In this concise and accessible book, Solove exposes the fallacies of many pro-security arguments that have skewed law and policy to favour security at the expense of privacy.
The purpose of this article is to present the results of an analysis of the content of strategic documents on national security adopted by the United States and Poland between 2001 and 2020. The ...choice of the research field was determined by the place these documents occupy in the hierarchy of strategic texts related to state security. Due to the cooperation between both states and the Polish perception of the United States as the most important ally, the research task is to determine whether there is a convergence in the content of strategic documents issued by the Rzeczpospolita in relation to US documents. Furthermore, the paper examines to what extent the links between the two countries are reflected in the form and content of official strategic documents and in the description of threats. The text consists of three parts. The first is theoretical and focuses on describing the hierarchy of strategic documents in both countries. The second section presents a comparative analysis of the formal aspect and, therefore, how documents are adopted in the United States and in Poland. The last part of the article contains the conclusions of the analysis of the threats identified in the documents of both countries.
Why does North Korea behave erratically in pursuing its nuclear weapons program? Why did the United States prefer bilateral alliances to multilateral ones in Asia after World War II? Why did China ...become "nice"-no more military coercion-in dealing with the pro-independence Taiwan President Chen Shuibian after 2000? Why did China compromise in the negotiation of the Chunxiao gas exploration in 2008 while Japan became provocative later in the Sino-Japanese disputes in the East China Sea? North Korea's nuclear behavior, U.S. alliance strategy, China's Taiwan policy, and Sino-Japanese territorial disputes are all important examples of seemingly irrational foreign policy decisions that have determined regional stability and Asian security.
By examining major events in Asian security, this book investigates why and how leaders make risky and seemingly irrational decisions in international politics. The authors take the innovative step of integrating the neoclassical realist framework in political science and prospect theory in psychology. Their analysis suggests that political leaders are more likely to take risky actions when their vital interests and political legitimacy are seriously threatened. For each case, the authors first discuss the weaknesses of some of the prevailing arguments, mainly from rationalist and constructivist theorizing, and then offer an alternative explanation based on their political legitimacy-prospect theory model.
This pioneering book tests and expands prospect theory to the study of Asian security and challenges traditional, expected-utility-based, rationalist theories of foreign policy behavior.
Japan, the geopolitical lynchpin in the East Asian region, has developed a unique maritime security policy and interpretation of the law of the sea. Japanese Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea ...examines Japan's domestic laws and its approach to international law.
This book offers an illuminating account of how material and ideational dynamics shape the evolution of Malaysia–Indonesia relations. It addresses the circumstances, conditions and constraints that ...determine the double-edged effects of the culturally bound “special relationship”. The author argues that while their shared serumpun identities and strategic interests do give rise to a considerable closeness between Malaysia and Indonesia, the politics of power (im)balance have prevented the transformation of the special relationship into a “pluralistic security community”, as their egoistic understanding averts the formation of collective self.
This overview examines critically the post-9/11 empirical literature on terrorism. Major contributions by both economists and political scientists are included. We focus on five main themes: the ...changing nature of terrorism, the organization of terrorist groups, the effectiveness of counterterrorism policies, modern drivers or causes of terrorism, and the economic consequences of terrorism. In so doing, we investigate a host of questions that include: How do terrorist groups attract and retain members? What determines the survival of terrorist groups? Is poverty a root cause of terrorism? What counterterrorism measures work best? In the latter regard, we find that many counterterrorism policies have unintended negative consequences owing to attack transference and terrorist backlash. This suggests the need for novel policies such as service provision to counter some terrorist groups’ efforts to provide such services. Despite terrorists’ concerted efforts to damage targeted countries’ economies, the empirical literature shows that terrorism has had little or no effect on economic growth or GDP except in small terrorism-plagued countries. At the sectoral level, terrorism can adversely affect tourism and foreign direct investment, but these effects are rather transient and create transference of activities to other sectors, thus cushioning the consequences.
This book traces the shifting meanings of security and geopolitics in Central European states that acceded into the EU or NATO in 2004. The author examines assumptions that shaped these debates and ...influenced policy-making, combining fresh theoretical approaches from international relations and political geography with rich empirical material from Central Europe. This book provides the first in-depth analysis of security discourse in the region.
To the Editors (David C. Logan and Robert C. Watts IV write): Isaac Kardon and Wendy Leutert argue that China's influence in overseas ports is a "consequential form of state power projection" (p. 10) ...and an "attractive alternative" (p. 43) to overseas bases (see: Isaac B. Kardon and Wendy Leutert, “Pier competitor: China’s power position in global ports,” International Security Volume 46, No. 4 (Spring 2022), pages 9-47). They compellingly document China's desire to support peacetime naval operations from People's Republic of China (PRC)-controlled commercial ports, but they overstate both China's "privileged access" (p. 10) to these ports and how the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has used them. Rather, we argue that access to foreign ports depends on host-nation permission (which is uncertain), and China has not demonstrated that these ports provide robust fleet support. These factors likely impose significant limits on the PLAN's ability to project power from PRC-controlled ports. Isaac B. Kardon and Wendy Leutert reply: We thank David Logan and Robert Watts for their correspondence and welcome the opportunity to further explain issues surrounding port facility access and use. We concur that host countries play an important role in determining how Chinese companies and PLAN utilize ports. We differ, however, on the nature and significance of the “privileged access” (p. 10) that overseas infrastructure assets owned and operated (p. 10n7) by Chinese arms afford the Chinese military.
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