This PhD thesis compares Egypt and Syria’s authoritarian political systems. While the tendency in social science political research treats Egypt and Syria as similarly authoritarian, this research emphasizes differences between the two systems with special reference to institutions and co-optation. Rather than reducibly understanding Egypt and Syria as sharing similar histories, institutional arrangements, or ascribing to the oft-repeated convention that “Syria is Egypt but 10 years behind,” this thesis focuses on how events and individual histories shaped each states current institutional strengthens and weaknesses. Specifically, it explains the how varying institutional politicization or de-politicization affects each state’s capabilities for co-opting elite and non-elite individuals. Beginning with a theoretical framework that considers the limited utility of democratization and transition theoretical approaches, the work underscores the persistence and durability of authoritarianism. Chapter two details the politicized institutional divergence between Egypt and Syria that began in the 1970s. Chapter three and four examines how institutional politicization or de-politicization affects elite and non-elite individual co-optation in Egypt and Syria. Chapter five discusses the study’s general conclusions and theoretical implications. This thesis’s argument is that Egypt and Syria co-opt elites and non-elites differently because of the varying degrees of institutional politicization in each governance system. Rather than view one country as more politically developed than the other, this work argues that Syria’s political institutions are more politicized than their Egyptian counterparts. Syria’s political arena is, thus, described as politicized-patrimonialism. Syria’s politicized-patrimonial arena produces uneven co-optation of elites and non-elites as they are diffused through competing institutions. Conversely, the Egyptian political arena remains highly personalized as weak institutions and individuals are manipulated and molded according to the president’s ruling clique. This is referred to as personalized-patrimonialism. As a consequence, Egypt’s political establishment demonstrates more flexibility in ad hoc altering and adapting its arena depending on the emergence of crises. This study’s theoretical implications suggest that, contrary to modernization and democratization theory’s adage that institutions lead to a political development, politicized institutions within a patrimonial order actually hinder regime adaptation because consensus is harder to achieve and maintain. It is within this context that Egypt’s de-politicized institutional framework advantages its top political elite. In this reading of Egyptian and Syrian politics, Egypt’s personalized political arena is more adaptable than Syria’s. These conclusions do not indicate that political reform is a process underway in either state.

Throughout the Eurozone’s economic crisis, little attention has been given to wage-setting practices. This lack of attention is surprising given that wages have been considered an important instrument for managing the economy in a currency union since the 1960s and have even been emphasized in successive blueprints for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Recent scholarship has found differences in wage-setting practices a key feature distinguishing healthy and crisis-stricken Eurozone countries. Indeed, in this emerging literature, countries that coordinate wages effectively have remained competitive under EMU and had fewer troubles in responding to the crisis, while those with weakly-coordinated wages have struggled mightily. In effect, this literature finds differences in EMU members’ wage-setting regimes at the heart of the economic crisis now facing the Eurozone and the trade imbalances between its Northern and Southern members. However, very little work has examined the specifics of individual labour market models under EMU. Indeed, while this new literature on wage setting and the crisis places wage setting models at its centre, it does not delve into the differences among highly coordinated systems. This oversight is problematic given that scholars of monetary union have suggested that the single currency may amplify the effects of subtle differences in national socioeconomic models, while others have suggested that EMU may be corrosive to some labour market models that coordinate wage setting. This study addresses this gap in the literature, dissecting labour market models by the mechanisms that deliver horizontal and vertical coordination, as well as the indicators to which they are calibrated. Using this framework, it then traces the experiences of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands under EMU, who use very different mechanisms to coordinate wages. It argues that while EMU has exacerbated longstanding problems in the Belgian wage-bargaining system, it has had little impact upon the German and Dutch systems. Rather, underlying changes in the institutions that manage wage setting in these countries, and changes in social partner organizations – particularly the trade unions – are far more consequential for their continued functioning under EMU. More broadly, these findings suggest that in fact, many designs of highly coordinated wage setting are capable of managing pressures from the single currency. For those Eurozone countries currently refashioning their labour market models, tighter coordination may be just as viable an option as dismantling their wage-bargaining institutions. / Graduate / 0615 / ifdumka@gmail.com

The United Arab Emirates' legal system has developed though the continued negotiation between the Shari’a and the Civil Courts over the spheres of criminal law and commercial law. The framework that has emerged, as a result of regime politics and Supreme Court rulings, provides the regime the flexibility to continue their commercial development and integration into the modern global economy, while retaining the domestic authority structures that legitimate their power.

Scholars have extensively detailed China’s conflation of the Uyghur issue in Xinjiang with the international war on terror following September 11, 2001. Less studied is how the U.S. responded to China’s framing of the Uyghur as terrorists, and of the Chinese government’s characterization of Xinjiang as a region fraught with violence and extremism. On the whole, scholars who have addressed this latter issue conclude that China successfully coopted the U.S., and consequently cracked down on Xinjiang without substantial international outrage. On the basis of a review of official U.S. documents before and after 9/11, I argue that the U.S. response to China’s framing of the Uyghur is not as clear-cut, and that multiple and conflicting U.S. responses emerged to the Uyghur-terrorist discourse. Specifically, the U.S. shifted from purely framing the Uyghur as victims of human rights abuses to projecting three new frames onto the Uyghur: victims of the war on terror; a minority group that may resort to violent methods of protest; and suspected terrorists. This new interpretation holds important ramifications for how scholars should understand China’s treatment of the Uyghur, as well as for Sino-U.S. relations.

As mudanças no mercado global da indústria de defesa ocorridas nos últimos trinta anos impõem desafios significativos para o desenvolvimento e sustentação da uma base industrial de defesa nacional. Países como o Brasil, que se encontram em posições intermediárias da hierarquia internacional de produção de armamentos, enfrentam ainda mais constrangimentos, dado o chamado trilema de modernização da defesa. A experiência de uma série de países intermediários vem mostrando que, apesar das dificuldades, é possível desenvolver estratégias eficientes para superar o trilema da modernização e desenvolver e sustentar a indústria de defesa nacional. O presente trabalho tem o objetivo de compreender as estratégias de desenvolvimento e sustentação da base industrial de defesa nacional, buscando identificar a relação entre três variáveis: a motivação política atribuída à indústria de defesa para a inserção estratégica internacional; os arranjos institucionais arquitetados para gerenciar e promover esta indústria específica; e a configuração do modelo de desenvolvimento e de sustentação da base industrial de defesa nacional. Com este intuito, comparamos estes conceitos em três casos de estudo: África do Sul, Austrália e Brasil Desde o princípio dos anos 2000, o Brasil vem enfatizando a importância estratégica das indústrias de defesa e tem criado políticas específicas voltadas à articulação dos elementos necessários ao fortalecimento desta variável de poder ;?internacional e de desenvolvimento tecnológico. As experiências de outros países podem auxiliar o Brasil a formular um modelo de desenvolvimento e sustentação da base industrial de defesa cada vez mais robusto, eficiente e adaptado aos desafios impostos por constrangimentos estruturais. / The changes in the global defense industry over the last thirty years poses significant challenges to the development and sustainability of a national defense industrial base. Countries such as Brazil, which are in an intermediate position on the international hierarchy of arms production, face even more constraints, given the so-called defence modernization trilemma. The experience of a number of intermediate countries has shown that, despite the difficulties, it is possible to develop efficient strategies to overcome the modernization trilemma and to develop and sustain the national defense industry. The present work aims to understand the strategies of development and sustainability of the national defense industry, identifying the relationship between three variables: the political motivation attributed to the defense industry for the international strategic insertion; the institutional arrangements designed to manage and promote this particular industry; and the configuration of the development model for the national defense industry For this purpose, we compare these concepts in three case studies: South Africa, Australia and Brazil. Since the beginning of the 2000s, Brazil has emphasized the strategic importance of the defense industries and has created specific policies aimed at articulating the elements necessary to strengthen this variable of international power and technological development. The experiences of other countries can help Brazil to formulate a model of development and sustainability of the national defense industry increasingly robust, efficient and adapted to the challenges imposed by structural constraints.

Mexico, one of the world’s largest economies and an increasingly relevant actor in international affairs, is at a crucial point in defining its future policy course. Given the uncertainty surrounding the global economy, as well as the political situation in Mexico, it is important to have a clear vision for policy going forward. This thesis offers a foundation for a national economic strategy with a long-term vision, upon which future administrations can build as appropriate to maximize on the country’s economic potential. The task is undertaken through a three-part approach. First, a thorough and analytical overview of the country’s economic history provides context and lessons from which to learn. Second, key economic issues to be addressed are identified through an evaluation of the current context and economic outlook. Finally, an evaluation of successful policy implementation, domestically and abroad, provides a basis that can be adapted to address the issues identified as they affect Mexico. The result is a series of six policy recommendations along two axes aimed at tackling the aforementioned key issues. These recommendations are by no means exhaustive, nor are they meant to be. The expectation is that they may serve to align national policy to global economic trends, underlying a plausible strategy to realize Mexico’s productive potential.

A transnational network of more than 50 million people, the Chinese diaspora stretches its reach across the globe. As part of their immigrant journeys, many Chinese immigrants have achieved political leadership in their adopted home countries despite monumental barriers. This thesis examines the political attainment of Chinese immigrants by uncovering how institutional factors such as political power sharing between ethnic groups, citizenship acquisition law, and discrimination law affect their pursuit of public office. I first establish a database of 265 politicians I define as Chinese immigrants, whose various levels of political attainment I then use as the dependent variable. Through empirical analysis, this thesis finds that politicians of Chinese descent attain lower levels of political office when institutional discrimination has targeted Chinese immigrants. In contrast, this thesis reveals that politicians of Chinese descent attain higher levels of political office when political power is shared amongst ethnic groups and when citizenship acquisition laws are exclusionary. While the last result is seemingly counterintuitive, the negative relationship between the inclusiveness of citizenship and political attainment can be explained by the intrinsic role exclusionary citizenship acquisition laws play in naturalizing citizens who are deemed to be integrated and electable.

As mudanças no mercado global da indústria de defesa ocorridas nos últimos trinta anos impõem desafios significativos para o desenvolvimento e sustentação da uma base industrial de defesa nacional. Países como o Brasil, que se encontram em posições intermediárias da hierarquia internacional de produção de armamentos, enfrentam ainda mais constrangimentos, dado o chamado trilema de modernização da defesa. A experiência de uma série de países intermediários vem mostrando que, apesar das dificuldades, é possível desenvolver estratégias eficientes para superar o trilema da modernização e desenvolver e sustentar a indústria de defesa nacional. O presente trabalho tem o objetivo de compreender as estratégias de desenvolvimento e sustentação da base industrial de defesa nacional, buscando identificar a relação entre três variáveis: a motivação política atribuída à indústria de defesa para a inserção estratégica internacional; os arranjos institucionais arquitetados para gerenciar e promover esta indústria específica; e a configuração do modelo de desenvolvimento e de sustentação da base industrial de defesa nacional. Com este intuito, comparamos estes conceitos em três casos de estudo: África do Sul, Austrália e Brasil Desde o princípio dos anos 2000, o Brasil vem enfatizando a importância estratégica das indústrias de defesa e tem criado políticas específicas voltadas à articulação dos elementos necessários ao fortalecimento desta variável de poder ;?internacional e de desenvolvimento tecnológico. As experiências de outros países podem auxiliar o Brasil a formular um modelo de desenvolvimento e sustentação da base industrial de defesa cada vez mais robusto, eficiente e adaptado aos desafios impostos por constrangimentos estruturais. / The changes in the global defense industry over the last thirty years poses significant challenges to the development and sustainability of a national defense industrial base. Countries such as Brazil, which are in an intermediate position on the international hierarchy of arms production, face even more constraints, given the so-called defence modernization trilemma. The experience of a number of intermediate countries has shown that, despite the difficulties, it is possible to develop efficient strategies to overcome the modernization trilemma and to develop and sustain the national defense industry. The present work aims to understand the strategies of development and sustainability of the national defense industry, identifying the relationship between three variables: the political motivation attributed to the defense industry for the international strategic insertion; the institutional arrangements designed to manage and promote this particular industry; and the configuration of the development model for the national defense industry For this purpose, we compare these concepts in three case studies: South Africa, Australia and Brazil. Since the beginning of the 2000s, Brazil has emphasized the strategic importance of the defense industries and has created specific policies aimed at articulating the elements necessary to strengthen this variable of international power and technological development. The experiences of other countries can help Brazil to formulate a model of development and sustainability of the national defense industry increasingly robust, efficient and adapted to the challenges imposed by structural constraints.

The history of southern Yemen has been a unique story of various political factions aligning and realigning themselves in waves of intra-elite conflict, based on the setting of formal and informal institutions. This paper builds on existing literature about informal institutions to analyze the role that political institutions have played in promoting and preventing these conflicts since it became independent in 1967. By using a temporal analysis of historical and contemporary institutions, this paper asks how political institutions have impacted southern Yemen since it gained independence and how these institutions have changed since the start of the current civil war. It additionally looks at the statements of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the context of the current civil war to understand how both types of institutions are operating today. This paper will thus argue that the discrepancy between what formal state institutions claim to do and what they are able to creates the space for informal institutions to develop. Furthermore, it will argue that the dialectic between formal and informal institutions can explain periods of relative stability and instability along with the current conditions in the civil war have allowed informal institutions to prosper.

Broadly speaking, this research is intended to shed light on how post-genocide societies attempt to address a traumatic history and reconcile the problems of ethnic and religious hatred. Germany and Poland are especially ripe cases for such research given their historical memories of the Holocaust and unique legal and diplomatic efforts to counter anti-Semitism. However, since many of the policies on this issue have only been implemented in the past ten to fifteen years, there has not yet been a comprehensive study that has evaluated their effectiveness. This dissertation will attempt to fill this gap in the literature and provide new insight as to how states can best grapple with this problem. The central question for this research is: Have state policies been effective in reducing levels of anti-Semitic attitudes and incidents in Germany and Poland since 1990? This question will be investigated by first examining the historical development of anti-Semitism in each country, then discussing the policies implemented to address the problem, and finally evaluating the results of such measures. From a public policy perspective, this research will contribute to our understanding of the approaches taken by these two countries and discover which measures have been most effective in reducing anti-Semitic behavior and ideology. The findings show that while the policies implemented have tended to be effective in reducing general anti-Semitic attitudes and helping revive domestic Jewish communities, they have been less successful in reducing levels of anti-Semitic crime. The policy analysis portions of the dissertation provide a number of explanations for these outcomes and acknowledge areas for potential policy improvement. This research has implications not only for the region of Central Europe, but also other societies that continue to grapple with problems of ethnic and religious hatred.