific and varied regional contexts in which relations occur. Utilising Hettne's conception of regionalism and regionalisation processes, and over 100 field work interviews, the paper presents a broad continental overview of China's role in Africa followed by a more detailed case study of China's role in East Africa. The paper argues that the regional reality of African security dynamics enmeshes China into intra-regional geopolitics and complex local level security issues, and sees the relationship greatly affected by the varied behaviour and agency of the African leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a March 2015 speech delivered in Mauritius, India's current Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined what he described would be India's vision for the Indian Ocean Region. Under the acronym, SAGAR or "Security and Growth for All in the Region," five key points were elucidated. At the time, the speech was praised for articulating a proactive approach to the Indian Ocean and the various visits to, and agreements that followed with, littoral and island countries, appeared to confirm this. This paper seeks to assess the extent to which India has been able to deliver an agenda of security and growth for the maritime region. Despite the enthusiastic reception to SAGAR, the critique is often made that India is slow to deliver on the promises made as part of the country's maritime and naval diplomacy. The paper highlights a selection of decisions and actions taken since 2015, which have contributed to maritime governance in the region and argues that there is a substantial change in the way SAGAR provides a framework for strategic action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes instances of the Indian leadership's choice of an escalatory approach in its border dispute with China, first in the adoption of the Forward Policy in the lead up to the 1962 war, and more briefly the more recent decision in 2017 to take escalatory action in response to Chinese activity in the Doklam area in the trijunction of the India-China-Bhutan border region. In doing so, the paper demonstrates how a focus on reputation as an explanatory factor may allow us to make better sense of how Indian leaders have in the past and continue to in the present make decisions on key issues of national security concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU's normative promotion is a keystone in the arch of its Foreign and Security Policy, reflected in establishing a "ring of friends" in its neighbourhood. However, the EU's normative impact in these countries is often hindered by domestic constraints. Conversely, deeper socialisation through persuasion and "learning" may advance towards the promotion of EU norms better. By tracing the "learning" component of the EU's external perceptions in its Eastern (Ukraine) and Southern (Israel and Palestine) neighbourhoods, this paper elaborates upon the receptiveness of EU norms. Considering the specific attention that the ENP draws towards the support of civil society, this paper focuses on "learning" narratives of EU norms among civil society elites in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine as the key targets of EU assistance – with a particular focus on various conceptualisations of learning in the learning process. Notwithstanding perceptions of the EU as a normative power, we find that the learning processes remain too complex to be captured within a single theoretical framework. Whereas communicative rationality implies learning about each other's identities through rational arguing, our analysis demonstrates that identity performance is one of the most emotive and crucial factors in perceptions of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign terrorist fighters who pose real and serious threats to Australian national security rely heavily on anonymity to gain an advantage. The United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2396 (2017) and 2322 (2016) calls upon the Member States to investigate foreign terrorist fighters, share biometrics and contextual information. Biometric systems are an important component of the forensic science system of systems to support the criminal justice, law enforcement, intelligence and military systems. Implementation of a national biometrics technical capability to enable collection, matching and storage, is a complex process. In previous publications we have discussed the system of systems approach to forensic science and biometrics, specifically related to the military domain. There has been no academic reviews of the current Australian biometrics technical capability as part of the system of systems to meet national security objectives and recommendations contained in UNSCR 2396 (2017) and UNSCR 2322 (2016). However, technical biometrics capabilities alone are not sufficient to enhance the Australian biometric system and this needs to be considered along with the other key enablers of legislation and policy provision. Legislation and policy are complex issues that will be highlighted only in this paper and addressed in more detail in Part II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the challenges faced by the U.S. intelligence community (IC) in recognizing and responding to the elements inherent in asymmetric competition with China. We offer that cultural and procedural impediments are negatively impacting the community's capabilities and argue that reliance on outdated methodologies and ad hoc technology acquisition to detect activities specific to asymmetric competition has allowed adversaries to exploit three types of interstitial gray areas (IGA) – operational, organizational, and informational. We argue that an updated framework to combat emerging threats from asymmetric competition and commensurate IGAs that has been proven in field settings to enhance detection, deterrence, denial, diplomacy, and defense against adversarial actions is needed. We demonstrate how the framework improves security resilience by focusing more on the human as a driver and user throughout the system, enabled by technological tools that start with the development of more diverse rules for data analytics through inputs from of federal, state, local, territorial, tribal, provincial, and private sector operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With COVID-19 global deaths surpassing a million lives as of late-September 2020, there are compelling reasons to examine the epidemic warning process and how public health agencies work with governments to translate their information into action. The problem of failures in this warning-policy interface has long been an issue for intelligence agencies worldwide. This paper explores the problem of intelligence failures and applies their lessons to the warning and response to pandemics and other large-scale health emergencies and disasters. This analysis offers lessons for public health warning and response to future pandemic crises. Pandemic response is potentially more complex than traditional national security issues as government players are augmented by nongovernmental organizations, health practitioners, the private sector, and general public of every country in the world. Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic with an international perspective can aid warning and response to coming waves as well as future epidemics. A set of suggestions are provided for epidemic intelligence warning and response to pandemics presenting whole-of-society and transnational approaches. Included are areas for further research including research avenues to prevent and mitigate the future pandemic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use and exploration of outer space is, according to the Outer Space Treaty (OST), to be carried out for the benefit and interest of all parties. Outer space is critically important to the defence and national security interests of many nations, none more so than the United States. Over time, a significant space junk problem has emerged. There is growing recognition of this problem and reason to believe that it will only get worse if current activities continue. Space junk presents a threat to the national security interests and economic interests of spacefaring nations. Various solutions are being proposed and developed. This paper presents an economic perspective and, in a particular, a behavioural economics perspective, on the space junk and national security problem. As various potential technological solutions emerge, we are interested in the obstacles that may stand in the way of an optimal prioritisation of the alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the US failed to implement the WPS Act and offers a practical demonstration of how to analyze Afghanistan's security situation from a WPS lens before making three policy arguments regarding what the United States can learn from this error. This omission from the ongoing political debate demonstrates that - despite the United States in the late 2010s being "the first country in the world with a comprehensive law on WPS, and I de facto i , the first with a whole-of-government strategy that responds to such a domestic law"[1] - its government and security communities have not yet fully integrated critical WPS concepts and theories or understood their practical applicability for US security and policy decisions. The US military withdrawal process from Afghanistan brought politicized accusations of multiple foreign policy - military, intelligence, and diplomatic - miscommunications and misconceptions. WPS analyses are critical to understand why Afghanistan destabilized so quickly WPS analyses are critical if policymakers and security professionals truly wish to understand why Afghanistan destabilized so quickly and what the United States should consider for future drawdowns. [Extracted from the article]

Translations of summary The paper deals with imagination and its failures from a psychoanalytic perspective. We offer a definition of imagination failures and suggest how they can be interpreted as an opportunity to learn from experience. In order to show that the topic has a concrete and not only speculative significance we consider the public report on September 11 as a case study. The report was published by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States after a long investigation of the facts and circumstances relating to the September 11 attacks. The document has been the object of strong criticisms, as we argue in the paper. Both the document and some of the critiques that it received focus, however, on significant aspects of the debate about imagination, such us the fragility of imaginative thought, its dependence on unconscious desires and its plurality of outcomes: a plethora of imaginaries can in fact be developed at any time, from the same set of information about reality. We comment on these aspects and reinterpret them from a Bionian perspective. The concepts of 'unthinkability', 'imagination failure' and 'depressive position' are used to inform the necessity of dealing with an evolving and conflictual geopolitical scenario. Particular attention is paid to the proposal of 'routinizing, even bureaucratizing, the exercise of imagination' within the institutions that deal with National Defense. This possibility is discussed in depth in order to suggest how it may be concretely implemented. In conclusion, a strong case is made for the usefulness of psychoanalytic reflection in the arena of relationships among countries, with particular emphasis on the new terrorist challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of homeland security measures have been implemented or proposed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. While public opinion polls suggest that some of these measures (e.g., universal security checks) have received widespread support, security policies advanced by President Donald Trump that target Muslims and other immigrant groups are more controversial. These polices have conflated immigration with terrorism and have generated anti–immigrant sentiment in some segments of the American public. In this paper, we utilize national survey data to examine the social sources of public support for national security measures, with a focus on policies that emphasize border control, universal security, reduced civil liberties, discriminatory surveillance, and exclusion. We also determine the extent to which support for policies specific to the Trump administration is driven by Trump's voter base – White, male, older, southern, Christian, and conservative and assess the influence of anti–immigrant attitudes. Our analyses reveal that the American public favors security measures that are applied universally, and characteristics of Trump's voter base further predict policy support. Our findings also suggest that support of discriminatory security policies is largely explained by the perception that immigrants are dangerous. We discuss the implications of the anti–immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric that has stemmed from Trump's presidential campaign and subsequent administration for national security policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]