Statement of Research Proposal
My broader research interests lie in the areas of international and comaparative political economy, applied game theory and quanttitative methodology. My current research projects focus on the simultaneous interaction between politics and economy at both the national and the international levels. I am particularly interested in the dynamic relationship between economic liberalization and political survival of authoritarian regimes. I also have a special interest in East Asian politics, particularly Chinese politics. During the fellowship years, I plan to develop my dissertation on foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization and the political economy of authoritarianism into a book manuscript after submitting the core theoretical and empirical chapters to academic journals. Besides, I also plan to complete two undergoing projects, one on the change and evolution of international economic institutions in the context of the rise of emerging-market countries and the other on an information theory of the design and evolution of fiscal institutions in China. All the projects are related to my broader research interests of financial globalization and the political economy of authoritarianism which also fit the research theme of the Watson Institute.
FDI Liberalization and the Political Economy of Authoritarianism
Starting in early 1980s, a "sea change" has taken place in thinking about economic openness. Many developing countries have moved from state-directed, inwardly focused strategies toward integrating with the world economy [World1991]. They started to reduce or remove restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the 1980s, and the trend became pronounced and widespread during th...
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...y always poses a problem in an autocracy due to the lacking of public participation, deliberation and contestation. The study of information asymmetry, together with the study of the commitment problem in my dissertation, aims to build a general theory of authoritarian politics. I also plan to collect data to test the theory.
During my first fellowship year, I plan to submit at least two papers to journals based on the two projects.
Conclusion
The ultimate goals for all the research projects are to acquire an understanding of the political causes and consequences of financial reform and economic liberalization in both national and international level. The research will contribute to our knowledge of economic globalization and political democratization, and fits well one of the main research themes of the Watson Institute, namely, the global transformation.
Chapter nine of Enduring Debate talks about how the American opinion poll plays role in constructing the government and how the media has affected the American politics. The public polling promotes democracy by allowing citizens to give their views concerning issues in government. The opinion polls also keep the government on toes. The main ideas are based on the founding of the American state and the constitution. Constitutionalism is based on the concept of the rule of law and limited authority. American constitutional principles can be traced back over 200 years ago. However, the practical meaning of constitutionalism is a recent and peculiar achievement. In the American history before the constitution was implemented, most governments were established by use of force, heredity, the need to stop anarchy and by the belief in God’s will. During out the history, this style of establishing authority has endorsed power to different leaders with different characteristics. Some were dictators, divine, kings, tyrants while others were bureaucratic. These people had full control of power. They exercised absolute authority. The main reason is that there were no instruments of power such as constitution that could limit and keep in check the powers of these forms of government.
...nstead the state consists of rulers who behave like subjects and subjects who behave like rulers. The people begin to desire a strong leader, who will make the difficult decisions for them and bear the consequences: the Democracy has become a Tyranny.
Post-Cold War Asia has been witness to a China that increasingly focuses its foreign policy on its neighbors rather than on a regional or global context. This stems from China's realization that free markets have triumphed over centrally planned economies and that a world revolution is not going to happen. This has two implications. One, China no longer needs to divert resources to involve itself in global politics since the proletarian revolution is not going to take place. Second, China needs to embark on a program of economic development and modernization (F. Wang p. 32 and J. Wang p. 80).
For my research proposal, I wish to discuss the involvement of the LDS church, known as the Mormon Church, within the Indian removal that took place during the 1830’s. The Indian Removal Act was passed approximately one month after the initial organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The founder of the LDS church, Joseph Smith, received a revelation that he was to preach his gospel in Indian Territory. In September of 1830, roughly 6 months after the founding of the church, he gave a mission calling to one of his church members who held the Mormon priesthood, his name was Oliver Cowdery. This calling was given to Oliver Cowdery in New York State where he then commenced his mission in October of 1830. The interesting part of Oliver Cowdery’s missionary calling was that he was supposed to proceed on a 1,500 trek across the known country in Western Indian territory where he to then preach to the Indians. Instead of simply teaching to a local tribe, the order was given to preach in the same area where at nearly the same time, southern Indian tribes would also be relocating to as a result of the Indian Removal Act. Oliver Cowdery and his companions began their mission in October and the first Indians they were able to teach were the Cattaraugus Indians in Buffalo, New York who accepted two copies of their Book of Mormon.
How would you feel if your devoted dog was discriminated against based only on what he looked like? Canine breed discrimination is a real problem in today’s society in the United States. There is always an enormous amount of hype when one hears about a dog attack. The first thing people want to know is what kind of dog was involved in the attack. That breed of dog then gets labeled as “dangerous”, quietly forcing people to change their opinion on a certain breed based on an action of only a couple of dogs.
Dennis Pirages and Christine Sylvester (eds.), Transformations in the Global Political Economy (London: Macmillan, 1989).
Lewin, K., & Lippitt, R. (1938). An experimental approach of the study of autocracy and democracy: A preliminary note. Psychometry, 1, 292-300.
Zhang, Jianhong, Arjen van Witteloostuijn, and J. Paul Elhorst. "China's Politics and Bilateral Trade Linkages." Asian Journal of Political Science 19.1 (2011): 25-47. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
Strange, S. (1994), ‘Wake up Krasner! The world has changed’, Review of International Political Economy, Summer 1994, 1 (2), pp. 209-20, Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Zakaria, F. (2007). The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad (Revised Edition). New York: W. W. Norton.
Gilpin, Robert. Global Political Economy: Understanding the International Economic Order. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. Print.
Balaam, David. Introduction to International Political Economy, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Pearson Education, 2005.
In an authoritarian regime there are two kinds of people having their feet stick to the power, the soft-liner and the hardliners both groups present different chemistry in an authoritarian regime. More specifically the authors of the book identify these two groups as “duros” hardliners and blandos as soft-liners. The duros or hardliners are the ones who still believe that continuation of the authoritarian regimes in some cases are possible by ignoring and rejecting democratic reforms. In an authoritative regime these hardliners are composed of various fictions and layers and cling to the idea of position of authoritarian for various purpose and reasons. Some adopt this position to maintain and keep their positions
Krain, Matthew (2005), “AP Comparative Government and Politics Briefing Paper: Globalization,” [http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap05_comp_govpol_glob_42253.pdf], accessed 15 May 2012.
Throughout history different types of instrumental regimes have been in tact so civilizations remained structured and cohesive. As humanity advanced, governments obligingly followed. Although there have been hiccups from the ancient times to modern day, one type of government, democracy, has proven to be the most effective and adaptive. As quoted by Winston Churchill, democracy is the best form of government that has existed. This is true because the heart of democracy is reliant, dependent, and thrives on the populaces desires; which gives them the ability for maintaining the right to choose, over time it adjusts and fixes itself to engulf the prominent troubling issues, and people have the right of electing the person they deem appropriate and can denounce them once they no longer appease them. In this paper, the benefits of democracy are outlined, compared to autocratic communism, and finally the flaws of democracy are illustrated.