This book examines the sources of legitimacy for the North Korean regime in an effort to explain what role, if any, economic performance has played in keeping the Kim family in power. This book provides a historical look at the development of the North Korean regime from the beginning under Kim Il-sung to the current generation of rule under Kim Jong-un. The core argument of the thesis is broken into two major time periods, with the economic downturn of the early 1990s serving as the dividing point. Furthermore, comparisons with South Korea under Park Chung-hee and reformist China under Deng...

While war in the Arctic appears unlikely at present, this thesis analyzes why an escalation of territorial and resource disputes in the Arctic up to and including the use of force cannot and should not be ruled out. This thesis examines the political, economic, and military interests of the main Arctic powers-Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States-to set the scene for an assessment of the factors that could make for cooperation or conflict. Advocates of a "Pax Arctica" involving regional cooperation underrate the more pragmatic and competitive factors underlying international...

Russia can no longer be considered a world superpower, but it remains a great power in terms of strategic global security. Russia's importance is based on its nuclear arsenal and permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. This research analyzed arms control and ballistic missile defense (BMD) in order to explain the success and failure of cooperation between the United States and the Russian Federation. Utilizing international relations theory, realist and constructivist frameworks were applied to two separate case studies: U.S.-Soviet cooperation on the Intermediate Nuclear...

With the demise of Soviet Union, the U.S. Navy found itself without an adversary that could challenge its conventional war-fighting capability. It sought relevance and had to decide where to accept budgetary reductions. Abandoning high-dollar weapon systems and accompanying tactics became a tough issue. Throughout the cutbacks, naval aviation remained at the heart of the Navy's force. Naval aviation received support even though much of its capability outpaced all potential adversaries. Critics cite the cost of the aircraft carrier fleet relative to the missions the Navy now performs, and the...

The growing hostility and division between Islam and "the West" comes at a time when the United States and our allies need more than ever to secure vital national interests in the Middle East, to include energy resources, regional stability, and the suppression of terrorism. Our dilemma is that dispatching troops to the region has only increased hostility and fed the Islamist propaganda mill while confirming in the minds of many Americans and our allied populations that intervention in these regions is a counterproductive waste of blood and treasure. The United States needs to reduce its...

Political stability in Saudi Arabia is a key strategic concern of the United States and the international community. As the largest producer of oil in the world and the country with the greatest proven reserves of oil, Saudi Arabia will be a central player in the world's economic health for decades to come. However, Saudi Arabia is also characterized by one of the fastest growing population rates in the world, and its economic and political capacity to absorb such rapid population growth is not so clear. There is a growing body of literature that systematically links demographic growth and...

The welfare of the United States is highly dependent upon its critical infrastructures and key resources. The Marine Transportation System is critical to the flow of commerce. The United States Coast Guard is charged with facilitating the protection of the Marine Transportation System from acts of terrorism under the Port, Waterways, and Coastal Security Mission. The Coast Guard faces the challenge of providing essential protection strategies with limited resources. Optimizing limited resources to provide maximum protection from deliberate attacks is a complex problem. In this thesis we...

In recent decades, insurgents and other nonstate actors with their nontraditional styles of warfare have become significant threats to the U.S. and its allies. Failing to draw lessons from past conflicts has been a root cause of the misguided strategies implemented against insurgents in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Combating these insurgencies using a military-heavy strategy has proved to be a drain on both the U.S. economy as well as the military forces that have shared the burden of deployments since the onset of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. As a result, the U.S. should...

Recent media, political, and military consideration regarding the use of militias has been almost totally negative. This conceptual bias against militias is somewhat misguided, and can lead to disastrously counterproductive situations. Conceivably, militias can play a role in building a functioning state, and can support immediate and long-term U.S. and host nation government efforts in these situations. Stability, Security, Transition, and Reconstruction (SSTR) has become a mainstay of current U.S. strategy, but little effort is dedicated to developing options that deal specifically with the...

Recent state-level changes in drug policy have raised the prospect that similar changes in federal policy may one day follow. Any such changes will have profound effects on U.S. relations with its neighbors to the south. This thesis attempts to analyze the effects of U.S. drug policy on the overall character of U.S. relations with Latin America. U.S. policy and actions have created a pattern of relationships and side effects in Latin America that can help predict how a continuation, or a change, of current U.S. drug policy may alter U.S. relations with Latin America and influence social and...