Abstract This dissertation is a research for the historical reconstruction of the local political ecology since post-war in Penghu. At present, the research of local factions and democratic transition in Taiwan seems to have omitted the in-depth study of off-shore Penghu area. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to try exploring the formation and declining of Penghu local factions in the post-war, and to examine the vicissitude of military role before and after abolished martial law in Penghu. In the meanwhile, we would systematically analyze the change of Penghu local political ecology in the process of democratization. By executing this Penghu case, we would conduct a further antithesis and discussion on the existed research of the local factions in Taiwan. This research adopted the field study and the in-dept interview method to collect empirical data. In addition that we expect the historical documents and official statistics data could be the helpful auxiliary evidence. The primary findings emerged from this research are¡G¡]1¡^Due to the pre-existing inter-group differences and competition of autonomy election, the Penghu local factions were generated and competition among factions were emerged. In addition, the only competition field was the election for congress of county or province because the position of county mayor was controlled by the military force. ¡]2¡^The faction itself was lack of strong structure because of the scarceness of Penghu local resources. In addition, there had not been any political opposition in Penghu during the martial law era. As a result, the relationship of alliance between Kuomintang and faction did not exist and the local factions were served as the counter-acting pressure of political oppositions for Kuomintang. Therefore, when the leader of faction had been changed or the members of faction were facing the conflict in profit could emerge the split, reorganization, or declining.¡]3¡^Following the transitions of authoritarian regime in Taiwan, not only military controlling role of political regime had been collapsed in Penghu, but also it withdrew the electoral mobilization machine for Kuomintang. In the meanwhile, military role had been changed from domination to assistance on the economical and social aspect.¡]4¡^On the one hand, democratization made the traditional "bi-factionalism pattern" of Penghu transformed into a multi-regional competition pattern. On the other hand, even if democratic transition boosted the political type of party competition, the influence of existing parties and military units had been gradually loosing. By contrast, local faction based on the combination of family, geography, and social relationship as well as burgeoning political-commercial sectors had become the main characters of regional political ecology. Worthy of mention, the existing theoretic perspective about local factions in Taiwan didn¡¦t absolutely fit Penghu. This research claims that it should take into account the characteristics of political economical and social structure at local, and the selection strategies of local political actors when understanding the local political ecology. Keywords¡G political ecology, local faction, democratic transition, military role, Penghu

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In Taiwan, the clan associations have some leverage over local affairs, including elections of legislator, county mayor, county congressman, township heads, town heads and town councilman, and so on. Some critics observe that the clan associations have far more significant influence than political party in some counties such as Tao-yuan, Hsin-chu, etc. This thesis aims to explore the interaction between local faction and clan association in Taiwan through analysis on several cases about Tao-yuan county. The author will focus on the social network and bring forward the following assumptions: (1) politicians influence the result of an election by involving themselves in local faction; (2) politicians influence the result of an election by involving themselves in clan association; (3) local faction forms an alliance with clan association to influence the result of an election. In sum, the interactive patterns between local faction and clan association can be divided into four categories: (1) clan faction, i.e. local faction comprised primarily of members of clan association; (2) clan faction with some other clan ; (3) non-clan faction, i.e. local faction comprised primarily not of members of clan association; (4) local faction unrelated to any clan association. The author attempts to explain the following aspects: first of all, how local faction develops cooperation relationship with clan association in various elections in Tao-yuan county; secondly, the alliance between local faction and clan association will be a short-term or long-term relationship; furthermore, if clan association will be in the cooperative process dwindled into factious clubs. Finally, what kind of interest exchanges will exist between local faction and clan association? The major findings of this study were as the following: (1) local faction develops a long-term cooperation relationship with clan association in various elections in order to win; (2) local factions win over clan associations by providing service and fellowship; (3) clan association has tendency to dwindle into factious clubs.

How does the Chinese Communist Party tame factions from breaking it apart? Relying on thousands of biographies, the dissertation attempts to uncover the complex network of Chinese political elites and investigate how institutions constrain the expansion of factions. First, it finds that the rule of avoidance has been effectively implemented. Native provincial officials are often assigned with secondary party positions, especially so in deeply indebted provinces that are heavily reliant on the central government for fiscal transfer. Second, the centralization of the disciplinary inspection system helps maintain the momentum of the anticorruption campaign since the 2012 leadership succession. Compared to native officials, the officials who were transferred from a different province or a central government agency are likely to investigate much more corrupt party cadres in their jurisdictions. Third, when it comes to promotions of provincial party secretaries, many performance-based criteria appear to be less important than factional ties. Good economic performance such as fast GDP growth does not increase a provincial party secretary’s odds to join the Politburo. However, the effects of factional ties are mixed. For example, family ties to a top party leader greatly increase the likelihood of promotion, but college ties disadvantage the candidates. Finally, the dissertation shows that network centrality in the Central Committee is a strong predictor of the outcomes of the Politburo turnover. The network centrality is positively associated with party seniority, but due to the age limits, it cannot grow without a ceiling.

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth’s last favorite and the last man she executed for treason, has been harshly treated by posterity. Given his leading role at court in what Patrick Collinson calls the “nasty nineties,” Essex has taken much of the blame for the divisive factional politics of Elizabeth’s final decade. However, leading recent efforts to salvage Essex’s reputation, historian Paul Hammer has uncovered a sophisticated bureaucracy operated by highly educated scholars and led by an intelligent, cultivated statesman. A considerable number of high-profile literary figures, moreover, willingly engaged with this ambitiously expanding Essex faction. This thesis proposes that evidence of interference by the censor and the Privy Council, sensitive to a politicized historiography promoting the Earl’s interests chiefly on London’s stages, discloses the presence of a loose, autonomous federation of authors associated with the Essex and post-Essex factions between 1590 and 1610. This thesis considers the suspected works of an eclectic group of writers bonded by their ideological affiliations with Essex’s “radical moderatism”: civil lawyer John Hayward’s prose history of The Life and Raigne of Henrie IIII (1599); William Shakespeare’s second “tetralogy” (1595-99) dealing with the same historical period; Samuel Daniel’s closet drama of the downfall of the Greek general Philotas (1605); and innovative playwright George Chapman’s double tragedy set in France, The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron (1608). I situate these authors within the intellectual and public relations wing of the Essex circle in order to consider how they made contact with the center and with each other, and where they resided within the broader operation of the faction; what they offered and what they expected in return; how they shaped political thinking and how their dramaturgy developed as a consequence; whether they were attracted by the purse or the person; and to what extent they were artistically or ideologically motivated. In considering, finally, whether these writers worked in collaboration or alone, on message or off-the-cuff, as propagandists or political commentators, I illuminate the critically neglected role of the factional writer in early modern England. / text

This Bachelor thesis reviews the concept of non-innovative faction groups in digital games and the cause and effect of such systems. The paper goes into detail on what diffractions are available to developers when creating a faction driven game. It also illuminates the need to be aware of consequences of small details in a big picture. It will outline what types of faction systems in games that can be argued to be outdated and repeated, and why such a thing can prove detrimental to the development of future games and to developers. The necessity of these design choices of factions will be outlined through design fundamentals regarding games, as well as through research of strategy games and how they employ factions through their semi-historical inspiration sources. The functionality of those design choices will be considered through heuristic evaluation and then determined what key components are necessary to the overall gameplay of such games. Gamemaker will also be discussed as a means of creating these systems in games and the limitations and opportunities presented by using that programming software.

本文之主旨在於探討宜蘭派系政治的運作。研究的時間範圍則從一九四九年國民黨政府遷台以後至一九九二年立委選舉為止。本文在內容的安排上分為六章。除第一章緒論外，第二章為研究個案簡介，對宜蘭縣的自然環境社會經濟結構以及派系之政治參與作初步之介紹。第三章將探討派系政治的形成背景與發展過程，首先探討國民黨政權在 派系政治中的角色，分析選舉制度與派系政治的關係，並分析宜蘭縣早期的派系政治發展史。第四章則分析轉型後的派系政治。第五章將討論派系的組織結構及動員基礎，分別剖析國民黨與民進黨派系的組織結構以及動員基礎。第六章結論，除基於上述探討派系對地方政治的影響外，並評估宜蘭縣派系政治未來之研究方向。

Tension has been the most significant and constant factor in the relationship between North and South Korea over the past sixty years. The differences in the political systems and the economic disparity between the two countries have resulted in what was once one nation moving in two radically divergent directions. These differences have led to a state of imbalance and resulted in constant political instability that has been playing out within the boundaries of the two countries, explicitly in no-man’s land, the demilitarized zone (DMZ). As one of the world’s most heavily militarized borderline, the DMZ embodies a wide range of political and social tensions. Among these is the action-reaction relationship between the Imnam Dam of North Korea and the Peace Dam of South Korea; the Imnam Dam was built as an act of offence to flood Seoul by bombing the dam down, and the Peace Dam was built as an act of defense to prevent overflow of water into Seoul. The historical and present conditions of this relationship maximize the military limitations and the possibilities of greater exchange between the two Koreas in creating a mutually beneficial relationship. In this thesis, this relationship is realized through “faction space”, a specific space situated in a fictional reality that does not reflect on its immediate surroundings, but of its own world, a speculative fictional idea of what it could become. Four different types of borderline conditions are studied to find out how these conditions can be translated into opportunities of creating spaces not only for the military, but also for the public. Each condition focuses on a topic derived from the existing surroundings. The final faction spaces perform as architectural stimuli within the feuding landscape of the two Koreas, striving to relieve or intensify the social and political tension between each other. Conditions of these faction spaces may begin to exist in various places around the DMZ, redefining the borderscape. A time may come when the most heavily militarized zone in the world shifts its focus to become a space for reciprocity.

The main purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate that people¡¦s self/communities perspective plays a critical role in making democratic political institution fully function. There are many problems such as the corruption of local factions, bribery politics, ethnic conflict, and national identity dispute in Taiwan¡¦s young history of democratic system. This thesis claims that the problems lie on the difference between Western and Chinese perspectives of the relations between self and communities. The perspective of self/communities relations signifies an individual¡¦s thinking of his position in the communities, groups, or society, which he belongs to or lives in, and how he will interact with other people in different communities under different circumstances. Different culture and different historical background result in different perspectives of the relations between self and communities. In chapter Two, we first trace the history of Western political thoughts and the shaping progress of Western perspective of self/communities relations (mainly the perspective from the ¡§individualism¡¨); then, we focus on what the liberal democracy¡¦s perspective of self/communities relations. In chapter Three, we analyze the related concepts of Confucian perspective of self/communities relations, and indicate that Confucianism always teaches people that an individual must benefit the community and be loyal to the superiors. This perspective of self/communities relations supports the imperial institution. But in the last period of Ching Dynasty, some Chinese intellectuals introduced the western democratic thought to the Mainland China, and at last overthrew the imperial institution and intended to build a democratic government. However, these intellectuals and political elites did not realize that the Confucian perspective of self/communities relations has made the practices of Western liberal democracy difficult in both China and Taiwan. Chapter Four indicates that even KMT government moved to Taiwan, and there were still many intellectuals and political elites anticipating the government to build a political institution, but they still did not focus on the difference between Taiwanese perspectives of self/communities relations and Western individualism. So in chapter Five, we indicate that the problems of Taiwan¡¦s democracy were resulted from the ordinary Taiwanese perspective of self/communities relations. Such perspective emphasizes the interpersonal affections (ren-qing), relationship network (guan-xi), and the division between others and us. This research indicates that the perspective of self/communities relations is very important in studying different political culture and its political institution.

Tension has been the most significant and constant factor in the relationship between North and South Korea over the past sixty years. The differences in the political systems and the economic disparity between the two countries have resulted in what was once one nation moving in two radically divergent directions. These differences have led to a state of imbalance and resulted in constant political instability that has been playing out within the boundaries of the two countries, explicitly in no-man’s land, the demilitarized zone (DMZ). As one of the world’s most heavily militarized borderline, the DMZ embodies a wide range of political and social tensions. Among these is the action-reaction relationship between the Imnam Dam of North Korea and the Peace Dam of South Korea; the Imnam Dam was built as an act of offence to flood Seoul by bombing the dam down, and the Peace Dam was built as an act of defense to prevent overflow of water into Seoul. The historical and present conditions of this relationship maximize the military limitations and the possibilities of greater exchange between the two Koreas in creating a mutually beneficial relationship. In this thesis, this relationship is realized through “faction space”, a specific space situated in a fictional reality that does not reflect on its immediate surroundings, but of its own world, a speculative fictional idea of what it could become. Four different types of borderline conditions are studied to find out how these conditions can be translated into opportunities of creating spaces not only for the military, but also for the public. Each condition focuses on a topic derived from the existing surroundings. The final faction spaces perform as architectural stimuli within the feuding landscape of the two Koreas, striving to relieve or intensify the social and political tension between each other. Conditions of these faction spaces may begin to exist in various places around the DMZ, redefining the borderscape. A time may come when the most heavily militarized zone in the world shifts its focus to become a space for reciprocity.