Japan is the third energy consumption country in the world (next to the United States, and China), and the lowest to its energy self-sufficiency among advanced countries. Japan is aware of its dependence on the unstable Middle East for the energy security. Therefore, to ensure the Japanese having reliable supply of energy, become a vital issue not only to its economic development but also its national security. Japanese government attempted to change the condition of their vulnerability in regard to energy security and dependence on foreign energy. Japanese energy diplomacy primarily hopes to guarantee their energy security. Japan¡¦s energy security relied on other countries since postwar was an indisputable fact. Japan is unable to control energy security which is not surprising. However, Japan is the second largest economy country in the world, therefore, Japan's energy security strategy and concrete achievement, immediately impacts on Japan's politics and economic performance. Consequently, it brings a significant influence on the international politics and economics development. After postwar, Japan's energy security relied on the protective umbrella that U.S. provided. Two main constructions are: the maintenance of U.S.-Japan security alliance and the U.S. Pacific fleet control the sea lines of communication (SLOCs). The world energy domain changed rapidly since the cold war was ended. The Soviet Union contains rich reserved energy and opens to the capitalism market. This is a breakthrough opportunity for Japan especially when it is in an energy security dilemma. In addition, Chinese economic has been rising in recent years, the initiation energy is in demanding, that also impacts greatly on the energy market among Asian regions. As for Japan, its deficiency in energy resources becomes a numerous threat. Therefore, Japan's energy security problem not only affects the Asian regions, but also breaks that existing international power balance.

As environmental protection problems become the global issues recently, China could not get rid of the responsibilities as being developing country. Thus, how to deal with the international regimes become more and more important toward Chinese government. How could China take balance between international regimes and domestic beneficial groups? In addition, it also briefly discusses how China deals with the environmental diplomacy through different international environmental regimes. In this thesis, it uses international environmental regimes as theory to discover the relations among countries and enterprises. Thus, in this thesis, it will divide into three parts which are the international environmental regimes such as Kyoto Protocol, China¡¦s environmental laws, and cases studying of chemical industries of China. The result of analysis implies that no matter the international environmental regimes or China¡¦s environmental laws are inefficient to avoid environmental crisis. The real power relies on the beneficial groups or other profit projects. Consequently, how China achieves its goal on environmental protection might be more and more important in the future.

My thesis paper mainly focuses on the China cultural diplomacy and its soft power policy. China¡¦s economic reforms have transformed the international status. China is raising power recently. However China suffered the question about the political validity and the doubt of China threat, in order to keep maintaining a peaceful international environment, China has learned to use soft issues to serve its national interests. Cultural soft power is the best choice for China in such situation. According to Joseph Nye¡¦s idea, soft power is attracting force derived mainly from intangible resources such as national culture, political values, and its foreign policies. This thesis discovered that Beijing although wants to remold the civilized great nation image, it has to deal with the domestic belief crisis. Even, China on the one hand must construct the opening national image; on the other hand still continue to suppress the domestic Internet opinion. The Chinese Communist Party which cultivates the soft power is the destroyer. China ignores that the cultural diplomacy intrinsic essence is to sell the truth. China packs the national image with the cultural soft power without thinking of the national prestige. Although China repeatedly emphasizes the harmonious peace, the international society is still filled with anxiety about the China's power.

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Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

A Study of the U. S. Diplomatic Library In Mexico City by Lauren Ann Waelder, M. S. in Information Studies The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 SUPERVISOR: Philip Doty This paper addresses the topic of diplomatic libraries. It opens with a section covering the topic in general, but then focuses on the specific scope of the paper. It focuses on the circumstances associated with the library in Mexico City that goes with the U. S. Embassy to Mexico. That library is the Benjamin Franklin Library, established in 1942 and named after the person from the early United States history. It attempts to provide an overview of the library, as well as theoretical framework surrounding diplomatic libraries and cultural relations in the United States. The paper accomplishes these goals in two ways. First, it performs a review of relevant literature, both old and new, on the topic. This literature review also analyzes the gap in information between the older and more recent sources, focusing on a difference between the older works’ historical base and the newer works’ practical experience. Second, it also incorporates original research through an actual visit to the library in Mexico City. The paper goes on to discuss the two research questions and thirteen other questions that a process of interviews with three different groups of Ben Franklin Library librarians was able to answer. Finally, the paper wraps up both the literature review and the research notes through a discussion of the interaction between the two sections and how they both contribute to the paper as a whole and to an active readership. The discussion of these issues includes references to items in either form, but it transcends actual commentary on the contents of the relevant literature, focusing instead on its larger implications for the topic. It also touches briefly on a few of the ways future research could continue to enhance this field. Finally, a conclusion leaves the reader with a few comments that explain how an article of this nature provides its audience with an expansion of knowledge about the topic of diplomatic libraries and about the Benjamin Franklin Library in particular. This combination of information should allow other readers to form more educated opinions of diplomatic libraries and their place in society. / text

In scholarship on the Civil War there is generally a lack of emphasis placed upon the significance of transatlantic diplomacy. However, much of the literature that is devoted to this subject does little to draw the importance of diplomatic and domestic histories together. This thesis uses British Foreign Office papers to discuss the role of Her majesty’s consuls, and the importance of resident persons of British nativity, especially within the Confederacy, during the war. It argues that the struggle between the Union and the new Confederacy affected diplomatic relations not only in the geo-political sense, but directly and personally through the fate of foreign individuals residing within America. Political theory and the semantics of ideology will be cross-examined against British, Confederate and Union government documents and correspondence in order to develop a deeper understanding of the flexibility and malleability of the concept of sovereignty, and its role in Civil War diplomacy.

The Confucius Institutes (CIs) are part of a major new Chinese Government initiative promoting the learning of the Chinese language and culture internationally. They operate through a network of institutes located in learning institutions around the world, and while they have an education focus, they also reflect political changes in China’s relationship with the rest of the world. A transformation in China’s approach to foreign relations has been evident since the belligerence and self-sufficiency of the Mao era, and cautious engagement of the Deng era. In the early 21st century, China’s new foreign policy is more confident and engaged behaviour than it has ever been. The conceptual sources of China’s foreign policy have broadened from Marxism-Leninism to include some contemporary international values and traditional Chinese norms. However, managing the sphere of ideas both domestically and externally, and securing the nation’s economic development, are the main means the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) maintains its legitimacy in the early 21st century. While China’s leadership has given the CIs considerable political independence, they are part of the Party’s propaganda system. Despite some foreign concerns about the Confucius Institutes being a propaganda tool, many other countries have similar programmes; the difference is China’s political system. Through the CIs, China is building the architecture of a major power, and has succeeded in improving its international influence. But because of the lack of international attractiveness of China’s political system, this is likely to be slow. The CIs reflect a more confident and effective Chinese foreign policy; and one that offers greater opportunities for engagement.

The increasing importance of media, especially digital media, in society has been studied widely, from identity formation to activist movements. In international relations studies digital media’s impact has focused considerably on public diplomacy 2.0. This focus has caused a more holistic view of digital diplomacy to be neglected. This study explores how digital media’s impacts as a part of mediatization are seen within the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Semi-structured interviews with 11 officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were conducted. These led to the creation of three thematic fields. The first one looks into how the agency of the Ministry is seen to be impacted by digitalization. The second section looks into how community building is seen as essential. And the third part investigated how the ministry evaluates the impacts of digitalization on other ministries of foreign affairs in the light of its own experience. The finding is that the ministry is expanding into a new digital sphere and that in the process of so doing the Ministry is not a tabula rasa, but it mirrors the cultural and political context of the country within the online sphere.