Naval Postgraduate School

From the Peace of Westphalia to the present, the ruling elites of kingdoms and states have attempted one international bargain after another for a variety of purposes. Whether it is to protect the integrity of a ruling system such as aristocratic orders, the prevention of power politics, or the mere hope of avoiding the scourge of world war, the West has consistently sought to use multilateral institutions to accomplish these ends, among others. What causes these multilateral attempts to succeed or fail, and more importantly, what is multilateralism's center of gravity? This book suggests that the fear and attractions of state leaders-and the circumstance within which they perceive these fears and attractions-is the center of gravity of the West's most important multilateral attempts. These attempts include the Peace of Westphalia, the British Act of Union, the Congress System, the League of Nations, the United Nations, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Furthermore, it is these human traits among elite figures in the context of historical book that best explain the success or failure of Western Multilateralism over that of the application of theoretical sciences.

The Korean Diaspora in Japan is a legacy of Japan's colonization of Korea in the first half of the 20th century and has always been the largest group of foreign residents in an otherwise ethnically homogenous Japan. A major issue is the role that Koreans in Japan play in supporting North Korea. Although a very small segment of the population, Koreans affiliated with the organization known as Chosen Soren have figured prominently in the triangular relationship between Japan, North Korea, and South Korea over the past 50 years. During the Cold War, Chosen Soren activities in support of North Korea severely strained Japan-South Korea relations that were already plagued by lingering animosity from the colonial period. For many years, Chosen Soren was the conduit through which Japan and North Korea attempted to expand trade and eventually establish formal diplomatic ties. However, Japan-North Korea relations have deteriorated in the post-Cold War era due to North Korea's growing military threat to Japan, and most recently, North Korea's admission that it had been systematically kidnapping Japanese citizens. Studying the history of Chosen Soren will result in a better understanding of the complexities underlying Japan's current foreign policy toward North Korea.

Context and process factors influenced mediation outcomes between the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement/Army and the government of Sudan during the second Sudanese civil war. This research analyzed the impact of the nature of the parties, mediator, mediator strategy, and mediation timing as contributing factors toward conflict resolution during the Abuja peace process and Inter-Governmental Authority for Development peace initiatives on mediation outcomes. The factors most influential to mediation outcomes were based primarily on belligerents' perceptions of the usefulness of mediation. Third-party intervention created a forum for the disputants to negotiate, but mediator attributes and strategy had a negligible effect on mediation outcomes. Mediation resulted in failure when parties had not yet encountered conditions that made mediation a viable option to achieve their goals; however, mediation conducted at the right time, when parties were ready to negotiate, resulted in successful outcomes. No single factor determined mediation outcomes, but context variables were the primary determinant of mediation outcomes in Sudan civil war mediations.

The establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, collectively constitute the most significant bureaucratic shakeup of the national security apparatus since the National Security Act of 1947. Roughly 10 years following the creation of DHS, questions linger as to whether these reforms have addressed the major domestic intelligence shortfalls identified in numerous post-9/11 congressional hearings and in the final report of the 9/11 Commission. This book seeks to answer those questions by examining the performance of the U. S. domestic intelligence system since 9/11 along three fronts: intelligence fusion, institutional evolution, and intelligence prioritization. Citing the literature from current and former homeland security practitioners, academic experts, non-partisan analysts, and print media commentators, this report concludes that while key measures of progress on these fronts have been observed, shortfalls within the domestic intelligence system do nevertheless remain, requiring further oversight and guidance from federal homeland security policymakers.