Tesis para optar al grado de Magíster en Historia mención Historia de Chile

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This dissertation looks at the political behavior of three Taiwanese Buddhist organizations since 1989: the Buddhist Association of the Republic of China (BAROC), the Buddha Light Mountain monastic order (or Foguangshan) and the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Association (or Ciji). It concentrates on trying to understand the rationale behind the different strategies that each of them has adopted in its interaction with the government. The BAROC has adopted a strategy of lobbying in an attempt to remedy the steady decline of its status throughout the 1990s: it has tried to sway the government to adopt a law that would restore the authority over Buddhists the association held before 1989. Foguangshan has resorted to a strategy of remonstrance to advance its religious ideals between 1995 and 1997: its founder Xingyun supported the bid of his lay disciple Chen Lii'an for the presidency of the Republic of China (ROC) and launched large public demonstrations critical of the government that followed that election. During the same period of time, Ciji has steered away from the controversies over the law on religion and conspicuously avoided supporting Chen, while continuing to grow to become the largest organization of its kind in Taiwan. The theological views of the three organizations' leaders are examined as key factors explaining the rationale behind the political strategies these organizations have adopted. Other factors such as availability of material resources, lay support, congruence between leaders and their followers on the dimension of ethnicity and gender are explored as possible sources of constraints on the leaders.

This dissertation looks at the political behavior of three Taiwanese Buddhist organizations since 1989: the Buddhist Association of the Republic of China (BAROC), the Buddha Light Mountain monastic order (or Foguangshan) and the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Association (or Ciji). It concentrates on trying to understand the rationale behind the different strategies that each of them has adopted in its interaction with the government. The BAROC has adopted a strategy of lobbying in an attempt to remedy the steady decline of its status throughout the 1990s: it has tried to sway the government to adopt a law that would restore the authority over Buddhists the association held before 1989. Foguangshan has resorted to a strategy of remonstrance to advance its religious ideals between 1995 and 1997: its founder Xingyun supported the bid of his lay disciple Chen Lii'an for the presidency of the Republic of China (ROC) and launched large public demonstrations critical of the government that followed that election. During the same period of time, Ciji has steered away from the controversies over the law on religion and conspicuously avoided supporting Chen, while continuing to grow to become the largest organization of its kind in Taiwan. The theological views of the three organizations' leaders are examined as key factors explaining the rationale behind the political strategies these organizations have adopted. Other factors such as availability of material resources, lay support, congruence between leaders and their followers on the dimension of ethnicity and gender are explored as possible sources of constraints on the leaders. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

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What happens to subnational states when the parent federation undergoes a regime change process? This is a crucial question in understanding political processes in federal countries. The visible political differentiation amongst subnational states belonging to the same federation underscores the fact that some processes are at work that are being ignored by the literature's current focus on national developments. To fill this lacuna, I develop an analytical model that seeks to explain regional differentiation during federal regime change by focusing directly on subnational politics and institutions in comparative fashion, while accounting for the inescapable influence of broader federal actors and processes. In constructing this model, I draw extensively from the theories of federalism, regime change and political parties. I argue that the decision to initiate a transition in an authoritarian setting belongs to the federation. However, regional political actors mediate federal processes in their territory and give them a profoundly subnational logic. Regionally specific institutions, interests and histories thus become intangible frontiers between subnational politics and external processes. The constant repetition of this mechanism throughout the transition creates distinct subnational polities. To test my hypothesis, I study three cases in central-northern Mexico: Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas.

The subject of this thesis is the "San Andres Agreements on Indigenous Rights and Culture". Born out of a process of negotiation between the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), the Mexican government and various representatives of civil society, these agreements reflect and attempt to incorporate in the constitution, for the first time in Mexican history, individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples. Through ethnography and discourse analysis, the thesis addresses the political, economic and ideological issues underlying the exchanges between the various parties to the negotiations. It presumes a dominant government discourse and a marginal discourse advanced by the zapatista party in an effort to change the fundamental tenets of Mexican politics. The debate generated by the San Andres agreements is highlighted in order to examine its repercussions and the role it has played in bringing current indigenous claims to public attention.

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This thesis seeks to explain the change in Mexico's external human rights policy that occurred over the last two decades. Mexican governments moved from almost complete rejection under President Salinas to whole-hearted acceptance of international human rights institutions and democracy clauses under President Fox. I will argue that this foreign policy change is best understood by constructivist theory and, in particular by Risse and Sikkink's spiral model. In this vein, a focus on norm socialisation implying changes in the country's identity and its approach to sovereignty will help us to explain the shift in Mexico's external human rights policy. / Ce travail vise à expliquer le changement de la politique étrangère du Mexique en matière des droits de l'homme qui s'est fait à travers les vingt dernières années. Sous le Président Salinas le pays a mené une politique de refus quasitotal vis-à-vis les institutions internationales dans le domaine des droits de l'homme et face à la clause démocratique. Cette politique a été par la suite substitué par un engagement ferme en faveur de ces valeurs sous le Président Fox. Nous verrons que la théorie constructiviste et, en particulier, le modèle de la spirale de Risse et Sikkink, nous aidera à mieux comprendre ce changement de la politique étrangère du Mexique. À cet égard, ce travail mettra l'accent sur la socialisation normative qui comprend le changement de l'identité nationale ainsi que l'approche du pays envers la souveraineté. Ce choix nous permettra d'expliquer l'évolution de la politique étrangère mexicaine en ce qui concerne les droits de l'homme.