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    Evolution or revolution? : the impact of the 1991 Gulf War on United States Air Force doctrine : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1998) Wairau, Warren
    One of mankind's greatest accomplishments this century has been the realisation of powered flight. Aviation has significantly changed the way that humans think, live and, for better or worse, wage war. The advent of airpower has revolutionised the conduct of warfare during the twentieth century as the development of platforms with the ability to project military power while operating above the earth's surface has opened a third dimension to armed conflict. Technological advances has made man's ascent into the air possible and it has progressively become the most important sphere of modern warfare. Airpower entails the use of the air not just as a medium for transit, as in the case of a projectile, but also for manoeuvre, deployment and surprise which includes aircraft, non-ballistic cruise missiles and more increasingly, space assets. Constrained by geography and the physical environment to a much lesser extent than surface forces, airpower enjoys speed, reach, responsiveness and perspective far exceeding those of land or seapower. Today, aircraft are able to fly unlimited distances and deliver a variety of weapons upon targets with unprecedented destructive capacity. As well as applying direct firepower, aircraft are able to protect and enhance the combat power of all other friendly forces, regardless of their operational spheres. Indeed, the versatility, range, speed, precision and lethality of contemporary airpower have made it such an integral component of modern warfare that no major military operation can be efficiently conducted without it. In many instances, airpower has demonstrated that it can be the dominant form of military power.
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    Living in a dangerous neighbourhood : Iran and its quest for security through nuclear deterrence : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Politics at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Gharekhanian, Hamid
    The ongoing dispute between Iran and certain members of the international community over Iran’s nuclear programme has attracted academic debate, significant media attention, and much diplomatic anxiety over the past two decades. While the Iranian Government maintains that its nuclear programme is based upon peaceful purposes and primarily aimed at enhancing energy efficiency to meet the country’s increasing domestic demand, this thesis argues that key factors informing Iran’s nuclear ambitions include its overarching security concerns which transcend the use of nuclear energy for economic ends. Iran’s nuclear policy has largely been shaped by the insecurities caused by its neighbouring countries, some of which are nuclear-armed states. Iran’s sense of insecurity has been compounded by the presence of US armed forces in the region, whose military superiority cannot be overcome by Iran’s conventional army alone. This thesis contends that Iran’s leaders continue to pursue a nuclear programme in the face of the international community’s objections because they believe that nuclear weapons represent a credible military deterrent and, as such, form a vital part of its quest for national security.
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    Blueprint for defence : Labour-Alliance defence policy and the Inquiry into defence beyond 2000 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2001) Krogt, Francis van der
    New Zealand's defence policies and the New Zealand Defence Force's (NZDF) military capabilities have long been the subject of vigorous public debate. At the centre of the debate have been questions over the need to retain military capabilities usually associated primarily with fighting wars, rather than performing tasks of a lower intensity. This debate reaches a crescendo whenever these capabilities require restoration or upgrading. In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, the plans to replace the Royal New Zealand Navy's Leander class frigates with ANZAC class frigates and the Royal New Zealand Air Force's Skyhawk fighters with F-16s occasioned some of the most sustained and bitter disagreements that New Zealand has ever seen. Underlying the debate over capabilities are deeper divisions over a range of issues, such as the appropriate role for the NZDF when the odds in the short to medium term of an attack on New Zealand are so slight. Defence policy statements under successive National-led Governments during the 1990s argued that despite the absence of a military threat, New Zealand's defence policy should be premised on the possibility that a serious military contingency affecting New Zealand's interests could occur well before New Zealand could raise forces to meet the threat - hence the need to retain the widest possible range of options even in times of relative peace.2 2 New Zealand Ministry of Defence, 1996 Defence Assessment, Wellington, 1996, pp.1, 23. It was further argued that other useful objectives would be met by this policy. Critics of this position argue that defence policy would be eminently more useful if it were to concentrate on meeting challenges and performing tasks that can be more confidently expected in the short to medium term. Peacekeeping is often said to be foremost among these tasks. [From the introduction]
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    Comparative defence planning : lessons for New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Defence and Strategic Studies) at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Davie, Malcolm
    The intent of this thesis is to identify ways in which defence planning can be improved in New Zealand. In order to do so, research examines practical examples of Capability Based Planning (CBP) amongst members of the Technical Co-operation Program (TTCP) - New Zealand, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States. This approach has also been applied to defence planning processes in Singapore and Finland. As part of this, the TTCP’s CBP model provides an essential comparative template and in doing so, the methodology employed is essentially that of a comparative case study. This thesis has identified a number of positives and negatives amongst the research group. However, four particularly important findings have emerged. Firstly, New Zealand must find ways to better integrate technological change into capability decision making processes and across the capability life cycle. Secondly, external expertise is now widely employed by defence policy makers and this should be integrated into defence planning structures in this country. Thirdly, quantitative approaches to defence capability development offer significant potential and are well developed in partner states. This may provide a means by which to extend New Zealand’s own capabilities in this regard. Lastly, examples of defence planning in Singapore and Finland suggest that a hybrid model based on CBP but adapted to the realities of a state’s unique strategic culture, can work in a practical context. This flexibility of use means CBP continues to offer significant utility to defence planners in New Zealand as well as an evolutionary foundation upon which to base future defence capability development.
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    Public control of private military : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Defence and Strategic Studies), Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Curley, Marcel
    Private military force must have a fully informed regulatory and legislative oversight if it is to be a useful and controllable tool for states’ management of their political affairs. Today, this requires citizens to be fully aware of and engaged in their state’s military arrangements. Contemporary concerns that animate debates surrounding the prodigious employment of private military contractors by certain modern liberal democracies largely reflect the lessons of history. Private force has not been a consistently contentious issue throughout much of Western history and a periodic assessment of their exploits can productively instruct citizens in their current use. History suggests that control of private military force is maximised by an informed coalition of cooperative and engaged participants that includes public citizens, their principals, and the private agents. Given incentive and oversight, they can be shown to have advantage in achieving certain security and defence objectives. Lack of competent citizen-control mechanisms often results in disorder as public and private motivations and objectives compete. Scrutiny of selected private-military histories can assist in informing what will constitute effective control over private military force in a contemporary paradigm. Refusal to recognise the exemplars offers the potential to see past mistakes repeated, to the peril of existing citizen rights and duties. As the proliferation of private military actors is unlikely to recede, given their persistent attendance alongside various human endeavours, identifying and leveraging the successes and failures of control from historical examples is prudent in order to further inform contemporary citizen’s democratic decisions about their state’s military affairs.