International and Area Studies Commons^™

Reputation Building Through Failure, Huan Wang, Yi Zhang

Research Collection School Of Economics

In China, many entrepreneurs receive strong supports each time their business fails. This contradicts existing literature and differs from rare revival elsewhere. The major explanation lies in China’s unfriendly and unstable policy environments, due to which business failure per se cannot discern competence. Therefore, entrepreneurs failing because of policy shocks have the incentive for extra efforts to build reputation of competence and trustworthiness. This mechanism prepares a pool of seasoned entrepreneurs who can help alleviate damages of not only policy shocks, but also such system shocks as business cycle and sector upgrading, and therefore makes the economy more adaptable.

Explaining Depravity Through The Looking Glass: Political Prison Camps, North Korea, And Waltz's Three Images, Amanda Battles

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The political prison camps of North Korea are blatant violations of human rights within the state. They have recently received international attention within the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council. This paper examines these political prison camps through Kenneth Waltz’s levels of analysis in order to better understand the existence of these camps.

Wellbeing Of Singapore’S Youths, Kong Weng Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

Given Singapore’s focus on human capital investment in its residents, the nation’s youths have experienced increases in their financial, educational, and physical wellbeing. However, how have our youths fared in their emotional and mental wellbeing? Figures from the World Values Survey show reported a gradual decline in life satisfaction for both general population and youths. Data from four waves of the National Youth Survey confirms this trend. This chapter explores and examines the non-economic channels that may have countered the positive influence of economic success on the wellbeing of youths, namely, changing family structure, heightened stressors, shifting life goals, time …

Asian Tiger Economies' Choices, Hwee Kwan Chow-Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper considers the choices facing the Asian tiger economies regarding growth strategies that foster trans-Pacific rebalancing. A review of historical data spanning 2000 to 2008 reveals only a slight widening of the overall current account surplus but that there is considerable variation across the countries, with Hong Kong, China exhibiting the biggest increase in the saving and investment (S-I) balance. Meanwhile, cross-correlation coefficient estimates tentatively suggest that changes in the real effective exchange rate do not seem to exhibit a consistent negative lead over changes in the S-I gap in the short run over the past decade. Highimport leakage, …

Microbuses And Mobile Homemaking In Exile: Sudanese Visiting Strategies In Cairo, Anita Fábos

Sustainability and Social Justice

Paying home visits to mark social events and maintain networks is an established cultural pattern in Arab countries.Northern Sudanese displaced in Cairo in the 1990s made significant efforts to continue visiting each other in their temporary homes, despite having to travel long distances to members of their widely scattered networks.The deterioration of the legal and political status of Sudanese living in Egypt during the 1990s contributed to longer-term uncertainty for those who sought safety and security in Cairo.In this article, I argue that this long-term uncertainty constitutes a protracted refugee situation, and that Sudanese visiting practices constituted a mobile homemaking …

Combating Corruption At The Grass-Roots Level: The Case Of Individual Oath Takers, Emmanuel Funso Oluyitan

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Nigeria ranks as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. Its abundant natural resources are being exploited by some privileged few while the majority suffers abject poverty. In spite of a series of laws and reforms directed at waging war against corruption and campaigns against corruption by both government and non-government organizations (NG0s), corruption still reigns in Nigeria and has become part of Nigerian culture. The Association of Nigerians Against Corruption (ANAC), which I founded in 1984, is one such NGO campaigning against corruption through a series of seminars. ANAC focuses on appealing to the minds of individuals …

A Mixed Methods Study: Dimensions Of Cross-Cultural Professional Success: Experiences Of Western Women Living And Working In Eastern Cultures, Tami J. France

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In this world of global interconnectedness women continue to develop cross-cultural careers and their experiences impact and influence global scholarship and practice. Through this study, the relationships, resources, and characteristics that support female expatriate success were explored, with additional focus on the role of mentor and coach relationships. The mixed-methods study was conducted using a sequential approach to research that began with one-on-one semi structured interviews with ten professional women from the United States and Canada working or formerly working in China and Hong Kong. A survey was designed based on the interview findings. Professional women from western countries working …

Tapestry Of Tears: An Autoethnography Of Leadership, Personal Transformation, And Music Therapy In Humanitarian Aid In Bosnia Herzegovina, Alpha M. Woodward

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In the fall of 2003 I was invited to lead a team of music therapists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), a country that had been recently savaged by two brutal inter-ethnic wars. The program operated out of the Pavarotti Music Centre on the East side of Mostar, a divided city in the southwest region of BiH. My journey over the next four years was epically challenged by my immersion into the complexities of post-conflict recovery, and the cultural confusion that followed the atrocities of those wars. Transformation and change not only characterized the world in which I worked, but also …

“El No Murio, El Se Multiplico!” Hugo Chávez : The Leadership And The Legacy On Race, Cynthia Ann Mckinney

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

“Chávez, Chávez, Chávez: Chávez no murio, se multiplico!” was the chant outside the National Assembly building after several days of mourning the death of the first President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. This study investigates the leadership of Hugo Chávez and his legacy on race as seen through the eyes and experiences of selected interviewees and his legacy on race. The interviewees were selected based on familiarity with the person and policies of the leadership of Hugo Chávez and his legacy on race. Unfortunately, not much has been written about this aspect of Hugo Chávez despite the myriad attempts …

Young, Gifted, And Brown: Ricanstructing Through Autoethnopoetic Stories For Critical Diasporic Puerto Rican Pedagogy, Ángel Luis Martínez

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Young, Gifted and Brown is a journey of two directions converging. It is a study of Puerto Rican Diaspora in higher education, specifically, students making sense and meaning of their everyday. It is also a study of how I have related to them as a professor. Together, this is a story: research done creatively, toward the development of Critical Pedagogy for Puerto Rican Diaspora. The research question is: what has made the Puerto Rican Diaspora in the United States flourish and their lived experience meaningful? How can a diasporic people connect with and affirm their roots in an educational system …

My Heart Is In The East: Exploring Theater As A Vehicle For Change, Inspired By The Poetic Performances Of Ancient Andalucía, Jessica Litwak

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study addresses the research question “How Do I Inspire Personal and Social Change Through My Theater Practice?” I implement the theory and practice of H.E.A.T., a fusion theater system, combining use of theater arts as healing practice, educational asset, activist tool, and an art form.I research different ways that theater can affect change, focusing specifically on the use of history in performance.I dramatically interpret a period of history where performance and poetry contributed to change.I utilize qualitative methods including performance ethnography, auto ethnography, arts-based research, and historical research.I describe the fieldwork in conflict zones in the Middle East, which …

Matrix And Edge Effects On The Maintenance Of Ecological Function In An Afromontane Protected Area, Robin M. Martino

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Land use type in the human dominated matrix surrounding tropical forest can influence edge effects at the forest-matrix interface. Edge effects can alter ecological processes and impact the function of forest edge ecosystems. A key ecological process that helps maintain tropical forest and is affected by forest disturbance is seed dispersal by large, fruit eating vertebrates (frugivores). This dissertation examines how the type of vegetation in the matrix, the `soft’ edge contrast of pine plantations and the `hard’ edge contrast of tea plantations, affect seed dispersal behavior of large frugivores, and the structure and composition of tree species, in forest …

Within & Without: Singapore In The World; The World In Singapore, Eng Fong Pang, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Contents: We, the Citizens of Singapore by Priscilla Chia, Trenton James Riggs; Birth of a Nation: Ways of Celebrating by Celine Alexandra Fogde, Diana Khanh Nguyen, Paul Antoine Victor, Shu Chong Chen, Teo Yi Heng; Building Cross-cultural Bridges by Vani Shriya, Timoteo Marra, Svenja Nicole Schulte, Seow Guan Wen, Niklas Miro Utrobicic; Faces and Facets of Singapore by Felix Brockerhoff, Elizabeth Fong Lin, Kevin Ng Boon Kiat, Racheal Wong Shu Yi, Tam Zhi Yang; Missing the Forest for the (Super) Trees by Nick Chiam Zhi Wen, Teo Yi Heng; Singapore: The Country Where You Cannot Chew Gum? by Felix Brockerhoff; …

Stabilization Or Exploitation? Cartelization As Institutional Drift In Romania And The Czech Republic, Daniel J. Muck

Departmental Honors Projects

To prevent private interests from distorting the democratic process, most European countries have implemented public funding schemes to guarantee fair competition among political parties. However, very little research has explored the possibility of institutional corruption in conjunction with state political party funding. Katz and Mair’s cartel party thesis argues state support strengthens ties between political parties and the state at the expense of civil society. Oliveira uses organizational theory to point to institutional corruption as a design problem. This paper serves as a preliminary exploration of whether Oliveira’s institutional corruption model and the cartel party theory can be applied to …

Creating Knowledge, Volume 8, 2015

Creating Knowledge

Dear reader,

I am delighted to introduce this eighth volume of Creating Knowledge: The LAS Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship. This volume features 19 essays and 14 art works, representing advanced coursework produced in twenty different departments and programs during the 2014-2015 academic year. Several of the essays have been honored with department awards and several draw on research supported by undergraduate research grants. Many were originally written in senior capstone seminars, research-intensive seminars, and independent studies, and many were presented in some form at one of the numerous conferences and showcases sponsored by departments and programs throughout the year. All …

The Increase On Nonconsensual Bride Kidnapping In Kyrgyzstan, Amna Nawaz

UROP Posters

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the country of Kyrgyzstan has had an unprecedented jump in bride kidnapping. The number of occurrences has skyrocketed and with that so has the severity of the violence. In this time women are taken, with no prior indication of when or how, and forced to marry their kidnappers. This non-consensual practice has morphed for reasons unknown. To stop the increasingly abysmal state of women’s rights in Kyrgyzstan, and in countries all of over the world, we must discover why people turned towards violence and lack of consent in the 1990’s.

To determine the …