This thesis seeks to examine the construction of legitimization strategies in Chinese state-run media connected to China’s role and efforts in international climate change negotiations. To understand how authoritarian environmentalism is legitimized, i.e., constructed, the thesis uses discourse analysis and three legitimization strategies to analyze the material and found that China is being legitimized through emphasizes on how China is a capable, responsible, and committed climate actor. It shows how China is perceived as a potential climate leader with the ability to lead the international climate community. The thesis also found that the Chinese state-run newspaper shifts blame surrounding historical emissions and sufficient change onto developed countries. Lastly, the thesis also shows how two of the strategies are being enhanced by a third strategy by using quotes from elites to validate the claims made in the state-run newspaper. The findings in this study are important because it can give a deeper understanding of how authoritarian environmentalism can be constructed as an effective approach for dealing with the threat of climate change and how authoritarian regimes can maintain power without using coercive measures.

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Relationships between parenting styles practiced in individuals' families of origin and the measurement of individuals' spiritual maturity in adulthood were studied. Relationships between gender and the authoritative (facilitative) parenting style comprised the main focus of the study. Participants for this study were recruited from a large, non-denominational Christian church located in north Texas. A total of 300 individuals were randomly selected. A total of 160 individuals filled out the demographic sheet, the Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ), and the Spiritual Assessment Inventory (SAI). Canonical correlation procedures were performed among the set of SAI scales measuring individuals' spiritual maturity (awareness, instability, grandiosity, realistic acceptance, disappointment, and impression management) and the set of PAQ scales that measure parenting styles (authoritative or facilitative, authoritarian, and permissive) of mothers and fathers. Conclusions about female and male students raised in homes characterized by fathers and mothers with an authoritative (facilitative) parenting style were varied. Female adults raised in homes characterized by fathers and mothers with an authoritative (facilitative) parenting style were not correlated in a positive manner with spiritual maturity. Male adults raised in homes characterized by fathers with an authoritative (facilitative) parenting style demonstrated significance at only a large observed p value and therefore, could not be reported. Male students raised in homes characterized by mothers with an authoritative (facilitative) parenting style were correlated significantly with spiritual maturity in one correlation at the .04 level of significance. In another correlation, at the .003 level of significance, male adults raised in homes characterized by mothers with an authoritative (facilitative) parenting style were not correlated. Some cautions were discussed regarding the findings, and directions for future research on parenting styles and spiritual maturity were discussed.

<p>The ability to raise revenue is one of the most fundamental requirements for state- hood. Without revenues, states are unable to perform even the most basic tasks. In this dissertation I aim to answer the question: When do authoritarian elites in- vest in fiscal capacity? First, I develop a theoretical argument using computational modeling techniques. I contend that inequality increases the costs associated with higher fiscal capacity due to a possible regime change in the future. On the other hand, elite demand for government spending can raise the incentives for autocrats to increase the tax capacity of the state. Complimentarity between elite-owned capital and government investment can lead to a demand for higher taxation. Based on their personal utility associated with government spending, elites weigh the current benefit of higher tax capacity with possible future costs.</p><p>I then test the overarching theoretical argument across two different datasets. First, I empirically investigate the question on a sample of over 90 authoritarian regimes from 1980 to 2006. Estimating a number of different models and including a variety of controls, I find that inequality has a strong negative long term effect on fiscal capacity. On the other hand, more industrial countries have higher levels of capacity. In the second empirical chapter, I investigate the theoretical argument on newly collected data on tax revenue and administrative spending in local Prussian counties in the 19th century. Again, I find that local inequality has strong negative effects, while more industrial areas are associated with higher levels of fiscal capacity.</p> / Dissertation

Thesis advisor: Gerald M. Easter / Thesis advisor: Jonathan Laurence / How do authoritarian states attempt to acquire ideological resources vis-à-vis their youth populations? This thesis demonstrates that one way in which these states attempt to do so is by way of an institution I call the authoritarian youth group (AYG). Examples of AYG treated in the paper include the Hitler Jugend in Nazi Germany; the VLKSM or Komsomol in the U.S.S.R.; and Nashi ("Ours") in post-Communist Russia. Primarily on the basis of secondary-source material, I argue that, across cases, governors of authoritarian states create and maintain AYG primarily in order to curry ideological resources among young people. In particular, states use AYG principally in order to legitimate the nation-state by espousing particular national narratives and lionizing the state; to promote among young people a sense of national homogeneity; to propagate particular mores related to gender, family, sex, and sexuality; and to affect the formation of a loyal elite for the state's future. The paper aims to contribute to the comparative-politics subfield by enhancing scholars' knowledge of authoritarian governance, ideological resources in authoritarian contexts, and, most importantly, the relationship between the authoritarian state and young people. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science.

The aim of this paper is to examine the correlation between regime socialisation and censorship support in South Korea. The National Security Act is a policy that has been active in the country mentioned, since the 1950’s and restricts the freedom of speech. In a country like South Korea, which is a democracy, it is hard to understand the dual values that are being portrayed in the society. With the help of a theory about political socialisation by individual experience and by using a linear regression, this paper hypothesises that there will be people who are more supportive or completely against the backing for censorship if they have lived through an authoritarian regime. In the bivariate linear regression, the results indicate that there is a relation between the independent, regime socialisation and the dependent variable, support for censorship. However opposed to the theory of this paper, that inhabitants of countries with former authoritarian rule should be more supportive of censorship, the results from the multivariate linear regression show that with the control variables, gender, education, income and Asian values, the correlation between regime socialisation and the support for censorship is not statistically significant. Instead it shows that gender, education and income confound the relationship between regime socialisation and support for censorship.

This dissertation investigates the effect of state capacity on the probability for democratic transition and the survival of democracies. I seek to answer these quesitons through the use of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. In my statistical models, I make use of Cox Proportional Hazard Models. These are supplemented by two case studies involving South Korea and the Philippines. My expectation, which is supported by the results presented in this study, is that higher levels of state capacity will make authoritarian regimes more stable and thus make democratic transitions less likely, but if democratic transitions take place, higher levels of state capacity will make new democratic regimes more likely to survive.

The aim ofthis study was to examine how economic growth affects the level of democracy inauthoritarian states. Some of these states have experienced high economicgrowth. However, one can discuss how it affects the country’s democratization-process.For that reason this study was needed to contribute to a clarification of howeconomic growth can affect authoritarian rule and democratization. This wasdone through an examination of the development in China. Hence, this study aimsto contribute to the research field of democracy and to suggest how to manageand support democracy in authoritarian growth-states that deny their denizensdemocratic rights. The study was conducted through a comparison of the expecteddevelopment that the modernization theory stipulates with the actualdevelopment of the Chinese society. The study has examined the impact of twofactors of modernization, namely education and media.  The analysis of the empirical material showsthat the expected development, suggested by the modernization theory, in largeparts corresponds to the development in China. However, based on thedevelopment in China, it seems that economic growth suggest two implications inauthoritarian states; firstly it means a legitimization of the currentpolitical leadership and secondly it means the growth of a middle class throughimproved socioeconomic conditions. This suggest that economic growth bothsupport and undermines the level of democracy. In the case of China this suggests that a popularization of society has begun. However, the democratizationin China is still inconclusive and there are no signs of change in thepolitical leadership. The dualities of the conclusions underline the importanceof further research on the subject of economic growth and its implications fordemocracy and authoritarian states.

<p>This dissertation uses game-theoretic modeling, statistical testing, and case studies to analyze how authoritarian governments manage the news media to maintain regime stability, control local officials, and make reform. In the first essay, ``Regime Competence and Media Freedom in Authoritarian States'', I explain why some authoritarian regimes allow more media freedom than others, as they tradeoff increased rents when the media is suppressed with the reduced risk of being misjudged by citizens when the media is free. In the second essay, ``Local Media Freedom, Protest Diffusion, and Authoritarian Resilience'', I argue that media reports about citizen protests, which may lead to protest diffusion, do not necessarily destabilize authoritarian rule. If protests are targeted at local governments, the central government of an authoritarian regime can use media-induced protest cascades to force local officials to improve governance. In the last essay, ``Central Rhetoric and Local Reform in China'', I address the puzzle of why the Chinese government would furnish the state media with conservative and dogmatic rhetoric on the one hand and allow reform on the other, by showing that this strategy is used to control local governments' pace of reform.</p> / Dissertation

Since the independence of Indonesia in 1945, Indonesia has experienced several changes during the last sixty years and is now moving towards democratization. Of these political changes, Indonesia's civil-military relationship has always played a key role. During the era of Cold War, Indonesia¡¦s military were fighting against colonial power and facing the ideological confrontation. As political changes are going on, the military is asked to get out of political system in Indonesia. During the war of Independence, Indonesia¡¦s military played a role to save the country, they fought against the Dutch under the belief of nationalism. Indonesia's parliamentary democracy in the 1950s caused political disorder. Sukarno¡¦s leftist ideology has also caused the military unrest. With both internal and external factors, military coup happened in September 1965, which result in the region of authoritarian rule of Suharto. During the Suharto era, Indonesia's military penetrated in political, economic and social areas in Indonesia. The military became the supreme power that controlled the country. Indonesia's economic growth was claimed to be as a source of legitimacy for Suharto¡¦s regime. Indonesia¡¦s economy was almost collapsed of the financial crisis in 1997. As Mr.Suharto is losing his ruling legitimacy in Indonesia, it¡¦s made Suharto step down in May 1998. Indonesia¡¦s military then began to change. Indonesia has experienced four presidential elections, and regarded as a democratic state. But, if Indonesia wants to achieve a true civilian control over the military still, further military professionalism has to be done.