Developing a model of distributed sensemaking: a case study of military analysis

In this paper, we examine the role of representational artefacts in sensemaking. Embodied within representational media, such as maps, charts and lists, are a number of affordances, which can furnish sensemakers with the ability to perform tasks that may be difficult to do inside the head. Presented here is a study of sensemaking in action. We conducted a study of military intelligence analysts carrying out a training exercise, the analysis of which focuses on the use of external task-specific representations. We present a discussion of the findings of our study in the form of a model of distributed sensemaking. Our model concentrates on the interaction of information and various representational artefacts, leading to the generation of insights and a situation picture. We also introduce a number of levels of description for examining the properties and affordances offered by representational artefacts and their role in the sensemaking process

Developing a model of distributed sensemaking: a case study of military analysis

In this paper, we examine the role of representational artefacts in sensemaking. Embodied within representational media, such as maps, charts and lists, are a number of affordances, which can furnish sensemakers with the ability to perform tasks that may be difficult to do inside the head. Presented here is a study of sensemaking in action. We conducted a study of military intelligence analysts carrying out a training exercise, the analysis of which focuses on the use of external task-specific representations. We present a discussion of the findings of our study in the form of a model of distributed sensemaking. Our model concentrates on the interaction of information and various representational artefacts, leading to the generation of insights and a situation picture. We also introduce a number of levels of description for examining the properties and affordances offered by representational artefacts and their role in the sensemaking process

Cambodia’s hedging foreign policy between the United States and China: the role of domestic politics, 1999-2019

Master of ArtsSecurity Studies Interdepartmental ProgramAndrew G. LongThe rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the apparent transition from the post Cold War unipolarity to multipolarity of the twentieth-first century have resulted in a highly fluid geostrategic environment in the Asia-Pacific region, where signs of potential aggressors are not clear cut, and structural power among major states still unfolds with considerable uncertainty. This condition inclines small states such as Cambodia to reject traditional bandwagoning and balancing schools of thought that require them to choose a side between contesting big powers. Instead, they opt for a pragmatic foreign policy known as “hedging” by forging relations with multiple external players concurrently. Through the lens of survival of authoritarian regimes, this qualitative study contends that Cambodia’s general election cycle influences its hedging between the United States and the PRC from 1999 to 2019. On the one hand, Cambodia’s economic and military relations with the United States remain stable and mature over time, whereas its political ties deteriorate temporarily during elections because of government repression. On the other hand, Cambodia’s relations with China deepen without fluctuation regardless of electoral cycles. The ultimate goal of this strategy is to uphold the legitimacy of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) by retaining the support of two key constituencies in Cambodian politics: the winning coalition and the opposition group. This study concluded that Cambodia hedged by engaging not only with the United States and China but also with Japan, the European Union, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in order to bolster economic growth, maintain internal stability, strengthen its armed forces, preserve the regional balance of power, and project an ambivalent image of its alignment posture. The thesis offers policy implications for the scholarship on the foreign policy of small autocratic states and the future of U.S. foreign policy in Asia

Local to Grand Geopolitics

학위논문(석사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 국제대학원 국제학과(국제협력전공), 2022. 8. 오윤아.Cambodia has had a long history of foreign influences. Even after gaining Independence from France in 1953, it was unfortunately bound by its geographical location and again fell into another trap of the ideological struggle Cold War. Although Cambodia pursued a policy of neutrality and joined Non-Alignment Movement, it was eventually dragged into Vietnam War. The spillover effect made Cambodia fall into a civil war of its own and resulted in a tragic regime of genocide that killed millions of people. Comparably, today’s geopolitics of the great power competition seems to suggest the same scenario for Cambodia if it is not careful in maneuvering its course out of trouble. However, Cambodia has been put in a very delicate situation as it is not only surrounded by the U.S. and China, but it is also sandwiched in between its two neighbors, Thailand and Vietnam. Therefore, this research seeks to understand Cambodia’s foreign policy by identifying state’s position and interests which govern its behaviors amid the superpowers’ powerplay through dual geopolitical analysis. In other words, Cambodia’s foreign policy towards the U.S. and China (grand geopolitics) is being tied to its relations with the two neighbors Thailand and Vietnam (local geopolitics). As a result, Cambodia needs to make a political calculation carefully by adopting an indirect balancing strategy against Thailand and Vietnam through extending its hand and diversifying its relations with other powers, mainly the great powers. Yet, the reciprocity and the shared strategic interests between Cambodia and the superpowers may either buttress Cambodia’s relations with them or keep Cambodia at arm’s length.캄보디아는외세의영향아래오랜역사를가지고있다.1953년 프랑스로부터 독립한 뒤에도, 지리적 위치에 얽매여 다시 냉전의 이데올로기 함정에 빠졌다. 캄보디아는 중립 정책을 추구하며 비동맹 운동에 동참했지만, 결국 베트남 전쟁에 말려들었다. 그 파급효과는 캄보디아를 자체적인 내전에 빠지게 했고, 수백만 명의 목숨을 앗아간 비극적인 대량학살 정권에 이르게 했다. 그에 비해 현재 강대국 경쟁의 지정학을 볼 때, 캄보디아가 곤경에서 벗어나기 위해 신중하게 행동하지 않는다면 같은 시나리오를 반복하는 것과 같은 양상일 뿐이다. 다만 캄보디아는 미국과 중국에 둘러싸여있고,두이웃국가인태국과베트남사이에끼어있어매우미묘한상황에 놓여있다. 따라서 본 논문은 이중 지정학적 분석 (dual geopolitical analysis)을 통해 강대국들의 권력 플레이 속, 캄보디아의 위치와 이익을 파악함으로써 캄보디아의 외교정책을 이해하고자 한다. 즉, 캄보디아의 미국과 중국 외교정책 (대지정학 – grand geopolitics)이 두 이웃 국가인 태국과 베트남 (현지지정학 – local geopolitics)과의 관계에 묶여 있는 셈이다. 결과적으로 캄보디아는 태국과 베트남에 대항하기 위해 간접적인 균형 (indirect balancing) 전략을 채택해 정치적 계산을 신중히 하고, 강대국들을 중심으로 한 관계를 다각화하는 등의 전략을 시행할 필요가 있다. 그러나, 캄보디아와 초강대국들 사이의 상호주의나 전략적 일치성은 캄보디아와 그들 사이의 관계를 강화하거나 약화시킬 수 있다.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Background of the Study 1 1.2. Purpose and Significance of the Study 5 1.3. Research Questions 6 1.4. Argument 6 1.5. Research Design 7 Chapter 2. Analytical Framework: Dual Geopolitics 9 2.1. Literature Review 9 2.1.1. Geography 9 2.1.2. Historical Experiences 11 2.1.3. Cambodia's Relations towards Superpowers 12 2.2. Analytical Framework 15 Chapter 3. Local Geopolitics: Identifying Cambodia's Strategic Interests 21 3.1. Geography and Proximity 21 3.1.1. Cambodia-Thailand Relations: Troubled Border and Domestic Politics 23 3.1.2. Cambodia-Vietnam Relations: Asymmetric Relationship 28 Chapter 4. Grand Geopolitics: Cambodia's Foreign Policy with the Great Powers 37 4.1. The United States 38 4.1.1. Cambodia's Diplomatic History with the United States 38 4.1.2. Cambodia's Relations with the U.S. since 1991: A New Beginning 42 a. Political Relations and Military Cooperation 42 b. Economic Relations and Development Assistance 55 4.2. China 61 4.2.1. Cambodia's Diplomatic History with China 62 4.2.2. Cambodia's Relations with the China since 1991: An Old Friend 68 a. Political Relations and Military Cooperation 68 b. Economic Relations and Development Assistance 79 4.3. Cambodia's Relationship Dynamics with the Great Powers 85 Chapter 5. From Local to Grand Geopolitics 93 5.1. Superpowers as Indirect Balancing Mechanism 93 5.2. Cambodia's Fragile Neutrality 99 5.2.1. Cambodia's Dependence on the Superpowers 100 5.2.2. Cambodia and its Strategic Importance 103 Chapter 6. Conclusion 107 Bibliography 111 Abstract (Korean) 127석

Economic Land Concessions in Cambodia - At the Expense of Adequate Housing? A Minor Field Study

Idén till denna uppsats kommer från det utbredda fenomenet “land grabbing”, vilket bland annat har lett till att ett stort antal människor över hela världen har blivit tvångsförflyttade. Inom det internationella regelverket för mänskliga rättigheter finns det en rättighet till adekvat (lämplig) bostad. Att tvångsförflytta människor anses vara ett direkt åsidosättande av denna rättighet. Uppsatsen består av en fallstudie på rättigheten till adekvat bostad i Kambodja, som är ett av de fattigaste länderna i Asien. Kambodja präglas fortfarande på många sätt av det inbördeskrig som härjade i landet under andra halvan av 1900-talet. Som en strategi för fattigdomsbekämpning började staten vid millennieskiftet att bevilja markkoncessioner för storskaligt jordbruk. Sen detta system togs i bruk har det dock framförts stark oro kring systemets påverkan på åtnjutandet av mänskliga rättigheter, särskilt som många fall av tvångsförflyttningar har rapporterats. Kambodja har ratificerat de mest centrala av de internationella instrumenten om mänskliga rättigheter, och med det som utgångspunkt är syftet med denna uppsats att utreda om Kambodja kan anses fullgöra sina internationella förpliktelser vad gäller rättigheten till adekvat bostad. Syftet är även att bedöma om systemet med markkoncessioner påverkar möjligheten att åtnjuta rättigheten till adekvat bostad. Uppsatsen beskriver rättigheten till adekvat bostad utifrån det internationella regelverket om mänskliga rättigheter, och sen undersöker den hur denna rättighet är skyddad i Kambodja genom lagstiftnings- såväl som politiska åtgärder. Efter det presenteras de relevanta delarna av regleringen av markkoncessioner, och ett antal kontroversiella aspekter rörande bostadssituationen i Kambodja samt systemet av markkoncessioner granskas närmre. Dessa aspekter innefattar marktvister, fenomenet “jordlösa”, tvångsförflyttningar och vidarebosättning, tillgång till en rättvis rättegång, korruption och regeringens bristande transparens. Två slutsatser dras i uppsatsen. Den första slutsatsen är att Kambodja inte kan anses fullgöra sina internationella förpliktelser vad gäller den mänskliga rättigheten till adekvat bostad, huvudsakligen på grund av att besittningsskyddet genomgående är allt för svagt i landet. Den andra slutsatsen är att systemet med markkoncessioner påverkar möjligheten av att åtnjuta rättigheten till adekvat bostad. Till skillnad från det ursprungliga syftet med markkoncessionerna, att bekämpa fattigdomen, så har många av de fattiga i stället blivit ännu fattigare.The inspiration to this thesis springs from the phenomenon of “land grabbing”, which have had forced evictions of numerous persons and communities across the world as one of its devastating effects. International human rights law recognizes a right to adequate housing, and instances of forced eviction are considered a prima facie violation of this right. This thesis is a case study on adequate housing in Cambodia, a country that is one of the poorest in Asia and still suffers from the legacies of decades of civil war during the second half of the 20th century. At the turn of the millennium, a system of Economic Land Concessions was introduced as a strategy to reduce rural poverty. However, since the introduction of this system concerns regarding the human rights impacts of it have been reported frequently, and so has instances of forced eviction throughout Cambodia. Cambodia has ratified all the core human rights instruments, and against this background the purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether Cambodia can be considered to fulfill its international human rights obligations regarding the right to adequate housing. The purpose is further to examine whether the system of Economic Land Concessions affects the enjoyment of the right to housing. The thesis describes the right to adequate housing as set forth by international human rights law, and thereafter it explores how the right to housing is protected in Cambodia through legislative and policy measures. Relevant parts of the regulation on Economic Land Concessions are then brought up, and a number of controversial issues in relation to housing and Economic Land Concessions are highlighted, namely: land disputes, landlessness, eviction and resettlement, access to justice, corruption and the Government’s lack of transparency. The thesis concludes that Cambodia not can be considered to fulfill its international human rights obligations regarding the right to adequate housing, mainly because of the low degree of security of tenure throughout the country. The thesis further concludes that the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing can be considered affected by the system of Economic Land Concessions, and that this system many times have made the rural poor even poorer, contrary to the original purpose of it

Protest law & public order policing in hybrid regimes

Hybrid regimes are those in which only the formalities of representative electoral politics are observed. Consequently, political legitimacy is determined on the basis of whether the incumbent political leaders have the backing of non-representative political ‘guardians’ (such as the monarchy and the military) rather than through the popular vote exclusively. The incumbents need to win elections. They stay in power by manipulating the political sphere to gain unfair advantages over their political competitors. Individuals in hybrid regimes do not enjoy freedom of assembly in the same way as individuals in consolidated democracies. This thesis highlights how hybrid regimes in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand) use legal mechanisms governing public assemblies to thwart the effective realisation of the freedom of assembly stipulated by international human rights law. Such legal factors are often overlooked by scholars in political science and social movement studies in seeking to explain both regime resilience and the repression of opposition protest movements. While hybrid regimes may appear to adopt international human rights standards on public assemblies, these are inconsistently implemented in practice. The resulting gap – between an apparent commitment to international standards and the reality ‘on the ground’ – can partly be explained by the fact that human rights standards are themselves primarily oriented to facilitating and protecting public assemblies as a part of the democratic process. In contrast, legal frameworks and public order policing in hybrid regimes serve a different purpose than to enable a democratic process. In particular, in the absence of mechanisms of accountability, hybrid regime incumbents manipulate legal rules – and the discretion conferred on law enforcement officials – so as to secure their continued dominance. The thesis thus illustrates how such rule by law is used to strengthen and ‘street-proof’ hybrid regimes

Automated NDT inspection for large and complex geometries of composite materials

Large components with complex geometries, made of composite materials, have become very common in modern structures. To cope with future demand projections, it is necessary to overcome the current non-destructive testing (NDT) bottlenecks encountered during the inspection phase of manufacture. This thesis investigates several aspects of the introduction of automation within the inspection process of complex parts. The use of six-axis robots for product inspection and non-destructive testing systems is the central investigation of this thesis. The challenges embraced by the research include the development of a novel controlling approach for robotic manipulators and of novel path-planning strategies. The integration of robot manipulators and NDT data acquisition instruments is optimized. An effective and reliable way to encode the NDT data through the interpolated robot feedback positions is implemented. The viability of the new external control method is evaluated experimentally. The observed maximum position and orientation errors are respectively within 2mm and within 1 degree, over an operating envelope of 3m³. A new software toolbox (RoboNDT), aimed at NDT technicians, has been developed during this work. RoboNDT is intended to transform the robot path-planning problem into an easy step of the inspection process. The software incorporates the novel path-planning algorithms developed during this research and is shaped to overcome practical limitations of current OLP software. The software has been experimentally validated using scans on real high value aerospace components. RoboNDT delivers tool-path errors that are lower than the errors given by commercial off-line path-planning software. For example the variability of the standoff is within 10 mm for the tool-paths created with the commercial software and within 4.5 mm for the RoboNDT tool-paths, over a scanned area of 1.6m². The output of this research was used to support a 3-year industrial project, called IntACom and led by TWI on behalf of major aerospace sponsors. The result is a demonstrator system, currently in use at TWI Technology Centre, which is capable of inspecting complex geometries with high throughput. The IntACom system can scan real components 2.8 times faster than traditional 3-DoF scanners deploying phased-array inspection and 6.7 times faster than commercial gantry systems deploying traditional single-element inspection.Large components with complex geometries, made of composite materials, have become very common in modern structures. To cope with future demand projections, it is necessary to overcome the current non-destructive testing (NDT) bottlenecks encountered during the inspection phase of manufacture. This thesis investigates several aspects of the introduction of automation within the inspection process of complex parts. The use of six-axis robots for product inspection and non-destructive testing systems is the central investigation of this thesis. The challenges embraced by the research include the development of a novel controlling approach for robotic manipulators and of novel path-planning strategies. The integration of robot manipulators and NDT data acquisition instruments is optimized. An effective and reliable way to encode the NDT data through the interpolated robot feedback positions is implemented. The viability of the new external control method is evaluated experimentally. The observed maximum position and orientation errors are respectively within 2mm and within 1 degree, over an operating envelope of 3m³. A new software toolbox (RoboNDT), aimed at NDT technicians, has been developed during this work. RoboNDT is intended to transform the robot path-planning problem into an easy step of the inspection process. The software incorporates the novel path-planning algorithms developed during this research and is shaped to overcome practical limitations of current OLP software. The software has been experimentally validated using scans on real high value aerospace components. RoboNDT delivers tool-path errors that are lower than the errors given by commercial off-line path-planning software. For example the variability of the standoff is within 10 mm for the tool-paths created with the commercial software and within 4.5 mm for the RoboNDT tool-paths, over a scanned area of 1.6m². The output of this research was used to support a 3-year industrial project, called IntACom and led by TWI on behalf of major aerospace sponsors. The result is a demonstrator system, currently in use at TWI Technology Centre, which is capable of inspecting complex geometries with high throughput. The IntACom system can scan real components 2.8 times faster than traditional 3-DoF scanners deploying phased-array inspection and 6.7 times faster than commercial gantry systems deploying traditional single-element inspection

Civil society, rights and welfare: exploring the implementation of the convention on the rights of the child in Cambodia

This study examines Cambodia’s implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Corpus analysis of civil society organisations’ submissions to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review reveals a raft of CRC violations, including sexual abuse, trafficking and child labour. This is due to political and bureaucratic failings. The wider significance of this lies in underlining how the disjuncture between state and civil society underpins ongoing violations. Future progress depends on strengthened mobilisation yet increasing repression of civil society makes this unlikely. Accordingly, the prospects are bleak with children in Cambodia continuing to suffer widespread rights violations