Comparative Political Theory (CPT) focuses on political ideas of non-western thinkers and compares these to their western counterparts. In recent years, works of CPT have demonstrated that a comparative perspective allows us to see the many parallels in the theoretical projects of western and non-western thinkers. This approach towards political theorizing opens up previously unexplored avenues to gain a better understanding of the political. CPT has also strongly challenged traditional western political theorists, and political scientists alike, to reconsider the validity of several existing theories about the political. This is a result of CPT’s awareness of the bias introduced by western dominance in a globalized world. Works of CPT attempt to neutralize this power imbalance between the west and the rest by attempting to revitalize the non-west in terms of its self-understanding. This dissertation argues that a comparative perspective must be adopted in political theory, because, while it helps us to interpret non-western ideas it also allows us to understand how the west has come to its present self-understanding. Hence, unlike previous comparative works which argue for CPT as a separate subfield of political theory in the west, this dissertation brings the CPT enterprise to the center of the vocational landscape of the western political theory. The dissertation supports this claim by presenting an in-depth analysis of four cases of east-west encounters in the pre- Enlightenment period. The analysis is based on several primary and secondary sources from the western and non-western civilizations which span a period of over four centuries. The significance of the dissertation is distributed along four dimensions. First, it presents a comprehensive review and critique of scholarship done by comparative theorists till now. Second, it highlights additional points of significance attached to the integral role of the non-west in the construction of the west itself. Third, it extends the range of comparative analyses to the pre and early modern periods. Fourth, it considers actual cases of east-west encounters as against CPT’s exclusive focus on constructing imaginary inter-civilizational dialogues.

The New West, located in the interior West of the United States and includes the states of Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, is experiencing a large and growing population of internal migrants. This dissertation utilized data from the United States Bureau of the Census‘ County and City Data Book: 2007 and other sources to analyze migration patterns at the structural-contextual level and the individual-level in the New West. At the structural-contextual level, ordinary least squares regression equations were estimated to predict a series of relationships between ecological factors and net migration rates for nonmetropolitan counties. Focus was placed on variables pertaining to amenity-based characteristics and sustenance organization in order to predict net migration rates. Findings suggest that areas with flourishing sustenance producing activities and more amenity-based characteristics are experiencing higher levels of in-migration. At the individual-level, multinomial logit equations were estimated for a sample of residents living in the state of Nevada based on age, educational background, sex, marital status, and racial/ethnic identification to predict the likelihood of an individual having engaged in an interstate migration into the state of Nevada. Individuals having recently migrated to Nevada were found to be older, having obtained higher levels of education, and of Hispanic or Asian descent. These findings confirm that both structural-contextual level and individual-level predictors are essential in the understanding the patterns of migration occurring in the New West.

Analysis of Regional Economic Cooperation Strategies between Penghu and Mainland Special Economic Zones on the West Coast of Taiwan Straits Abstract After the establishment of air and sea transportation links between Taiwan and China, Penghu, which is geographically situated in the center of the cross-strait links shall make good use of its transfer function, by taking advantage of its tax incentives (duty-free) stipulated in "Offshore Island Development Act" and "Cross-strait Mini Three Link Policy" to develop new industries that can satisfy the requirements of "import consumption" and "export promotion." Penghu may foster closer economic and trade ties between Taiwan and Fujian Province, promote cross-strait tourism, expand cultural exchange, and develop sustainable industries that are necessary for continuing the economic prosperity. This study was conducted by a team of three students using the interactive management approach to tackle the main theme of regional cooperative strategies between Penghu and the Mainland special economic zones on the west coast of Taiwan Straits. The researchers looked into the sub-title issues from the economical, social, and governmental aspects respectively. The theoretical framework of this study was based on the public affairs management and research method -- Interactive Management (IM). To make the research results more comprehensive, the interactive management approach was combined with two methods often used in framework analysis: nominal group technology (NGT) and interpretative structure model (ISM). Together with literature review, expert interviews and data collection methods, the researchers gathered all relevant information about Penghu so as to provide a more objective basis for exploring the strategic economic cooperation between Penghu and the Mainland special economic zone on the west coast of Taiwan Straits. To ensure good progress in the panel discussion and anticipate fruitful results from discussions of various sub-titles to turn into specific strategies, the interactive discussion seminar invited local representatives in order to incorporate the views of the people in Penghu. This information can provide reliable reference for the central government planning units in their policy formulation process. Using this approach can solve the problem of suspending issues whenever the interactive management (IM) is used. The seminar was joined by 27 representatives from all walks of life. The NGT process started from exposing the issues, clarifying the issues, voting for the issues, to making paired comparisons, supplemented by ISM software, and finally resulted in enhanced structural clearness and visually understandable connectivity. After panel discussions over the structural charts, appropriate revisions, and confirmation of a final version, 12 economic strategies were produced from discussions of regional cooperation between Penghu and the Mainland special economic zone on the west coast of the Taiwan Straits.These recommendations are given below: (1) requesting the Ministry of Communications to instruct the maritime and aviation companies to open scheduled transport lines within the shortest time for Makung-Kinmen, Penghu-Xiamen, and Penghu¡VShantou lines, and to extend the links gradually to other cities on the west coast of the straits; (2) directing Penghu to work with officials of mainland special economic zones on the west coast of the Straits for development of free trade zones ; it should be consulted through the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) to establish a fair and transparent cooperative mechanism in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of people on both VI sides of the Straits; (3) transforming Penghu into an international duty free zone; (4) requesting Penghu County Government units or related non-governmental organizations to communicate with relevant parties on the other side of the Straits to open forums for discussion of co-operative strategies between Penghu and mainland special economic zones on the west coast of the straits; (5) suggesting the Penghu County Government to ask for more funding for establishing marine life and culture zones, in order to promote green tourism and economic development; (6) requesting Penghu County Government to promote tourism and gaming industries, and also to give more thinking on other possibilities (for example ocean biotech industry); (7) requesting the central government to release the remote island transportation lines to outside operators using market competition to reduce the cost of air fares and enhance tourism competitiveness; (8) suggesting Penghu to proactively develop indoor and outdoor theme parks, on land and at sea, as well as opening of other shopping malls; (9) requesting the central government to lift the bans on the islands development so as to allow foreign and mainland investments to participate in Penghu's preferential land and housing projects, in turn to boost the prosperity of the Penghu area; (10) recommending the Penghu County Government to ask the Taiwan Power Company to strengthen the capacity of wind power, and asking the Taiwan water company to enhance the production of desalination water; (11) suggesting the government agencies to map out the development plans for Penghu and to find suitable areas that can draw the interests of outside contractors in order to strengthen the development and enhancement of their own standards, and to attract more mainland tourists to the island; and (12) suggesting the two sides of the Straits to sign reciprocal tax agreements to reduce the time and labor costs so as to enhance the marketing and promotion of special products with Penghu characteristics. The relationship between individual strategies needs to be further clarified for strengthening and production of enhanced structural connections, in order to determine the priority of strategies and their objective goals. The participants also felt that the most urgent task is to integrate the communication platform between the central and local government units in order to establish effective communication that will help the planning and implementation of cross-strait policies, and in turn conducive to smooth working with other strategies. More public forums shall be set up for open dialogue with various government units. This issue is to be delayed no further, and all strategies shall be given the best implementation, and shall ask local people to take part in public discussions that can facilitate the building of a citizen society. Keywords: Penghu County, Economic Zone on the West Coast of Taiwan Straits,Public Affairs Management¡]PAM¡^, interactive management, regional cooperation

Thesis (M.S.)--University of West Florida, 2007. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 41 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of West Florida, 2007. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 39 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2007. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 191 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2007. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 77 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2007. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 136 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of West Florida, 2007. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 117 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Texte remanié de: Thèse de doctorat--Études nord-américaines--Paris 4, 1998. Titre de soutenance : La toponymie dans le Middle-West : fait de langue, fait de société. / Bibliogr. p. 303-315. Notes bibliogr. Index. PUPS = Presses de l'Université Paris-Sorbonne.