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Necropolitics and technology: The rhetorical evolution of U.S. border strategy from 1994-2022
Fiaz, Hadia ; Schlotti, Jivanta (vedoucí práce) ; Špelda, Petr (oponent)
In recent years, following President Donald Trump's vocal anti-immigrant declaration, turmoil has continued to intensify at the US-Mexico border. With an increased drive to securitize the border, there has been an increase in migrant deaths, bringing into question whose being prioritised when it comes to border security. The politics pertaining to border security hold various levels of key stakeholders. The private sector holds influential power over critical decision-making and operations established for protecting US citizens. With an expanding digital world, the private sector funds and influences research and development in technologies related to borders. However, with so many moving parts there is a lack of understanding of the different perspectives and frames that are considered when securitizing borders. While the US has created strategies to confront the critical challenges posed by borders, there is still a continuous lack of safety for migrants. Over the years, the language that has been used in these documents has evolved to become more positive, however, the results are not changing; some might even argue that they are at their worst. This investigation shall analyse border policies from a number of different viewpoints, analysis shall begin with a close breakdown of key speeches made...
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Managing unwanted pregnancies in humanitarian settings. The case of Venezuelan women in Colombia
Trad Malmod, Paula Melissa ; Kay, Rebecca (vedoucí práce) ; Kučera, Tomáš (oponent) ; Schlotti, Jivanta (oponent)
According to UNHCR (2019), from the current 25.9 million refugees worldwide, 48% are women and girls. Gender carries specific vulnerabilities, which can also be traced in humanitarian settings. Particularly, sexual abuse is part of the threats to security that women suffer at every stage of displacement. A study by Lehmann (2002) finds that this "high exposure to frequent, forced and unprotected sex clearly puts refugee women at high risk of unwanted pregnancy", combined with the fact that there is "limited or interrupted access to contraception and little or no access to emergency contraception", or even access to proper information. As a consequence, the UN Population Fund identified that "between 25% and 50% of maternal beds in refugee settings are due to complications of unsafe abortions" (Lehmann, 2002). However, academic research and providers of services, if at all preoccupied with Sexual and Reproductive Health, have focused on contraceptive methods and/or childbirth: the question of ending a pregnancy has long remained a taboo. This study explores policy frameworks for the management of unwanted pregnancies in humanitarian settings, so as to critically address women's health needs in these contexts. It does so by analyzing the core legally-binding documents of International Humanitarian...
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Dealing with the Dragon - An Analysis of Middle Power Strategies and the Rise of China
Mastenbroek, Alexander ; Schlotti, Jivanta (vedoucí práce) ; Kaczmarski, Marcin (oponent) ; Karásek, Tomáš (oponent)
Over the past decades, "the ascendancy of China" has been a popular object of analysis within the academic field of International Relations. A common subject of these studies is the impact of China's rise on the security architecture of the Asia-Pacific and how this affects other international actors. Within this context, the majority of the research neglects the role of the category of so-called 'secondary powers' and its internal diversity. In response, middle power theory has attempted to remedy this situation by focusing on the most powerful of these secondary powers, the so-called 'middle powers'. This dissertation aims to strengthen the theoretical basis for this theory by analysing one of its major underlying assumptions, namely that there is such a thing as generalisable middle power behaviour. Specifically, it tests a central hypothesis that middle powers have shared behavioural preferences with regards to their security strategies. This is divided into two types of strategies: functional, referring to the pursuit of leadership roles in niche issue areas, and normative, including a tendency to support conflict mediation and the international rules-order. For this purpose, this dissertation examines the responses of two middle powers in the Asia-Pacific to the rise of China to determine to...
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Civilian Nuclear Energy Adoption in Sub Saharan Africa: A Human Security-Based Thematic Analysis of the Discourse on Nuclear Power Production adoption in Ghana
Mwenda, Lewis Kimathi ; Střítecký, Vít (vedoucí práce) ; Schlotti, Jivanta (oponent) ; Berg, Julie (oponent)
[Civilian Nuclear Energy Adoption in Sub Saharan Africa: A Human Security-based Thematic Analysis of the Discourse on Nuclear Power Production adoption in Ghana] ABSTRACT This research paper will explore the different theoretical frameworks gathered from different academic backgrounds that guide and explain the role, function and impact of technological advancement, energy security and nuclear power production. It will note the significance of the 'public sphere' and discourse therein which signifies an energy transition. Further, it will propose a security based theoretical framework as an a priori basis for a thematic analysis of the discourse of nuclear power production adoption in Ghana. It addresses the general question of technological innovation and its relation to society beginning with a traditional view of technological determinism, social determinism and a more complex understanding of socio-energy systems. The paper takes a nod to the complex relational aspects in the technology lifecycle from inception to implementation. It contends that energy transitions therefore require apt participation from all corners of society and ought not to be treated as policy 'black-box, but a process that can be opened up for scrutiny by the public. Moreover, the presentation of these ideas proposes that civilian...
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A Critical Review of Bangladesh's Relations with China and India
Hasan, Rakibul ; Butler, Eamonn (vedoucí práce) ; Kaczmarski, Marcin (oponent) ; Schlotti, Jivanta (oponent)
Over recent years Bangladesh has managed to receive plenty of investments from China and India. The dissertation answers how Bangladesh, being a small state, has been able to benefit from two rival powers, China and India, at the same time without being completely aligned with either one. Small states usually tend to balance one powerful state by bandwagoning with another one. In South Asia, it seems Bangladesh has successfully avoided the tendency and retained its strategic autonomy up to some point. For how long Bangladesh will continue to stay equally open to China and India or choose one over another in years to come remains unanswered in much of International Relations (IR) literature. Many IR theories suggesting small states having less bargaining capacities in affairs with their powerful counterparts simply do not apply here. Here the thesis argues that reduced rivalry and increased economic interdependence between China and India in an age of economic globalization has contributed to the ability of Bangladesh taking advantage of both without falling into the strategic orbit of either power. However, if the rivalry between China and India intensifies, Bangladesh may have to make a clear choice of picking a side. The thesis also answers how will such intense rivalry, if it ever happens,...
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Neither Peace Nor War: China's Grey Zone Coercion in the South China Sea
Ha, Thang Nam ; Karmazin, Aleš (vedoucí práce) ; Kaczmarski, Marcin (oponent) ; Schlotti, Jivanta (oponent)
Chinese 'assertiveness' has become a catchphrase in policy and academic discussions regarding the Asia-Pacific security and China's foreign policy more specifically. In the South China Sea, an increase in China's assertive actions to realise its expansionist territorial and maritime claims has led to speculation about the ultimate outbreak of war in the region. This would have tremendous implications for global peace and stability in the long run. A broad reference to 'assertive actions', however, fails to capture the subtlety of actual developments on the ground where China has gradually and ambiguously altered the status quo in the South China Sea at regional actors' policy paralysis. It is, therefore, important to delve beyond the descriptive label and investigate the mechanisms and strategic calculations of China's activities. More research rigour is needed to discern whether these activities belong to a sustained and systemised plan in China's dispute strategy. This dissertation examines China's maritime assertiveness through the lens of grey-zone coercion. It seeks to understand how and why China employs grey-zone coercion to defend and advance its claims in the South China Sea disputes. The questions at stake are manifold: what Chinese grey-zone coercion entails, why it uses grey-zone...
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Machine Learning-enhanced digital Information Operations of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of Korea
Pasligh, Hendrik Arne ; Střítecký, Vít (vedoucí práce) ; Kaczmarski, Marcin (oponent) ; Schlotti, Jivanta (oponent)
MachineLearning-enhanceddigitalInformationOperationsofthePeople's Republic ofChinain the Republic ofKorea Hendrik Arne Pasligh Abstract This study addressesthe research question if, how and to what end the People'sRepublic of China (PRC) might deploy digital information operations enhanced by machine learning (ML) technology in and against the Republic of Korea (ROK). To do so, Ulrich Beck's risk society theory is employed as the theoretical framework, which provides valuable insights into the environment in which information operations are conducted today. This environment is susceptible to information operations on a qualitatively fundamentally different new level. Further, this study establishes a terminology of information operations, bringing clarity to several ill-defined terms that prevail within academic literature. A scenario will be built to visualise a potential PRC information operation against the ROK. The majority of the study seeksto identify and analyse the relevant factors for such a scenario, particularly focusing on PRC strategic interestsandROK vulnerabilities against information operations.This studyfinds that: It is very likely that ML-enhanced artificial agents will increasingly be able to pose as human beings in the digital world; it is very likely that historical issues betweenthe...
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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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Transforming violent masculinities: Nigeria's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme in the Niger Delta
de Diego Manrique, Cecilia ; Bureš, Oldřich (vedoucí práce) ; Schlotti, Jivanta (oponent)
Dissertation Title: Transforming Violent Masculinities: Nigeria's Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Programme in the Niger Delta Abstract Gender mainstream in security studies has been erroneously equated with the introduction of women in security practices. Hence, gender analysis of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programmes have largely underestimated the importance of also considering men's gender identity. Breaking this pattern, this dissertation examines the ability of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration approach adopted in the Niger Delta to change or consolidate violent masculinities among ex-combatants. The selected case study is of special relevance to the topic at hand since the conflict in the Niger Delta has been partly attributed to the constructions of masculinity that prevail in this Nigerian region. Following previous research in the field of critical masculinities and feminist peacebuilding, the paper reveals that the transformative potential of the Presidential Amnesty Programme is extremely limited, exclusively offering a way of expressing positive masculinities as part of the economy. This is the result of the Nigerian government's decision to adopt a minimalist approach to DDR that pays full attention to ex-combatants as individuals rather...
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Internet shutdowns during protests: A practice in digital authoritarianism
Joshi, Nishant ; Schlotti, Jivanta (vedoucí práce) ; Střítecký, Vít (oponent)
The tendency for democratic and authoritarian governments to enact internet shutdowns has grown to massive proportions over the past decade, owing to the capacity of social media and digital platforms to mobilize masses. The emancipatory potential possessed by information technology gets challenged by regimes seeking to preserve their legitimacy and retain power. The impacts that authoritarian measures have on digital governance in the past years have become manifold and continue to pose a threat to human rights. This research argues that internet shutdowns are inherently authoritarian practices aimed at repressing freedom of expression in protesting atmospheres. Using Practice Theory and the framework of Digital Authoritarianism, this dissertation shows the tendency for states to stifle voices of dissent and quash opposition. This dissertation will showcase how authoritarian systems tend to exploit power in order to exploit digital spaces to serve the regime and how the citizen machinery overcome the dis-connective actions imposed by repressive regimes. KEYWORDS: Kill-switch, Shutdowns, Authoritarianism, Repression, Technology, Protest
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