US technology policy in the age of the US-China tech war

My DPhil thesis critically examines the United States’ technology policy in the context of the US-China Tech War. I investigate how the US approach to tech policy, particularly in relation to the tech private sector, has affected its standing in this ongoing rivalry. The thesis is divided into two parts, encompassing a total of three articles. The first part, represented by Article 1, delves into the decline in US influence among its allies, evidenced by European Union member states adopting data localisation policies targeting US tech companies. I argue that these policies represent a form of soft balancing against US technological dominance, reflecting allies’ waning confidence in US leadership in the tech war. Recognising the strategic losses experienced by the US in Part 1, Part 2 examines one possible explanation for the US decline in the tech war. Building on existing scholarship pointing to the lack of a consistent, unifying approach to tech policy, I examine US tech policy in two key areas: alliance management and private sector management. Article 2 characterises US alliance management as non-cooperative, revealing the challenges of successfully influencing allies to counteract Chinese tech companies’ presence in their own critical national infrastructures. Article 3 characterises the US approach to its private sector as laissez-faire, showing that US Big Tech companies operate under rational profit maximisation irrespective of their alignment with the US government. My findings reveal that the US’s non-cooperative approach to alliance management and its laissez-faire approach to private sector management have negatively affected its standing in the tech war. This thesis provides insights into the foreign policy dimensions of tech policy and demonstrates the analytical benefits of anchoring technology-related studies in theoretical frameworks derived from International Relations

Lebanon’s Democracy: Prospects and Pitfalls

ABSTRACT In Lebanon, there is a common understanding and belief among many politicians and citizens, in equal measure, that Lebanon is a democratic country. This belief is not only restricted to those inside Lebanon, but also to be found in neighbouring Arab countries and among their people. In other words, Lebanon is believed to be a country that enjoys a relatively democratic political system, rule of law, and a vibrant civil society, compared to the rest of the region. However, this is for the most part a misunderstanding, and originates from most Lebanese people’s view that a modest level of freedom should be considered democracy, and that a relatively unconstrained civil society means an effective civil society. The main purpose of this thesis is to analyse Lebanon’s political system and establish a clearer picture about whether the democratic claim is real or just an illusion. In order to build this picture, I have concentrated on the internal and external obstacles that have impeded the evolution of the Lebanese political system. The first part of the thesis discusses whether or not the Lebanese political system shares any of the features of functioning democratic political systems and whether or not it is running in a modus which reflects democratic values. In later chapters, the thesis moves on to examine the internal and external factors that have hindered the state from becoming a sovereign, authoritative state and thus without the necessary foundations for becoming a democratic state. The study will demonstrate that Lebanon suffers from the domination of a militant organisation within its borders which violates the country’s sovereignty and disrupts the government and its institutions from functioning properly and being authoritative. Moreover, it will reveal that most citizens - a key element in any democracy - continue to feel subjugated, unable to make their voices heard, and without a say in the decision making process. Moreover, it will be demonstrated that Lebanon suffers from several problems. Firstly and most importantly, it suffers from the lack of an effective state that imposes the rule of law on all of Lebanon’s territory. Secondly and equally important, Lebanon suffers from missing a major component that constitutes an essential pillar for the state, and that is sovereignty. Thirdly, election results are not taken into consideration as the public’s electoral choices are not respected, while instead powerful elite continues to rule the country illegally. These impediments and many others lead the study to conclude that the Lebanese political system currently remains far from being considered a democracy

Breaching the Privacy of Israel's Paper Ballot Voting System

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017. An election is a process through which citizens in liberal democracies select their governing bodies, usually through voting. For elections to be truly honest, people must be able to vote freely without being subject to coercion; that is why voting is usually done in a private manner. In this paper we analyze the security offered by a paper-ballot voting system that is used in Israel, as well as several other countries around the world. We provide an algorithm which, based on publicly-available information, breaks the privacy of the voters participating in such elections. Simulations based on real data collected in Israel show that our algorithm performs well, and can correctly recover the vote of up to 96% of the voters.17 pagesstatus: publishe

Breaching the privacy of Israel's paper ballot voting system

An election is a process through which citizens in liberal democracies select their governing bodies, usually through voting. For elections to be truly honest, people must be able to vote freely without being subject to coercion; that is why voting is usually done in a private manner. In this paper we analyze the security offered by a paper-ballot voting system that is used in Israel, as well as several other countries around the world. We provide an algorithm which, based on publicly-available information, breaks the privacy of the voters participating in such elections. Simulations based on real data collected in Israel show that our algorithm performs well, and can correctly recover the vote of up to 96% of the voters

Convincing Canberra: How foreign states seek to achieve their foreign policy objectives with the Australian Government

This thesis shows how United States, Israel and Indonesia seek to influence Australian foreign policy by various forms of lobbying. The research indicates this is achieved in large measure through encouraging sympathetic identification, status and financial inducements directed to an Australian power clique. These processes are assisted by indicators of \u27deep state\u27 activity and a degree of inattention to politics by segments of Australian society. The study proposes different models of deep states depending on the degree of global power

The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader: January 1, 1982 - December 31, 1992 Annual Index: Volume 2

The purpose of this index is to provide a practical guide to South Dakota news. Included are biographical articles about South Dakotans; news by local writers; all editorials; reports of committees, conventions, meetings, etc.; articles on local history, arts, business, and musical performances; features on education employment, population trends, and parks and recreation, etc. National and international items which are indexed in the New York Times Index and Readers\u27 Guide, to Periodical Literature are omitted unless the subject matter is relevant to South Dakota. Also omitted are items in the following general categories: national columns; birth, engagement, wedding and obituary announcements; daily sports news; public notices minutes of city and county commission meetings; and hospital and police records

The Whitworthian 2004-2005

The Whitworthian student newspaper, September 2004-May 2005.https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/whitworthian/1088/thumbnail.jp

Squatting movement and practice of procurement housing for poor people

This paper focuses on the squatting movement and the practice of procuring housing for poor people, which are needs neglected by the government. The squatting movement and practice have developed in the Western world in two waves of urban movement: in the 1960s-1970s and from 2000 up to now. This topic has become important again in the neoliberal world of growing social inequalities. Research methods include the analysis of existing studies, a comparison of Geneva (Switzerland), Rome (Italy), and New York (USA) as case studies, and the genera- lisation of lessons learned. The main recommendations are the reform of housing policy and the recovery of welfare state instruments

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality