1,720,989 research outputs found
'Tesco for terrorists' reconsidered : arms and conflict dynamics in Libya and in the Sahara-Sahel region
No full textHow does arms availability affect armed conflict? What implications does increased arms availability have for the organisation of armed groups involved in war against the state? This article explores these questions by looking into the civil war in Libya and the subsequent proliferation of weapons in the broader Sahel/North Africa region. Its argument is based on secondary sources : online databases, international organisations reports and news media. First, we examine the question of firearms in Libya in order to understand how changing conditions of weapons availability affected the formation of armed groups during different phases of war hostilities (February-October 2011). We highlight that, as weapons became more readily available to fighters in the field during this period, a process of fragmentation occurred, hindering efforts to build mechanisms that would allow control of the direction of the revolutionary armed movement. Next, as security continued to be a primary challenge in the new Libya, we consider the way in which unaccountable firearms and light weapons have affected the post-war landscape in the period from October 2011 to the end of 2013. Finally, we put the regional and international dimensions under scrutiny, and consider how the proliferation of weapons to nearby insurgencies and armed groups has raised major concern among Libya's neighbours. Short of establishing any causal relationship Italic stricto sensu , we underscore the ways in which weapons from Libya have rekindled or altered local conflicts, creating permissive conditions for new tactical options, and accelerating splintering processes within armed movements in the Sahara-Sahel region
Security Assistance in a Post-interventionist Era: The Impact on Limited Statehood in Lebanon and Tunisia
Get PDFPost-interventionist security assistance is premised on non-normative security understandings and flexible arrangements between external and local actors. In hybrid political regimes or areas of limited statehood, these forms of assistance, while strengthening specific aspects of a country’s security context, reinforce some domestic actors vis-à-vis others thanks to processes of selective borrowing by local political elites. This paper demonstrates how such processes contribute to the proliferation of hybrid elements in the country’s security sector. In two contrasting case studies, we illustrate how security assistance packages in Lebanon and Tunisia have diluted emerging democratic reforms, producing more coercive manifestation of state power
An EU-south Mediterranean energy community : the right policy for the right region?
No full textThe European Commission has spelled out its policy ambition for EU energy cooperation with the southern neighbourhood with plans for the establishment of an ‘Energy Community’. Its communications make clear that an Energy Community should be based on regulatory convergence with the EU acquis communautaire, much in the same vein as the existing institution carrying the same name; the Energy Community with Southeast Europe. It is puzzling that the Commission insists on repackaging this enlargement concept in a region with very different types of relationships vis-à-vis the EU, especially when considering the lukewarm position of key stakeholders in the field. According to them, any attempt to introduce a political integration model in this highly sensitive issue area in the politically fragmented MENA region might run the risk of hurting the incremental technical integration process that has slowly emerged over the past few years.Funded by the European Research Council (ERC) within the 7th Framework Programme, the BORDERLANDS project is hosted at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, and directed by Professor Raffaella A. Del Sarto
Practices of imperial identity : patterns and paradoxes in EU trade and energy policies toward the Maghreb region
Get PDF
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Doctrine, Industry, and Technology: Assessing the Inefficiencies of the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex
No full textMaster of Arts in International Affairs -- John Cabot University, Fall 2025.This thesis analyses the internal dynamics, strategic objectives and institutional dynamics which shape the function of the military-industrial complex (MIC) of the United States. It argues that it is not influenced so much by real world strategic imperatives, as well as financial and material constraints, as by the preferences of entrenched, political, bureaucratic, military and corporate entities that privilege technologically sophisticated weapons systems at the expense of other products. Drawing on an Actor-Network Theory analysis of these incentives and the path dependencies they generate, the study traces the relationship between military structures, congressional constituencies, foreign policy planners and doctrinal frameworks to determine the effect of their linkages. Through an analysis of four weapons platforms—the F-35 Lightning fighter jet, the MQ-9 Reaper drone, the Switchblade-300 drone, and the 155mm ammunition round—the thesis demonstrates the mismatch between strategic preferences for technologically developed systems and the practical necessity demanded of attritional, high-intensity warfare. A comparative analysis of Russian and Chinese procurement structures adds to the findings that detail the lack of institutional coherence and industrial depth. The results indicate that the existing MIC structure erodes US adaptability and resilience in an era of great-power competition, requiring significant reform to the institutional networks which produce current procurement results
Civilizational Decline and the Liberal International Order
No full textMaster of Arts in International Affairs -- John Cabot University, Fall 2025.Traditionally, the Liberal International Order’s crisis is analyzed through the lens of shifting power dynamics, growing populist discourse and politics, democratic backsliding, and/or through binary frameworks like realism vs. liberalism. This research focuses on deeper, structural causes of this crisis and questions whether the LIO has entered its final “Civilizational exhaustion” phase, what Armenia’s experience after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war reveals about this decline, and whether the LIO has entered its final “Civilizational exhaustion” phase. Using Oswald Spengler’s cyclical theory of civilizations as the main lens of analysis, this research suggests that the LIO has entered the “civilizational” phase, the late stage of its cycle. It is important to mention that this framework is not used for prediction, but rather for interpretation. It provides a lens for understanding the liberal international order as a late civilizational formation whose institutions persist but whose creative moral energy has been exhausted. Spengler’s civilizational phase is characterized by rationalistic, standardized and functionally insufficient and/or paralyzed institutional structures. In other words, at this stage, the institutions become rule-bound and uniform, but they no longer function well. This can be seen in the LIO, especially after the Cold War when it became highly intrusive (some scholars call it the “postnational liberalism”), appeared stable but was characterized by “crisis of authority” and was fragile when faced with a real crisis. The study also uses Armenia’s experience after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War as a case study to confirm this hypothesis. Armenia isn’t just an example of geopolitical failure, it is also a case that exposes the civilizational exhaustion of the liberal order. The LIO’s response to the conflict was insufficient, exposing systemic limitations rather than just policy slipups. iii By analyzing the structural patterns of normative exhaustion, institutional formalism, and the practical irrelevance of liberal peacekeeping mechanisms in the face of widespread ethno-territorial conflict, this research concludes that the LIO’s crisis is a historical consequence of civilizational exhaustion. The Armenian experience reveals structural decay, moving the analysis of the current global disorder beyond temporary policy failures toward recognizing a transformation consistent with Spengler’s late-stage framework
Hybrid Proxy Ecosystems: Institutional Paralysis, Patron Competition, and the Transformation of Warfare in Syria
No full textMaster of Arts in International Affairs -- John Cabot University, Fall 2025.This thesis investigates how institutional paralysis at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) shapes the emergence and evolution of Hybrid Proxy Ecosystems in contemporary civil wars, and the mechanisms through which these dynamics facilitate the fragmentation, proliferation, and transnationalization of violent non-state actors (VNSAs). The thesis focuses on Syria as a case study, as it involves a long list of external and internal actors that interact and illustrate the new complexities emerging from HPEs in contemporary conflicts. The research analyzes this interaction within constrained institutional responses caused by systematic veto use, and examines how current legal frameworks have severe gaps in enforcement mechanisms ensuring international norm compliance, creating a permissive landscape for HPEs to develop in. Methodologically, the research utilizes primary documents and scholarly analyses to trace relations between institutional paralysis and conflict dynamics such as the proliferation of VNSAs. The findings indicate that there is a pattern where UNSC deadlock increases external involvement, accelerates the flow of resources, and intensifies the competition between local armed groups. Through these findings, the thesis contributes conceptually to the body of literature on proxy warfare by categorizing vertical and horizontal proxy models while coining the term Hybrid Proxy Ecosystem and urges a new understanding of collective security frameworks capable of dealing with contemporary conflict dynamics and HPEs
From Markets to Battlefields: How NATO Should Respond to Drone Proliferation by Non-State Actors
No full textMaster of Arts in International Affairs -- John Cabot University, Fall 2025.This policy thesis examines how NATO should respond to the accelerating proliferation of drone capabilities among both non state actors and states. It asks what policies the Alliance should adopt to regulate this diffusion while strengthening deterrence and operational resilience. The thesis argues that NATO’s response remains uneven because drones have become low cost, scalable tools of battlefield lethality and grey zone coercion, yet alliance doctrine, procurement, and training still reflect assumptions shaped by more conventional and clearly attributable air threats. The analysis identifies four connected gaps: the absence of a unified alliance doctrine for drone threats, major capability disparities across members, legal ambiguity over attribution and proportional response, and insufficient training for drone saturated environments. The Ukraine war serves as the primary empirical anchor, showing how mass drone employment and rapid innovation can outpace legacy air defence concepts. Three policy priorities emerge. NATO should adopt an alliance wide drone doctrine with shared legal and attribution standards. It should field a modular, jointly procured counter UAS package that reduces capability gaps and integrates rapid acquisition of dual use technologies. It should institutionalise drone specific training and deepen NATO EU industrial alignment to accelerate interoperable capability development and strengthen collective regulation
- …
