This thesis explores the networks of British private trade based in the Arabian Seas, between c.1680 and c.1760, with a focus on the period between 1700 and 1740. It draws from the extensive records of the East India Company and numerous collections of private papers to look at how this mercantile trade was shaped, organised and constrained by the particular circumstances of the western Indian Ocean region. The unusual constellation of economic and political factors within the world of the Arabian Seas affected British private trade in significant ways during the pre-colonial period: political turmoil, piracy and commercial competition placed constraints on the successful operation of commerce. Shifting regional dynamics also underpinned the growth and greater success of private trade in the second half of the period under review. The thesis is therefore concerned with how British merchants conducted trade as part of a global commercial empire, whilst remaining embedded in specific local economic and political settings. Challenging and moving beyond existing work that has concentrated on the Bay of Bengal and Coromandel Coast regions, this study emphasises the regional specificity and unevenness of the British private trade system across maritime Asia. It makes use of, and builds upon, a number of theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches from recent work on maritime trade and early modern merchant networks in both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds.

The Lebanese civil war is, undoubtedly, one of the most protracted civil wars that have ever been witnessed in the last two decades. Many interventions have occurred in Lebanon and most of them were the subject of discussion and legal analysis. Of all these intervention, the Syrian intervention has attracted no academic or scholarly attention whatsoever. It is the main concern of the present thesis to discuss the Lebanese civil war and the legality of the Syrian intervention under the rules of international law. It specifically and exclusively focuses on the Syrian intervention during the years 1975-1976. In evaluating the Syrian intervention, of necessity, the thesis discuses in the first and second chapters the norm of non-intervention, the definition of intervention, and the attitudes and practices of the Superpowers towards the norm of non-intervention. Moreover, it provides a thorough review of the history of Lebanon, the causes of the conflict, and the legal nature of the conflict. Having identified the nature of the Lebanese conflict, the rest of the thesis deals with the legality of the Syrian intervention under the rules of international law which are applicable to internal conflict. The discussion of Syrian intervention is dealt with from four legal perspectives: intervention under the rebel's invitation; humanitarian intervention; Lebanese government's invitation, and the effect of invitation on the Lebanese right to self-determination; and finally the legitimization of Syrian intervention through its inclusion in the peace keeping force of the Arab League. The out come of the discussion establishes the illegality of the Syrian intervention and the ineffectiveness of regional organizations, namely the Arab League, in responding to civil war. It also proves that, so long as the norm of non -intervention is not respected by powerful states, small states will be encouraged to break the norm and undertake intervention; and unless the international community responds positively to the norm of non-intervention, anarchy will be the prevailing norm with serious implications for the survival of mankind in the era of nuclear weapons.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of two methods of teaching written composition (i.e. traditional and process approach) on writing apprehension among ESL students, and also the effect of the process approach on the overall quality and length of their writing. Students enrolled in Written Communication 1 course at the National University of Malaysia were chosen as the subjects of this study. The students had been placed in three groups based on the results of previous courses and for the purpose of this study the top and the bottom groups were selected as the experimental groups and the middle one as the control. From the findings, it was concluded that both methods were successful in reducing writing apprehension, but that the process approach was considerably more effective in achieving this than the traditional approach. Moreover, the subjects in the process/experimental group were found to write better and longer essays than the subjects in the control group taught in the usual way.

This thesis is a study of the Bengal Army from c. 1800 to c. 1870. Its central aim is to explain why the majority of the Bengal Army's native troops mutinied in 1857. It begins by comparing the pre-mutiny trends in the Bengal Army to those in its sister armies of Madras and Bombay: in particular the Bengal Army's changing pattern of recruitment, its growing list of professional grievances, the deteriorating relationship between its sepoys and their European officers, its relaxation of discipline and its sepoys' use of caste issues as a smokescreen for other grievances. Then it analyzes the events of 1857: the cartridge question, the conspiracy and the pattern of the mutiny itself. Finally it outlines the deliberations of the post-mutiny Peel Commission and the subsequent army reforms, and puts the Indian Mutiny in the context of the recent historiography of military revolts. Its conclusion is that the essential cause of mutiny in 1857 was not the defence of caste and religion, as is generally supposed, but service issues particular to the Bengal Army.

Since the middle of this century, many cities in the Developing World have experienced rapid growth and fundamental transformation in their socio-economic structure. Rapid population growth due to massive migration created an acute shortage in housing stock which resulted in squatter settlements and problems of insufficient urban services. Proposals for solving the problems of housing shortages and urban growth in the Third World Countries have always been based at first on Western ideas. However, due to financial constraints many have resorted to more innovative responses, mainly supported and sponsored by the World Bank. Judging from many studies of the failures and successes of housing schemes in Third World Countries, it appears that the main difficulties they have to contend with are a lack of finance coupled with a large influx of poor people. Yet, despite being a wealthy country with a small population size, Kuwait had to pass through the same housing problems. Kuwait's unique situation arises from a political system discriminating between citizens and non-citizens in housing choices and supply. Catering only for the citizens, yet requiring the labour of many others, resulted in great housing inequalities, because more than 71 per cent of the population are non-citizens. This thesis was set up to investigate the housing conditions and aspirations of popular housing tenants in Kuwait. Popular housing emerged as a solution for squatter settlement problems in Kuwait. However, it created a great housing disparity within the Kuwaiti housing system. The study begins with a review of the literature on low income housing in the cities of rapidly developing countries, and particularly the emergence of squatting with its implications, and the nature and degree of government intervention. Subsequent to a discussion of Kuwait's physical, economic, political and demographic trends, the study reviews housing and urban development in Kuwait with special reference to the government's efforts in housing its citizens. These chapters highlight the disparity between citizens and non-citizens in housing cost and design, location and access to public services. The field work undertaken for this study critically examined the relationship between popular housing tenants, their dwellings and the surrounding environment. This provided a basis for evaluating the living environment by measuring the tenants' degree of satisfaction, and exploring their aspirations and expectations regarding their future housing. The impact of housing disparity on the occupants' social and physical performance is then examined to throw further light on the types of problems they are facing. Finally each major component of this evaluation is separately analysed in order to determine its effect on present and future housing policy. This study, being the first documentation of the housing conditions of the popular housing tenants in Kuwait, had the main objective of presenting recommendations both for immediate action and for long term policy to solve their problems.

United States' policy towards Indonesia (the Netherlands East Indies) during the Truman and Eisenhower Presidencies involved many of the major issues of the time, including decolonisation, access to economic resources, Cold War strategy and Washington's involvement with Asian nationalism. Throughout the period, the emphasis of American policy was on the integration of Indonesia into world capitalism, an objective which became intertwined with Indonesia's growing strategic value to the US, from 1948 onwards, and its subsequent importance as a scene of confrontation with the Soviets and Communist China. By 1961, Washington's policies had failed in all their major aims and it seemed possible that Indonesia would become a communist state. The Eurocentric bias of American policy consistently dominated US relations with Indonesia. During the independence struggle, between 1945 and 1949, Washington's support for The Netherlands ended only when it became a greater threat to stability than the nationalists. However, after independence, its pro-Dutch inclinations were revived over the West Irian question. The militant anti-communism of John Foster Dulles, the Americans' inability to come to terms with Asian nationalism, exemplified by its handling of the Bandung Conference, in 1955, and the deep personal dislike of Sukarno by senior Administration officials combined to cause a deterioration in relations which culminated in a CIA-sponsored rebellion, in 1957/58. The determination and execution of American policy was influenced by Australia, which favoured Indonesian independence, and which, in the 1950's, exerted great influence in Washington, especially over West Irian. Along with the United Kingdom, whose forces had liberated the Netherlands East Indies in 1945, Australia had a central role in the CIA-backed rebellion. American policy minimised the role of the United Nations in the Indonesian independence struggle and over West Irian in order to inhibit the Soviet's ability to intervene.

This dissertation explores the role of nationalism in shaping Japan’s relations with China. Although not discounting the significance of external-structural constraints, it aims to explicate “nationalism” as a domestic (power and ideational) variable, and its interactions with other determinants in re-defining Japanese external policy-orientation that affected the bilateral relationship, during the Koizumi administration (2001-2006). Interpreting from a neoclassical realist (NCR) perspective, it offers a theoretically informed examination about why, how, when, and the extent to which nationalism matters in Japan’s China policy. This is done by operationalising, and systematically assessing nationalism’s salience vis-à-vis other external-domestic dynamics (i.e. alliance commitment/resolve, economic interdependence, domestic political process/actors) that simultaneously affect Japanese state-elites’ policy decision-making. It also establishes whether these factors serve to exacerbate, or mitigate domestic nationalist impulses, and their corresponding impact on Japan’s China policy-options. Two nationalist-flavoured bilateral disputes – Yasukuni Shrine and East China Sea – are utilised as case-studies. This thesis argues that nationalism matters, albeit to a qualified extent. Taking a realistoriented, “middle-ground” position, it hypothesises that nationalism’s salience is dependent on state-elites’ perception/calculation of the conditions related to its interactions with the other aforementioned variables that concurrently influence foreign policy-making, during a given time period. It finds nationalism especially prevalent under perceptively sanguine external conditions, where an advantageous relative power position vis-à-vis China, fostered, in particular, by favourable US-Japan alliance resolve, tends to encourage assertive-nationalistic foreign policy-options, and vice-versa. Given the findings, it concludes that nationalism is an important, but not necessarily the primary driver of Japan’s China policy. Overall, this thesis makes a sustained theoretical contribution to our understanding of the international relations of Japan, and the utility of IR realism. Specifically, the hospitability of NCR to domestic-ideational theorising, can bridge mainstream IR and domestic/Areastudies approaches to advance a more holistic, albeit realist-oriented appreciation of nationalism in Japan’s relations with China.

The media long regarded as a characteristic element of state propaganda in authoritarian regimes have become a key interest for western academic literature. Yet little attention has been paid to the fact that media within an authoritarian country may be influenced by external factors as well. This work addresses this issue and explores the roles external factors like media globalization and transnational media corporations (TNMCs) play in the transition of China's media governance. It argues that transnational forces have increasingly imposed insurmountable politico-economic pressures on the Chinese media regime, leading the state to further embrace the globalised economy and thus promote market-driven policies. As such, the ongoing task of media governance transition has a far-reaching impact upon socio-political systems in the PRC-a pattern of steady institutionalization with Chinese characteristics of media governance is emerging. The socio-political impact of the steady media institutionalization fosters a more relaxed space in both political and social domains. This has also challenged the dominant approaches, i. e., the 'Value-domination', the Nationalist, the Liberal model, and the Trans-cultural model, in the study of media politics in authoritarian states. After examining the changes in media institutions, policy responses, media structure, and media culture, the author conceptualizes these changes as institutional transformation, de-regulation,d e-monopolization, and de-propagandization. This dissertation concludes that China's media governance has continuously progressed from the model of 'leader-determined' model towards a 'consensus-building' model with an increase in media participants.

This thesis aims to understand the 1987-99 food crisis in the DPRK. We begin by establishing the fact that the country faced several previous food shortages, including the 1945-46 urban foods crisis, the 1954-55 rural food crisis and the 1970-73 food shortage, all of which triggered and motivated corresponding institutional changes in agriculture. And we find that in order to overcome repeated food shortages the country has developed several distinctive economic institutions such as administrative/quantitative production control in agriculture, state grain marketing, food rationing, central monopoly of agricultural trade and supplementary food supply institutions. On the basis of this finding, we proceed into the analysis of the food crisis. Specifically, three controversial issues are examined. First, did it escalate into famine? If it did, how severe was the famine? Second, what was the causation of the famine? How did it unfold and what features did it have? Third, did the food crisis change the DPRK agriculture? With respect to the first issue we estimate the number of excess deaths during the food crisis using official population figures. It shows that there existed a famine that claimed 688 thousand excess deaths in 1994-99. For the second issue we argue that the famine had several unique features. First it was ‘absolute food availability decline (FAD) famine’ in which no policies were feasible to prevent it. Second, it was urban famine where industrial population in the north-eastern part of the country suffered most. Third, it was ‘famine-in-slow motion’ that victims persistently weakened for a long period rather than perished in a short space of time, due to the mixed result of massive FAD and systematic national coping strategies. Concerning the final issue we show that it is not necessarily true that the food crisis genuinely changed the DPRK agriculture as generally conceived.

The present thesis re-assesses the utility of the theory of consociational democracy as a prescriptive conflict-regulation mechanism for plural societies, by re-examining the significance of the so-called causative/positive relationship between consociationalism and democratic stability. This re-assessment is based on a twin-fold examination of the internal constructs and logic of consociational theory, their political/economic procedural aspects and their societal manifestations. This examination is undertaken in two complex historical contexts, pre-war and post-war Lebanon. Mainly, the internal weaknesses of the theory have to do with its inherently flawed assumptions and the imprecise definitions of its main components, which make it problematic to analytically and empirically establish a causative link between consociationalism and democratic stability. Thus, to undertake a meaningful discussion of the ability of consociationalism to deliver on the promise of democratic stability, the thesis elaborates on the definitions of the main components and concepts of consociational theory (as they relate to the Lebanese context). It also examines their relations to democratic theory. Equally, starting with the observations that many countries of the world adopt consociational practices and mechanisms of rule and that consociational theory continues to receive significant scholarly attention, the continuous development and elaboration of the consociational model appear to be a way of alleviating the weaknesses of the theory and expanding its prescriptive power. Hence, particular emphasis is placed on an original elaboration of the definition, concept and representative scope of the grand coalition for two major reasons. First, this is so in the light of the centrality of the notion of elites and their role in consociational democracies (consociationalism being an actor-centered model). Second, this is the case in the light of the fact that executive decision-making power effectively lies within the ruling grand coalition. Based on the complex societal stage on which the thesis unfolds, (i. e., the Lebanese context), the findings of the thesis reveal that the consociational model of democracy is at times unable in very many ways to operate as the consociational theory of democracy suggests. Most importantly for the purposes of the present dissertation, the Lebanese experiments with consociationalism reveal that the model is unable at times to prevent the outbreak of communal conflict involving violence. Furthermore, it does not seem to work properly without a heavy dose of internal mediation and external arbitration. Additionally, it prevents the Lebanese state and social systems from reaching the political maturity necessary for stability. In other words, the Lebanese consociational structure of governance appears to work effectively at ensuring relative stability only if it is continuously assisted by additional mechanisms of conflict-regulation (those of mediation and arbitration). Indeed, the Lebanese consociational model functions relatively well when it borrows from the above-mentioned mechanisms provided by the literature on conflict regulation in plural societies. As such, consociationalism's so-called ability to deliver, alone, on the promise of democratic stability for Lebanon's plural society is seriously questioned.