<p> This dissertation examines body politics in the People&rsquo;s Republic of China. It first closely looks at Zhuangzi&rsquo;s idea of <i>xu</i> by analyzing the major aspects of the term&mdash;blandness, lack of substance, spontaneity, dispossession, incompleteness, and absurdity. It then argues that the concept of xu generates profound implication for politics by bringing up a particular mode of politics&mdash;politics of indeterminacy. In this mode of politics, power relation and power structure are never settled. Instead, they morph without being actualized. Examined in this context, the body for Zhuangzi is understood as an indeterminate entity whose political agency is attributed to its capacity in re-articulating power relation by constantly receiving and transforming a manifold of forces. That the body can be alternatively construed this way is crucial for our re-examination of the shaping of reshaping of identity in the contemporary Chinese society. In this light, the work investigates two cases&mdash;the Cultural Revolution and the state capitalism to find out in what specific ways the body, identity and politics are intertwined in manifesting the story of changing political relations in the everyday life of the ordinary Chinese people. The work contends that the making of the subjectivity is an indeterminate process in which one&rsquo;s identity is impossible to be fixed. It can never be composed with certainty. The construction of identity is a process of detachment by which one experiences the unexperienced without being settled around a center. The making of the political, to Zhuangzi, is thus founded on this indeterminacy to create new self and dissident political subject. </p>

<p> Patronage networks are said to help elites advance into a regime's inner circle or lead to their downfall, as well as influence regime stability and other political outcomes. But researchers have only systematically studied individual patron-client ties instead of taking advantage of the tools provided by social network analysis (SNA). In three related papers, this dissertation evaluates the best method to measure patronage networks, develops a theory of coalition formation along them, and tests it on the members of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee from 1982 until 2012.</p><p> The first paper argues that informal politics is better conceptualized through networks than factions, and identifies and evaluates two common approaches to measure such networks: the inductive approach, which relies on a qualitative assessment of insider sources, and the deductive approach, which infers the network from publicly available data. The paper evaluates several commonly used approaches to deduce networks among Chinese political elites. Using methods and concepts developed in Social Network Analysis, it finds that coworker networks perform best in these tests, but can be further refined by noting the number of instances of working together, or by taking into account promotions that have occurred while the two individuals were coworkers.</p><p> The second paper develops a model in which one or two leaders form their coalitions along network ties connecting the relevant political elites, the selectorate. Simulations on random networks and real-life patronage networks among Chinese elites illustrate how all but the regular (lattice or complete) network lead to power differentials between the members of the selectorate. The model identifies three specific network positions: those that increase the chances of entering the winning coalition, those that enable coalition leaders to remain in charge of the coalition, and those that help a ruler fend off the opposition. It discusses their respective properties, and shows that powerful Chinese elites do indeed hold the corresponding positions. Furthermore, in a model with two competing leaders the network structure provides an endogenous explanation for winning coalition sizes smaller than the bare majority.</p><p> The third paper tests the theory on promotion networks - indicating who has been promoted under whom - among the Chinese Communist elite 1982-2012. A hazard analysis demonstrates that direct connections to patrons double the chance of being appointed to the Politburo. But links to current and former subordinates - unlike those to superiors - among the other elite also have a significant positive effect. Finally, network centrality measures can identify current patrons and predict appointments to the inner circles five or ten years later even if the identity of the patrons is unknown. Future Politburo members are found in network positions that capture popularity as a coalition partner (closeness centrality), while patrons hold network positions from which they can preempt opposition from within their coalition (betweenness centrality).</p><p> The dissertation thus shows the importance of analyzing informal elite networks instead of just the ties between one specific leader and his or her followers. It also proposes SNA as a new theoretical and empirical approach to the understudied informal institutions of authoritarian regimes, suggesting a more principled, but also more nuanced way of measuring one such institution: political patronage.</p>

<p> This study examines the factors that influence national decisions about developing nuclear fuel cycle technology, and the central question for this study is why countries have developed different national nuclear fuel cycles. Prospect theory is used as the basis of an analytical framework for studying nuclear fuel cycle decision making. In essence, prospect theory states that nations are risk averse when in a gains domain and risk acceptant when in a losses domain. This study hypothesizes that a country's nuclear fuel cycle decision making is determined by the frame of reference and domain (either gains or losses) and that security concerns are a factor driving policy behind all nuclear programs. </p><p> A structured, focused comparison of Indian, Japanese, and South Korean nuclear fuel cycle decision making was conducted in order to test the hypotheses. Major nuclear fuel cycle decisions made between approximately 1950 and 1990 in each country were analyzed. The results verified this study's hypotheses. Decisions were mostly made according to the tenets of prospect theory, and security concerns (national security or energy security) were a driver for the nuclear programs in all three countries. The study also emphasized that nuclear fuel cycle technology is strategic and highly valued by countries and that national leaders are involved with making major nuclear fuel cycle decisions. </p><p> Prospect theory proved to be a more powerful analytical tool than existing theories of nuclear weapons proliferation. Prospect theory accounts for a country's capabilities, intentions, and situational and temporal context. In this way, prospect theory gives a holistic view of how all nuclear technologies fit into strategic interests and how a country's leadership's frame of reference with regard to strategic interests influences the direction of nuclear fuel cycle decision making. Prospect theory on its own does not offer a model or predictor of nuclear fuel cycle technology development, but it illuminates how leaders viewed nuclear fuel cycle decisions and why certain decisions were made.</p>

<p> This thesis analyzes the evolution of the Sino-Japanese conflict over ownership of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands since the end of the Cold War. It argues that the 2012-2013 confrontation following the nationalization of the islands by Japan is the result of a process of conflict escalation that played out during repeated cycles of tensions over the previous two decades. Tensions reached a first peak in 1996 after Japanese activists built a lighthouse on one of the Senkaku/Diaoyu. Another confrontation would have erupted in 2004 after Chinese activists landed on one of the islands were it not for the intervention of Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro. After both events, nothing was done to prevent future confrontations, which allowed the conflict to fester and enter a downward spiral. This process resulted in worsening mutual perceptions and more assertive domestic audiences on both sides, which pushed Chinese and Japanese leaders towards increasingly confrontational attitudes, eventually resulting in two serious incidents in 2010 and 2012 that brought bilateral tensions to a new post-WWII high.</p>

<p>Over the past two decades, a substantial literature has focused on the geopolitics of strategically located Central Asian energy supplies. Some analysts have even regarded the international competition over the regional oil and gas as a New Great Game among the developed West, Russia, and the emerging Asian energy importers. Much less attention has been paid to the means employed by the various competitors in achieving their interests in the Central Asian hydrocarbon sector. This Master Thesis analyzes the competition over the energy resources in Kazakhstan between two regional powers Russia and China for the period from 1991 to 2011. The study assesses the concept of power in its political, economic, and military terms as a way to achieve desired outcomes in the regional energy sector. The analysis concludes that economic statecraft is the dominant tool used in securing interests in the Central Asian oil and gas sector and thus allows China's economic clout to guarantee favorable energy deals. At the same time, the results suggest that Russia's soft power along with the traditional military engagements help to secure other strategic interests in the region apart from the energy sector. </p>

<p> The rise of nationalism and the proliferation of foreign policy actors in China has contributed to increasing levels of distrust between China and the Asia-Pacific region, and contributed to a significant decline in the stability of the US-China relationship. The overblown reaction from China's civil society to the US' strategic "rebalance" to the Asia-Pacific, initiated in November 2011, demonstrates that Beijing's traditional foreign policy pragmatism is being threatened by hostile factions in China's society. This is further evidenced by China's provocative actions in the East China and South China Seas, which have led to heightened regional tensions. Calls for a more confrontational Chinese foreign policy among China's civil society have been exacerbated by a more diffuse foreign policy decisionmaking structure which Beijing now struggles to manage. While official rhetoric toward the rebalance has been characterized largely by restraint, the elites are being forced to cater to a nationalist civil society with greater freedom to pursue self-interested policies independent of central control.</p><p> Crucially, however, caution and restraint remains essential for ongoing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) legitimacy. As a result, stability with the US and with its regional partners still forms the core of Beijing's policy. While China's rhetoric, and to some extents its actions, has become more forceful, a conflict on its periphery would pose enormous challenges which could overwhelm the Party and potentially cause internal implosion. In order to maintain CCP rule, Beijing may be forced to rein in overtly competitive elements within China, even if this comes at significant cost to its legitimacy.</p><p> As a result, the ebb and flow of Chinese policy is likely to continue as the leadership struggles to accommodate new and divergent interests within its civil society. Beijing must take steps to restructure its poorly managed bureaucracy, particularly its maritime agencies, to ensure it can rein in competing interests which threaten its ability to preserve stability. For Xi Jinping, China's new leader, balancing China's nationalist factions against the continuing need for stability may define his tenure. It will also play a central role in stabilizing US-China relations, which are increasingly characterized by distrust.</p>

<p> The Sino-Indian relationship marked by mutual mistrust for the last six decades has seen definitive changes since the late 1980s. Though considerable issues remain unresolved, the two have begun establishing mechanisms to establish a certain level of trust that began with the visit of Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to Beijing in 1988. The paper analyzes recent literature on this relationship and finds them predicting two outcomes primarily - either one where India admits Chinese supremacy and kowtows to it, or one that foresees increased clashes between the two. Neither outcome takes into account the complex association that the two nations are building guided by a series of frameworks, mechanisms and agreements. This paper posits that in the evolutionary arc of interstate relations, Sino-Indian relations have not reached a point where only one of the two options - cooperation and competition, will be chosen. This paper argues that economic interests of the two rising powers is behind the present behavior where the two are courting each other but at the same time, preparing for the other's rise. Both countries consider their economic identity to be primary and do not want to be distracted from the key national goal of economic development. They are particularly careful that their disagreements with each other do not come in the way of this goal. The paper analyzes the various frameworks and suggests that they are created with this end in consideration. Both India and China aim to continue collaboration in economic matters bilaterally or in international issues of mutual interest even when they don't see eye to eye on disputes left over from history. It is likely that competition will at times get the better of cooperation, driven by factors like strategic influence in the neighborhood, finding newer providers of energy as well as markets for their goods and services. But periodic flare-ups notwithstanding, in the absence of serious provocations, the two countries will avoid clashes that can escalate. The paper also analyzes certain black-swan events that might disturb the balancing act. Incidents like the death of the Dalai Lama creating a vacuum within the Tibetan leadership is one such scenario; a terrorist attack on India planned and executed form Pakistan like the one in Mumbai in 2008 is another. However, the presence of multiple bilateral platforms will continue to automatically insulate alternate channels of communication even in these situations. In conclusion, the paper suggests that as they grow, India and China will continue to engage each other at several levels, competing and cooperation, deterring and reassuring each other at once.</p>

<p> The aim of this thesis is to analyze the human rights violations against one minority group in Myanmar &ndash; the Rohingya &ndash; by the majority Buddhist Rakhinese population with central government support, in order to call the international community to pursue immediate, cohesive diplomatic action to address this humanitarian crisis in Rakhine state. The scope of this thesis, which is organized in five chapters, focuses on the early 21^st century from 2000 &ndash; 2014, but it includes earlier background information on Myanmar and the plight of the Rohingya. This thesis includes a Preface, which contains maps and images of Myanmar and its people, for the benefit of the reader.</p><p> Chapter I, "Background Information on the Ethnic and Religious Conflict," sets the stage for understanding this problem from pre-colonial times to 1999. Chapter II, "Evidence of Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide Against the Rohingya in Myanmar," examines the implicit government policies from 2000 - 2014 that target the Rohingya for extermination. This chapter analyzes Myanmar's political, economic, and socio-cultural intolerance for the Rohingya that have left them stateless and forced them to flee Myanmar for security in neighboring states like Bangladesh, Thailand, and Malaysia. Chapter III, "Responsibility to Protect the Rohingya," challenges the international community, consisting of the United States (US), European Union (EU), United Nations (UN), and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to pursue all peaceful means available to end the abuse of the Rohingya under the international norm of the responsibility to protect (RtoP). Chapter IV, "A Recommended Peacebuilding Plan for Ending the Plight of the Rohingya," identifies possible paths for integrating the Rohingya politically, economically, and socio-culturally into the fabric of Myanmar society as citizens of the country, with protection from different forms of persecution. Chapter V, "Conclusion," stresses that reconciliation with the Muslim Rohingya will pave the way for more peaceful relations between Myanmar's majority Buddhist population and its diverse minority ethnic and religious groups. Without peaceful relations with these minority groups, like the Rohingya, Myanmar's tenuous transition to democracy will not fully succeed. </p>

<p> This study explores the link between democracy and bureaucracy using Japan as the critical case study. The research question is whether competition by multiple principals creates opportunities for bureaucratic drift. This project hypothesizes that policy settings including multiple principals (independent variable) are more likely to manifest bureaucratic drift (dependent variable). At the same time, policy settings excluding multiple principals (independent variable) are more likely to manifest less bureaucratic drift (dependent variable). Variation in agent discretion is the critical effect of the independent variable (i.e., number of principals) on the dependent variable (bureaucratic drift). </p><p> Evaluating the exercise of discretion of administrators is feasible if one's evidence is primarily from the administrators themselves. To test these hypotheses, therefore, this project adopts a research design based on a qualitative case study methodology. The case studies include four of Japan's ministries: the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Ministry of Land, Industry, Transportation, and Tourism (MLITT), and the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW). Likewise, the role of the National Personnel Authority (NPA) in the administrative system is also evaluated. Research participants include both participants in the Mike Mansfield Fellowship Program along with NPA administrators.</p><p> This study contributes to the extant corpus of research in a number of salient respects. First, this project proposes a different dependent variable in that most studies are focused on administrative reform whereas the focus here is on bureaucratic drift. Second, this project discusses the important effect of bureaucratic discretion. Third, while relevant to the quality of the Japanese democracy in particular, these findings may be leveraged to a larger conversation about the relationship between bureaucracy and democracy in the Asian context and perhaps beyond. Finally, this project provides an explicit policy recommendation for contemporary Japanese politics proposing that greater authority be delegated to administrative agents, albeit supervised by a powerful intermediary, to minimize bureaucratic drift.</p>