http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7872 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49806 Strategies of public diplomacy : an assessment of the current U.S. public diplomacy strategy in light of a directional, elite-oriented model and two historical cases Crow, Ryan Michael, 1980- Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2003. Includes bibliographical references. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46632 Ganging up on Jolly Roger in Asia : International cooperation and maritime piracy He, Ruijie As non-traditional security threats such as terrorism and organized transnational crime gain greater prominence around the globe, the need for international cooperation against these non-state actors has consequently acquired greater urgency. Due to the cross-boundary nature of these activities, international cooperation is particularly critical for eradicating these threats. This thesis analyzes a particular instance of a non-state threat, maritime piracy, and uses it as a probe for understanding the nature of international cooperation vis-a-vis non-state actors. I observe a somewhat surprising trend while collating a database of all instances of international cooperation against maritime piracy throughout the world - Asia, and in particular Southeast Asia, has been the source of a disproportionately high level of international cooperation that is focused on eradicating the piracy problem. Furthermore, this trend has occurred even though Asia is often regarded as lacking the conditions necessary for international cooperation in the traditional security domain - binding multilateral institutions that can facilitate the institutionalization of cooperation agreements, as well as a hegemonic power with the ability to enforce cooperation. What has enabled international cooperation against maritime piracy to flourish in Asia, and what does this imply about non-traditional forms of security cooperation? I propose that non-traditional security cooperation has thrived in Asia for at least two unconventional reasons - the ability of non-binding institutions such as ASEAN to facilitate and promote non-traditional security cooperation, as well as the effective use of national coast guard agencies to avoid the political sensitivities that often result from security cooperation in the traditional domain. (cont.) I make these arguments by relying on evidence post-processed from two international datasets that I have collated - one on the instances of international cooperation against maritime piracy, and another on the geographical distribution of piracy attacks over time. It is hoped that these datasets, made publicly available for the first time, will be expanded upon for further research by the academic community. Finally, non-traditional forms of security threats appear to greater enable national governments to leverage off their commonality of interests to promote cooperation, and may even be an important confidence building measure for generating greater cooperation in the traditional security domain in future. Thesis (S.M. and S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-156). http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46631 Politicized armies, militarized politics : civil-military relations in Turkey and Greece Liaras, Evangelos Despite their common Ottoman heritage, Greece and Turkey have diverged widely in their modem history of civil-military relations. The armed forces have a long record of intervention in both countries, but there is a crucial difference: the military emerged as a roughly unitary, independent political actor in Turkey, whereas in Greece it remained divided into factions aligned with civilian political parties through patronage relationships. This empirical observation is then used as a basis for an attempt at theory building. Several countries exhibit a pattern of military interventions more similar to Turkey and others to those found in Greece. Societies which developed a strong parliamentary tradition early in the modernization process also acquired organized civilian political groups with clientelist networks extending into the armed forces. On the contrary, in countries with limited or weak parliamentary development and strong security pressures, political activism was often channeled through the military, which emerged as a hotbed of political thinking, predating and pre-empting any civilian party tradition. The former type of civil-military relations was more commonly found in Southern European and Latin American countries while the latter was predominant in non-Western societies that resisted Western colonization. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-60). http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46280 Law of Peoples and the duty of assistance : Rawls on redistributive justice among people Rothkin, Karen, 1966- Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 2000. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 74).