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Do authoritarian regimes care about the rule of law? By investigating China's political selection system, this paper finds that authoritarian regimes do care about the rule of law and promote it at the local level by providing local officials with promotion incentives when they enforce legal institutions effectively. This claim is demonstrated by examining rule of law measures in predicting local officials' promotion in China. Analysis of the State Council documents and 22 regulations covering over 70 percent of the countries' municipal leaders shows that formal evaluation rules for local leaders in some localities increasingly include metrics assessing the legal environment. Statistical analysis using a panel of administrative lawsuits in 279 prefectures in China during 2008-2012 supports the argument: the probability of prefecture party secretaries' promotion is highly correlated to rule of law concerns. Conversely, local officials who fail to maintain social stability, as indicated by their failure to appease social protests through legalized channels of dispute resolution, are less likely to be promoted. Using the 2011 Chinese General Social Survey data, this paper finds that citizens trust local governments more in prefectures with better legal environments, which explains why authoritarian rulers seek to promote the rule of law at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some states seem to possess much greater bargaining power than would be suggested by their size or military capability? How can a small asymmetrically dependent state increase its leverage over other states? Power remains one of the most used, yet least studied concepts in international relations. These are merely a few of the empirical anomalies arising from the standard conceptions of power found in the literature. This lack of clarity about one of political science's key concepts arises from the fact that power is notoriously difficult to measure and observe. In this paper, I focus on one observable measure of power - possession of natural resources - in order to highlight a key flaw of previous studies of power: that power tends to be treated as a purely relational concept, relating only to bilateral relations between two states. I argue that third parties may alter this dynamic in ways which are currently poorly understood, thus providing some answers to the empirical puzzles outlined above. While natural resources are only one possible source of power, they provide an observable metric with which to assess how the involvement of third-party states may alter power relations. The paper will first test statistically whether small resource-rich states issue or receive more or fewer threats and sanctions than other comparable states, and then present a brief case-study of power dynamics in the Kazakhstan-Russia-China relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines China's accession to WTO (World Trade Organization) through power transition theory. According to the power transition theory, some states that belong to the category of great powers are dissatisfied with the current international order as their national power is increased through industrialization. These states challenge the dominant nation, which leads the international order. Keeping world peace or the stability of the current order depends on whether the tension between a challenger and a supreme power is controlled or not. This theory explains the conflicts between a challenger, China, and a dominant nation, the United States, in the issue of China's accession to WTO. Since the Republic of China had developed rapidly through 'reform and open policy', the tension in the U.S.-China trade had increased. Thus, China was dissatisfied with the fact that it was excluded from the WTO system. The United States decided to deal with China's dissatisfaction; hence, 15 years of negotiation for China's accession to the WTO was launched. During the negotiation, the tension between two nations arose over the surface, but finally, China was able to participate in the WTO in 2001. This paper is significant for two reasons. Firstly, China's accession to the WTO was a symbolic event in the U.S-China trade, which is the most important issue in the power relationship between the two nations. Secondly, it proves the tool of the 'power transition theory' that enhances the understanding of the political implication of China's accession to the WTO. Although power transition theory has its own theoretical limitations, it explains that embedding China in the international trade order controlled by the United States is the question of not only economic gain and loss but also power politics. This is the main argument of this paper. The paper consists of three parts: 1) the summary of power transition theory; 2) its application and analysis for the case of China's accession to WTO; 3) argument; and 4) conclusion. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UCLA Higher Education Research Institute's Cooperative Institutional Research Program conducts an annual survey of college seniors to assess attitudes toward different aspects of their college experience. A subset of 128 of these questions was administered in survey form to 385 students at Lanzhou University, China. The results highlight attitudinal differences toward education in China and the United States and shed light on how different educational systems produce different results.This work is relevant for at least two reasons. This paper provides insights into reforms that can be considered in both systems. The differences between the Chinese and American educational systems are profound. While large parts of society in China have been reformed since the opening in 1979, the Chinese educational system remains largely intact and structurally unreformed. Looking at areas where satisfaction is greater in each system can help provide insight into reforms that might be considered in both.This paper also offers a glimpse of one aspect of China's future. China is rapidly increasing its investment in higher education in the hope of growing a knowledge economy. The success of this endeavor will rest in large part on the ability of the graduates to contribute to society. Chinese student attitudes toward their educational experience will shed light on how successful this investment has been and ways it can be improved.NOTE: This paper is a revised and extended version of a paper presented at the 2009 SPSA Conference. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UCLA Higher Education Research Institute's Cooperative Institutional Research Program conducts an annual survey of college seniors to assess attitudes toward different aspects of their college experience. We received permission to survey students on a campus in China and gave a subset of 128 of these questions to 385 students at Lanzhou University, China. The results highlight attitudinal differences toward education in China and the United States and shed light on how different educational systems produce different results.This work is relevant for at least two reasons. This paper provides insights into reforms that can be considered in both systems. The differences between the Chinese and American educational systems are profound. While large parts of society in China have been reformed since the opening in 1979, the Chinese educational system remains largely intact and structurally unreformed. Looking at areas where satisfaction is greater in each system can help provide insight into reforms that might be considered in both.This paper also offers a glimpse of one aspect of China's future. China is rapidly increasing its investment in higher education in the hope of growing a knowledge economy. The success of this endeavor will rest in large part on the ability of the graduates to contribute to society. Chinese student attitudes toward their educational experience will shed light on how successful this investment has been and ways it can be improved. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Asian balance of power is changing rapidly due to rapid and simultaneous rise of the two Asian powers, China and India. Both countries have great power ambition and potentiality. They have more than one billion people, huge and rising economy, and growing military, industrial, and scientific capabilities. Their large geographical size and geo-strategic location also make them key actors in Asian politics. Future Asian security, stability and peace will absolutely depend on the relationship between these two countries. The question is: how these two countries have been engaging with one another since the end of the Cold War? What factors influencing their relations? This paper discusses these two questions. The paper is divided into the following sections: section one looks at the brief history of the relationship; section two discusses positive aspects of their relationship; section three examines negative aspects of their future relationship; and last section synthesizes the paper and makes a conclusion.Key Words: China, India, Sino-Indian relations, Asian balance of power, peace, and stability. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines China's Southeast Asia policy by applying game theory simulation to clarify the rationale of China's foreign policy towards its Southern neighboring countries during the post-Cold War period. This paper argues that there has been a consistency between China's grand foreign strategy and China's Southeast Asia policy. For China, the primary goal is to seize the peaceful international environment for economic development, which has been the most critical strategic concerns dominating China's proactive diplomatic actions in Southeast Asia. On the other hand, this consideration also constrains China's military expansionism in the South China Sea disputes. By applying multiple games simulation, this research respectively investigates China's good-neighborliness policy toward Southeast Asia, its policy towards the South China Sea disputes, and China's multilateralism in terms of joining ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum) and ASEAN plus one (China), as well as its initiative of China-ASEAN FTA. The findings demonstate that China's Southeast Asia policy has been consistently constrained by its grand strategy consideration. China's proactive multilateralism and its self-restraint on the South China Sea dispute are a two-edge sword serving the objectives of its grand strategy, which leads China to willingly sacrifice the short-term interests, and to focus on the long-term gains. Nevertheless, this paper also argues that China's Southeast Asia policy could be a useful indicator to sense the possible change of China's grand strategy. The game theory simulation demonstrates the close links and mutual interactions between those two policy areas. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collapse of the Soviet experiment and the country that embodied it, as well as the great success of Chinese economic reform and its short-lived democratic movement in the summer of 1989, have attracted much attention from lots of political scientists. The great changes were regarded as two different ways of democratization. However, 15 years later, things didn't turn out to be what the political scientists expected. Russia's backlash to a non-democracy and China's successful economic development without any solid political reform seriously question the conclusion. This paper compares the political and economic changes in the former Soviet Union (Russia) and China from a new perspective based on the additional information in the 15 years after the great events and tries to predict better the democratic future of these two big developing countries. The paper will proceed in three parts. First, I will compare the political and economic reforms of the former Soviet Union and China in the 1980's and the beginning of 1990's. I will explain why the reforms ended up differently in these communist countries. Next, I will review the literature and theories about the democracy, capitalism, and market economy from the perspectives of Western political scientists and Marxists. The interesting finding is that although different ideologies, both schools emphasize the significance of development of capitalist economy. Finally, I will demonstrate the importance of economic precondition of democracy and discuss the democratic prospect of Russia and China based on their economic development and social structure. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing rivalries between China and U.S. starting from economic issues, diffusing to political and military dimensions, reassure the rational solutions presumed by power transition theory. By examining the combined effects of international systemic structure, international context, the impact of Chinese democratization, the changing share of national capability, Chinese nationalism, and domestic politics, the paper builds an empirical model to analyze how these factors shape the patterns of Sino-American Conflict over time. The model identifies a new pattern of conflict due to the increasing interdependence of economy and specifies that comprehensive engagement enhances rather than threats to U.S. leading power. Therefore the model predicts more cooperation than confrontation in Sino-U.S. relations in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will examine the relationship between Russia and China after the collapse of the Soviet Union in terms of the possible and desired polar structures of the international system. It aims to answer the following questions: What are the bases of the Russo-Chinese partnership/alliance evident after the mid-1990s? Was this partnership designed as an anti-hegemonic coalition? How was the partnership affected by September 11th? How has the war in Iraq affected the logic of the Russo-Chinese partnership? What are the systemic implications for the relationship between the United States, China, and Russia? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fate of a dictatorship is often linked to its economic performance. While the association has received some support in cross-national studies, it remains difficult to disentangle the effect of income from the manifold confounders that predict authoritarian durability. Existing individual-level studies suffer an overreliance on attitudinal evidence, and face equally acute challenges in causal inference. This paper provides evidence from a pilot study at the micro, behavioral level to buttress the causal link between income and regime support. Specifically, we post pro-regime slogans in a popular online forum in China that features lively discussions on the stock market among ordinary investors. Since each publicly listed company is assigned with a specific sub- forum, we are able to build a panel dataset that matches the daily comments on our posts in each sub-forum with the daily stock price for each specific firm. We find that negative income shocks, proxied with declines in stock prices, cause stock investors to speak critically of the regime and its leaders even in a heavily censored internet environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's new share reform starting in 2005 was to merge the segmented stock market share structure. This paper analyzes how compensation ratios at the core of the reform implementation are decided. To what extent does the implementation of the share reform reflect the role of the Chinese state in its economic transition? Employing a state-interest group framework to explain compensation determination, I theorize the mechanisms and empirically examine the effects of the state intervention in a firm's reform implementation and the relative bargaining powers of interest groups of shareholders on compensation levels. Using the OLS and 2SLS strategies over an originally compiled dataset of the reform implementation of listed firms, I find that these two types of political forces are the most important in deciding compensation levels, and the pattern the political forces are combined supports the crony state model in which the state and the targeted interest groups mutually empower each other in China's transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that the project of engaging non-Western thought in political theory must amount to more than just an enrichment of political theory, particularly if we are to figure that project as one of de-parochialization rather than mere inclusion. "Including" non-Western others means to assume that they share the same "evidentiary rules" that characterize defensible argument in political theory. However, effacing their difference in this respect would disable them from raising precisely those questions required to truly deparochialize the discipline--namely, questions about how and in what way knowledge as such can be produced and made intelligible. Many theorists have suggested, however, that acknowledging the evidentiary rules of other communities amounts at best to marking the exclusions inherent in our own knowledge production, rather than adopting those rules as our own. I suggest a more radical approach to these dilemmas, by examining a series of Chinese conversations dating from the late Qing dynasty on the possibility of bian fa, or "changing referents." Bian fa thinking raises the possibility of institutional, cultural, and other forms of social change to alter the production of knowledge, and so better recognize the thought of others on their own terms. I suggest we follow these Chinese thinkers to consider how we might "change referents" to adopt the evidentiary rules of communities not our own. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is China a cooperative or a coercive state? The answer is important to the debate over whether China's rise to power will be peaceful. Under what conditions are China's political elite predisposed toward cooperative foreign policies? The underlying concept of this paper, which the results of an OLS regression model support, is that China's intensity of cooperation is partly explained by the broad measure of strength of strategic culture found in the Central Committee. The object of this study is to express the Central Committees' social network as representative of the PRC's strategic culture, to use the characteristic of network centrality of each CC, and to compare annual changes in centrality with the intensity of state cooperativeness. This is a longitudinal study of the CC and China's interactions with other states since the founding of the PRC in 1949 until 1978. The Party Secretary General's centrality and the foreign policy choices of the Central Committee are directly related. Decreasing centrality is correlated with decreasing intensity of interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Three Gorges Dam, located 1,200 miles upriver from the Chinese port city of Shanghai, has been described as a modern engineering marvel, a source of clean electricity, and an environmental catastrophe in the making. One of a handful of man-made structures that can be seen from space, the 1.4 mile long dam towers 607 feet over the Yangtze River. The reasons for building the dam are monumental. Flooding along the river routinely kills individuals and displaces communities. Second, the dam is expected to generate one-tenth of the electricity needed for the country, as well as creating better ports further inland. Finally, the dam has been seen as a symbol of the country's "emerging engineering prowess." Yet, these benefits come with human, cultural, and economic costs. Close to 1.5 million people will be displaced by the project; cultural and archaeological sites will be lost to the new reservoir; and the hydrology of the river will be changed. Furthermore, the dam has affected the habitat for the critically endangered Siberian Crane and has lead to the functional extinction of the Baiji, otherwise known as the Yangtze River Dolphin. In this paper, I will conduct a public policy analysis that looks at, among other things, the dynamics of the rural-urban divide, the role of focusing events in the creation of environmental policies, and the problems of bounded rationality and negative externalities. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper about comfucianism, a new theory of political legitimacy in China, prepared for the Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) 2013 Annual meeting, is presented. It discusses legitimacy issues faced by political party Chinese Communist Party (CCP), application of comfucianism political ideology to China's foreign and domestic relations, and impact of the ideology on China.

This study argues that, on the one hand, the reunification of China appears today mostly improbable, Yet, on the other hand, full international recognition of two Chinas remain also very unlikely in the foreseeable future. Like the Korean case, the relationship across the Taiwan Strait shows that the collapse of the Soviet bloc has not put an end to the Cold War in East Asia, or more generally to politic al and ideological rivalries which continue in other forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following analysis will look at what are believed to be the conditions, motivations, and goals for terrorism worldwide, and then examine how China fits into this picture. It will look specifically at China?s state security policies, policies that might spawn grievances and lead to terrorism, China?s status and identity within the international community, and Chinese culture for answers to the question of why there is not more terrorism in China. It will also look at the specific cases of Tibetans, who have used violence but not terrorism against the Chinese state, Uyghur (Muslim) secessionists from Xinjiang Province, who have used terrorism; and the Hui (Han Chinese Muslims), who have not been supportive of Uyghur terrorism in the name of self-determination for Xinjiang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese social health insurance has been characterized as fragmented. The fragmentation of the Chinese social health insurance system occurs in two primary areas: horizontal segmentation and vertical decentralization. First, the social health insurance system is segmented between rural and urban population and between labor market insiders and outsiders. Second, Chinese social health insurance is decentralized to county-level units (including district in prefecture). In other words, the social health insurance funds and health risks are pooled within individual counties. This seriously impairs the social insurance's sustainability and equity. In 2009, the Chinese government announced a comprehensive health reform with the prime goal of establishing a universal (quan min) social health insurance system. This reform is to integrate the fragmented social health insurance to make health care accessible and affordable to all people. This paper will explore two main aspects of the integration process: horizontal integration of the social health insurance programs of different social groups and vertical integration of social health insurance to prefectural level. Through examining local implementation of the integration, this paper finds that China's recent health reform is encountering tremendous institutional drawbacks and political backlashes in various regions. Ironically, the political economic system that promoted rapid economic growth and establishment of social insurance in the past few decades creates substantial obstacles to reform and development. This paper will draw empirical evidences from the author's recent interviews with labor and social welfare officials at various administrative levels and health insurance beneficiaries in twelve Chinese provinces between 2009 and 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper about military apparatus in communist regimes of China, Cuba and Vietnam is presented. It discusses the role of military apparatus in communist regimes in building cooperation and conflict resolution with the U.S. It also discusses relations of party-military within communist regimes and background information on the usefulness of joint military exercises.

Economic integration and trade liberalization are two issue areas that require constant negotiations and cooperation, for which nation states have to adjust their domestic and foreign policies according to their partners. China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 can therefore serve as a good example, which shows the gradual learningprocess of China to embed in global economy and the existing trading regulations. This paper will test Johnston (2008)'s theory on China in international institutions. By applying three important micro processes- mimicking, social influence, and persuasion-the research paper aims at exploring the socialization process of China in the WTO during the recent years. We treat the WTO as an institutional environment where this socialization process occurs. In this study, the legal framework and official documents of the WTO are considered as the structure that interacts with agents in this study. Finally, the socialization processes take place during China's interaction with other actors and with the existing norms. Mimicking, social influence, and persuasion are three important aspects, which will be separately dealt with in later part of this paper. The evaluation of these processes and policy implications about China's participation in WTO will be provided at the end. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that China has witnessed a boom in civil society organizations, China still does not have a full- fledged civil society independent from the state. On the one hand, the state still exert controls over the society through corporatist system; on the other hand, the newly emerged, grassroots organizations are still fighting for their survival and faced with many obstacles in delivering public goods. This paper analyzes the latest trends in the relations between grassroots civil society organizations and the state, and argues that the grassroots NGOs have begun to challenge the well-established state-society relations. However, the institutions of the corporatist state remain powerful, and in various ways have constrained the growth of an independent civil society. The paper finally concludes that civil society development in China requires a unique theoretical model and points out that institution is the major factor that decides the further growth of civil society in China. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-Soviet Central Asian states have increased in visibility recently, in particular regarding the evolving relationship of the external great powers - the United States, Russia, China, and to a lesser extent India. Varying forms and degrees of multilateral security regimes are under experimentation, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The United States, meanwhile, has chosen to maintain a bilateral approach to its relations in the region. In this paper, I explore the current status of security relations in the Central Asian region, seeking to determine those conditions and patterns of behavior consistent with the construction of a security community, and those consistent with an emerging security dilemma, adopting in particular the notion of "cooperative security dilemmas" as put forth by Holger Moelder in his study of the Baltic States. The paper also considers potential costs and benefits of the United States taking a more multilateral approach in the region, particularly in inter-institutional relations between NATO and the SCO. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper will compare the emerging powers of China and India. It will be divided into five principal sections. Section I will present a comparative history of China and India, focusing on China's emergence as a post-communist world power versus India's development into a post-colonial world power. Section II will rigorously compare and contrast broader aspects of the political, economic, and sociocultural climates within the two countries, but will also analyze the intricacies of the two political systems. Regarding economics, our paper will explore the significant modernization that has taken place in the two countries, as well as the impact these changes have had on China's and India's respective positions in the larger global economy. In the sociocultural realm, our paper will discuss the political culture in terms of liberty, equality, education, healthcare, housing, transportation, and entertainment. Our assessment will include comparative studies of Confucian culture's impact on China versus the caste system's impact on India, as well as investigations of gender, race, religion, and the manner in which each country acknowledges and adjudicates such issues. In Section III, we will highlight the current domestic and foreign policies of China and India. Section IV will synthesize the central themes discussed in the narrative part of our paper into an original table, allowing the reader to compare China and India at a glance. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the possessor of the "Islamic Bomb" and a front line in the war on terror, Pakistan presents special challenges for U.S. policy. This paper seeks to understand the development of Pakistan's nuclear program, the current status, and likely direction in the future. The paper will also examine the interaction among nuclear armed Pakistan, India, China, and the United States. The paper will examine Pakistani force structure as well as command and control. Finally, the paper will note implications for U.S. policy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deeply rooted in the western historical and political context, the concept of "civil society" is often portrayed as the opposition to "the state", a force that checks the state's power and develops in tandem with democracy. In East Asian countries where power has traditionally been rested with the state, in the 1990, there has been a booming of NGOs and voluntary associations in three major East Asian countries-China, Japan, and South Korea. What makes the state finally unleash its grip on the society and even yield its power to the latter? This paper argues that in East Asian countries, civil society grows out of the needs of the state. It hypothesizes that it is the incapability of the state to meet the challenges of decentralization that opens up new space for the vibrant growth of civil society. The deepening of market liberalization in the 1990s has transformed the traditional role of the state in managing economic and social affairs. This process brings about a large number of social and economic challenges that the state is not able to cope with. As a result, the state has to give more space to the society, yielding part of its power in return for corporation and even partnership in addressing those issues. The paper intends to develop a model that captures the pattern of civil society transformation in three East Asian countries: China, Japan and South Korea and tries to discover the driving forces behind this evolution. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on China's economic development, along with its mobility in the global economic system. It examines ancient image of China in terms of Buddhist and Taoist temples, alternative medicine, and calligraphy. It also discusses investments made by China in developed countries in order to seek strategic assets, China's quest to extract knowledge and technology in order to make more money, and investment made by China in Middle East in order to extract oil.

A country has used economic means as strategic and diplomatic tools since ancient time. China has suffered serious terrorisms of the Uighurs since the end of the Cold War. The Chinese government applied trade as a tool for stability and development in Xinjiang (north-western China) during the post-Cold war era. This research project will analyze a relation between terrorism and trade. The Chinese government expected that trade between China and Central Asian republics (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan) would boost the economy of Xinjiang, and that the developed Xinjiang economy would reduce terrorism. After the Chinese open-door and economic reform, economic gap between east coast areas and inland areas in China was widened; this economic gap caused the dissatisfaction of local citizens. This dissatisfaction of local citizens can develop into separatism and local terrorism. Previous research argues that this policy was not successful because the amount of trade between China and Central Asian countries is so small and volatile. This research project will try to demonstrate empirical evidences to disprove that current Chinese policy is not successful through static analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a research paper regarding several measures formed by central government of China in order to increase private consumption in rural areas. It discusses an implementation process of the policy "Home Appliances to Countryside" introduced by central government in order to increase consumption. It suggests that for achieving success of the policy, the government should introduce a complementary policy which will improve the income for rural population.

The article offers information on a paper related the comparison between the historical and modern development of China. It focuses on contemporary relationship between the country's future development and their historical origins. It talks about challenges faced by historians and social scientists after World War II in Central Asia.

The spread of the forces of globalization have significantly affected the modern world. Thus, in this paper I attempt to identify how globalization has negatively influenced development of tertiary or higher educational policies in developing countries. Using the case study of China I observe that the higher educational policy of the country has been changed in order to meet the manpower requirements of multinational corporations. Such a policy has resulted in growth of the rich-poor divide as well as increased rural to urban migration resulting in growth of social conflict. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many governments use economic means to deal with ethnic conflicts. For instance, it has been widely observed that regions with a high concentration of ethnic minority tend to receive more fiscal transfer. The existing literature, however, finds no clear evidence that economic appeasement would reduce ethnic conflicts. We argue that expanding the pie for ethnic minority alone is not sufficient for reducing ethnic conflicts. How the pie is being distributed within the minority group is critical. In fact, if the within-group income inequality worsens as a result of the economic appeasement policy, such a policy would intensify the between-group conflicts. In this paper, we provide a formal model to explain the logic of our argument. In addition, we use the recent social unrest in Tibet to illustrate the interplay between within-group distribution and between-group conflicts. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What will the global and regional (East Asia) order be under the context of China's economic and military development? Will the American unipolarity continue? Or will a U.S.-China bipolarity come soon? While examining the dynamics of the international order under China's rise, I argue that although the power transition theory and the security dilemma thesis are based on different assumptions (the power transition theorists start with a perspective of hierarchy in the international order and the security dilemma scholars start with a perspective of anarchy), both of them are more appropriate than the balance of power theory to interpret the competition between Washington and Beijing. In fact, the dynamics between the United States and China primarily originate from uneven domestic growth, the transition of power, and power redistribution between these two countries. The nature of security dilemma in an anarchic world demonstrates that in Washington's eyes, China's rise is a threat to the United States, and vice versa. The main reason the balance of power theory does not well interpret U.S.-China relations is that stability in the post-Cold War era is not based on an equal distribution of power, but constructed under an asymmetrical power structure—the American hegemonic stability. This paper develop as follows: first, I review and compare key arguments of the power transition theory, the security dilemma thesis, and the balance of power theory. Second, I investigate the dynamics between the United States and China through economic growth, military expenditures, and the attitudes of elites and the public toward one another. Third, I apply three theoretical approaches above to examine if the perspectives of power transition and security dilemma are more appropriate than the balance of power theory in explaining the competition between Washington and Beijing. Lastly, I argue that the development of the global and regional order is primarily affected by two forces in the context of power transition between Washington and Beijing: one is how Washington implements its engagement policy towards China and the other is how Beijing demonstrates its peaceful rise to the United States. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing rivalries between China and U.S. starting from economic issues, diffusing to political and military dimensions, reassure the rational solutions presumed by power transition theory. By examining the combined effects of international systemic structure, international context, the impact of Chinese democratization, Taiwan Issue, the changing share of national capability, Chinese nationalism, and domestic politics, the paper builds an empirical model to analyze how these factors shape the patterns of Sino-American Conflict over time. The model identifies a new pattern of conflict due to the increasing interdependence of economy and specifies that comprehensive engagement enhances rather than threats to U.S. leading power. Therefore the model predicts more cooperation than confrontation in Sino-U.S. relations in the near future. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper examines China's booming trade, aid, and investment in Africa in the past decade and Western nations' cautionary advice to African nations about those deals. Western nations may be lamenting the missed opportunities they have had in the past four hundred years to enter into economic and political agreements with their former colonies in Africa that would have lasted well into the future and allowing China to take advantage of that opportunity. At the same time, the concern of Western nations including the World Bank about impoverished African nations entering into long-term economic deals with China may be genuine. It may be about their heartfelt concern for African nations desperate for money mortgaging away thier economic and political future to a predatory nation desperate for raw material and markets. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the development of the Chinese economy and the transaction of the social configuration, the middle class has grown in China, and consequently private car ownership is increasing. Everyday one thousand new cars appear on the street in Beijng. As the private cars increases, major cities in China suffer from the traffic issues, current transportation policies only favor the rich and higher class, and urgent road investments and expansion can only ease but cannot solve the problem. Furthermore, in China the proportion of using public transportation is lower than 10%, even in the big cities it is around 20%, which is slightly lower than European, South American and Japanese cities. Furthermore, the Chinese government has no enough investment in the public transportation, this point is one of the key steps to resolve the transportation problem. This paper will discuss the democratization progress and the sustainable development of the Chinese urban transportation planning from the different perspectives, such as the democratization of the urban transportation planning, the rationalized resource allocation, and the advancement of the environment quality. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent financial crises and the events of September 11, 2001 have reshaped the role that American power politics play in the international system. Proponents of hegemonic stability theory such as Zalmay Khalilzad, the former ambassador to Afghanistan, and Dr. Bradley Thayer, assert that United States hegemony is both sustainable and necessary. Without United States leadership, such theorists argue that an ensuing power vacuum filled with medley of malevolent forces would occur in countries such as Iran, North Korea, China, and Russia. Yet these arguments divide the world into false binaries that obscure the fact that the United States Empire is in decline. Viewing politics in realist terms, they perceive the world in terms of black and white, hegemony or isolationism, preponderance or weakness. This study will demonstrate some of the inherent flaws in this stark view of the international system. Indeed, September 11 and the recent financial crisis have reshaped the relevance of United States Military preponderance, while simultaneously calling into question the legitimacy of its international leadership. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan signal imperial overstretch. The rising clout of the European Union counterbalances United States soft power, especially without the recent stains of Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Gharib. China's rise as an economic heavyweight challenges the primacy of the American economy. These examples indicate that multipolarity is inevitable. The United States should reconsider its hegemonic strategy based upon these realities in order to make the transition smooth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a research which suggests the occurrence of limited democratic representation in China. It further offers a test of hypothesized causes that explain responsiveness of local legislators to constituency influences, with a sample of local legislators from Anhui province. The results indicate that some delegate style representation prevails in the country.

The labor disputes that often plague China vary greatly in intensity according to region. What causes such regional disparities in China's labor disputes? Many studies have looked at China's labor collective action; few have concentrated, however, on the disparities between Jiangsu and Shandong, two provinces along the Central Coast. This article analyzes the disparities found in this region - China's most developed industrial area. Based on statistical data and content analysis, it will offer a comparative analysis of China's labor collective disputes and their regional disparities. Focusing on Jiangsu and Shandong, the article seeks to answer why these two regions have such a disparity in frequency of labor collective disputes. The cause is found to be connected to the amount of State Owned Enterprise (SOE) laborers and the amount of migrant workers. This implies that each province's different reform strategy can generate regional disparities in labor disputes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the impact of the Internet on Chinese civil society by discussing the basic situation of Internet usage and analyzing the prominent behavior of netizens in China in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the economies of China and India are growing fastest in the world. Both are driving hard to revive their once lost pride and status in the world stage. They are increasingly expanding their influence beyond their natural sphere of influence. Their vast lands, massive population further enhance their capabilities to achieve great power status. Despite many positive accounts, both countries are vulnerable when they confronts with their domestic challenges which encompasses mass poverty, unemployment, uneven economic growth, widespread environmental degradation, and increasing social unrest. The biggest threat that they face today comes from within their society rather than outside. The states of China and India, comprise numerous ethnic minorties which have been resistant to accept state rule since their incorporation into respective republics. The general view in the government of both states is that both have implemented the policies of "Carrot and Sticks" in handling ethnic issues. The dilemma, both are going through is, despite repetitive demonstrating themselves as a 'responsible power' or 'soft power' or strong states in international domain, they are domestically 'weak states' which largely constrains their internal and external behavior. In my proposal I will endeavor to address how far both states have been successful or failed in maintaining domestic societal cohesion and whether the incorporation of ethnic minorities regions have weaken the national cohesion and turn the states into weak entities or vice versa. The cases chosen for my study includes Tibet and Xinjiang in China, and Kashmir and northeastern states in India. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 2003 Asia Barometer survey, this study will examine the impact of sociopolitical and spiritual factors on Asians' perception of U.S. and China's soft power. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1999, the Chinese government began the Western Development Program in an effort to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the western regions of the country, as the income disparity between the eastern and western half of the country was growing acute. This program has been successful in some ways but has not had the impact that was intended.The authors argue that FDI will not flow to the western regions in any great quantity for a number of structural reasons and that a different approach is needed to promote growth in the western portion of the country. The approach advocated is knowledge based and is possible in China because of the high degree of state control over higher education that exists in China today.By allowing a select number of schools in the western regions of China to provide a more westernized higher education experience (including allowing students to choose their major), China can attract some of the brightest minds to the more economically backward portions of the country. This has the twin benefits of helping to remove the stigma of moving to the western regions of the country and infusing highly educated individuals in the western regions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the evolution of the U.S.-Japan security alliance. It demonstrates that strengthening the Japanese Self-Defense Force (SDF) will threaten the security of both nations in East Asian relations. Russia and China will particularly take a negative view of a stronger U.S.-Japan armed forces coalition. Thus, it will serve the U.S. and Japan explore other avenues, perhaps on building better diplomatic and economic relations with the other nations in the East Asia region.

The article offers information on the determinant and countermeasures of politicization of Chinese foreign direct investment in the U.S. It states that the U.S. market still attract Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) despite national security risk and liability of foreignness than other foreign investors in the U.S. Information on the role of lobbying in the entering process is also offered.

The article focuses on a study which explores the interest of China on economic, political, or diplomatic levels in Africa and mentions that Chinese argument that Sino-African relations represent a win-win situation for both parties.

The article present information on a study conducted to analyze the effect of the U.S. and China on socioeconomic factors on 40 countries across the world.

The article offers information on a study related to the political engagement of China with African continent regarding their foreign trade flow.

This study examines recent Japanese ambivalent attitudes toward the United States by analyzing an original survey I conducted. Specifically, this work focuses on the growing sentiments of anti-globalism among Japanese society and hypotheses that: 1) the more a Japanese citizen feel the income-status gap in the Japanese society, 2) the less satisfied with his/her current situation, and 3) the more he/she believes the global free market system worsens Japanese economic/ cultural situations, the citizen is more likely to have negative feeling toward the United States. Also, this work explores whether the above-mentioned factors may affect the Japanese view of other countries, such as China, Russia, and South Korea. Further, I test the hypotheses that personal cultural and social contacts ameliorate feelings toward the United States. Finally, this study investigates how the U.S. presidential images have impacts on Japanese citizens. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Britain, France and Germany have a special relationship with the PRC which started prior the European Union. I argue that the three states affect the EU sanction policy on China due to their ties to the PRC and their predominance in the armament industry. The three hypotheses are: either the influence of the three member states is negligible, dissolved in EU because the EU dictates the strategic choices regarding China policy through the CFSP and downloads its policies, leading to convergence, or The Big Three influence the agenda-setting and policy formulation of EU policy vis-à-vis China and upload their policy preferences, or the Big Three influence other Member States to have them follow their policy choices regarding EU policy by exchanging ideas through horizontal Europeanization. I chose the case of the handling of the lift of the arms embargo, imposed on the wake of the Tienanmen Square Massacre in 1989 to test it. The methodology is a questionnaire addressed to foreign policy officials from the three member states' governments, EU Council, EU Commission and officials from the presidencies during that period (2003-2005). I find that France and Germany set the agenda, formulate policies and influence other member States to follow their policy choices through a bottom-up and horizontal process of Europeanization. Britain is also influential but more as a swing state. The Big Three unique vision of the place of China in the international security system is also heavily influenced by impact on their relationship with the US, a key opponent of the lift. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]