This thesis entails an analysis of the relationship between space and politics in the construction and legitimisation of modern China. The thesis argues that the production of space has since the onset of modernity in China, in itself very much a spatial process, played a substantial yet, largely unexplored and academically unacknowledged role in both the construction of the nation state and the legitimisation of political ideologies. I wish to show that the production of modern space has since the mid-17th century played an increasingly vital role in the abstract concretisation and the everyday diffusion of the geographic imagination of the Chinese nation state. The state, in other words, legitimises its existence through the reification of space. This thesis contributes to a historical and spatial understanding of the role of geographies of power in creating an alternative understanding of what China is and how it is (re-)produced spatially. Such an understanding problematises the realised abstraction of the Chinese nation state and politicises the production and representation of space in China. The thesis thus questions notions of Chinese essentialism, Chinese history, Chinese architecture and other expressions of state spaces. The position that this thesis takes is that the production of space gives form and meaning to the political. The thesis looks at a variety of spatial techniques of power by analysing the politics of cartography, urban planning, architecture and other forms of production of space. By emphasising the politics of space, this thesis is a work of political geography on the subject of modern Chinese state space. This thesis comprises six chapters, an introduction and a conclusion.

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Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 79 pages. / Thesis (M.S.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: Monthly d18O and Sr/Ca records generated from modern and fossil corals from Southwestern Pacific Ocean sites in the Republic of Vanuatu are used to assess the differences in mean climate state, seasonality, and interannual variability between a glacial and interglacial period. The modern coral contains a well-defined annual signal in d18O and Sr/Ca. The top 40 cm of the coral used in this study has a mean d18O value of -4.99+/-0.13%VPDB (2s) and a mean Sr/Ca value of 8.691+/-0.015mmol/mol (2s). El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events are characterized by positive d18O and Sr/Ca anomalies, consistent with cooler temperatures and reduced rainfall that typifies ENSO at Vanuatu. The 12cm long fossil coral is dated to 346 ka + 25, - 9, based on uranium-series analysis and stratigraphic forward modeling, indicating that the fossil coral grew during MIS10 - a glacial period. / ABSTRACT: X-ray diffraction, petrographic inspection, SEM analysis, and geochemical considerations indicate excellent preservation. The mean d18O value is enriched by 0.74%, and the mean Sr/Ca value is equivalent, compared to the modern coral. Mathematical modeling of Pleistocene mean SST and SSS results in temperature estimates up to 2?C warmer and salinity up to 2 psu saltier than present-day conditions, if seawater Sr/Ca were 1-2% higher in MIS10. Our fossil coral data and modeling results preclude colder SST and lower SSS at Vanuatu during MIS10. Accurate estimates of past values of seawater Sr/Ca remain the largest obstacle to accurately reconstructing past tropical SST using pristine fossil corals. The fossil coral Sr/Ca annual range is similar to the modern range, indicating that seasonal SST ranges were similar, whereas the d18O annual range is about half that of the modern coral, indicating weaker past seasonal salinity variations. / ABSTRACT: The reduced seasonal SSS variations and increased SSTs near Vanuatu are interpreted as evidence that the SPCZ was displaced from its present location while the fossil coral lived. The geochemical response to El Nino events in the modern coral is observed twice in the fossil coral record, indicating that ENSO-like processes are not unique to interglacial time periods, but characterize the tropical Pacific at least back to MIS 10. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Geography and Geology / Master / Master of Philosophy

The introduction of administrative litigation in the People's Republic of China in October 1990 initiated a new era in the Chinese ruled-rulers relationship. It broke through the entrenched ruled-rulers dichotomy and established a formal legal channel for ordinary citizens to defend their personal and property rights against any infringement by government officials' unlawful specific administrative acts. This thesis is the first empirical analysis of administrative litigation in the People's Republic of China to use a cultural approach. A microanalysis was conducted through interviews with 738 individual household proprietors and 152 government officials from the Hai Dian, Xi Cheng, and Xuan Wu districts of the Beijing municipality between mid-1996 and early 1997, with a four-page questionnaire to assess their administrative litigation cultures. Complemented by a macro analysis, the survey also examined the structure and problems of the PRC's administrative litigation through comprehensive literature reviews, in-depth personal interviews, and attendance in court hearings. The PRC's administrative litigation is a top-down contrivance of the rulers to uphold their rule. As such, it has never been a fully-fledged redress mechanism, but only a confined concession with restricted jurisdiction bound by a narrowly but cautiously construed Administrative Litigation Law. Implementation of the PRe's administrative litigation has been difficult and problematic. The resulting consequences are confined and biased towards the rulers. The overall usefulness of the mechanism is restricted. And its prospect is worrying. The empirical survey generates extraordinarily interesting findings. The affective orientation of both sample groups on the need for administrative litigation was found highly positive and supportive. Their evaluational orientation on the consequences of administrative litigation in the country was highly affirmative. And their expectational orientation towards the future of the PRC's administrative litigation was equally optimistic. The surveyed rulers were clearly better informed in their cognitive orientation, but more reserved in their jurisdictional orientation. Meanwhile, the majority of the surveyed ruled were clearly dismayed in their appraisal orientation regarding the usefulness of the PRC's administrative litigation. The latter is obviously below the acceptable threshold, and substantial improvement is needed if it is to help ameliorate the Chinese ruled-rulers relationship.

The thesis examines the role of Islam and Shariah (Islamic law) in the economic development of Malaysia and it rejects the assumption that Islam and Shariah inhibit economic development. In contemporary Malaysia, there are two 'policies' adopted by the Government. Firstly, 'Islamisation' which is for the advancement of Islamic law and institution building. Secondly, 'Malaynisation' which promotes the socio-economic development of the Malay ethnic group. The study adopts a holistic approach which covers the political economy of law in Malaysia. The thesis explores the relationship between the two policies considering in particular whether they are essentially the same. The study covers the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods although the focus is on the post-1969 period which involved the application of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The NEP was a pro-Malay Policy to rectif,' the economic imbalance of the Malays vis-à-vis other communities. Therefore, the focus of this thesis is on the Malay- Muslim population of Peninsular Malaysia who form the bulk of the Bumiputera (indigenous people). Two Bum iputera and Islamic organisations, Bank Islam (BIIMB) and Tabung Haji (TH) as well as the Bumiputera unit trust scheme, Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN) are used as the case studies. Their establishment, structure and organisation are examined. There is a specific focus on the extent to which they are examples of Islamisation or Malaynisation. It is clear that in contemporary Malaysia, Islam and Shariah are being used by the Government to promote economic development. Islamic values have been used to further Malay economic participation in the commercial sector. As a consequence, the economic position of many Malay-Muslims has greatly improved. However, the Government position is questioned by the Islamic opposition who say that the Islamisation policy in many respects is either contrary to Islam or merely cosmetic, and want a 'pure' Islamic approach. The thesis therefore involves a critical examination of the perspectives of both the Government and the Islamic opposition.

by Leung Wai-Lun, Ma Chuen. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Bibliography: leaves 74-75.

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Includes vita. / Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 119 pages. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: The air-sea interaction thermodynamics of the western equatorial Pacific, the Earth's largest region of warm SST, is a major component of the global climate system. Along the equator, warm pool thermodynamics and momentum are influenced by equatorial ocean visco-inertial boundary layer dynamics that occur within a few degrees of the equator because of the sign reversal of the Coriolis force. Designed to study this system, COARE Enhanced Monitoring Array (EMA) observations of temperature, salinity, velocity, and surface meteorology were centered at 0, 156°E from February 1992 through April 1994. They sampled variability on the equator over larger space/time-scales than the concurrent Intensive Flux Array (IFA) centered at 2°S, 156°E. The EMA data are examined within the context of the larger scale equatorial Pacific and the El Niño conditions that occurred at that time. / ABSTRACT: There is a structural change in the equatorial Pacific near the dateline resulting from the winds that are strong, steady, and easterly in the east and generally weak, punctuated by westerly wind bursts, in the west. East of the dateline the EUC's speed and transport increases downstream, while in the west it tends to be zonally uniform, consistent with the extra-tropical ocean interior water pathways that tend to converge on the equator east of the dateline. At 0°, 156°E in the western Pacific deep, seasonal upwelling (appearing stronger after the peak of the 1991/92 El Niño than during the following weaker El Niño year) occurs within the thermocline in boreal summer with magnitudes as large as upwelling in the eastern Pacific cold tongue. This large upwelling is associated with large downward turbulent heat flux and large turbulent shear stress. / ABSTRACT: While the inferred mixing is quantitatively inconclusive because of unresolved potential errors, it is consistent with the visco-inertial boundary layer concepts from early theory [e.g. Arthur 1960; Robinson 1960; Stommel 1960; and Charney and Spiegel 1971]. These findings suggest that the equatorial thermodynamics differ from those of the IFA. Further process experimentation is necessary to quantify these results. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.