This dissertation studies the governance structure and its economic impacts in the Chinese context. Specifically, I use a public choice framework to analyze how institutions influence economic and political activities of both public officials and private sectors. Chapter 1employ…
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This dissertation examines China’s and India’s military modernization since 1980 demonstrated by advancements in major weapons systems. It examines the impact of four key variables on military modernization—two demand-side variables, i.e. the security threat environment and the …
The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the appearance of North Korea and Iran as significant cyber threats to the United States, in addition to China and Russia. This paper presented key findings and studies that showed the timeline of significant events through the history o…
Institutions for collective action are vital to accomplishing a variety of difficult developmental tasks, including irrigation management. For decades experts have argued collective action institutions for farmer participation, called water user organizations, are essential for …
This study surveys a century of commercial opium production in Iran, from 1850 to 1955. From an insignificant contributor to the global opium market, Iran became within a few decades an important exporter, turning to the market between 5-10% of the entire global production of op…
The Sino-Indian relationship marked by mutual mistrust for the last six decades has seen definitive changes since the late 1980s. Though considerable issues remain unresolved, the two have begun establishing mechanisms to establish a certain level of trust that began with the vi…
Is China a revisionist, aggressive rising power seeking world hegemony or is it a status-quo oriented, cooperative member of international society? Scholars of international relations and Chinese foreign policy produce diverse and contradictory responses to this question. Offens…
Over the past several decades, American historians of medieval China have reached a consensus about social change between 1200 and 1400. Drawing mainly from documents written by Confucian-educated literati in southern China, they have argued that the major shift in medieval Chin…
This dissertation traces the political significance of sport to the Chinese socialist state between 1949 and 1966 by examining state-sponsored tiyu (loosely translated into English as "sports and physical culture") and the connection between its two intertwined goals: tiyu for e…
Scholars have typically described the Sino-Indian relationship as one characterized more by conflict and enmity than by cooperation. The forces propelling the two countries toward an adversarial relationship are presumed to be far greater than those encouraging stable ties. Many…
The populations of Russia, Central Asia, and China have unique demographic features that pose special theoretical and applied problems. The essays in this dissertation explore different associated phenomena directly and indirectly related to central planning, including famine, u…
Environmental perturbations associated with the late-Permian mass extinction and Early Triassic recovery are widely studied, and our understanding of global events during this biotic crisis continues to improve. Marine carbonates preserve geochemical proxy records of global chan…
Once described as a "diligent apprentice," China has emerged in the early 21st century as an active and sometimes contentious participant in the UN Security Council. For the U.S., China has complicated decision-making on a range of issues, including North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Suda…
The purpose of this study was to explore salient issues in the Ethiopian telecommunications sector. In doing so, the research investigated the institutional history and origins of state-monopoly of telecommunications in Ethiopia from the first ministerial level communications-re…
In light of decisions on Syria made during 2012-2013 within the United Nations Security Council, China's strategic use of its veto power, and manipulation of multilateral organizations reflects its status as a growing superpower within a multipolar world. Moving away from a Wash…
Observations from Earth's remote sensing satellites have been a promising tool for studies on land cover and its changes, and related environmental phenomena. In this study, we demonstrate two environmental related land cover classification applications using integrated methods …
Chinese media have seen a grand transformation since the 1980s. However, the relationship between Chinese media and its 56 ethnic minority groups is under-researched. This dissertation intends to contribute to this field by examining media and in the context of the Uyghurs, a Tu…
This thesis aims to explain how Confucian physicians constructed the medical thoughts and practice. A Confucian physician is supposed to be a well-educated gentleman and a master of the medical classics. From the 12th century on, Confucian physicians gradually became a new ident…
This dissertation investigates the relationships between Buddhism and culture as exemplified at Mindroling Monastery. Focusing on the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, this work argues that Mindroling was a seminal religio-cultural institution that played a key ro…