| 1. |
- Zamora, Juan Carlos, et al.
(författare)
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Considerations and consequences of allowing DNA sequence data as types of fungal taxa
- 2018
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Ingår i: IMA Fungus. - : INT MYCOLOGICAL ASSOC. - 2210-6340 .- 2210-6359. ; 9:1, s. 167-185
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity). Two proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), allowing DNA sequences alone (of any region and extent) to serve as types of taxon names for voucherless fungi (mainly putative taxa from environmental DNA sequences), have been submitted to be voted on at the 11th International Mycological Congress (Puerto Rico, July 2018). We consider various genetic processes affecting the distribution of alleles among taxa and find that alleles may not consistently and uniquely represent the species within which they are contained. Should the proposals be accepted, the meaning of nomenclatural types would change in a fundamental way from physical objects as sources of data to the data themselves. Such changes are conducive to irreproducible science, the potential typification on artefactual data, and massive creation of names with low information content, ultimately causing nomenclatural instability and unnecessary work for future researchers that would stall future explorations of fungal diversity. We conclude that the acceptance of DNA sequences alone as types of names of taxa, under the terms used in the current proposals, is unnecessary and would not solve the problem of naming putative taxa known only from DNA sequences in a scientifically defensible way. As an alternative, we highlight the use of formulas for naming putative taxa (candidate taxa) that do not require any modification of the ICN.
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| 2. |
- Ahmedi, Idris, 1979-
(författare)
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The Remaking of American Strategy toward Iran and Iraq : Outline of a Theory of Foreign Policy Change
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study sets out to develop a realist-constructivist theory of foreign policy change. The theory claims that whenever policymakers believe that the distribution of power favors an expansive grand strategy or necessitates retrenchment, they will act accordingly. Similarly, when policymakers revise their images of other states – that is, whether they view them as hostile or friendly – change in existing strategy will follow.The historical record of the (re)making of American strategy toward the Persian Gulf lends support to the theory. After having relied on pro-American Iran to balance Iraq in the region in the 1970s, Washington “tilted” toward Iraq to prevent post-revolutionary Islamic Iran from achieving victory in the ensuing war between the two regional powers in the 1980s. This offshore balancing strategy during the Cold War bipolar distribution of power gave way to the simultaneous containment of these regional adversaries in the post-Cold War unipolar era. However, some years after the adoption of this new strategy, it underwent a shift. Whereas concerted efforts were made to normalize relations with Iran after the presidential victory of a “reformist” candidate, Mohammad Khatami, the Clinton administration eventually adopted regime change as official policy toward Iraq. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on American soil, the George W. Bush administration endorsed a strategy of forcible regime change and democracy promotion, leading to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.Over time, U.S. strategy toward these two regional powers has become more expansive – from offshore balancing limited to checking their outward expansion, to containment aimed at facilitating alteration in their policies, to outright regime change policy. However, with the erosion of unipolarity and the superpower’s retrenchment in the Middle East, we may witness a return to offshore balancing in combination with containment of a perceived hostile Iran.
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| 3. |
- Blomdahl, Mikael, 1970-
(författare)
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The Political Use of Force : Beyond National Security Considerations as a Source of American Foreign Policy
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In addressing the question of what explains the tendency of the presidents of the United States to use military force on many occasions to solve international problems the realist perspective has been strongly dominant in political science. This study sets out to address and challenge whether what may be called realist privilege still qualifies as an understanding of this American phenomenon. The key research question is to investigate whether or not the understanding of the U.S. use of force can be reduced to international factors solely. This study presents the argument that perspectives or theories that do not consider and cover domestic political processes and factors in their explanations must be regarded as incomplete. Two frameworks based on realism and domestic politics are developed and used in order to answer why U.S. presidents use military force at the international level. The author applies a decision-making approach derived from foreign policy analysis in order to compare and examine the U.S. missile actions against Libya in 1986, Iraq in 1993 and Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998. This study finds clear support for the significance of domestic political factors for the understanding of the U.S. use of force. This work concludes that since domestic political factors matter, even at times of heightened concern about national security, this contradicts and poses a serious challenge to realists’ assumptions regarding the motives of states. When using a decision-making approach that opens the so-called black box, the book demonstrates that domestic political factors, such as the U.S. Congress and American public constrain presidents when authorizing the use of force. To reduce the understanding of the U.S. use of force to international factors solely is, therefore, to overlook significant contributions from the U.S. domestic political context as a source of the presidential use of force.
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| 4. |
- Bremberg, Niklas, 1978-
(författare)
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Exploring the Dynamics of Security Community-Building in the Post-Cold War Era : Spain, Morocco and the European Union
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis aims to make a theoretical as well as an empirical contribution to the debate on the security community concept in International Relations (IR) by way of conducting a study of the European Union (EU) as a security community-building institution in the case of Spain and Morocco. The security community concept originally sought to define the conditions under which the threat of inter-state war would be mitigated through social transaction and expectations of peaceful change between societies and states. However, in the post-Cold War era, the challenge is rather to understand how security communities emerge and expand at a time when armed conflicts among states have become less frequent compared to other non-military threats and trans-boundary risks (e.g. terrorism, failed states, organized crime, pandemics, climate change). The argument of this thesis is that the role of international organizations and the changing notion of security need to be taken into account when re-thinking the concept. Drawing on constructivism in IR, especially the notion of communities of practice, the thesis suggests a framework to study how security communities work in the post-Cold War era focusing on the mechanisms of crisis management, transgovernmental networks and multilateral venues. The framework is used to study the EU as a security community-building institution in the case of Spain (member state) and Morocco (non-member), and in the fields of trade, security and defence and civil protection. The main finding of the thesis, which carries broader implications for the debate on security communities in IR, is that the EU has contributed to broadening the repertoire of cooperative security practices between Spain and Morocco, not necessarily through fostering collective identity but by supporting the development of communities of practitioners whom increasingly share a notion of military and civilian crisis management to counter non-military threats and trans-boundary risks.
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| 5. |
- Britz, Malena, et al.
(författare)
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European Union Defence Issues and Policy
- 2009. - 10
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Ingår i: The European Union Encyclopedia and Directory 2010. - London : Routledge. - 9781857435320 ; , s. 261-265
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 6. |
- Doeser, Fredrik
(författare)
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In Search of Security After the Collapse of the Soviet Union : Foreign Policy Change in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, 1988-1993
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this study is to explain the evolution of foreign policy in Denmark, Finland and Sweden with regard to Western security cooperation between 1988 and 1993. The study sets out to test two theoretical perspectives on the security cooperation policies of these three small states. The external political perspective is based on the idea that foreign policy is determined by the challenges of a state’s external political environment. The domestic political perspective is based on the idea that phenomena at the domestic level of the state have an impact on how governments cope with external constraints. The primary theoretical ambition is to integrate the findings from these two analyses in order to further an understanding of the mechanisms of foreign policy change in small states.In order to study the relationship between the environment and foreign policy change, the author applies a perceptual approach, which means that his intention is to explain foreign policy action on the basis of the perceptions actors have of the environment.The author draws a number of conclusions with regard to the mechanisms of foreign policy change. First, a perceptual approach is needed in order to analyze a state’s specific responses to international political change. Second, domestic factors are not only important for foreign policy in general but also for the evolution of security cooperation policy in small states under conditions of fundamental shift in the international system. Third, it is possible to attribute some degree of relative explanatory power to external factors and to assign a range of different roles to domestic factors. Fourth, governments of Western democratic small states pay relatively equal attention to external and domestic considerations when making their foreign policies. However, depending on the situation, the relative potency of external and domestic factors can vary.
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| 7. |
- Engelbrekt, Kjell, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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The European Union and Strategy : An Emerging Actor
- 2008
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This edited volume sets out to explore the paradox that the European Union (EU) produces policies with strategic qualities, but lacks the institutions and concepts to engage in strategic reasoning and action proper. The book has a two-fold agenda, exploring current EU external policies that are, or seem to be, linked to strategic priorities, and also studying the concept of strategy in the particular context of EU decision- and policymaking. The volume first examines the character of the Union as a strategic actor at this stage of its development.It then explores the ability of the Union to act and otherwise influence both its periphery and the wider world, focusing in particular on how it is perceived by other actors. The final section comprises personal assessments by a group of contributors regarding the character of the union as a strategic actor in the present and future. When these are pieced together, a picture emerges of a European strategy in the making, albeit one that so far is modest and partial. This book will be of interest to students of European Security, European Politics and IR.
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| 8. |
- Eriksson, Arita, 1974-
(författare)
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Europeanization and Governance in Defence Policy : The Example of Sweden
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores the Swedish Europeanization process with respect to defence policy with the help of analytical tools from policy analysis. The time period studied is 1999–2004. Europeanization is defined as embeddedness, that is, linkages between the national and the European policy processes, and these linkages are conceptualized as participation, problems and solutions. The thesis seeks to analyse the modes of governance that characterizes the Europeanization process and discusses its results in relation to Europeanization mechanisms and the concept of European governance. It also elaborates on the implications of Europeanization for Swedish defence policy.Europeanization of participation is found with respect to a number of forums—decision making, implementation and external relations. Participants in the Europeanization process are identified as well as a reorganization of some of the patterns of participation in the Swedish defence policy process. The Europeanization of problems found is at first focused more on security policy issues than defence policy issues, but gradually the latter also become Europeanized, a process which is made visible in the political language of the defence policy bills studied. The main solutions identified in the Europeanization process are the creation of an EU military capability, the establishment of decision-making structures, capability requirements and capability development.The Europeanization process in the area of defence policy is found to be characterized by a mix of modes of governance. Various parts of the process contain elements of bargaining, hierarchy and facilitated coordination. The modes of governance may co-exist and change over time.
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| 9. |
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European Security Governance : The European Union in a Westphalian World
- 2009
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- This book focuses on problems of, and prospects for, strengthening the global system of security governance in a manner consistent with the aspirations and practices of the EU. The Eu approach to security governance has been successful in its immediate neighbourhood: it has successfully exported its preferred norms and principles to applicant countries, thereby 'pacifying' its immediate neighbourhood and making all of Europe more secure. This edited volume addresses both the practical and political aspects of security governance and the barriers to the globalization of the EU system of security governance, particularly in teh multipolar post-Cold War era. This book will be of great interest to students of security governance, EU politics, European Security and IR in general.
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| 10. |
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