Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The United States and many of its coalition partners have initiated a broad program of reform aimed at �transforming� their defensive capabilities to take advantage of recent advances in information and communications technologies and to meet emerging security challenges. Transformation entails dramatic and sometimes disruptive changes in the way the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) prepares for and conducts military operations. One of the primary assumptions guiding transformation is that modern military operations, especially those in counter-terrorism and urban environments, are very complex, making prediction and traditional military command and control difficult. In order to deal with the complexity of these operations, the DoD is exploring new technologies and approaches aimed at developing information age war fighting capabilities. A critical component of this transformation is the theory of network centric warfare (NCW). It posits that information sharing across traditionally separated organizational boundaries will lead to dramatic improvements in military effectiveness. In order to develop NCW capabilities, the DoD is sponsoring multiple programs, efforts, and initiatives aimed at harnessing new and emerging technologies that meet new and emerging war fighter needs. Progress to date, however, has been mixed in terms of (1) the ability of the DoD to deliver transformational capabilities to war fighters and (2) the impact of NCW capabilities on military effectiveness, especially in operations other than major combat.

This paper examines the recent history of military transformation and explores explanations for its limited success. I conclude that the pursuit of transformation can be best viewed through the lens of the agent-structure debate that examines questions of large scale social change. Social constructivists argue that social change is the outcome of a complex dialectic between human agents and social structures. I argue that our understanding of this dialectic can be significantly enhanced if we explore the theoretical and empirical insights gained from the study of complex adaptive systems (CAS). I next explore how theories of CAS help explain the recent history of military transformation. I conclude by making recommendations for a program of research aimed at furthering our understanding of large scale social change efforts exemplified by military transformation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: I will explore the value and nature of White House communications operations through the voices of senior officials who worked on the White House staffs of Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: The meanings of visuals are taken for granted. We perceive an image, and automatically attribute meaning to it. On top, we assume that other people attribute the same meaning to the same visual. But: Meaning-attribution is depending both on situational and cultural contexts as well as on intra-individual predispositions like prior experience with the visual type and motif. Taking recent cartoon controversies as an example, but also different reactions to atrocity images like e.g., the Abu Ghraib torture pictures, it becomes apparent that the immediate text accompanying the visuals, and the cultural background in which they are perceived, influence both meaning-attribution and emotional reaction to the same visuals.
After a general introduction into the very recent theories of visual competence and visual context analysis the focus of the paper will be on cross-cultural understandings and misunderstandings that have their origin in visual communication. The paper will conclude with a first suggestion on how to integrate cross-cultural contexts into the theoretical framework of visual meaning-attribution, and a first attempt on how research in visual communication can help to develop solutions to conflicts and crises sparked by visuals.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines prospects for reforming the Electoral College, including its elimination, based on past attempts, opinion, principled arguments, and political context. The EC could be altered or even abolished, if the issue were framed well and the circumstances adequately dire. After Edwards (2004), I will focus on replacing the EC and enacting limited reforms to address problematic structural elements, like the contingent election system that throws a deadlocked contest into the House and the problem of so-called “faithless electors.” Recent observers have downplayed the idea that an amendment might pass, but in 1968 the House did pass a proposed direct popular election amendment (338-70), only to see a Senate kill it. The 2000 election also created a surge of interest, and public opinion surveys have demonstrated continuing popular support for direct election plans. Such interest manifests itself in the “Fair Vote” plan, which would allow states to join together to cast their electoral votes for the popular-vote winner. In the end, EC reforms should go through the amendment process, even if that makes it difficult to achieve the desired reforms. Still, modest reforms might be accomplished through the amendment process.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The development projects of the Tumen river basin and Irkutsk gas for East Asian economies are economically attractive and yet politically complicated. There are positive factors promoting regional cooperation (e.g., economic benefits, secure supply of energy sources, political detente, and other positive externalities), and there are negative factors restricting and controlling the Projects (e.g., North Korean nuclear issues, rivalry between great powers, different polities and ideologies, instability of political systems, anti-Japanese sentiments). Hence the prospects of future regional cooperation seems to lie in a balance sheet between the economic and political powers involved in the projects. As far as negative factors outweigh positive ones, the projects will not be materialized. Perhaps confidence-building measures among countries involved are to be set out at the same time of the initial stage for the regional economic cooperation.