This thesis departs from the traditional historiographical views that portray Philby as having no political influence either while he was serving his country or after his resignation from government service when he was settled in Saudi Arabia. It also departs from picturing him as a man who tended to undermine British policy, arguing that he was loyal to his country, as was plain during his years of service. The thesis examines his background, from his early years to the work he did for his country in India, Iraq and Transjordan and takes an analytical and historical approach. It seeks to present a more comprehensive understanding of Philby’s mission to Arabia, its objectives and outcomes, focusing on his political work in Arabia and his efforts to solve problems which otherwise might have threatened British interests. This thesis deals with Philby’s efforts in the conflict between Najd and Hejaz and his actions in the border dispute between Ibn Sa‘ūd and his rival, Hussain, and assesses whether Philby played a major part in the collapse of the Hejazi kingdom. It considers Philby’s contribution to the American recognition of Saudi Arabia. It examines Philby’s method of settling political conditions after the Idrisi revolt against Ibn Sa‘ud. It asks why Philby visited Yemen and if it would somehow have enhanced Ibn Sa‘ūd’s position. It focuses on Philby’s role in the Buraimi crisis between Britain and Saudi Arabia and illustrates the persuasive arguments by which Philby upheld the Saudi opposition to Britain’s demands over Buraimi.

The status of Christian–Muslim relations (CMR), which are difficult to assess, has been ambiguous in contemporary Lebanon. Analysts, as well as individuals within Lebanese communities in Lebanon and within the diaspora have made conflicting claims. One major claim has been that CMR are better now than before the Lebanese Civil War because the civil war ended in 1991 and a reoccurrence has never materialized. Furthermore, the Ţā’if agreement, a working document aimed at ending the civil war and promoting solid CMR, was signed by most of the major communities of Lebanon in 1991. For these reasons and more, Lebanese CMR were believed to have improved post-civil war. Nevertheless, this writer explored the veracity of this proposition. Through comprehensive quantitative and qualitative research, the poor state of CMR in contemporary Lebanon was revealed. In face-to-face interviews in Lebanon, field experts reflected on the weakened condition of CMR and the reasons for the same. University students participated in a survey to ascertain their feelings concerning CMR and the possible causes of problems within CMR. Focus was also placed on the role identity has had in CMR. These causes of CMR conflict and, at times, consensus were reviewed and compared for a clear understanding of the state of present-day CMR. Finally, based on an understanding of these factors, recommendations for improvement, further study, and the future of CMR were given.

China has been the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the absolute terms since 2008. Yet the pivotal drivers and key factors in its climate policymaking are still much under‐researched. In particular, little attention has been given to developing theoretical models to account for and to explain the evolution of Chinese climate change policy. This study directly addresses this gap in the climate change literature. Firstly, the study identifies the key domestic drivers and factors in Chinese climate policies using social evolution theory, which incorporates facets of institutionalism and elite theory in order to explain the evolution of Chinese climate change policy by direct reference to its highly dynamic socio‐economic circumstances. Secondly, this study uses these social evolutionary insights to inform interviews with 11 key climate policymakers situated at the highest levels within the Chinese Communist Party and the climate policymaking organisations. Respondents’ verbatim comments are analysed using NVivo software to critically assess the validity of social evolutionary analysis conducted in the first part of the thesis. Not only does this provide a vital means of empirical confirmation, it also directly contributes to the very scarce body of academic work on Chinese political elite interviewing. Thirdly, the analysis builds on this domestic level analysis to examine the extent to which social evolutionary theory might be used to understand and explain Chinese climate policies. Implications are discussed to inform future domestic and international climate policymaking and global cooperation on addressing climate change.

Urban redevelopment in Chinese cities is significant for urban growth. This study aims to investigate the dynamics of governance of urban redevelopment in Guangzhou, China from 1990 to 2015 under the Chinese authoritarian regime. The connections between such governance and the authoritarian regime are the key to understand the governance dynamics; this is the main contribution of this research. This study explores 5 research objectives to achieve research aims by qualitative methods: (1) the institutional background; (2) patterns of governance; (3) purposes of governance; (4) mechanism of governance; and (5) a Guangzhou mode of governance. The research findings of 5 research objectives are (1) institutional background can be described as a land-oriented pro-growth authoritarian regime. (2) The patterns of governance have three various phases, the Primitive Market Phase (1990–1996) as a semi-market mode of governance; the Pure Government Phase (1998–2006) as a semi-hierarchy mode; and the Multiple Players Phase (2006–2015) as a semi-network mode. (3) The purpose of governance is to pursue economic growth in various conditions. (4) The mechanisms to produce governance modes are driven by the Chinese authoritarian regime. (5) A Guangzhou mode of governance can be established based on the comparison between Guangzhou, other Chinese cities and a simplified picture of Western cities. There are three main arguments in these findings, the governance modes in Guangzhou are dramatically changeable; these changes aim to adapt changed environments to realise growth; the authoritarian regime of Guangzhou is an important reason for this adaptive capacity.

The aim of this thesis is to propose transformational leadership a new pastoral model for South Korean churches. It is argued that authoritarian charismatic leadership has contributed to church growth but, as Korea is changing into a pluralistic society, it has not respond to properly the needs of Koran Christians. So transformational leadership being characterized as both charismatic (visionary) and democratic (participant) is considered as a new alternative since it can meet their new demands for the leadership, which is both effectiveness in evangelism and appropriateness for new changed socio-cultural milieu. Main focus of attention of this thesis is on disclosing the way in which the nature of leadership has to do with Korean religion, culture, and theology. To deal with them the salient features of transformational leadership is first examined in the three dimensions: culture (Confucianism), philosophy (philosophy of life of Koreans), and theology (theology of Korean churches). Then its implication in biblical theology is discussed, which is followed by case studies empirically. In the process it is revealed that transformational leadership can be applicable to Korean churches which, in turn, can give rise to continual church growth and respond to the needs of the times properly.

Costume colour held special significance in Chinese history. This thesis pioneers the multi-perspective exploration of dyes in high-status costume and textiles of the Ming and Qing Dynasties using the dual approach of history and chemistry. Through the examination and comparison of four important historical manuscripts of dye recipes (Chapter 1) and dyes in high-status historical and archaeological textiles (Chapter 4), dyes and dyeing techniques used during the Ming and Qing Dynasties are revealed. Results show that nine natural dyes were commonly used, and synthetic dyes were used from the late 19th century. Dyes were used according to specific rules to obtain various shades. Further research improves the understanding of some of the textiles including better knowledge of ownership and more accurate dating, as well as the role of dyeing in the social and global contexts (Chapter 4). Meanwhile, the botanical provenance, names and preferences for the significant dyes in Chinese textile history are clarified for the first time (Chapter 2). A database for the chemical composition of 22 reference Chinese dyes using Ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with Photodiode array detector and Mass spectrometer (UHPLC-PDA-MS) and UHPLC-PDA is first established, and the understanding of the chemical constituents of several dyes is improved. The investigation of dyes and dyeing techniques of the Li minority group in Hainan Province marks the start of the chemical research of ethnographic dyeing in China (Chapter 3). The accelerated light ageing study of reference dyes improves the knowledge of the lightfastness of the dyes. Suggestions on the conservation, preservation and exhibition of the dyes are provided (Chapter 5). This research contributes significantly to dyeing history, textile history and colour history both of China and the world.

Bad governance of ethnic diversity exacerbates ethno-sectarian conflicts, and ethnic conflict management is a sensitive and fundamentally needed component of the contemporary world. This study assesses political models for managing ethno-sectarian diversity, focused on the deeply divided society of Iraq in relation to its ethnic conflict and political system, with federalism and partition being potential solutions explored in relation to stakeholders’ views, studied qualitatively using focus groups and interviews with procedure and analysis derived from grounded theory. Due to failed integration, Iraqi society since 2003 has undergone de facto territorial division in response to ethno-sectarian violence, creating a map between conflicting groups and identity politics. This thesis criticizes integrationist perspectives supporting a central unitary Iraq, and those proposing hard partition; federal-based soft partition, giving each cultural group control and autonomy in their territory, may achieve stability, whereas secession is impossible. This balances Shia desire for centralism and Kurdish demands for more autonomy or secession. In addition, it is not necessary to impose a single national identity in federal model; dual identity should be accepted to satisfy groups’ identity aspirations. The current impasse is due to authoritarian centralism imposing monolithic identity; Iraq should be a democratic multicultural state, avoiding sectarian policy and implementing civic characteristics to enhance Iraqi identity. This study contributes to existing research, analysing how inappropriate policies of ethnic diversity may escalate into ethnic conflicts. This thesis adds to the field of studies interested in ethnic conflict regulation, particularly Iraqi ethno-sectarian conflict, and provides suggestions for regulating it.

My thesis, a theoretical-based work, concerns the effects of globalisation and tourism in context of Thailand, which the selected case studies are Damnoen Saduak and Pattaya Floating Markets. I particularly look at Baudrillard's theory to investigate to what extent his concept fits in context of Thailand. Also, my work uses Baudrillard's theory to study and conceptualise the effects of globalisation on Thailand's tourism.

Recent studies of early Islamic Palestine have stressed the minimal impact of the Arab conquest on the Christian communities of the region. None, however, have sought to trace the trajectories of these communities beyond the eighth century. This thesis provides the first long-term study of the impact of the Arab conquest on monasticism and pilgrimage between 614 and 950. The study explores the changes to the physical landscape of monasteries and Christian cult sites, in terms of site abandonment and continuity, and situates these processes in the broader political and economic context of the Palestinian region between the seventh and tenth centuries. This thesis offers a systematic critique of current theories which view Palestinian monasticism and Christian pilgrimage as social entities dependent upon patronage from Byzantium and the early medieval west. Rather, it stresses the need for a more nuanced recognition of monastic communities and Christian cult sites as places closely interlinked with localised developments and the high degree of variation between communities in terms of patron economies and social transactions. This study demonstrates that these variances often provide the key to understanding the highly varied response of Palestinian monastic communities and Christian cult sites to early Muslim rule.

This multidimensional study comprehensively explores the English language textbook situation in Pakistan in five stages utilizing mixed methods approach. Two preliminary stages were small scale – a survey of the English language requirements and interviews of the officials involved in sanctioning and publishing textbooks. The main stages were the critical examination of the English curricula and syllabi, the survey of the views of the textbook users, and the detailed coursebook evaluation. The evaluation criteria checklists and questionnaires employed during these stages were mainly based on the materials development, ‘needs analysis’ and curriculum design literature. The research highlighted shortcomings in the overall educational arena and these weaknesses are assumed to be indirectly responsible for the poor standard of English prevailing in the country. The curriculum and textbook policies were found to be inadequate. Generally the teachers/administrators lacked critical, in-depth and practical understanding of language learning objectives, teaching techniques, syllabus design, and materials. By and large, the coursebooks overwhelmingly relied on controlled and artificial activities to teach English. In conclusion, suggested improvements in the curriculum development process, teachers and textbook writers training programmes and, importantly, the prescribed coursebooks can in the long run aid in facilitating English language acquisition in the Pakistani learners.