International Security Issues Research Articles

The role of the NPT in preventing further proliferation of nuclear weapons

The entire atmosphere created by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its presence in the world played one of the responsible roles, since after the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons were never used in a military situation (unless, of course, you take into account that the nuclear powers conducted more than 2,000 nuclear explosions at their test sites).
 It can be said that this is the result of a broad consensus reached by the international community on the prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other types of weapons of mass destruction, as well as the result of the actual operation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons during its more than 50 years of existence. Currently, no bilateral or multilateral meeting on international security issues, including at the highest level, is held without a mention of nuclear non-proliferation, and it is often at the top of the agenda.
 The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is an international legal and ethical norm that has entered the minds of millions of people. Many countries have developed and adopted national legislation establishing export control rules for materials used in the production of weapons of mass destruction, as well as other laws (customs, etc.) to help ensure the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Extensive training of young experts in basic knowledge to support the international non-proliferation regime of nuclear weapons is ongoing.
 In the field of technology, scientists and experts in reactor engineering are working in many countries to build nuclear power plants that will not produce materials used to create weapons of mass destruction. Many scientists are working to prevent the construction of reactors that threaten the proliferation of technologies and nuclear materials capable of producing nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
 The conclusion of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the establishment of an international non-proliferation regime contributed to a fundamental change in the world’s attitude to nuclear weapons. From the first impression in the eyes of the world public that nuclear weapons are a «genius» discovery, the latter is increasingly perceived as a mortal danger that threatens human existence, and this idea penetrates deeper and deeper into the consciousness of millions of people.

International and Regional Security Issue: Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) and National Security of Nepal

International security is a comprehensive concept. There is a change in the dynamics of international security in the international arena. In the present context, the world has been shifting from unipolar to multipolar. The rise of China and the latest Russian attack on Ukraine have changed previous paradigms and parameters of international and regional security. After the proposed Belt and Road Initiate (BRI) by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the United States and its alliance proposed the Indo-pacific strategy (IPS) to counter the BRI. This article aims to give answer how and why IPS is crucial for international security, South Asian regional security and national security of Nepal. The objectives of this article are to analyze the security challenges created by IPS in international arena, to assess the security threat created by IPS in South Asian region, and to explore how Nepal can resolve and minimize a threat created by IPS and protect and promote its national security regarding IPS. In the context of South Asia, India is also involved in IPS. India is the dominant power in South Asia, so the active involvement of India in IPS also creates a threat to the regional security of South Asia. Nepal has to be conscious of the security aspect while cooperating with China, India, and other countries. Nepal is sensitive in terms of geopolitical, geo-strategic, and geo-economic aspects. The immediate neighbors’ China and India have been emerging as new great powers of the world. On the other hand, other great powers in the world also have prioritized Nepal strategically. So, Nepal has to continue its non-alignment trend and focus on its economic development and prosperity.

INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ASSURANCE OF PEACE AND SECURITY: CONCEPT AND MEANS OF ACHIEVEMENT

The purpose of the article is to study the subject matter and sources of international legal peace and security, to analyze the means of international dispute resolution, and to investigate Ukraine’s security priorities in times of war. Research methods: the chosen topic of research requires the use of various scientific methods and approaches to obtain high-quality results. Therefore, to solve the tasks, we used the following research methods: analysis - study of modern scientific approaches to the study of "international security"; systematic method helped to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the features of international legal documents on international security issues; analytical method provided an opportunity to analyze the state of cooperation between Ukraine and European security structures. Results: in accordance with the principles of international law, the structure of the international system and, ultimately, international relations themselves, different concepts of international security have been formed. All of them are based on scientific considerations, explain international processes, and are capable of making certain predictions about the future. At the same time, as we have noted, these concepts contain specific methods and means of ensuring international security. Among the most popular concepts are balance/balance of power, global/common/comprehensive security, collective security, cooperative security, as well as hegemonic stability, balance of threats, and peaceful coexistence. They are based on different principles: balance of power, hegemony, balance of interests, etc. Discussion: defining the essence of modern threats and challenges helps to determine the methodology for substantiating the tasks of ensuring international security in general, as well as the security of the state of Ukraine in particular, and to develop a regulatory framework for ensuring peace and security in the world.

Secure and Privacy-Preserving Authentication Scheme Using Decentralized Identifier in Metaverse Environment

The metaverse provides a virtual world with many social activities that parallel the real world. As the metaverse attracts more attention, the importance of security and privacy preservation is increasing significantly. In the metaverse, users have the capability to create various avatars, which can be exploited to deceive or threaten others, leading to internal security issues. Additionally, users attempting to access the metaverse are susceptible to various external security threats since they communicate with service providers through public channels. To address these challenges, we propose an authentication scheme using blockchain, a decentralized identifier, and a verifiable credential to enable metaverse users to perform secure identity verification and authentication without disclosing sensitive information to service providers. Furthermore, the proposed approach mitigates privacy concerns associated with the management of personal information by enabling users to prove the necessary identity information independently without relying on service providers. We demonstrate that the proposed scheme is resistant to malicious security attacks and provides privacy preservation by performing security analyses, such as AVISPA simulation, BAN logic, and the real-or-random (ROR) model. We also show that the performance of our proposed scheme is better suited for the metaverse environment by providing greater security and efficiency when compared to competing schemes.

Nuclear Weapon Discussion on G20 Forum

Indonesia holds a key role as host of the G20 Presidency in 2022. Many international media highlighted this summit and the issues that has been discussed inside.As a world economic forum, G20 Presidency in Indonesia also reviewed about the international security issue, one of it is nuclear weapon threat. This study identifies, analyze, and compares the content produced by Indonesia (Kompas.com), United Kingdom (BBC.co.uk), and Saudi Arabia's online news media (aawsat.com), surrounding the frame of nuclear weapons issue on G20 Forum. The study utilizes the framing analysis model of Zhondang Pan and Gerald M. Kosicki, to explain the message that communicated by the three countries related on nuclear weapon issue on G20 summit. The major findings clearly captured that every media adopted different rhetorical frames through the media coverage of the G20 Presidency in Indonesia. Related on nuclear weapon issue, Indonesian media imply a neutral approach, different with UK's media that used straightforward approach or Saudi's media with interior approach.

Institutional Sanctions and Functionalism: Insights from the Most Recent Practice

Abstract The article aims to discuss the most recent practice of institutional sanctions in light of contested fundamentals of the law of International Organizations (ios). The analysis delves, in particular, into sanctions adopted by ios having technical mandates in situations of wider political disputes among members, concerning international peace and security issues, amidst the United Nations (UN) Security Council’s failure to take coercive measures under Chapter vii of the UN Charter. Of special interest is the suspension of membership rights and privileges which some technical ios have deliberated following the conflict in Syria and the undergoing war in Ukraine (para. 2). These instances offer a test bed to challenge the fundamental theoretical paradigm of the law of ios, that is functionalism, and to extract some ambiguities underlying the essence of ios, revealing the continuous oscillation between policy and technocracy, which is endemic to the institutional life of every io and is well reflected in the different attitudes of the members and the Secretariats. The article highlights, in particular, the tension between politics and law that emerges from the adoption of sanctions by ios endowed with highly technical tasks (para. 3), the invocation of the ‘politicisation’ mantra by the targeted member to oppose the application of the privative measures (para. 4), and the ambivalent use of functionalist ‘language’ within the reacting io (para. 5). The article concludes with some final remarks on the ‘strategic’ use of ios (para. 6).

Environmental security and international responsibility in international politics

Environmental security has become one of the main pillars of international security, and environment and climate issues have become at the forefront of issues that are addressed and focused on in various international discussions, due to the importance of these issues and their vitality for man. During the past three decades, environmental problems have become defining many global trends in In light of the environmental problems that have exacerbated as a result of the self-interests of states and the desire to expand the economy as well as contemporary consumer behavior, environmental security has strengthened ways to confront environmental challenges and problems exacerbated by these problems, as countries have come to see that environmental threats and climate change can lead to catastrophic results. On the security of states, therefore, it has become keen to address environmental problems collectively and activate collective diplomatic action, because states are no longer able to unilaterally confront environmental changes, and this is due to the increase in environmental problems and their significant development. Environmental security has become obligatory for states to modify their behaviour in a manner consistent with the necessary and required treatments in order to confront environmental risks. At the same time, many countries and countries have sought international organizations to focus on issues that are at the core of important positions such as environmental securitization and environmental terrorism resulting from abnormal behaviours of environmental defenders who have created wrong practices in defending the environment, which constitutes an opposite proposition in environmental security.

USA export control system for dual-use products

Export control — the permissive and prohibitive (licensing) procedure for carrying out foreign economic operations in relation to certain goods and technologies — occupies an important place in both the foreign economic and foreign policy of the United States. The analysis of the export control regime over dual-use products deserves special attention. The United States considers technological leadership as the basis of national security and an essential component of maintaining national competitiveness. It was in this area that the main changes took place throughout the post-war period. Currently, the development of this regime is undergoing another tightening cycle. The article analyzes the evolution of priorities and legislation of the American policy of control over the export of dual-use items, examines the transformation of the system of rules in this area in the light of new US approaches to national and international security issues, the actualization of foreign policy objectives. It is considered how the specifics of the regime allows the United States to widely use it as sanctions.

INSECURITY AND THE QUEST FOR STATE POLICE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE RESTRUCTURING DEBATE IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC

There has been a debate on the modality for the management of the Nigerian Police Force since the return to civil rule in 1999. The debate revolves around the need to devolve constitutional authority on policing to sub-national units. In theory, this will entail moving internal security issues, inclusive of policing, from the exclusive federal list to the concurrent list. Given the heighten insecurity that has plagued the Nigerian state in recent times, this paper examines the restructuring discourse in Nigeria with a specific focus on the call for the establishment of state police within the context of the subsidiarity principle. The study was contextualized within the exploratory research design paradigm and it adopted the qualitative approach in the sourcing and analysis of data. To this end, the paper has drawn information from published media reports that include: opinion, commentaries, editorials and news articles. Data was also sourced from published academic and policy publications that include: articles, chapter in books, books and government documents. Drawing on information from these sources, this paper assesses the positions of protagonists and antagonists of state police in Nigeria. It draws out implications for security governance in Nigeria.

ТЕОРЕТИЧНІ ЗАСАДИ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНОЇ РЕВОЛЮЦІЇ В КОНТЕКСТІ МІЖНАРОДНОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ ТА БЕЗПЕКИ

The article is devoted to current issues of international information security. The author examines the phenomenon of the information revolution and its impact on political, cultural, social and economic changes in the world. It is noted that the term "information revolution" is associated with the theoretical concept of the information society; there have been several information revolutions in the history of mankind and they were associated with the emergence of new instrumental methods of transmitting and storing information − writing, printing, computer technology, which subsequently contributed to revolutionary changes in all spheres of society and the State. It is determined that the information society in its most general form can be defined as a stage of society development in which ICT have a significant impact on the main spheres of life: economic, political and socio-cultural. The term "cyberspace" is considered, and its connection with the processes of formation of transnational civil society (Global Civil Society), the impact of Internet technologies on authoritarian regimes, the issues of governance of authoritarian regimes, the issues of Internet governance and ensuring national and international security (Cyber Security) is analysed. It is generalised that the information society is emerging within individual states with varying degrees of intensity, but in accordance with general patterns −, one of which is the growing dependence on ICT. It is noted that the most important direction of the reverse influence of the characteristics of world politics on the global information society is the strengthening of the role of states and the strengthening of "digital sovereignty" in most countries of the world.

The Role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS in Ensuring International Information Security in the Context of the Ongoing Conflict in Ukraine

The research considers the prospects for intensifying cooperation on the issue of ensuring inter-national information security within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS in the context of the conflict in Ukraine and its impact on the negotiation process on this issue within the framework of the UN. The article examines the history of the negotiation process on the issue of international information security within the framework of the UN, SCO and BRICS. It is concluded that it seems promising to expand the mandate of the existing negotiating groups on the issue of providing international information security within the framework of the SCO and BRICS in the light of the experience accumulated by these organizations in the field of discussing IIS issues. The study provides recommendations on encouraging the dialogue on the IIS issue within the specified formats. There is a need to involve all stakeholders in the discussion of IIS issues within the formats under consideration - the private sector, academic and civil communities, affiliated and independent experts, NGOs, etc. The negotiation process itself should become more institutional and inclusive.

A ‘Geopolitical Commission’: Supranationalism Meets Global Power Competition

AbstractThis article examines the origins and operationalisation of the concept of a ‘geopolitical Commission’, which has been promoted by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen since 2019. This concept has been used to guide the stronger co‐ordination of the external aspects of the Commission's work. It is also symptomatic of the growing role of strategic considerations in the Commission's recent initiatives, particularly through the objective of strengthening the EU's ‘open strategic autonomy’. To explain this phenomenon, I combine three different theoretical perspectives: neorealism, neofunctionalism, and geoeconomics. I conclude that the geopolitical Commission should be understood as the result of the interactions between exogenous factors – the intensification of global power competition and the rise of geoeconomic strategies – and endogenous factors, such as the rivalry between the Commission and the European External Action Service and the functional link between the Commission's economic powers and international security issues.

Review on application progress of federated learning model and security hazard protection

Federated learning is a new type of distributed learning framework that allows multiple participants to share training results without revealing their data privacy. As data privacy becomes more important, it becomes difficult to collect data from multiple data owners to make machine learning predictions due to the lack of data security. Data is forced to be stored independently between companies, creating “data silos”. With the goal of safeguarding data privacy and security, the federated learning framework greatly expands the amount of training data, effectively improving the shortcomings of traditional machine learning and deep learning, and bringing AI algorithms closer to our reality. In the context of the current international data security issues, federated learning is developing rapidly and has gradually moved from the theoretical to the applied level. The paper first introduces the federated learning framework, analyzes its advantages, reviews the results of federated learning applications in industries such as communication and healthcare, then analyzes the pitfalls of federated learning and discusses the security issues that should be considered in applications, and finally looks into the future of federated learning and the application layer.

Small State Strategy in Practice: The Formulation and Execution of Danish Theories of Success in the United Nations Security Council, 2005–2006

In 2005–2006, Denmark held a seat in the United Nations Security Council and, thus, had an opportunity to gain influence on international security issues otherwise not available to small states. This article applies the concept of theory of success as a heuristic tool to unfold how Denmark prepared and executed a general influence strategy in the Security Council. Furthermore, the article applies the concept to three instances where Denmark developed and executed issue-specific strategies: the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission, the direction of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, and the referral of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court. Based on newly released archival records in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the article tracks the strategy formulation within Danish diplomacy that sought to gain influence despite Denmark’s lack of relative power. The article also draws important lessons from the instances of successful Danish efforts in the Security Council that are applicable for the Danish election campaign for membership of the Security Council in 2025–2026.

Sex Trafficking and the Proliferation of HIV in Africa

What role does human trafficking play in the spread of infection, particularly HIV? There is a growing amount of research examining the connection between international security issues and HIV. This work has mostly focused on conflict dynamics and shows that political instability in the form of international and domestic conflict leads to increases in the prevalence of HIV in Africa. Further, current literature on sex trafficking suggests that this practice may be directly connected to the spread of HIV. However, there is little exploration of this connection beyond case studies of individual countries. In this paper, we address this research deficit by unpacking the link between sex trafficking and the spread of infection. We develop a theory and conduct an empirical test to assess whether there is any link between trafficking and HIV in a sample of 45 countries in Africa from 2001 to 2016. We find that places that are destinations for sex trafficking have a higher prevalence of HIV. This research contributes to the literature on human security and epidemiology by revealing important implications for understanding the consequences of human trafficking and the spread of HIV.

TRANSFORMATION OF FOREIGN-POLICY COMMUNICATION OF THE EU, GERMANY, AND UKRAINE

The study’s purpose is to critically analyse approaches to international communi- cation in the global environment and clarify the specifics of processes that char- acterize the asymmetry of foreign-policy communication because the contem- porary communication tools allow forming both a positive perception of foreign policy initiatives and a negative attitude of politicians or the world community toward foreign-policy actions. As a result, the research focuses on studying the transformation of the EU foreign-policy communication tools; analysing the practice of foreign-policy communications of Germany and Ukraine; detecting the impact of destructive communications on the image of the EU, Germany, and Ukraine in the international information space. The main conclusions of the research are such statements: the aggravation of Ukrainian-Russian relations has demonstrated an imbalance in the existing for- eign-policy orientations; the EU leaders rethought the political impact of supra- national formation on the contemporary system of international relations; Ger- many’s practice in foreign-policy communication concerns the preservation of the position as a world leader that is able to influence the solution of complex international political and security issues.

Unbowed, unbent, unbroken? Examining the validity of the responsibility to protect

How has the sentiment around the “responsibility to protect” (R2P) changed over time? Scholars have debated far and wide whether the political norm enjoys widespread discursive acceptance or is on the brink of decline. This article contends that we can use sentiment analysis as an important indicator for norm validity. My analysis provides three crucial insights. First, despite the well-known fear of some scholars, R2P is still frequently invoked in Security Council deliberations on issues of international peace and security. Second, overall levels of affirmative language have remained remarkably stable over time. This finding indicates that R2P is far from being obliterated. Out of 130 states, 4 international organizations (IOs), and 2 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) invoking the norm, 65% maintain a positive net-sentiment. Third, zooming into Libya as a case illustration of a critical juncture, we see some minor tonal shifts from some pivotal member states. Adding the fact that interest constellations within the Permanent Five are heterogeneous concerning the third pillar of R2P, future military interventions, sanctioned under the norm, seem unlikely.

Environmental journalism education beyond the conventional pedagogical approaches: Exploring the scope of experiential learning to train Pakistan’s journalism students

Environmental issues are steadily increasing across the world. News media plays a significant role in highlighting environmental problems and facilitating the public debate to foster a healthy environment. The South Asian news media do report on environmental challenges. However, the major focus of news media’s coverage remains politics, economy, regional and international security issues. In the case of Pakistan, the second largest South Asian country, environmental reporting does not rank high among the editorial priorities and the newsroom’s hierarchies across the country. In addition to editorial priority, reporting on environmental issues, in its geopolitical, social, and scientific contexts, requires expert knowledge and the journalists’ ability to frame environmental stories in an effective manner. Therefore, it is important to explore learning approaches that can enhance journalism students’ skills to report on environmental problems effectively. Thus, informed by the theory of experiential learning, this study aims to explore how an experience-based model can help to meet the practical needs of environmental journalism for an improved news media’s coverage of environmental issues in Pakistan. In doing so, this study features the views of Pakistani journalism and media academics that have been gathered through in-depth interviews (online) and analyzes the gathered data thematically.

Discourses of blame in strategic narratives: the case of Russia’s 5G stories

ABSTRACT Governments spread strategic narratives via media to influence foreign audiences and policy makers. A frequent but understudied feature of strategic narratives is the discursive construction of blame. In this article, we use the coverage of the adoption of 5G cellular technology in Russian state-funded news portals as an example to show how to interpret blame narratives about international security issues. We combine methods and insights from the discourse-analytic studies of blame and the research into the uses of strategic narratives in international relations to reveal how various articulations of blame are used to (de)legitimise particular actors and actions, sow discord, and foster alliances. Our analysis sheds new light on blame discourses that are more sophisticated and indirect than straightforward accusations and may serve multiple strategic goals at once. It also contributes to scholarship on Russia’s strategic communication about China as well as the United States and its allies.

The relationship between defence policy, defence budget and force structure in contemporary Brazil

Despite having regional interests and abundant natural resources to secure while great-power competition is developing in South America, the roles and objectives of the Brazilian Armed Forces are strongly related to missions other than external security. In this direction, what are the main challenges regarding the relationship between defence policy, defence budget, and force structure in Brazil? To address this research problem, we explore an analytical approach that connects defence policy to budget execution in the context of civil-military relations in Brazil. The methodological framework of the paper adopts a qualitative approach, choosing a single case study as its research design. To cope with the classical limitations of the single-country study we adopted a broader historical perspective to raise observations. Thus, the paper deals with two levels of analysis: international (geopolitical landscape) and domestic (Ministry of Defence). Based on official documents and budgetary data between 1999 and 2021, we trace the major consequences of the Brazilian Armed Forces' continuous involvement in internal security issues, such as public safety, border security, environmental crimes, and migration crises. The paper shows that the current profile of Brazil’s military spending, which is characterised by relatively high costs on personnel and low investments, has detrimental effects on defence acquisitions, training, operations, and readiness. Our main argument is that the share of personnel expenditure is a fundamental challenge for Brazilian defence policy in the coming years.