Choucri and North are among the few foreign conflict analysts to systematically specify domestic and international determinants of major power international expansion and conflict. They argue that major powers characterized by a growing population, technology, and military capability along with an increasing reliance upon external supplies of raw materials, when denied access to such products will acquire sovereignity over resource producing territories and in the process become more conflict oriented than their major power counterparts. / This perspective is both plausible and well rooted in the literature. However, because Choucri and North omitted the key resource scarcity concept from their model they were unable to directly evaluate their thesis. Consequently, its reassessment is justified and necessary. / The period chosen for this purpose, the interwar years, was selected for several reasons. First, foreign policy analysts have long argued that strategic material shortages played a crucial part in the territorial expansion and foreign conflict directed plans and policies of Italy, and especially Germany and Japan during the time. Second, Choucri and North consider the period a legitimate and intriguing testing ground for their thesis. Finally, empirically oriented foreign conflict analysts have largely overlooked the period. Not much is known, then, about the foreign conflict dynamics of the major powers during the period. / It was found that the territorial expanding and foreign conflict-oriented powers had international access to needed resources (especially petroleum) but chose to acquire territories and wage interstate conflict in any event. Yet these territories could do little to satisfy the resource needs of the expanding powers. Indeed the most important international strategic material suppliers were sovereign nations, notably the United States, and the Soviet Union, whose products were all too readily available to the expanding powers. Consequently, the Choucri-North framework, with its emphasis upon resource shortages being the catalyst of international expansion and conflict, does not advance our understanding of the major power international expansion and conflict dynamics in the period between the First and Second World Wars. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-09, Section: A, page: 2880. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

The predictor variables in existing models of determinants of government expenditures in industrialized countries are almost entirely domestic in character. Whatever the adequacy of such model specifications for industrialized countries, their application to a developing country like Nigeria may be quite unsatisfactory. This project uses historical and statistical methods to test whether variations in Nigeria's 1963-1978 government spending patterns were more sensitive to changes, in domestic socio-economic and political indicators or to certain fluctuations in her relations with (1) the United Kingdom and (2) the United States. Indices of Nigeria's relation with each country conceptually equivalent to Savage's and Deutsch's (1960) 'Relative Acceptance' and Wright's (1942) Political Distance criteria are generated in the form of trade intensities with respect to a defined global subsystem. The analysis concludes that (a) periphery/core trade volumes may not be the primary cause of a periphery's dependency. (b) actor-types in the dependency infrastructure as revealed in the study of the Latin American region may not be similar in all peripheries. (c) the United Kingdom not the United States remain the primary core influence in Nigeria. (d) "International relations" is a primary predictor of Nigeria's public sector scope. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-07, Section: A, page: 2728. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

This study reports some empirical results from examining data on the Iranian military establishment during the Shah's rule, 1953-1979. The preliminary findings suggest an operational definition, a measuring index, and an analytical method for explaining the military component of Dependency Theory. / First, qualitative attempts have been explored to compile theoretical response(s) to a central research question: What is military dependence? To this end, it has been hypothesized that military dependence may be a situation in which a periphery's military foundation gets conditioned to a center's strategic interest expansion and development. Having tested this theoretical proposal on the Iranian military data set, it has been found that there exists a robust relationship between periphery's index of dependence, the index NEED, and the center's number of military advisors. This relationship is not direct; that is, the periphery's structural military dependence is engineered by the center's military advisors but through periphery's index of economic growth, the gross domestic product. / Second, the quest for an index to measure the extent of military dependence has been equally expounded. For this study the index NEED is being proposed. NEED is a composite vector index, having both magnitude and direction. It is the algebraic difference between the granted military aids (from the center to the periphery) and the purchased military programs (by the periphery from the center). While positive NEED implies military dependence, its negative values indicate periphery's non-dependence. / Finally, the methodological framework is causal modeling. Through this method, the extent of association between military dependence, measured by NEED, and four of its predictors has been explained. That is, the individual, partial, and collective impacts of time, military advisors, gross domestic product, and military expenditure on NEED have been assessed through Path Analyses--a family of ways of analyzing data such as the Regression Method and the Partial Correlation Analysis. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-01, Section: A, page: 0305. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 31-11, Section: A, page: 6135. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1970.

Since its creation the Puerto Rican "free association" relationship with the United States has been attacked as colonial. This has created a legitimacy crisis for the Puerto Rican political system both under American Constitutional law and under International law. This study aimed to clarify the legitimate non-colonial options open to Puerto Rico under International and American Constitutional law. The legal framework for Puerto Rican decolonization was used as part of the environment considered in the application of a decision-making model to the Puerto Rican Question. Using historical and bibliographical sources the precedents of decolonization under the American flag were studied to determine the major actors and environmental variables to those precedents. The precedents were used as a guide in the study of the actors and environment variables present in the concrete case of Puerto Rico. Once the major actors and environmental variables for any decision of the Puerto Rican Question were identified, a decision-making model was used to attempt to forecast the most probable outcomes to the Puerto Rican Question. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-06, Section: A, page: 2089. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

In an empirical examination of the relationships between scarce resources and international politics, political elements of both resource consumption and production are combined to produce a variety of models. These models are based upon the asymmetrical inter-dependencies among nations with particular reference to these resource capabilities. Food and energy resources are selected to ascertain the degree to which the need to acquire a resource influences the aggregate foreign policy behavior of nations. Due to insufficient domestic supply, the need for a scarce resource leads to competition among consuming nations, and this competition in turn leads to conflict. From another perspective, the resource producer, utilizing what is traditionally seen as a component of power enhances its international bargaining position, and does not need to compete for the specific resource. As a result, the resource producer finds itself the recipient of cooperative behavior. / A variety of hypotheses are extracted from these two complementary themes of production and consumption politics using a utility maximization/game theoretic base as a heuristic to postulate dyadic foreign policy behavior. In addition to the direct impact of resources, the intervening effects of population, economic development, and military capabilities are examined. The models developed are tested at monadic, dyadic and systemic levels. / The results of the empirical tests provide limited support for examining foreign policy behavior in light of resource capabilities. The tests at both the monadic and dyadic levels demonstrate the presence of behavior that is related, albeit weakly, to resource needs and capabilities. The tests of the hypotheses at the systemic level, however, indicate that resource scarcity has little direct impact upon global political structure. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-11, Section: A, page: 3442. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

One of the most inflammable areas of international controversy is the dispute over right to the oil underneath the continental shelf in the East China and Yellow Seas. Each of the coastal states involved--the People's Republic of China (China), the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Republic of Korea (South Korea), and Japan--has strong economic motivation for exploiting this oil. Because the economic stakes are high, the states have reason not only to enter conflicting claims to the continental shelf but to be eager to settle those conflicts. However, serious obstacles exist; the uncertainty of international law concerning "continental shelf," the historical animosity between Japan and the other coastal states, and the lack of diplomatic relations resulting from post-World War II power politics.This study examines these obstacles, suggests two methods (or principles) of continental shelf boundary delimitation, and concludes that--with particular attention to international politics--settlement of the disputes is possible. / After establishing each state's need for the oil resources, the study thoroughly examines the state of international law concerning continental shelf disputes. The uncertainties of that law are demonstrated throughout the study. However, the general trends of international practice and of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) do provide guidance for continental shelf disputes, and this study applies those trends to the East China and Yellow Seas continental shelf disputes. / Finally, dividing the whole East China and Yellow Sea continental shelf into two areas--the Yellow Sea continental shelf between China and South Korea, and the East China continental shelf between China and Japan--two principles (or methods) of delimitation are suggested to settle the controversy: "modified equidistance principle" for the Yellow Sea controversy, and "equitable plus joint jurisdiction (or development) principle(s)" for the East China Sea Controversy. / This study concludes that given all the conditions--economic desirability of exploiting oil from the continental shelf, favorable international situations in Northeast Asia, and positive guidance by international trends and UNCLOS III--settlement or solution of the continental shelf controversy in the East China and Yellow Seas is possible. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-02, Section: A, page: 0795. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This study examined the Arab-Israeli conflict, its impact on International relations and the overall pattern of the American diplomacy in the Middle East, an area which represents a vital cog in the geopolitical balance of power. / The study sought to three central questions: (1) What were the vital American decisions in the evolution of the Palestine issue and how U.S. policies were formulated? (2) What are America's national interests in the Middle East and have the Arab states taken actions against any of those interests in light of Washington's policies? (3) Are there any domestic inputs that might have shaped American foreign policy toward the Arab-Israeli impasse? If so, what are they? / In the conduct of this study, historical information which has been gathered was analyzed for trends and consequences in U.S. policies. Subsequent to this analysis, an answer to the first and third questions was developed, along with a tentative answer to the second. This tentative answer was closely analyzed and then empirically tested. / The results of the study have explicitly indicated that the U.S. role has been decisive in the creation of an independent Jewish national home and that U.S. commitment to the Jewish plight has intensified over the years. As a result, U.S. policies have greatly alienated most of the Arab countries. The consequent reduction of America's influence in the Arab world was thus replaced by a growing Soviet predominance in the region. / Furthermore, the findings also indicated that the Arab world does indeed represent a region of exceptional economic and geo-political value to the U.S. Due to the vital role energy plays in both industrial and developing countries, it is difficult to imagine a more strategic area in the world for future Western economic growth than the Middle East. Not only does two-thirds of the world's exportable oil come from the Persian Gulf area but the Arab world sits on top of three-fifths of all already proven oil reserve. Despite this strategic importance of the Middle East, the U.S. has pursued policies that resulted in grave consequences ranging from the cutoff of oil supplies to Arab breakdown of diplomatic relations with Washington. / Finally, the data suggested that domestic calculations have shaped policy formulation. By the nature of the American democratic process, U.S. Jewry were able, through favorable public opinion, and highly effective political behavior, to translate favorable attitudes into pressures upon decision makers. In contrast to the Jewish predominance in American life, the American-Arab community lacks skillful organizations, human and financial resources and never quite enjoyed a positive morale case in this country. What resulted from that was the transmission of those domestic inputs into the shaping of U.S. foreign policy, not in accordance with the national interest. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-01, Section: A, page: 0391. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The purpose of this study was to examine the dynamics of conflict escalation by systematically testing a number of hypotheses which have filtered through much of the theoretical literature on conflict within the context of the Lebanese Civil War using an events data approach. In addition to the theoretical questions of escalation, a historical descriptive analysis of the civil war was provided to complement the quantitative/analytical aspects of the discussion. Hence, the objectives of the study were twofold: first, to fill the descriptive void of what little information there is about the Lebanese Civil War and second, to test theoretical propositions about the dynamics of conflict escalation. / The theoretical topics--each of which constituted a chapter in the dissertation--encompassed explanations which: (1) specified links between governmental repression/coercion and political violence; (2) examined the links between internal strife and external intervention; and (3) identified and described crisis behavior. The more outstanding empirical results yielded the information outlined in the thesis text. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-11, Section: A, page: 4925. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

This research compared bank employee training programs in two countries--the United States and Iran. It also examined managerial perceptions regarding selected training programs, and the existing and desired level of training practices. The objectives were to facilitate the training and staff development programs within the banking industry, and to highlight the weaknesses of the present programs. / The study was conducted in two phases: (a) an exploratory research effort, and (b) data collection using a questionnaire sent to a selected sample of 33 banks in the two countries. For data analysis, appropriate SPSS programs were used. / The findings indicated that in terms of leadership perceptions, bank trainers in both countries preferred relationship behavior patterns (two-way communication) over task behavior patterns (one-way communication). They also agreed that determination of employees' maturity level was important for selecting an appropriate leadership style. In operational patterns, bank trainers in both countries supported employees' participation and involvement in planning and implementing the programs, in group decision making, in sharing information, and mutual commitment and subtlety. / Data analysis showed that in each of the 33 respondent banks, training programs were planned according to some philosophy from which clearly formulated goals and objectives were derived. These goals were achieved through functions and factors, some of which were more important than others for different banks. However, there were similarities and dissimilarities in planning and implementing training programs in the responding banks in the two countries. There was also some similarity between present and desired practices in both countries' bank training programs. Additionally, the data revealed that planners/designers and implementors of bank employee training programs in both countries do not give very much consideration to participants' knowledge, maturation, growth, or development regarding what their leadership perceptions are. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-04, Section: A, page: 1079. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.