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Georgian Foreign Policy towards the North Caucasus
Purtskhvanidze, Natato ; Aliyev, Huseyn (vedoucí práce) ; Aslan, Emil (oponent)
Researching Georgian foreign policy towards the North Caucasus is essential as it offers insights into regional security, cross-border challenges, conflict resolution efforts, and the dynamics of small states' foreign policy behaviour. Understanding Georgia's approach to this strategically significant region can have broader implications for regional stability and cooperation in the South Caucasus and beyond. Against this background, this study seeks to explore the national role conceptions of Georgia in relation to the North Caucasus region as perceived by the leaders of the country over the course of the last three decades. The fact that nowadays in Georgia, there is no tangible foreign policy strategy towards this region seems puzzling, given the significance of the region for the national security of Georgia. In order to observe and identify the national role conceptions as perceived by the presidents of Georgia, this thesis employs the role theory to look for the trends in the foreign policy rhetoric of the leaders of the country. Utilising discourse analysis on various different sources, this thesis came to the conclusion that there were three main roles that presidents perceived for Georgia over the years in relation to the region of the North Caucasus. These are the role of stabiliser,...
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Market Forces and Political Power: On the Evolution of the Wagner Group
Mena Fuentes, Lucía ; Bureš, Oldřich (vedoucí práce) ; Aliyev, Huseyn (oponent)
The Wagner Group has recently piqued the attention of the global press, academics, analysts, and strategic and military studies specialists. Building upon Ghiselli's theoretical framework on the study of Chinese Security Privatisation, this research explains the interplay of market dynamics and governmental power in shaping Wagner's unconventional development. Wagner's most relevant deployments abroad have accommodated the elite-set needs of Russia's public sphere through a clear alignment with the Russian foreign policy agenda. At the same time, the public debate on plaussibl regularisation of PMCs in Russia has been greatly determined by key events in Wagner's evolution. Recently, estimations of Russian control over this group have been underplayed by Prigozhin's mutiny. Amid recent developments and the War in Ukraine, the future of this Semi-State Security Actor and the country's PMSCs remain uncertain. Russia's leaders must deal with essential questions on the control of on-ground Wagner operatives amid the war in Ukraine before the legal regularisation of PMCs in the country is even conceivable.
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The Motivations of Foreign Fighters: The Case of the Chechen Diaspora in Ukraine
Grogan, Eilis ; Aslan, Emil (vedoucí práce) ; Aliyev, Huseyn (oponent)
The purpose of this dissertation was to identify whether the custom of blood revenge is a motivation for the Chechen diaspora to act as foreign fighters in the war in Ukraine, 2022- present day. The custom of blood revenge is not unique to the Chechen society and has existed for centuries in communities across the world. For this reason, blood revenge as a motivation for foreign fighter participation should not be overlooked and could prove helpful when developing strategies of disengagement. The following research question, along with three objectives, was analysed: "What is the motivation for Chechen foreign fighters to fight against Russia in the war in Ukraine?". Alongside this research question were three objectives: A) What were the main pull factors for joining this conflict in particular? B) Are Chechen customary laws or 'Adats' a driving factor for mobilisation and if so, should researchers put more emphasis on blood revenge (Ch'ir) when discussing Chechen foreign fighters? C) What level of influence does the practice of blood revenge (Ch'ir) still hold in the diaspora's society today? This research was conducted using qualitative analysis of secondary sources in both English and Russian to provide diversity of sources and perspectives. Due to this topic being under researched, an...
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Russian proxy or rogue mercenary army? Situating the Wagner Group
Sutherland, Matthew Donald ; Bureš, Oldřich (vedoucí práce) ; Aliyev, Huseyn (oponent)
The Wagner Group is an umbrella term referring to a network of mercenary groups, extraction companies, and political strategists linked to the Kremlin by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. Wagner has spread throughout Africa, the Middle East, and South America. Characterized by obscured activities and denied by the Kremlin, Wagner escapes conventional definitions of a Private Military and Security Company (PMSC) in both practice and theory. The pervasive labelling of Wagner as a "PMC" makes it difficult to effectively engage with the group at either an academic or policy level. Therefore, a scholarship situating Wagner in relation to PMSC literature would provide a platform to address Wagner across academic and political platforms. This project aims to fill that gap by situating Wagner in relation to current PMSC and mercenary literature. This will be accomplished by an extensive review of the current literature, followed by synthesizing PMSC definitions and categories that are relevant into the contemporary field. Once this has been established a comparative analysis of a variety of the Wagner Group's global activities will allow us to assess where Wagner sits amongst these definitions and categories. Addressing this gap in the literature will provide a new and effective platform for engaging with Wagner...
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Police intelligence innovation and transnational organized crime in cyberspace: A South American challenge
Simoni, Felipe Lobato ; Michálek, Luděk (vedoucí práce) ; Aliyev, Huseyn (oponent)
Cyberspace is a new domain and a lot has changed since it emerged. This dissertation evaluates the impacts it has had in transnational organized crime and police intelligence innovations, not as a cyber revolution, but as a cyber metamorphosis. After evaluating how each, transnational organized crime and police intelligence, has been impacted by the world transformations, two case studies are presented, one referring to the Tripartite Joint Command in the tri- border area between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, and EUROPOL, their relations to the regional integration projects (respectively MERCOSUL and European Union) and their challenges in innovating. At last, this dissertation runs a risk assessment and a scenario forecasting to enable for a better comprehension on how the key findings can be useful in strategically planning for the future.
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Space warfare and the weaponization of outer space
Patussi, Teona ; Aliyev, Huseyn (vedoucí práce) ; Doboš, Bohumil (oponent)
Humankind's first entry into space occurred in the second half of the twentieth century. For many years, two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States have fought for supremacy in the worldwide arena. The space sphere evolved into a battlefield as a result of this functional confrontation. It is important to note that exploration of outer space, and especially dominance in this domain, represents domination for any state, not just in space, but also in the world. As a result, the greatest threat is the weaponization of outer space, which entails the placement or deployment of various types of weaponry in orbit. Rising geopolitical tensions between the United States, Russia, and China in the contemporary age have led all three major space powers to believe that space warfare is now unavoidable and realistic due to rapid technological advancements. These factors, combined with a lack of transparency on the actual capabilities and objectives of all major nations operating in outer space, resulting in a cyclical escalation, causing some analysts to consider it a return to a Cold War-style arms race and the potential of space warfare. Nations have already recognized the value of space exploration and assets, on which infrastructure and defense capacity rely. National security is consequently...
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Counterterrorism strategies as a consequence of terrorism: understanding United Kingdom's CONTEST 2018
Orozbakieva, Aizhan ; Aslan, Emil (vedoucí práce) ; Aliyev, Huseyn (oponent) ; Biagini, Erika (oponent)
The relative peace that the world citizens enjoy today keeps being sabotaged by forces that kill and injure innocent civilians via terrorist attacks. In recent times, a number of violent attacks took place between 2013 and 2017 in all parts of the world. The territories that have been affected the most are the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Western Europe. While terrorism in the MENA region, for instance, was mostly carried out by local forces, in Western Europe it was either external powers or domestic perpetrators who have been indoctrinated by foreign radicals. Western European states started becoming more cautious and alert. As a consequence of terrorism, new counterterrorism strategies have been written and implemented. The following research project seeks to analyse and interpret the United Kingdom's counterterrorism strategy in order to understand the dynamics of the legitimisation of security- oriented policies. The UK has been selected as a case study because it has predominantly struggled with the phenomenon of Northern-Irish related terrorism, long before the infamous September 11th , 2001 attacks in the US. Post-2001, the UK has been mostly targeted by jihadi- inspired terrorism. In response to the growing threat, the country initiated and implemented strategies to reduce...
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The Authoritarian Shortcut: Russia's Unorthodox Population-Centric Counterinsurgency during the Second Chechen War and Strategic Implications for Western Military Planners
Colombo, Roberto ; Aliyev, Huseyn (vedoucí práce) ; McDonagh, Ken (oponent) ; Aslan, Emil (oponent)
Dissertation title: The Authoritarian Shortcut: Russia's Unorthodox Population-Centric Counterinsurgency during the Second Chechen War and Strategic Implications for Western Military Planners. Author: Roberto Colombo Abstract For authoritarian incumbents, waging counterinsurgency (COIN) warfare is often a wantonly cruel, yet remarkably successful business. While previous research has shown that authoritarian regimes employ a wide array of kinetic and non-kinetic techniques to suppress insurgency, the authoritarian model of COIN warfare remains heavily under-theorised. This study proposes a novel theoretical framework expounding the logic of authoritarian COIN operations and empirically examines its mechanisms by looking at Russia's COIN experience during the Second Chechen War. In investigating the strategic rationale underpinning the authoritarian toolkit of COIN measures, this research aims at establishing whether authoritarian counterinsurgents can effectively deliver mission success. Drawing upon a large pool of secondary sources and primary data collected during face-to-face interviews with eyewitnesses of the Chechen conflict, this study demonstrates that Moscow prevailed against the rebels by resorting to a sophisticated combination of heavy-handed intelligence, information, military, political, and...
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State of the Field: the Concept of Nativism in Far-Right Ideology
Ondet, Juliette ; Aslan, Emil (vedoucí práce) ; McDonagh, Ken (oponent) ; Aliyev, Huseyn (oponent)
During the past few years, nativist ideology and discourses have been more ad more present in far-right parties. A remarkable amount of literature has been produced to study the phenomenon. However, this produces a cacophony in the research field that this dissertation seeks to address. This work is delineating the borders of the field and analysing the main themes, subthemes and debates about nativism. Through a systematic research analysis, this dissertation demonstrates that the field suffers from its Western and historical centrism and is often confused with populism or nationalism. Overall, racist, economic and symbolic nativism are the three core components of nativist ideology and have different causes and consequences in political and social future of nation- states. This dissertation also questions the appropriateness of the concept in non-Western areas, finding a great potential for the future of the field.
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Securitisation of Bangladeshi Migrants to Assam: An Analysis of India's Parliamentary Discussions
Jubaer, Md Sabbir Ahmed ; Schlotti, Jivanta (vedoucí práce) ; Aliyev, Huseyn (oponent) ; Karásek, Tomáš (oponent)
Among the three major political bodies in Assam, the Assamese relied on the strong support of the Bengali Muslims in their struggle over control of Assam's politics, economy, and language after 1947. This alliance was broken in the 1970s and today Bengali Muslims, who originated from present day Bangladesh, are viewed as security threats who need to be addressed through extraordinary measures. Is calling Bangladeshi migrants security threats a culmination of a securitisation process? How did the process of securitisation take shape? Who were the actors and audience? Who needed protection? Using the sociological approach to securitisation as its theoretical framework, this study analyses the mechanism of securitising Bangladeshi migration to Assam starting between the 1970s and the 2010s. Employing the method of discourse analysis, the study analyses the relevant parliamentary debates during the time frame of 1971 to 2020, in India's Lok Sabha (Lower House of India's bicameral Parliament). The project categorises the debates into different decades to grasp how the portrayal of Bangladeshis changed over time and what the different key-words used, reveal about the process. The study finds out that the Bangladeshi migrants went through a securitisation process that ended up in legitimising...
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