Search

The analysis in the 2013 White Paper of international defence engagement highlights the important co-operative activities that Australian Defence Force personnel and Defence officials conduct in, and with, other countries. These activities can create vital synergies for Australia, but their benefits should be neither assumed nor overstated. In particular, they need to be assessed in the broader context of the White Paper's narrative, which is focused primarily on a rationalisation of the gap between the ends and means of defence policy. In that context, the role of Australia's international defence engagement risks being portrayed disproportionately. In the most critical dimension of such engagement, the alliance relationship with the United States, Australia's capacity for burden-sharing and value-adding is diminishing, not expanding. In other forms of international defence engagement, the White Paper's emphases seem designed to compensate for budgetary shortfalls and other deficiencies elsewhere in the policy narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of URVIO - Revista Latinoamericana de Seguridad Ciudadana is the property of FLACSO - Ecuador (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the 1960s and 1970s the creation and analysis of coded international events data became a major tool for the analysis of international relations and crises. Unlike other quantitative projects developed by the academic community, the events data approach was transformed to applied research and used by various national security bureaucracies in the U.S. government. The approach was eventually rejected due to an aversion by bureaucrats to quantitative analysis systems and procedures which did not incorporate their expertise, organizational objectives and need for user-friendly and timely presentation. The lessons learned from this case can be used to inform current efforts by academics to transfer basic research to the foreign policy making community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the Vietnam War Congress has reclaimed a role for itself in the making of U.S. foreign and defense policy. Although the surge in congressional activism has attracted considerable normative commentary, political scientists have devoted relatively little effort to exploring the causes and consequences of Congress's renewed interest in foreign policy. To stimulate more empirical study in this area, this paper summarizes the existing work on foreign and defense policy in Congress and identifies opportunities for new research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the transition due to the emergence of a new generation that has the urge to assume power in the Soviet Union. The transition is related to the factors on economic, military and social policy. Several developments have taken place in the Soviet Union including the installation of intercontinental ballistic missiles thereby acquiring massive retaliatory capability, and the holding of new bases for the deep-water navy. In relation to the U.S.-Soviet relationships that began in the mid-1980s on subjective realms, significant developments have been initiated in both the countries. The potential changes in the Soviet Union are more radical due to the fundamental priorities started by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1929.

Using a historical institutionalist approach, this article addresses the future of Southeast Asia’s naval forces. Much analysis on this subject employs a linear Realist model in which Southeast Asia’s navies are expected to be the beneficiaries of declining internal security challenges and a deteriorating external threat environment. However, to date neither of these factors, including increasing Chinese assertiveness in the maritime domain, appear to have significantly accelerated naval force development in Southeast Asia. While there have been some capability increases in areas such as submarines, growth has mainly been in patrol boat and fast attack craft classes. Numbers of larger offshore surface combatants like frigates have fallen. This article argues that in countries where army dominance has become institutionalized, and civil control of the military is weak, governments may be unwilling or unable to reallocate funding away from armies to maritime forces. In a funding environment in which national economic growth is moderate, and spending on defence is a lower priority, naval modernization and expansion can be blocked. This article examines the cases of Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar to demonstrate how their armies became dominant and how this may have diminished the growth prospects of their navies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What causes arms races between rival states? Traditional international relations theories view arms build-ups as deterrence motivated reactions to real or perceived threat. Research on the consequences of arms races, however, suggests that military build-ups can have unintended negative consequences. I offer an alternative explanation for arms race onset built on the assumption that leaders understand the potential costs of military build-ups and, consequently, wish to avoid arms races if possible. According to the model, states only engage in arms competitions when there are particularly salient stakes at risk. I posit and test a model arguing that territorial stakes, because of their inherent salience, represent the stakes most likely to produce arms races. Tests of the model on a population of rival states confirm the hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hungary's constitutional commitment to support kin-nationals beyond its borders (nation policy) has been a central feature of its post-1989 foreign policy and highlights a particularly important national security concern - the societal security of national identity, culture, language and tradition. This article examines Hungary's societal security concerns and the policy methods it utilises, including its EU membership and the promotion of minority rights at the European level, to help combat these concerns. It is suggested that Hungary has found it somewhat difficult to balance its societal security policy objective with internal economic demands on its welfare system and its external foreign policy objective to maintain good neighbourly relations. This article also notes that Hungary's attempts to Europeanise, or rather 'EU-ise', minority and ethnic rights issues as a means to enhance societal security for the Hungarian nation has certain political consequences for the EU. This suggests that societal security provision is an issue that cannot be overlooked when trying to understand the longer-term implications of EU eastern enlargement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the strategic assessment of the military power in Canada. Reference to the Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1818 between Canada and the U.S.; Percentage of the Gross National Product allocated for the defense sector in Canada; Dependence of Canada's political, economic, and military power on the U.S.

In recent years nonlethal weaponry has become increasingly available for widespread application as a means of promoting national security. Among the fascinating questions raised by this development, the deterrence impact of nonlethal weaponry seems particularly ripe for scrutiny. After a background discussion of definition, motives, history, and dangers surrounding this trend, this article develops a set of highly tentative propositions about the conditions under which nonlethal weaponry is most beneficial and detrimental as an instrument of deterrence. It is hoped that these propositions provide guidance for policymakers in using this coercive instrument to manage domestic and foreign turmoil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) regional security and integration prospects. The author relates that the military cooperation between member-states has become a pressing matter for the GCC. The rising regional threats, the GCC's primary concern is with external security, and it is through the Joint Defence Arrangement that the organization seeks to face challenges to its politico-military stability. With respect to internal security, GCC states continue to discuss the adoption of the Internal Security Agreement, blocked by Kuwait's insistence that certain extra-territorial rights conceded to Saudi Arabia be revoked.

The article presents a letter from the editor of "Interfaces" concerning the November-December, 2006 issue. The issue focuses on the United States Department of Homeland Security's Operations Research division, which aims to give the department a scientific framework for considering problems and decisions. In addition, articles within the issue also discuss other aspects of homeland security, ranging from attack detection, identification, and prevention to response preparedness in the case of successful attacks.