Leonardo Burda Thesis Abstract Warming waters in the High North return the Arctic Circle to the forefront of the world's geopolitical chessboard. Reports of ice-free waters in the Northwest Passage, coupled with a resurgence in interest from arctic and near arctic nations displays the returning geostrategic, economic and political value of firm Arctic policy. This thesis will articulate that the Arctic Policy of Russia, China and the US shows scalable potentiality into the nation's general Foreign Policy model. Through the analysis of the previously stated nation's policies, this study aims to determine how Arctic nations can aptly respond to changes in international arctic and foreign policy. Building on published papers, studies and geostrategic conclusions, it asks: What arctic policy decisions have Russia, China and The USA made within the last decade? To what extent can these nation's arctic policies be exported to their general foreign policy? In this context, Arctic Policy and Foreign Policy decisions are determined by actions taken internationally and within the Arctic during a fixed period. The conclusion of this study articulates the general importance of keeping a close eye to nation's actions within and towards the Arctic as their operations within the Arctic Community often do reflect their...

The thesis is concerned with connections between energy security of PRC and it's foreign policy. It presents measures China has adopted to secure stable inflow of energy secources (mainly oil) and implications these measures have on the foreign policy.

Latin America is in the last years a region who is receiving more and more global attention both on the economic and political side. During the last 30 years the region has gone through several changes allowing the Latin American countries to maintain a fast and stable economic and democratic growth which has attracted the interest of the two main economic powers, the United States and the People's Republic of China. Since the Monroe Doctrine, the United States has significantly contributed to shaping policy in Latin America. However, given the recent changes in the international system since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. influence has decreased probably as never before. This has allowed other international powers, precisely China, to enter the region and gain important economic and political partners. Given China's need for commodities, energy and the need for new markets for their high amounts of manufactures, Latin America has gone off very well in increasing its economical ties with China. However, it must not be forgotten that the United States still plays an important role in the region. The aim of this thesis is to compare the current foreign policies of the United States and the China towards Latin America, of where is the arm of the United States important, and where the Chinese one is.

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The great intensification of China’s engagement with Africa in the beginning of the 21st century has brought about an equally vast body of literature concerning the general motives and features of the engagement. The broad nature of such literature begs for more focused and localised analysis that are able to complement and inform the ongoing debate. This thesis aims to better understand how China’s policy towards Mozambique affects the latter’s economic development. With this objective in mind each of the four empirical chapters provides a fresh view over some of the most salient dimensions and recent processes related to China’s involvement with Mozambique. The following is analysed: China’s trade and investment with Mozambique; the Asian power’s economic involvement in Mozambique’ agriculture sector; the participation of the China-Exim Bank in the Mphanda Nkuwa dam negotiation process; and finally the participation of Mozambique in the China-sponsored multilateral organisation of the Macau Forum. The methodology used is primarily reliant on the analysis of secondary material supplemented by a small number of informal interviews. The core secondary material includes government investment agencies statistics, analysis of official documents, policies and analysis of material such as NGO reports, studies and media reports. The analysis corroborates the view that it mostly depends upon Mozambique’s governance actors to make China’s engagement work towards its economic development and that there is not a static set of monolithic neo-colonial tendencies overriding China’s commitments towards the African country.