Page 162 - 《国际安全研究》2021年第2期

Journal of International Security Studies
States and the intensifying strategic competition between the two above-mentioned
countries, Australia believes that the limited upgrading of the Australia-US alliance,
deepening the bilateral relations while keeping a respectful distance, is a rational
choice to ease the alliance predicament. Firstly, the limited upgrading of the
Australia-US alliance will not only greatly reduce the risk of “abandonment”, but
also enhance Australia’s regional influence and elevate its importance in the
Sino-US strategic layout. Secondly, since China and the United States would
possibly be caught up in a strategic stalemate for a long time, the odds are low for
Australia to get “entrapped” in the military conflicts between the two countries. It
can be predicted that Australia’s current efforts to partially upgrade its alliance with
the United States will not exert great impact on China-Australia relations. Australia
is convinced that the limited upgrading of the Australia-US alliance and a limited
tension between China and itself can alleviate the plight facing the alliance, enhance
Australia’s diplomatic status and serve its national interests.
[Keywords] alliance dilemma, Australia, Australia-US alliance, rational choice,
limited upgrading
[Authors] XU Shanpin, Ph.D. and Research Fellow, Center for East Asian Studies,
Xiangtan University; ZHANG Tao, M.A. Student, Xiangtan University (Xiangtan,
411105).

132 Security Issues in the US Elections: A Case Study of the 2016 and 2020
Presidential Election
YANG Nan

[Abstract] The long-standing vulnerability in the US electoral system was exposed
in the 2016 presidential election. As an “integrated security issue”, election security
has rapidly developed into an important topic in the US national and homeland
security domains which encompasses cybersecurity, political security, social
security and military security. The US federal and state governments have been
endeavoring to systematically reduce all kinds of security threats in the US electoral
system by way of reducing key infrastructure risks, rebuilding voter trust, dissolving
administrative barriers and filling mechanism gaps. In the 2020 presidential election,
risks relating to election security have been largely mitigated. However, multi-layered
contradictions will continue to persist between the US national security mechanism
and the operation logic in the US election security system. Such contradictions are
particularly demonstrated in the relations between the “industrial market” and the
“innovation market”, between “national security” and “freedom of speech”, between
the “whole government” and the “local power”, and between “cyber freedom” and
“cyber sovereignty”. These irreconcilable contradictions will trigger a discord
among stakeholders, hinder the deepened implementation of relevant policies and
eventually plunge the US government into an insurmountable dilemma of election
security governance.
[Keywords] 2020 US presidential election, cybersecurity, election security, US
homeland security
[Author] YANG Nan, Assistant Research Fellow, Institute of American Studies,
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Beijing, 100720).
（本期英文编辑：张国帅 高静）

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