Why are some ethnic groups in a given country more politically mobilized than others? In particular, why are some ethnic minority groups, such as the the Uighurs, are more political mobilized than other ethnic minority groups in China? Situated within the comparative literature, this dissertation...
This dissertation examines the interplay between state coercion and ethnic minority responses to that coercion in China. It asks two questions: Why does the Chinese party-state make concessions toward ethnic groups it actively represses? How do ethnic minorities respond to these actions? This...
Does democratization promote central bank independence (CBI)? At first glance, the causal connection between an anticipated transition of political power through democratization and the incidence of institutional reform in the economic domain pertaining to a country's highest monetary authority...
What causes the Chinese online public to challenge their government’s handling of foreign policy events? How does the state respond to such challenges? Both public dissent and state repression of online discourse vary widely across events. This dissertation argues that two key factors explain...
After the bloody Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, the legitimacy of the Communist Party of China (CCP) suffered a devastating blow among the overseas Chinese (OC). The CCP responded to the challenge by implementing transnational outreach policy in the OC community, which includes substantial efforts...
China sends more students overseas than any country in the world. Already a nation with a long tradition of foreign-educated students playing a leading role in its development, it is in the midst of the largest study abroad movement in its history. This paper examines the current generation of...
Why does the Chinese government permit popular nationalist protests some times but not others in the post-Tiananmen incident era? Given the ideological implications and broad appeal of nationalist protests in contemporary China, nationalist protests are prevented from taking place more often than...