The production and sale of arms is now the second largest industry in the world, only the oil industry is larger. More Third World countries produce arms now than ever before. Third World arms production may be a small percentage of total global production, but it causes an international diffusion of military power by increasing both the absolute number of weapons produced, and the number of available suppliers. / This dissertation empirically tests previous explanations why Third World countries produce arms. Previous research on the determinants of arms production is classified into four categories: internal political, internal economic, external political and external economic explanations. Each category is associated with competing theories of the state and economy. Cross-sectional and times-series research designs are specified to test nine hypotheses drawn from the previous research. The cross-sectional analyses produce a snapshot of the Third World, which is used to select three Third World arms producers for the times-series analysis. / The results from both cross-sectional and time-series analyses are remarkably consistent. Economic factors find more support than political-security factors when explaining both whether Third World countries will produce arms as well as the level of sophistication and volume at which they will produce arms. Indicators of a country's level of development and market size are consistently statistically significant and in the predicted direction. The effect of political-security variables such as embargoes, international threats and regime type find sporadic support in my analyses. In conclusion, Third World countries produce arms when they have the economic capacity and technological ability to do so. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-03, Section: A, page: 1313. / Major Professor: Dale L. Smith. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1996.

This study attempts to explain Taiwan's democratic transition in the mid-1980s by looking at its macro historical-developmental processes and micro shifts in mass democratic values and voting behavior. / It is found that democratization has been delayed but not denied as it has remained one of the fundamental goals in Taiwan's postwar development. Democracy was postponed in the interest of achieving political stability in the 1950s and economic growth in the 1960s. However, by the late 1970s tangible progress towards the goals of democratization had become indispensable for both continued sociopolitical stability and economic growth. / Two macro trends of liberalizing changes associated with socioeconomic development are identified, which converged and resulted in Taiwan's democratic transition in the mid-1980s. Top-down liberalization as Taiwanization was introduced by the ruling KMT to revitalize the political system beginning in the early 1970s. Paralleling postwar socioeconomic development, a bottom-up democratizing movement emerged along with the extension of elections and finally gave rise to an organized opposition. When the first meaningful opposition party was formed, Taiwan experienced a democratic transition with the lifting of martial law and the legitimizing of opposition parties in the mid-1980s. / Findings at the micro level show an emerging democratic sub-culture characterizing Taiwan's changing political culture. Shifts in democratic values increased one's likelihood of opposition voting. Education has been identified as the most important predictor for democratic values and other civic orientations. In turn, an individual's opposition voting is mainly a product of democratic values. In addition ethnicity, education, and political efficacy are shown to have significant effects on voting for the opposition. / In sum, Taiwan's socioeconomic development provided the necessary macro trends that encouraged democratic development. Education is found to be the major link between socioeconomic change and democratization, while the shift in democratic values was the dynamics. As a result, a democratic value cleavage emerged as the basis of opposition politics. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-07, Section: A, page: 2513. / Major Professor: Scott C. Flanagan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

Theodore Marburg was an American internationalist and supporter of Social Darwinism. Born in 1862 in Baltimore, Maryland, Marburg spoke out in favor of American imperialism and of creating an Anglo-American alliance. From 1900 to 1914, Marburg applied his Social Darwinist beliefs, and joined the arbitration movement for an international court system controlled by the "superior" nations. By the First World War, however, Marburg reexamined his beliefs and realized that world peace would not be maintained through legal measures if military and economic enforcement was not also established. Through the creation of the League to Enforce Peace, an American internationalist society, Marburg and other Americans worked to guarantee the United States a leadership position through the creation of the League of Nations. When these attempts failed, Marburg continued to write about U.S. foreign policy and lived to see America survive a Second World War and become an active partner in the United Nations. / Theodore Marburg was a product of the upper-class and of the intellectual movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Marburg was a progressive and an internationalist, but as this dissertation will illustrate, Americans with similar backgrounds used these movements to advocate a foreign leadership role for the United States based more on racism than on altruism. The life of Theodore Marburg and his place in history proved that racism, especially the emphasis on Social Darwinism and Anglo-Saxon theory, was an important foundation in establishing the modern foreign policy of the United States. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-10, Section: A, page: 4115. / Major Professor: Valerie Conner. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

The recent history of Mexico presents a unique opportunity to unravel the complex effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the economy of a developing host nation. Through the years Mexico has been the recipient of widely varying amounts of FDI. Mexico's current modernization strategy, which began in 1983 and opened the floodgates to FDI in many sectors of the nation's economy, is rooted in the failure of the country's previous development model, which more forcefully regulated foreign direct investment. In particular, the country's post-1982 development goals emphasize increased manufacturing production and expansion of manufactured exports through an infusion of FDI. / This study addresses whether Mexico's decision to welcome foreign direct investment was born of desperation and thus may be unjustified, or whether the decision rightly reflects the potential benefits of FDI that have for too long been kept at bay by a political ideology. In this regard, the project seeks to ascertain the extent to which foreign direct investment in Mexico facilitates the state's objective of economic growth, the vanguard of development. Specifically, the study seeks to appraise the ability of FDI to positively affect growth in Mexico's manufacturing sector. / Nevertheless, the implications of the study's findings extend far beyond the impact of FDI on one sector of one developing nation' s economy. Separate but related bodies of research--and events around the world--suggest that pro-market policies are necessary for growth and prosperity, that a more prosperous world may be a more democratic one, and that a more democratic world may be a more peaceful one. This study is based on those premises, and to this end, foreign direct investment is viewed as a catalyzing ingredient in the equation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-10, Section: A, page: 4137. / Major Professor: James Lee Ray. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

Thesis advisor: Paul Gray / As birds throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa have been infected with an avian influenza, public health experts everywhere are worried that if spread to humans, the world could face a pandemic with proportions similar to the 1918 Spanish influenza. In the past, the federal government has been more concerned with foreign militaries than foreign diseases. But today, the government has devoted over $7.1 billion to preventing a potential pandemic. While much of this goes to research and the production of vaccinations, money is also allocated to strengthen local infrastructures and control the disease in other countries. The fact that the federal government has put so much time and effort to prevent a disease that has affected few humans worldwide, let alone any Americans, points to a growing belief in human security rather than national security. This thesis will evaluate the concept of human security and argue that U.S. action and public opinion regarding the threat of an avian flu pandemic clearly shows decision-making based on human security. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2006. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Thesis advisor: Paul T. Christensen / The terms “jihad” and “Islamic fundamentalism” appear to dominate world news today. After the September 11th terrorist attacks, people began to wonder if the world of Islam and the world of the West were diametrically opposed and thus doomed to collide. In this thesis I study the work of Samuel Huntington, the leading theorist on the clash between Islam and the West, and his critics. Through case studies of Algeria, Indonesia and Lebanon, all predominantly Muslim countries, I argue that there is not a fundamental clash between these cultures. The conflict that is occurring today is a result of factors such as US foreign policy decisions, and not an existential culture clash. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Thesis advisor: Paul T. Christensen / Compares globalization's impact on blue-collar workers in Poland and Russia, asking two major questions: Is conventional wisdom about globalization's impact on labor accurate in the Polish and Russian contexts? What shape has Poland and Russia's reintegration into the globalized system taken since the collapse of communism? Following the collapse of communism from 1989 to 1991, there was a great international effort to reintegrate Poland and Russia (and the whole of the former Soviet Union more generally) into the global system. Now, more than ten years later, there is some doubt about the success of this mission. Clearly, Poland and Russia are in different positions vis a vis the international system. While Poland is a member of NATO and has just joined the EU, Russia continues to struggle to find its place globally. It is part of the CIS and has obserer status in the WTO, but remains outside NATO and is conflicted about its relationship with its neighbors. The two countries in certain respects, then, represent the extremes on a scale of post-communist global reintegration. Labor, in turn, has been an historically important force for establishing and consolidating democracy. Therefore, it warrents scrutiny. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Thesis advisor: Kenji Hayao / This paper uses a case study approach to analyze changes in Japan's post-Cold War security policy. While many observers feel that these changes are the result of the 1997 Defense Guidelines Review, the argument forwarded here is that it is the result of a series of unique domestic circumstances in Japan. It traces these factors starting with the Persian Gulf War and then the War on Terrorism and the current North Korean nuclear crisis. Finally, this paper assesses the prospects for the future of Japan's security policy. While Japan will continue to be a strong ally for the United States, there are distinct limits on how far it will go to provide for collective security. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Thesis advisor: David Hollenbach / More than one billion people do not have access to an adequate water supply and several billion lack access to basic sanitation, which is the number one cause of diseases linked to water and water contamination. In countries such as Gambia and Haiti, people live on less than 4 liters of water per day. Cholera and dysentery, two of the more deadly water-related diseases, claim around 10 million victims each year, primarily among young children and the elderly; sadly, these diseases are easily preventable. Certain areas of the world are running out of fresh water at an alarming rate, and the global distribution of water is making it increasingly more difficult for poor people to access it. Movements to commodify water and privatize the industries that provide it are, in many cases, exacerbating this situation of scarcity and trapping poor people in a cycle of water poverty. While much research has been done on the problem of water scarcity, there is currently a void in this undertaking regarding the link between scarcity and water as a human right. Therefore, this paper seeks to address the question of whether there exists a human right to water and, if so, what obligations that entails for major market actors, such as: state governments; water corporations; and international lending institutions. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Thesis advisor: Jennie Purnell / Abstract: American policy in Latin America has been primarily motivated by a desire to keep foreign powers out of the Western Hemisphere. To this end America has pursued a policy of military intervention designed to make sure that it stays the dominant power in this hemisphere. American policymakers consider this vital to national security, and have do not let concerns over the moral implications of the interventions interfere. This paper looks at interventions during the 20th century, focusing on the imperialist era of the first few decades of the 20th century and the Cold War. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science. / Discipline: College Honors Program.