Transnational Security Research Articles

Ad-hoc Security Initiatives in Africa: a New Type of Security Community?

Abstract Specific transnational security challenges in the Lake Chad Basin (lcb), the Sahel, and parts of Central Africa have necessitated a collective response in the form of ad-hoc security initiatives (asi s). These asi s represent distinct structures and operations which could be viewed in contrast to the United Nations (UN) or African Union (au) peacekeeping operations, Regional Economic Communities (rec s) interventions or even other collective security approaches further afield such as, the North-American Treaty Organization (nato) or Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (osce). The asi s are therefore a display of a unique arrangement which warrants serious discussion within international relations theory. Through an analysis of the rci-lra, mnjtf and the G5 Sahel Joint Force, this paper seeks to examine whether these asi s can be identified as security communities using the conceptual framework initiated by Emmanuel Adler and Michael Barnett (1998). A careful examination of the task forces finds that while the asi s display convincing degrees of mutual trust and a collective identity – some defining features of a security community, its overall compatibility is limited by its inability to guarantee the expectation of peaceful change for citizens, based on its purely militarized approach. In addition, the asi s have not demonstrated the ability to operate independently from external sources of funding, which has the potential to influence dynamics within the arrangement. However, this discussion does point to useful ideas on how the framework of security communities needs to consider the complexity of contemporary conflicts in defining expectations of peaceful change.

Transnational Security Threats and Border Management: A Study of Cross-Border Crime Challenges at the Nigeria-Niger Border

This study investigates the complex dynamics of transnational security threats and the corresponding border management strategies at the Nigeria-Niger border, with a focus on cross-border crime challenges. The overarching theoretical framework employed in this research is the Theory of Transnationalism, which emphasizes the interconnectedness and interdependence of countries in the contemporary global context. The study draws on a rich body of secondary data from various sources, including academic publications, government reports, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations. These sources provide insights into the multifaceted nature of cross-border crimes such as human trafficking, drug smuggling, arms proliferation, and terrorism, which have the potential to destabilize both Nigeria and Niger and have far-reaching consequences for the broader West African region. The analysis of the data reveals the intricacies of cross-border criminal networks, highlighting the role of porous borders, economic disparities, and political instability in facilitating criminal activities. In conclusion, this research underscores the importance of a comprehensive understanding of transnational security threats and the vital role of effective border management in addressing them. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on border security in the context of transnationalism and offer valuable insights for policymakers, security agencies, and international organizations working to combat cross-border crime and enhance regional stability in West Africa.

Transnationally entangled (in)securities: The UAE, Turkey, and the Saharan political economy of danger

Contemporary security interventions in Africa are characterized by an increasing pluralization of external actors, bringing with them new security rationalities, practices, and technologies, sometimes with profound influences on local security dynamics. While studies have focused empirically on East and South Africa, this article explores the roles of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey in the Sahel region of West Africa. To make sense of their engagement, we develop the notion of ‘transnational security entanglements’ by bringing the literature on (in)security assemblages into productive dialogue with scholarship on transnational entanglements in the fields of global history and law. Both literatures depart from relational ontologies, eschew methodological nationalism, and emphasize the interplay between the human and the non-human in the making of the social world. At the same time, we argue, the focus on entanglements adds a specific analytic of South–South connections and transregional circulations to extant scholarship on (in)security assemblages. To illustrate the importance of these transregional connections beyond the North Atlantic, we draw on interviews and media reports about the myriad ways in which connections between the UAE and Turkey with various actors in the Sahel shape current transformations of political orders in the region.

Studying practices of interregional security governance and space-making between ECOWAS and the European Union

ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, cooperation on security governance between African regional organisations and the European Union (EU) has been growing. However, despite a steadily growing scholarship, knowledge about the agency of African regional organisations in interregional relations is still very limited, especially when it comes to the so-called regional economic communities officially recognised by the African Union as ‘building blocks’ for continental cooperation and integration. Responding to this research gap, this article studies practices of interregional security governance and space-making between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the EU, emphasising African agency. It argues that based on specific security knowledge and spatial imaginations, transnational security assemblages have emerged, resulting in a complex field of interregional relations, comprising multiple interconnected sites, actors and practices. It begins by mapping the field of ECOWAS–EU interregionalism and studies some of the sites, actors and practices in more detail. In this way, the article contributes to a research agenda that takes the agency of African regional organisations in their relations with the EU more seriously, and advances academic knowledge about their role in global international relations more generally.

THE PARADIGM-SHIFT IN EU-CHINA RELATIONS AND THE LIMITS OF THE EU’S CURRENT STRATEGY TOWARDS CHINA: A RELATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Tensions in the EU-China relationship have hampered cooperation in various sectors, including a set of transnational security issues where engagement with China is unavoidable but nevertheless profoundly challenging. The EU maintains a “tripartite” strategy, originally outlined in its 2019 Strategic Outlook, seeing China as a “partner”, but also as an economic “competitor” and a “systemic rival”. China’s former State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has described the European approach as suffering from “cognitive dissonance”. As a result, and as demonstrated by the failure of the 2022 EU-China Summit, the two parties are now operating within two different frameworks, and constructive cooperation has become increasingly difficult. By working with Qin Yaqing’s concept of “relationality”, this article aims to contribute to a better conceptualisation of the ways in which the EU and China can work with each other to tackle global issues. Challenging the literature that tries to explain the shift in EU-China relations by focusing on individual actors, this research’s approach focuses on the relations between actors. Adopting this ontology of relations, this research paper analyses how, in the EU-China relationship, relations between the two parties contribute to creating their own identities and motivate their actions.

Television Of Luhansk Region Between The Information And Full-Scale War: Destroyed Revival

ntroduction. The activity of the television organizations of Luhansk region was analyzed, which proved the stages of its development. The stage of development, which falls on the period 2015-2022, is detailed. Relevance of the study. The purpose of the article is to analyze the mass communication activities of the regional TV channels of the Luhansk region in the conditions of hybrid aggression and the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, which involves clarifying the features and stages of the development of television broadcasting, determining the existing threats to the information security system, and analyzing the activities of Luhansk region’s television companies during 2015-2022. Methodology. A set of general scientific and special scientific methods and techniques was used: descriptive, comparative-historical, classification, statistical. Collectively, they became the only mechanism for performing the assigned tasks. Results. The deep integration of the media into the local political system, which in its majority had anti-Ukrainian views, was confirmed, which during the period of controversial events contributed to the formation and dissemination of anti-Ukrainian narratives by means of television, the active use of the media resource to carry out informational attacks towards Ukraine. First destroyed in 2014 due to Russia’s occupation of part of the territory and revived in 2015 on the territories controlled by Ukraine, TV, developing in the system of the national information space, faced problems of a systemic nature, some of which posed a threat to the national security of Ukraine. A full-scale invasion once again destroyed the regional TV and led to the occupation of new territories and the annexation of the sovereign information field. Conclusions. Unresolved security challenges and a full-scale war led to the occupation of almost the entire territory of Luhansk region, the destruction of the Ukrainian regional television system, the annexation of the sovereign information field and its frequency resource used by Russian propaganda broadcasters. We consider further studies of mass communication activities in the conditions of an emergency, hybrid and military aggression to be promising in view of the presence of challenges for the global system of information and transnational security.

Memahami Sejarah dan Geopolitik Amerika Syarikat di Segi Tiga Emas Thailand: Hubungkait Ketagihan dan Penyeludupan Dadah serta Keselamatan Malaysia

We examine the latest proposals of new Malaysia's government to decriminalise drug addiction issues. From defence and security perspective, the authors cautioned Malaysia's hasty decision to decriminalise drug addicts when existing security measures to combat drug smuggling at the cross-border remained unresolved. In demonstrating the relations between illegal drug supplies in the Malaysian black market with the transnational drug syndicate, the authors focus historical existence of the Golden Triangle and the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) presence in the area during the Cold War. The CIA’s involvement in the drug triangle within complex nested security threats. It brought the Malaysian history of drugs and the introduction of capital punishment with the past relations of Malaya's communist insurgency with the northern Vietnam government and the Vietnam War. Given the current shift of the Southeast Asian tension involving the US-China power rivalry in the South China Sea, any current attempt to decriminalise dangerous addicted substances must take into past the historical geopolitical complexity of transnational and traditional security threats. Currently, the conceptualisation of drug addictions as national security threats relies upon existing capital punishment for drug abuse as a criminal offence. These offences relied heavily upon jurisprudence conceptualisation of addiction with possession of the abused substance. A proposal to decriminalise Malaysian addicts needs to understand the reliance of threats upon criminal offence concepts of the addictive substance. Thus, without criminological concepts of unlawful possession, legal loopholes cannot deter transnational security problems caused by drug traffickers and smugglers.

How Jihadists Travel: The Clandestine Migration of Chinese Transnational Fighters to Syria

This article explores the mobility infrastructure that enables and facilitates trans-national fighters traveling into conflict zones. The research on trans-national fighters focuses largely on the departure and arrival stages but rarely addresses how fighters arrange and execute their travel routes. The acts of border-crossing pose trans-national security threats while constituting the transformative processes in which individuals adapt to the identity of militant fighters. Drawing on studies of clandestine migration, this article uses primary multi-lingual materials collected through multi-sited ethnography in China and Syria to illustrate how Uyghur jihadists have traveled from Xinjiang to Southeast Asia and then to the Middle East. These circuitous routes were not made for the purpose of jihadists but assembled from existing commercial, religious, and illicit networks and infrastructures, intersecting with multiple layers of state and non-state actors.

The Security State and Securitizing Patriarchies in Postcolonial India

Abstract This article examines the shifting nature of patriarchy and gender among Sikhs in Indian Punjab through the 1980s and into the 1990s in relation to the Indian state's counterinsurgent policies and practices. The authors’ research reveals that Sikh masculinities were altered during its separatist insurgency as the patriarchal state and communities both relied on violence for their own ends. Specifically, the article argues that the regimes of precolonial and colonial militarism, which constructed hegemonic notions of Sikh masculinity in service to the colonial and postcolonial state, were altered in this period, and that a dominant caste-based warrior masculinity came to be fractured to include a more securitized version. The authors see the targeting of Sikhs as part of a broader process of postcolonial nation making through militarism and security that alters the nature of its patriarchy. The article draws from interviews and fieldwork in Punjab, textual analysis of primary sources, human rights reports, and news articles to reveal the shifting nature of gender and patriarchy in the transnational security state.

Assembling Transnational Policing: Europol’s Anticipatory Governance

ABSTRACT Building on studies of transnational policing, security and digitization, we develop an assemblage-theoretical framework to explore perceptions of time in contemporary policing efforts. We use the concepts of techno imaginaries and policing assemblage to examine the articulation of temporality and multi-scalar connections between humans and non-humans in policing, which has become increasingly pluralised and digitised. We draw on documentary research on Europol to analyse anticipatory governance in transnational police work, including the linkages between humans and machines and identify a shift from post-crime towards pre-crime interventions. We critically discuss the significance of this shift for the character and robustness of expected future risks and threat assessments. Our reflections on the interplay between time and techno imaginaries contribute to critical analyses of the ways in which decision-making and interventions shape and are shaped by transnational assemblages in anticipatory governance.

Review of Klimburg-Witjes, Poechhacker, and Bowker’s Sensing In/Securities: Sensors as Transnational Security Infrastructures

Review of Klimburg-Witjes, Poechhacker, and Bowker’s Sensing In/Securities: Sensors as Transnational Security Infrastructures

Why Do Leaders Build Walls? Domestic Politics, Leader Survival, and The Fortification of Borders

States around the world are fortifying their international borders at unprecedented rates. While only seven states had fortified their borders with walls or fences as of the end of World War Two, this number has now grown to more than 75. Why do states build walls on their international borders? While states may build walls to ameliorate the consequences of cross-border economic inequalities and to defend against transnational security threats, we suggest that another compelling logic stems from domestic politics and leaders’ desire to remain in office. Building on assumptions furnished by diversionary theory, we argue that national political leaders at risk of losing office are incentivized to implement popular policies, such as border wall construction, hoping that doing so will prompt a domestic rally effect. To test this argument, we assemble a global dataset of leader-years and find that politically insecure leaders are more likely to be seen to start and continue border wall construction.

Transnational corporations, national interests, and security of the country

The global political situation is evolving and changing, especially in conditions when the countries of Central Asia become attractive to foreign transnational cor-porations (TNCs). But there is a question regarding the necessity of attracting for-eign TNCs and endangering other countries, if there is an opportunity to develop national corporations, which in turn can enter the markets of other countries and influence such geopolitical processes in the world as economic restructuring, pace of development, transformation of the world economic hierarchy, and extension of integration processes. It is necessary to analyse these tendencies and form an appropriate domestic policy guided by the principles of sustainable development. In the context of globalisation, transnationalisation is determined by the activities of TNCs. The authors analysed the role and place of TNCs in the processes of globalisation, the formation of national interests and security of the country evi-dence from the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Central Asian Region (CAR). The main purpose of the study is to identify the challenges and threats posed by trans-national corporations on the development of the country's economy, to identify specific areas and spheres of influence of these forces on the foreign and domestic policies of sovereign states, primarily on the violation of national interests and sovereignty of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the CAR countries. Therefore, for Kazakhstan and the CAR countries, it is very important not only to determine the maximum possibilities for maintaining national sovereignty, but also to develop measures to prevent the weakening of the country's security from transnational corporations.

The Evolving State of Transnational Societal Security Higher Education in the Baltic Sea Region

The Evolving State of Transnational Societal Security Higher Education in the Baltic Sea Region

Трансформація американсько-тайського альянсу у постбіполярний період

This paper intends to describe and discuss major transformations in the U.S.-Thai military and political treaty alliance of 1954 and 1962 durіng the post-Cold War period. The author seeks to reveal milestones in the U.S.-Thai political relations, and the most important factors that affected their defense and security cooperation. Methodology. These transformations are studied at the background of shifts in the international environment and the U. S. foreign policy, Thai domestic developments, and regional processes in Asia Pacific. In this empirical qualitative research, the methods of critical analysis of primary and secondary sources, chronological and comparative approaches are applied. Conclusions. The research has revealed that in the new international environment of 1990s, the tasks of the U.S.-Thai treaty alliance were changed. It was reoriented towards transnational security threats, mostly drugs traffic and terrorism, humanitarian assistance in the case of natural disasters, preparations for peacekeeping operations, et cetera. 2001–2004, when Thai government supported the U.S.-led war on terror, was the most fruitful period of the U.S.-Thai cooperation during the post-Cold war period. Simultaneously, from the very end of Indochina wars Thailand attempted to evade overdependence on the United States in the security area, and sought to balance American influence. Development of close Thailand-China ties served the purpose. The special relations, established between Thailand and China, hindered the achievement of the full potential of the U.S.-Thai alliance. Besides, the U.S. and Thai governments had different perceptions on some important political issues such as human rights, the role of military in society and the governance, policy towards Myanmar, and the security issues in the South China Sea. Since 2006, the U.S.–Thai defense and security cooperation was negatively affected by political instability in Thailand and military coup of 2006. As a result, during the rebalance to East Asia since 2011, the U.S. could not rely on effective cooperation with Thailand, its treaty ally. The military coup of 2014 caused the worst crisis in the U.S.-Thai relations. Though during D. Trump administration they were improved and the new vision of the alliance was agreed upon, this crisis actualized an issue of credibility of Thailand as an ally.

US CUSTOMS DIPLOMACY

The content and features of the concept of «customs diplomacy» are studied on the example of the foreign policy activities of the US Customs Administration, which conducts one of the best customs diplomacy in the world. For example, the US Customs Service plays an important role in ensuring not only national but also transnational economic security. The protection of American customs interests by the relevant services begins far from the actual borders of the United States. Therefore, the study of the experience of US customs diplomacy, of course, is relevant for Ukraine. The definition of «customs diplomacy» is given through a set of specific techniques and methods. The methods, techniques and principles of US customs diplomacy are considered, the main provisions of the CBP Global Engagement Strategy are analyzed. The structural units responsible for the implementation of American customs diplomacy are listed, and their competencies are determined. The officials of the US Customs and Border Protection who are responsible for the implementation of customs diplomacy are named. Particular attention is paid to US international cooperation with partner countries in the customs sector. An example of such cooperation is North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The practice of implementing international projects and initiatives by US customs attachés in other countries (for example, the Container Security Initiative) is analyzed. International training and support programs of methodological and organizational and technical nature, conducted for foreign partner customs services and agencies, are considered. The important role of harmonizing relations between customs services through the conclusion of international bilateral and multilateral agreements is noted. It is noted that international cooperation in the customs sphere is important for solving global problems of the world. Thus, strengthening the cooperation of the US Customs Administration with partner countries, agencies and trade groups contributes to transnational security, efficient trade, travel, dissemination of information etc.

Modeling and Simulation as Tools to Increase the Protection of Critical Infrastructure and the Sustainability of the Provision of Essential Needs of Citizens

States and their cities are at the forefront of efforts to address many of today’s transnational security challenges. States cannot fulfill their basic functions, which include caring for the all-round development of their territory and the needs of its inhabitants, without the existence of critical infrastructure, which can be damaged, destroyed, or disrupted by malicious behavior. The legislation of EU authorities presents methods for improving the crisis management cycle within critical infrastructure protection. However, these methods are not elaborated. Modeling and simulation using software tools enable more accurate decision-making by security managers during the process of designing and evaluating the physical protection systems of critical infrastructure. This article presents a new software solution to the intrusion of unauthorized persons and its potential mathematical extension. The main innovative benefit of this newly created software tool is the possibility of creating more sophisticated attack scenarios using various 2D maps. Mathematical extension model response scenarios are constructed for various types of intruders, allowing more accurate training of defenders, which leads to more effective resource usage. This combination of software and mathematical solutions should allow physical protection system designers to test various intrusion scenarios of critical infrastructure elements.

Regional Cooperation in West Africa: Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency

ABSTRACT The challenges of terrorism and insurgency have continued to attract regional response. A significant aspect of such response is the demonstration of shared responsibilities by various nation states in regional cooperation to stamp out the menace of terrorism. The EU member states for instance adopted a regional approach to counter transnational security threats by embracing common standards and unified approach to Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency (CT-COIN). Likewise in West Africa, the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) was recently reinvigorated to deal decisively with the cross-border terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin. This is in addition to other regional architecture that constitutes the needed ingredients of regional cooperation in West Africa. The operations and activities of these regional outfits have been destabilized by several challenges due to the peculiarities of security cooperation at a regional scale. Against this background, this article examines regional cooperation within the context of CT-COIN in West Africa with a view to establishing the challenges of such collaboration. The article unbundles the dynamics of terrorism and insurgency in West Africa. It engages the regional architecture for CT-COIN in the region and it underscores the challenges of regional cooperation. The article offers some measures for improving regional cooperation for an improved CT-COIN in West Africa.

Globality and Entangled Security: Rethinking the Post-1945 Order

AbstractIn this essay we argue for the utility of moving from a “national” to an “entangled global” perspective on security. Focusing on the post-1945 international context, we discuss how the concept of “globality” can inform and reframe our understanding of transnational security dynamics and help move us beyond traditional state-centric frameworks. Such a move enables a better understanding of historical events and contemporary security dynamics than classical “national security” frameworks alone. After outlining the rationale behind our call for expanding the aperture in the study of security, we theorize security entanglement as a particularly important form of globality with its own internal dynamics and show how the entanglement framework allows us to rethink the post-1945 security environment and events within it. We then focus on three illustrative forms of security entanglement that have been underexplored in security studies: the global nature of the Cold War; dynamics of decolonization and its legacies; and the relationship between migration and security. We conclude by discussing the implications of security entanglement for future visions of world security.

Fear as a product, continuum as a solution: the role of private companies in the transnational diffusion of zero tolerance policing to Brazil

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the diffusion of zero tolerance policing in Brazil. It argues that the global diffusion of security practices and technologies occurs through a multiplicity of channels operated by private security companies. Based on a multi-sited ethnography of electronic security fairs in São Paulo and a discourse analysis of publications distributed in these fairs, the paper discusses how these actors perform a semantic continuum between crime and existential threats. The consolidation of this continuum favors local attempts on the toughening of law enforcement and police intrusiveness, facilitating the marketing of transnational security models and technologies.