Thesis advisor: Susan Michalczyk / After the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States became the one remaining superpower at the head of a unipolar international system. This new position and the repercussions of its power led to the rocky international stability of the 1990s. The Poison Umbrella Effect is a political allegory which explores this historic transition period through the relationships of college students. Anna Bennet is a freshman at Warren College who, after being elected Hall President by default, must find a balance between her friendships and her sense of power and responsibility. Her first year of college is marked by drama, disillusionment, and progress as she develops into the person she will be for the rest of her college career. With her friends representing other countries, and all of their actions representing political events of the 1990s, Anna's experiences demonstrate America's progression from a leading power in a bipoloar world, to the domineering superpower it is today. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2007. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

The post-Cold War era saw the extraordinary expansion of UN activity in the maintenance of global peace and security. Such a rapid expansion led to organizational over-stretch and failure and many in the international community began searching for ways to improve UN peacekeeping by reducing deployment time. In the mid-1990s, the Dutch, Canadian and Danish governments released proposals for a UN rapid reaction capability. Unfortunately, of the three proposals only the Danish proposed Stand-by High Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG) was implemented. The lack of movement toward UN rapid reaction is due to a number of factors, namely the loss of post-Cold War idealism, a disconnection with the political reality of the time and cost concerns. More fundamentally, rapid reaction posed a threat to state primacy. / October 2006

The September 11 terrorist attacks brought a discourse on the transatlantic rift to the agenda of international community. In fact, at the end of the CW, the emergence of the US as the leading hegemonic power gave way to transatlantic divergences concerning security perceptions and strategies of the post-CW era. Also, NATO has been challenged with these drastic changes in the international system. Yet, owing to the initiatives taken for the transformation of the Atlantic alliance during the 1990s, NATO maintained its relevance for the new world order. However, the divergences of the US and Europeans on their strategies to deal with the post-September 11 security threats led to another discussions about the future of NATO. Indeed, as the US&rsquo / post-September 11 unilateral policies deepened the transatlantic rift already underway since the end of the CW, on the way to Iraq war, NATO turned out to be the place where the divisions between the allies were reflected the most. Hence, the US&rsquo / preferences for ad hoc coalitions of the willing understanding damaged the longduring multilateral alliance by leading to a secondary role for NATO during the US&rsquo / Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns. That is why, time is needed to see whether the old allies facing new threats can reconcile their differences in the name of a renewed transatlantic security cooperation through the initiatives taken within NATO?

This thesis aims at discussing the nature of relations between Russia and China and the Northeast Asian security during the post-Soviet era. The research question is whether Russia and Northeast Asian countries still pursue ideological policies after post-Cold War era. In this respect, the thesis argues that these countries act pragmatically instead of ideologically in the post-Cold War era. This has resulted in a rapprochement between communist China and post-Soviet Russia in the post-Soviet era. Moreover, ideological differences among any regional states do not constitute the basis of regional conflicts. It is rather North Korea&rsquo / s nuclear program that has become the main regional security threat. The thesis is composed of six chapters. After the introductionary chapter, the second chapter examines Russian-Chinese bilateral relations. The following three chapters discuss Russian-Chinese relations concerning the roles of Japan, South Korea and North Korea respectively in the Northeast Asian security. The last chapter is the conclusion.

The purpose of this study is to analyze and discuss Russia&rsquo / s Asia-Pacific policy after the end of the Cold War by focusing on Moscow&rsquo / s bilateral relations with the major regional countries and its overall multilateral approach and policies towards the Asia-Pacific region. Contrary to the views of scholars who claim that Russia has already emerged as a major power in the Asia-Pacific, the thesis argues that Russia&rsquo / s strategy of becoming a great power in the Asia-Pacific Region has significant limitations stemming from its competitive and assertive policies that ignore the role of multilateralism and international cooperation. Although Russia has been actively engaged in the region at the bilateral level and through its participation in the regional organizations in the post-Cold war era, this region has its own particular dynamics which necessitate a greater level of regional economic integration and a liberal approach to multilateralism rather than a realist &ldquo / power politics&rdquo / approach. Russia&rsquo / s policy of aligning itself with China militarily in the region has counterproductive consequences as it intensifies geopolitical competition in the region, and marginalizes Moscow further. The thesis is composed of six chapters. After the introduction, the second chapter examines origins of Russia&rsquo / s presence in the Asia-Pacific Region. The following chapter discusses the sources of Russia&rsquo / s increasing interest in the Region. The fourth chapter is concerned with Russia&rsquo / s relations with main actors of the Asia-Pacific Region while the fifth chapter focuses on Russia&rsquo / s involvement in theregional organizations. The last chapter is the conclusion.

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Military strategy is in serve to national interests, which is the basic idea underpin this research. The subject of this thesis is ¡§Military Strategy of People's Liberation Army (PLA) toward Taiwan. The context of this thesis divided into six chapters: 1.Motivation, methodology, framework, target of this research and the definition of military strategy. 2. The change of world system and how it impacts the national interests of Mainland China.3.The national strategies of Mainland China.4. Analyzing the military strategies and actions which might be undertaken by PLA to attack Taiwan.5. The strategies of Taiwan's national military strategy against PLA is¡§effective deterrence and strong defense posture¡¨6.Perspective of the Taiwan's future national security .the damage control from Taiwan in the eventual military activities against PLA will be to strike the enemy before it reached the Taiwan's coast.

<p>This dissertation, Mobile Ethnicity, examines the formation of a transnational ethnic working class and the dynamics of remittance development in the context of Korean Chinese labor migration between China and Korea. I conducted multi-sited field research for over two years, mainly in Seoul, South Korea, and the Korean Chinese Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian, China, the ethnic zone bordering North Korea. My ethnography is built on a local saying: "Everybody is gone with the Korean Wind." The Korean Wind is the popular name for the massive Korean Chinese transnational labor migration to South Korea that occurred mostly during the 1990s and 2000s, at the intersection of post-Cold War and post-socialist cultures. I especially highlight the Korean Wind as a unique product of China's economic reform and open economy (gaigekaifang), which has affected not only Korean Chinese but also Han Chinese in Yanbian and elsewhere in the region.</p><p> Through the lenses of kinship, development, money, love, bodies, and time, I analyze the new affect and materiality, new forms of belonging and dwelling, and new hopes and frustrations of mobile ethnicity. On the one hand, I trace the reconstituted subjectivity of Korean Chinese as a particular ethnic working class in a transnational setting. On the other hand, I map the re-characterized ethnic space of Yanbian as a borderland traversed by a myriad of different agents. Caught between the "Korean dream" and the "Chinese dream," Korean Chinese have chosen transnational mobility as a way of dealing with the contingencies of neoliberalism and globalization. But their way of working for a better future has created unexpected vulnerabilities, sealing them into a circuit of migration as a transnational ethnic working class. </p><p> This ethnography illuminates the ripple effects of the Korean Wind with a focus on remittances, as Korean Chinese have discovered, promoted, and deployed their ethnic currency in the transnational labor market. On a macro level, remittances play a critical role in relocating populations (both pulling them into spaces and pulling them out), and create an intersection of internal migration and transnational migration, thereby reshaping the ethnic relationships and spatial characteristics of the region. I emphasize the vulnerable characteristics of a remittance-dependent economy, which fluctuates in response to exchange rates and global economic forces. On a personal level, remittances are not only gifts or realizations of familial duty, but also an unstable form of currency requiring careful management and submission to a peculiar temporality of long waits and unknown futures. The life built upon the contingent flow of remittances has created and been impacted by the transnational temporality, constantly moving back and forth between the sharply split worlds; working and resting, making money and spending money, Korea and Yanbian. Rigid visa regulations by the Korean government especially force migrant workers into a "split life," as they must weave two different worlds into a common everyday life, and discipline their bodies to switch easily between two different modes of time. </p><p> This study examines "Yanbian Socialism" that has responded to and intersected with the Korean Wind, a particular socialism that stresses overt expressions of the Korean Chinese political faith in China while acknowledging the prefecture's cultural and economic links to Korea. My dissertation aims to weave together an account of the particular structure of feeling experienced by Korean Chinese as they are caught between confusion and hesitation, contention and contradiction, economic desperation and political caution. I view their constant adjustments and revisions as a major influence on the formation of mobile ethnicity. My work thus provides a new understanding of the politics of class and gender among Chinese ethnic minorities, articulated through transnational mobility at the intersection of post-Cold War, post-socialist, and neoliberal currents across and beyond East Asia.</p> / Dissertation

The post-Cold War era saw the extraordinary expansion of UN activity in the maintenance of global peace and security. Such a rapid expansion led to organizational over-stretch and failure and many in the international community began searching for ways to improve UN peacekeeping by reducing deployment time. In the mid-1990s, the Dutch, Canadian and Danish governments released proposals for a UN rapid reaction capability. Unfortunately, of the three proposals only the Danish proposed Stand-by High Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG) was implemented. The lack of movement toward UN rapid reaction is due to a number of factors, namely the loss of post-Cold War idealism, a disconnection with the political reality of the time and cost concerns. More fundamentally, rapid reaction posed a threat to state primacy.

The post-Cold War era saw the extraordinary expansion of UN activity in the maintenance of global peace and security. Such a rapid expansion led to organizational over-stretch and failure and many in the international community began searching for ways to improve UN peacekeeping by reducing deployment time. In the mid-1990s, the Dutch, Canadian and Danish governments released proposals for a UN rapid reaction capability. Unfortunately, of the three proposals only the Danish proposed Stand-by High Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG) was implemented. The lack of movement toward UN rapid reaction is due to a number of factors, namely the loss of post-Cold War idealism, a disconnection with the political reality of the time and cost concerns. More fundamentally, rapid reaction posed a threat to state primacy.