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Title: Looking deeper into security in the Arctic policy of the Canadian government from 2006 to 2011
Contributors: Matthew Raymond Alexander Graveline (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
Abstract: The Federal Government of Canada from 2006 to 2011 presented a security discourse and policy regarding the Arctic region. In order to understand the government's use of security language this project adopted the Copenhagen School's securitization theory. Using this theory's approach, this project dissects the relevant government discourses and policies, pertaining to the Arctic, to determine which sectors the government attempted to securitize. It will be demonstrated that the government has attempted to securitize the Arctic from 2006 to 2011, particularly in the traditional political and military sectors, while societal, economic, and environmental sectors were not securitized but rather their possible threats were framed as opportunities. These conclusions resulted from this government's political worldview around conducting foreign policy and how it wanted to position Arctic security for Canada in its growing Northern region. --Leaf ii.
Discipline: International Studies
Date added: 2017-03-29T17:23:28.715Z

Title: Networks of resistance: online activism in the information age
Contributors: David Kim Juniper (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to show how the anarchistic structure of computer-mediated communications networks empowers small activist cells by allowing them to circumvent established informational structures and establish highly flexible and dynamic "webs" of cooperation and support. The rise of these new modes of communication was significant for it enabled online activists to bypass established media such as television and newspapers and disseminate information directly to a mass audience. Through an analysis of online culture and the growth of the social netwar waged by the Zapatista of southwest Mexico, I suggest that the Internet and its use by online activists had a significant impact on the rebellion and is influencing the Mexican government to seek a negotiated settlement as opposed to a military solution to the conflict. The research design involves a review of a wide variety of literature on the topic, including academic journal articles and scholarly works as well as popular magazines and electronic mailing lists. Because of the nature of the research, much of the material came from online sources such as world wide web sites, electronic mailing lists and gopher sites. Inquiries of this kind into the nature of Internet culture are important if we are to understand the implications and impacts of the Internet on the political fabric of Western society. We are in the midst of the digital age, and academic study is of paramount importance if we are to understand not just where we are, but where we are headed.
Discipline: Interdisciplinary Studies
Date added: 2017-04-10T22:13:45.911Z

Title: NATO in the 1990s: the response to the legitimacy challenge and the evolution of the organization in a changing Europe
Contributors: Tomas Erazim (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
Abstract: The political changes that took place in East and Central Europe during the end of the 1980s and at the beginning of the 1990s had a huge impact on the security structures in Europe. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its legitimacy was challenged when the former Soviet Empire started to crumble. This thesis addresses NATO's response to this legitimacy challenge. It is argued in the thesis that the response came in a two stage process. The first response was a debate where different reasons were given for NATO's continued existence. The thesis focuses only on the justifications used to maintain the organization. It was found that there were external and internal justifications and that the people partaking in the debate could be labelled either as belonging to the neorealist school or to the neoliberal school in the field of international relations. Neorealists tended to use more external justifications for keeping NATO. The external justifications are based more on threats than possibilities. It was argued that despite the absence of the Warsaw Pact, there were still threats that made NATO necessary. Neoliberal institutionalists used both external and internal justifications, but stressed the opportunities and NATO's positive effects as an international institution. The second response to the legitimacy challenge posed to NATO was a process of change where both new ways of thinking and new ways of structuring the organization emerged. Both schools of thought agree that NATO was adapting to the new reality, but used their own arguments from the first stage when explaining the changes. The conclusions drawn from the thesis are that NATO is needed as a security actor in Europe, and that the changes that NATO has undergone have been the right ones to satisfy both those who fear future conflicts and those who want to work for enhanced security. It is also concluded that in order to understand NATO's two responses, it is essential to study arguments from both schools of thought. The two schools have good arguments and they complement each other which makes an analysis covering both fruitful. NATO survived the legitimacy challenge and has recently decided to accept three new members in 1999. The process of change has not been an easy one for NATO, but the organization has without any doubt kept the position as the most important security actor in Europe. It is very likely that it will continue to keep that position for a long time to come.
Discipline: International Studies
Date added: 2017-04-11T21:16:13.116Z

Title: Legitimate activism: The use of accreditation to strengthen the legal personality of the NGO community in the world order.
Contributors: Garth A. Frizzell (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
Abstract: No abstract available.
Discipline: International Studies
Date added: 2017-03-29T17:34:05.722Z

Title: "The war on crime": The securitization of narco-trafficking in Mexico during the Calderon administration.
Contributors: Diana Gabriela Blanco Barrios (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
Abstract: This thesis applies the securitization framework developed by Barry Buzan, Ole Waever and Jaap de Wilde (1998) to study the case of Mexico during the government of Felipe Calderón. I use discourse and content analysis to answer the following questions: How and why has narco-trafficking been securitized during the Calderón government? What are the consequences of this securitization? I argue that Calderón successfully securitized narco-trafficking by using a rhetoric that emphasized the moral otherness' of criminals, resulting in two important consequences: the neglect of social approaches to combat narco-trafficking and the use of this discourse to limit government accountability regarding the high number of casualties in the country. I conclude by arguing that exploring the link between narco-trafficking and securitization theory can bring about new insights to guide theoretical research and policy making. --Leaf ii.
Discipline: International Studies
Date added: 2017-03-30T17:13:12.358Z

Title: The nexus of gender and alternative trade: a feminist analysis
Contributors: Kelli Lea Kryzanowski (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
Abstract: Coffee is an important and highly traded commodity in the international marketplace. However, the production and sale of coffee has created an unfair trading system where small-scale peasant producers are greatly disadvantaged. In response to this unfair system, a movement called alternative trade, which is directed by the International Federation for Alternative Trade (IFAT), is working to give small-scale producers of coffee a more stable market and opportunities for social development. However, no information is available as to whether the needs of women, who are producers of coffee and labourers on cooperatively owned plantations, are being met. Therefore, the central question posed is: To what extent, if at all, do alternative trade coffee cooperatives have the potential to meet the practical and strategic gender needs of women coffee workers? The question has been answered through the application of feminist development approaches to three case studies; two focused on craft cooperatives and one on a coffee cooperative. Analyzing three case studies through Women in Development (WID) and Gender and Development (GAD) lenses, have helped to discern the extent to which practical and strategic gender needs are being met. The information used for the analysis was made available from both written literature and the original research I conducted in Guatemala. The findings suggest that craft cooperatives and the coffee cooperative do have the potential to meet practical and, to a lesser extent, strategic gender needs. However, meeting strategic gender needs are not of primary concern to both the IFAT and the male cooperative managers. Strategic gender needs are being met to a certain capacity indirectly through participation and occasional awareness-raising in the craft cooperatives. Coffee cooperatives need to learn from the positive outcomes of the craft cooperatives. This suggests some important implications, both for practical policy direction for IFAT and for further research. The significance of this study is that alternative trade development projects have potential to help women in the Third World meet crucial practical and strategic gender needs.
Discipline: International Studies
Date added: 2017-04-10T22:14:15.367Z

Title: Representations of security and insecurity in the highway of tears: A critical discourse analysis.
Contributors: Rebecca A. Tallman (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
Abstract: The Highway of Tears is a local term that refers to a stretch of highway in northern British Columbia where an estimated 18 to 35 women and girls have disappeared or have been found murdered since the 1960s (Culbert and Hall 2009). Drawing on feminist approaches to security and International Relations, this thesis explores the concepts of security and insecurity in the case of the Highway of Tears. I use critical discourse analysis to answer the following question: How are the concepts of security and insecurity represented in the discourse of select media related to the Highway of Tears? It was seen that each narrator framed and located security and insecurity differently. Despite varying individual assumptions, the concepts of security and insecurity were represented by two broad shared understandings of security in the context of the Highway of Tears. These shared understandings uncovered a tension in the discourse between traditional conceptions of security and critical, feminist and Indigenous approaches to security. Ultimately, this research has disrupted mainstream assumptions of International Relations and security. Therefore, it provides new insights into research and advocacy for murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in northern British Columbia and across Canada. --Leaf ii.
Discipline: International Studies
Date added: 2017-04-11T21:13:58.432Z

Title: International assistance in the midst of violence: Roles of North American NGOs in Colombia's indigenous movement.
Contributors: Freya Kristensen (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
Abstract: No abstract available.
Discipline: International Studies
Date added: 2017-03-30T17:02:17.464Z

Title: Canada and failed states: Foreign policy under the Martin Government, 2003--2006.
Contributors: Gareth Ottery (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
Abstract: In the 2005 International Policy Statement-A Role of Pride and Influence in the World (IPS, 2005), the Government of Canada recognized the changing nature and growing importance of failed states and established their stabilization as a top Canadian foreign policy priority. However, despite the policy prominence and growing wealth of the academic literature on failed states, the concept, itself, suffers from vagueness and a lack of definitional clarity. This thesis will answer the question What theoretical perspectives(s) inform and influence Canadian foreign policy towards failed states as expressed in the declaratory policies of the Martin Government, 2003-2006?' The analysis provided by this thesis will focus on the development of Canada's failed state policy in particular it will focus on the policies articulated in the IPS and the policies related to the specific case of Canadian engagement in Afghanistan.--P.ii.
Discipline: International Studies
Date added: 2017-03-30T17:04:27.828Z

Title: Exploring adaptation and resilience to drought: a study of Brazilian family farmers
Contributors: Laura Bevacqua (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia College of Arts, Social, and Health Sciences (Degree granting institution), Matias Margulis (Committee member), Scott Green (Committee member)
Abstract: This research seeks to answer the question: how has the work of Adapta Sertão impacted family farmers’ perceptions of their relative resilience in the dry region of Northeast Brazil? This research also examines farmers’ perceptions of how Adapta Sertão contributed to capacity building and adaptation, two factors that are linked to building resilience. To explore this, field interviews were conducted to gain a better understanding of the perceptions among farmers as to whether Adapta Sertão provided suitable and sustainable farming solutions. ...
Discipline: International Studies-Global Environmental Policy
Date added: 2017-05-15T21:02:32.274Z

Title: Testing the effectiveness of non-governmental organizations (NGOs): case studies of the landmines initiative and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment with a focus on Canadian foreign policy
Contributors: Graham P. Pearce (author), Heather Smith (Thesis advisor), University of Northern British Columbia (Degree granting institution)
Abstract: This project attempts to answer how and why nongovernmental organization (NGO) campaigns were effective in achieving their desired outcomes in the campaign to ban landmines and the campaign to stop the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). Second, the project asks how and why NGOs were effective in influencing Canadian foreign policy on landmines and the MAI? Third, how do these two campaigns compare in effectiveness and what lessons can we extract from such a comparison? The NGO campaigns are analyzed against a taxonomy for NGO campaign effectiveness, developed by Jennifer Chapman and Thomas Fisher (2000). The taxonomy's variables, which Chapman and Fisher argue facilitate NGO policy campaign effectiveness, are compared to the variables that facilitated the landmine and MAI NGO policy campaigns, and the results show that the taxonomy's variables are consistent in both campaigns.
Discipline: International Studies
Date added: 2017-04-10T22:11:25.282Z