The main purpose of this paper was to explore the role economic partnership agreements play in regional integration. The whole paper was premised on identifying the nature of economic partnership agreements that is conceived as a free trade arrangement. Therefore the paper discussed the feasibility of the reciprocal principle between the European Union and ACP countries, and further indicated that there is no need to implement the principle of reciprocity at present. The paper also discovered that, due to the fact that unequal trade relations between the EU and the ACP countries still exist, the implementation of the EPAs is most likely to generate the complementary but non-competitive trade relations between the EU and the ACP countries. Such a situation could result in the ACP countries over-independence on the EU's market. ACP countries are not expecting to such integration. In addition the paper ascertains that the EPAs themselves could contain the intrinsic negative impacts such as discrimination against the third countries on regional integration.

In this thesis, I examine the politics of European Union (EU) and Russian energy relations. The main analysis is focused on the Russian energy policy towards the European Union and whether or not Moscow’s attempts at deepening reliance on Russian’s natural gas are a part of a Russian broad strategy or to gain political leverage vis-à-vis European countries. More specifically, this thesis focuses on the state-owned natural gas company Gazprom as a tool of Russia’s energy policy and the extent to which Russian authorities use this company to shape the politics of EU – Russian energy relations. This study investigates whether Gazprom has become an extension of the Russian government, and whether the company has been used as leverage tool to affect relations between the EU and Russia. Finally, this study also traces the tremendous growth of the EU – Russia energy partnership by examining several ongoing projects. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

This dissertation investigates Taiwan's role in the twists and turns in its relationship with China from 1987 to 2004. It employs the methods of both case studies and the VAR (vector autoregression) time-series analysis to assess the impact of the following four factors on Taiwan's actions toward China: (1) the democratic transition in Taiwan, (2) Taiwan's electoral politics, (3) cross-Strait economic exchanges, and (4) U.S. Taiwan Policy. The research conclusions are as follows. First, President Lee Teng-hui's rational calculation in the late 1980s guided him to launch domestic political reforms while continuing former President Chiang Chingkuo's liberalization of Taiwan's China policy. Consequently, Taiwan's democratic transition was accompanied by the appearance of a peaceful policy toward China. Second, in order to win votes from the electorate, which increasingly embraced a Taiwanese identity after the mid-1990s, Taiwanese politicians tended to launch aggressive electoral campaigns against China. Accordingly, domestic elections turned out to be a conducive factor for Taiwan's conflictual actions toward China. Third, politicians' electoral consideration also overrode Taiwanese businessmen's preference for crossStrait stability. As a result, cross-Strait economic interdependence was unable to restrain Taiwan from taking aggressive policies toward China. Fourth, because Taiwanese politicians tended not to give in to U.S. pressures during Taiwan's elections, the U.S. could not successfully stop Taiwan's provocative actions toward China as elections neared in Taiwan. It was only when Taiwanese leaders sought to strengthen U.S.-Taiwan relations after election seasons ended that the U.S. could induce Taiwan to act cooperatively toward China. / text

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Canadian border security policies are largely shaped by the asymmetrical relationship that exists between Canada and the United States. American markets are the primary destination for over eighty percent of Canadian exports, creating an economic dependence highlighted in the days following 9/11. As wait times at the American border extended to sixteen hours the importance of the shared border came sharply into focus. To ensure Canada‟s economic security the Canadian government needed to develop policies that would satisfy the American need for physical security and the Canadian need for economic security. This thesis applies John Kingdon‟s policy streams model to demonstrate and explain the subsequent development of Canadian border security policies. It also examines the institutional context for border security policies and examines two case studies: the Container Security Initiative and NEXUS. / vii, 133 leaves ; 29 cm