Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Political Exiles Reckon With Rising China And A Lost Cause, Han Chen

Capstones

This capstone explores the overseas Chinese democracy movement in the United States. English-language coverage about the movement has been limited, and little systemic coverage exists. However, the exile movement is fundamental to understanding how China’s most prominent political opposition is faring as China became the second largest world economy. It will also detail human drama and infighting in this exile community. I interviewed more than a dozen U.S.-based political exiles, journalists and experts, in both Chinese and English.

Link to my capstone project: https://hanchen.atavist.com/chinese-exiles

A Political Theory Of The Chinese Stock Market, Liang Kong

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Chinese stock market crash of 2015 attracted much attention from both the media and academia. Yet it was not a unique incident. The Chinese stock market fluctuates more frequently and drastically than most mature stock markets. The purpose of this work is to explain these unusual stock market fluctuations through a political lens. Traditional financial models and behavioral finance cannot sufficiently explain the unusual fluctuations of the Chinese stock market. Traditional financial models find that economic forces cannot explain all fluctuations in China’s stock market. Behavioral finance attributes the fluctuations to investor’s irrational behavior without explaining why investors behave …

Trumping Norms: Whither The International Liberal Order?, Maureen Jones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper’s main objective is to develop potential theories on the future of American foreign policy within the Trump Administration. The paper will begin by evaluating the norm of statehood and will discuss the contributions of John Meyer to the statehood discourse. Through analysis of Meyer’s work, this paper will develop a standardized structure of statehood within the global order. Furthermore, the paper will analyze the Westphalian international order and discuss the viability of this system leading up to 2017. The Westphalian international system has been the primary system for which nation-states aim to gain acceptance and its norms provide …

Non-Native Foreign Language Instructors’ Teaching Expectations Concerning Intercultural Communication Competence: Communicative Practices In The Classroom., Richard A. Draeger Jr

Theses and Dissertations

Universities within China recruit thousands of foreign experts to teach Chinese college Students. Generally, institutions require foreigners to be native speakers of languages taught and possess a bachelor’s degree. In the 1980s and 1990s, international teachers were hired so students could master native like pronunciation in foreign languages such as English. Institutions within China are now discussing the current status and future of foreign language teaching in university classrooms. Essentially, department heads are debating if students should learn foreign languages for the purposes of communication with foreigners. In the case of Chinese college students, communicative language teaching may need to …

Education And Nutrition Problems In Rural China, Rong Shi

Dissertations

The increasing inequality between rural and urban China has raised many concerns for Chinese scholars. A large gap exists not only in income but in health and education. The rural-urban disparities in health and education may contribute to greater income inequality in the future, thus leading to a vicious cycle. This study explores the factors that contribute to the increasing inequality in health and education between rural and urban China.

Using a randomized controlled trial in Shaanxi province, the first chapter studies the effectiveness of a supplemental meal program in improving students’ development outcomes. This study also compares the impact …

Reappropriating Public Space In Nanchang, China: A Study Of Informal Street Vendors, Bryan C. Winter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since China's shift to market socialism, many marginalized by this process work as informal street vendors where they reappropriate public space in order to survive―a practice at odds with urban authorities' modernizing agenda. In relation to these competing logics concerning public space's use value versus its exchange value, this dissertation examines the practices, experiences, and agency of informal street vendors working in Sanjingwuwei, an ordinary, yet rapidly gentrifying, neighborhood of Nanchang, capital and largest city of southeastern China's Jiangxi Province. After describing the growth of an informal economy in modern China and providing a history of street vending, I describe …

The Memorialization Of Historical Memories In East Asia, Bo Ram Yi

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

East Asia is embroiled in one of the most titillating historical memory wars in present-day politics. A highly complex and intricate matter, conflict over history is the underpinning strain behind political and social relations between China, South Korea and Japan. Mired by the past, tension often rises from conflict over the Yasakuni Shrine visits, comfort women and the textbook matter.

This dissertation will examine how China, South Korea and Japan maintain their historical memory narratives. Through a case study method, each state is analyzed through five factors: commemoration, rhetoric, education, compensation and punishment.

Overall, China and South Korea have maintained …

Social Security Under Decentralized Authoritarianism: Politics Of The Public Pension Program In China, Jing Lin

Dissertations - ALL

Welfare provisions are commonly regarded as an intrinsic product of democracy. Why do authoritarian rulers provide welfare programs to the people? How do authoritarian rulers promote welfare development under decentralized authoritarianism? This dissertation investigates these theoretical puzzles through a detailed study of the urban pension program for enterprise employees in authoritarian China. The decentralized fiscal and administrative structure in China makes the operation of the pension program a particularly challenging one. What are the redistributive incentives of the Chinese rulers? How does the central government differ from local governments in their redistributive calculation? How do these two levels of governments …

A Political Ecology Of Information: Media And The Dilemma Of State Power In China, Michael L. Miller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I employ a Weberian concept of social power in order to theorize the challenges posed by, and the varieties of state response to, the dilemma of state power: the need of all states to empower societies with social capacities that may, in turn, threaten state interests. Through a comparison of traditional and new forms of media in China, I show that rather than posing qualitatively new types of challenges to authoritarian states, new media exacerbate the dilemma of state power. They do so because along each of three dimensions of social control, new media shift the relationship …

The Expansion Of The Mandarin Mind, Tyler Okney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study will examine and contrast two periods of xenophobia and stagnation, late Qing dynasty China, and the PRC under Mao, with a genuine market place of ideas, Shanghai and the other foreign treaty ports in the period 1849 to 1949, and explain how this period of cosmopolitan ferment has had beneficial effects on China today. Countries that have shut themselves off from the outside world have frequently suffered first stagnation, and then decay. While this might appear a commonplace in the abstract, the application of this insight in the development of particular nations has been neither as thorough or …

International Law And The Use Of Lawfare: An Argument For The U.S. To Adopt A Lawfare Doctrine, Trevor Michael Alfred Logan

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a comprehensive operational definition of lawfare, analyze historical case studies of states currently implementing lawfare strategies, and to make an argument for why the U.S. should adopt a lawfare doctrine. Chapter 1 will focus on defining the concept of lawfare and drafting an operational definition of lawfare. Chapter 2 focuses on the evolution of the lawfare doctrine established by the People's Republic of China (PRC), identifies the current lawfare operations conducted by the PRC in the fields of maritime, airspace, cyberspace, and outer space, and analyzing the implications of PRC lawfare operations …

Economic, Cultural, And Political Influences Of The West In China (1940-Present), Liam Mccorry

HON499 projects

China has experienced extreme change politically, culturally and economically in a short amount of time. This paper examines the role of the West in the development of China as we know it today. It is broken into four sections: The Rise of Communism, China As a Planning Economy, Re-linking the Global Economy, and Modern China. Each period will be evaluated based upon the role that Western governments and companies have played in transforming China.

Measuring Quality Of Life For Internal Migrants Working Urban Renewal Sites In Shanghai, China, Jacob A. Watkins

Masters Theses

Chinese internal migrants continue to struggle to obtain social and economic equity in some of China’s largest cities. Shanghai, China’s largest city, houses one of the largest floating populations in the country. As city officials and the Chinese Communist Party continue to spend on urban renewal sites in the city proper, new opportunities may be emerging for migrant workers. These sites contain hundreds on new commercial and service based businesses that could potentially provide stable employment for rural-tourban migrants in Shanghai and influence migrant quality of life as well as provide the means for migrants to remain in the city …

The Use Of Public Plazas In China And The United States: Measuring The Differences Using Direct Observation In Boston And Chongqing, Maozhu Mao

Masters Theses

China’s development during the last several decades has happened at an amazing speed, and public plazas in China have changed considerably. For example, public dancing has become a very popular activity in most public plazas, and many more people than before are using these new plazas. However, some plazas are less popular than others. Therefore it is important to know what are the elements that affect people’s use of China’s public plazas? In the United States, William H. Whyte’s research proposed seven elements in public space that affect people. This study tried to answer the following questions: 1) Do William …

Employment Discrimination Of Chinese Unmarried Women, Jifan Huang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Employment discrimination has been existed through the history and gender discrimination is one of the most common one. The discrimination against women is the most discussed one but the discrimination against unmarried women is easily ignored. While comparing women and men, marital status is considered as one of the factors that decreases women's competitiveness. However, the marital status, as some people complain, turns into a potential advantage while comparing two equally qualified women. This study focuses on main questions: 1) Does the discrimination against unmarried women while comparing with married women really exist, or is it just reasonable selection? 2) …

The Political Economy Of The Automobile Industry Development In China, Muyuan Niu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyses the political economy of developing the modern Chinese automobile industry. By using qualitative research method, especially case study, and developmental rent management analysis framework, the author analyzed the development in three different time periods since the Chinese economic reform in 1978. Case studies of learning period, developing period and new Chinese owned enterprises after joining WTO presented different policies and rent management strategies arranged by the state to industrialize and develop the modern Chinese automobile industry. Although there are failures involved in the arrangement, China finally industrialized and developed its modern automobile industry and became the world's …

Governing Militaries In Liberalizing Economies: China, Iran, Egypt, Loosineh Markarian Senagani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Why have some economically-active militaries of autocratic regimes gained more autonomy vis-à -vis their civilian elite as a consequence of economic liberalization processes adopted in 80s and 90s, whereas others have remained subordinate to civilian control? This dissertation examines the impact of economic liberalization since 1980s on civil-military relations (CMR) in autocratic regimes. Prior to liberalization, the centrally- planned governments of Egypt, Iran, and China utilized their militaries to implement economic development projects. Post-liberalization, these militaries expanded into new economic sectors like finance, banking, and trade. The expansion impacted the balance of CMR differently in each case. Egypt's military took …

Why Did China Do This? An Analysis On China's New Gasoline "Price Floor" Policy, Youhan Ding

Scripps Senior Theses

Why did China choose certain policy over others that would achieve similar impact? Because China has a significant presence in the modern international community, it is difficult yet critical to understand the policy implications of the Chinese government under its unique political and socioeconomic context. This thesis shows the impact of a specific “price floor” policy China chose to employ in its oil and gasoline market, and identifies the factors concerning the Chinese regime that it took into consideration in the decision making process, through analysing data and official statements released by the government. After different parties affected by this …

Natural Resource, Regional Growth, And Human Capital Accumulation, Na Zuo

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

The dissertation research will comprise three essays on the topic of the resource curse hypothesis and its mechanisms. The phenomenon of low economic growth in resource-rich regions is recognized as the “resource curse”. These essays will contribute to an understanding of the regional resource-growth relation within a nation.

Essay one tests the resource curse hypothesis at the U.S. state level. With a system of equations model, I decompose the overall resource effect to account for the two leading explanations — crowding-out and institution effects, thus investigate whether the institutions mediate the crowding-out effects. I did not find evidence of an …

A Second Child? No, Thank You! The Impact Of Chinese Family Planning Policies On Fertility Decisions, Yinghan Qi

Scripps Senior Theses

In 1979, the Chinese government introduced the One-child Policy for the purpose of controlling population growth. Thirty years later, the fertility rate in China has declined to a very low level and one-child families have become the norm. At the same time, the consequences of low fertility rates have emerged. In 2015, the government announced a new policy that encouraged couples to have two children in order to raise the total fertility rate. In this paper, I analyze the economic and legal implications of the Chinese family planning policies. By examining to what extent fertility decisions are affected by government …

Australian Real Estate Stock Reactions To Firb Regulation Changes, Henry Wei

CMC Senior Theses

This study analyzes the share price reactions to real estate development and building/construction materials corporations in relation to FIRB rule changes. It appears companies as a whole were indifferent to the rule changes; however individual securities returns were wildly different. These findings suggest that the FIRB rule changes had a mixed effect on different corporations possibly based on their exposure to the Australian real estate market.

The Political Impact Of Rising Trade Exposure: Evidence From 2000 - 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections, Xiaoyang Qian

CMC Senior Theses

In this paper we analyze the impact of global imports on regional labor markets, and how such impact translates to changes in voting patterns in the U.S. Presidential elections from 2000 to 2016. We find that imports from different U.S. trading partners influence voting patterns in different ways. In particular, we observe an anti-incumbent effect caused by import competition from OECD countries. Such an effect cannot be observed for imports from low-income countries. There is also evidence that suggests high exposure to import competition tends to drive voters toward the Democratic candidate, who typically proposes better social welfare programs and …

Tapping The Potential Of Sports: Incentives In China’S Reformation Of The Sports Industry, Yu Fu

CMC Senior Theses

Since the 2010s, China’s sports industry has undergone comprehensive reforms. This paper attempts to understand this change of direction from the central state’s perspective. By examining the dynamics of the basketball and soccer markets, it discovers that while the deregulation of basketball is a result of persistent bottom-up effort from the private sector, the recentralization of soccer is a state-led policy change. Notwithstanding the different nature and routes between these reforms, in both sectors, the state’s aim is to restore and strengthen its legitimacy within the society. Amidst China’s economic stagnation, the regime hopes to identify sectors that can drive …

Mandate Of Heaven: An Analysis Of China's Government Disaster Response And Ccp Performance Legitimacy, Aaron Yang

CMC Senior Theses

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the Chinese government’s disaster response over the past two decades, analyze any patterns or recurring management behaviors, and understand the government’s overall emergency response capability. Disaster response is one area that reflects the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to govern and exhibit performance legitimacy. As an authoritarian regime, the CCP relies on repression and performance to maintain its authority, especially so when national disasters occur. During times of crisis, the CCP is expected to maintain control and minimize potentially negative consequences. Not doing so results in a potential image crisis and loss of …

International Twitter Comments About 2016 U.S. Presidential Candidates Trump And Clinton: Agenda-Building Analysis In The U.S., U.K., Brazil, Russia, India And China, Jane O’Boyle

Theses and Dissertations

Based on agenda-building theory, this study performs content analysis on 6,019 international Twitter comments about Trump and Clinton in the 10 days prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Even excluding bots and trolls, the preponderance of Twitter comments were positive about Trump and negative about Clinton, in the U.S., Russia, India and China. In the U.K. and Brazil, Twitter comments were largely negative about both candidates. Twitter sources and topics were also identified and explored to expand knowledge about the evolving role and effect of agenda-building in six nations, and around the world.

Acculturation Stress And Depression Among First-Year International Graduate Students From China And India At The University Of South Carolina, Kyunghee Ma

Theses and Dissertations

This cohort study used a mixed-methods pretest/posttest measurement study design. The quantitative method was used to explore the relationship between acculturation stress and depression among first-year international graduate students from China and India enrolled at the University of South Carolina(UofSC), examine the role that social support plays in that relationship, and identify changes in acculturation, social support, and depression over one academic year. The qualitative method helped to further explore how Chinese and Indian international graduate students experienced acculturation stress and to what extent social support helped them cope with their stress.

The sample included 55 students. Primary data were …

Failure Or Adjustment?: An Analysis Of The Slowing Growth Of The Chinese Economy, Kay G. Degraw

Honors Theses

With GDP growth for the 2016 fiscal year reported at 6.7%, it appears that the Chinese economy has departed from the three-decade period in which GDP growth averaged plus-10%. While both academic journals and media outlets have accredited this slowdown to a variety of factors, existing research has failed to conflate the economic and political factors into a comprehensive explanation. Consequently, this thesis examines the causative factors behind the slowing of the Chinese economy though the analysis of three contesting plausibility probes centered on the impact of corruption, statism, and structural economic change. The results of the plausibility probes indicates …

Mao Zedong And Xi Jinping: A Trait Analysis, Dan Douglas

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This study uses Margaret Hermann’s Leadership Trait Analysis (LTA) to compare Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping and see if they have the same style. Through a content analysis of a leader’s speeches, researchers can gain insight into a leader’s motivation for obtaining office and power. In the course of this research, 167 speeches by Mao, and 79 Speeches by Xi were inputted into the content analysis program Profiler+ (Hermann, 2003). The analysis showed that Mao and Xi have some similarities in their LTA results, but the differences in their scores indicate different approaches to leadership. An analysis of the context …

The People's Republic Of China And The Global Class War, Collin L. Chambers

Theses - ALL

This thesis attempts to provide a more sufficient understanding of post-reform China’s position in global political economic space than the understandings and conceptions that currently exist in geography and the broader critical social sciences and humanities. This thesis argues that post-reform China is best understood through the global class war framework. The global class war does not conceive post-reform China as “imperialist,” “neoliberal,” or even “capitalist.” Instead the framework understands post-reform China as a social formation that is simply attempting to arise within a global political economic system that is dominated by the global imperialist class camp. Additionally, the global …

The Dragon’S Flight To The Tropics: China’S Involvement In The Caribbean, Kellie O'Boyle

Honors College Theses

In 2008, the United States experienced an economic crisis that ultimately caused it to take a step back from its involvement in the Caribbean, in particular. This vacuum left by the United States was swiftly filled by China, which shifted the balance of power in the region and provided China a strategic foothold. This event allowed China to expand its influence, as well as challenge US interests through the use of soft power such as trade and investments in infrastructure. While this symbiotic relationship benefits both parties, there is usually a trade inequality in China’s favor. China’s traditional use of …