Subnational climate diplomacy is a concept that has been gaining attention in the field of International Relations in recent years. It refers to the way in which state and local governments are...Show moreSubnational climate diplomacy is a concept that has been gaining attention in the field of International Relations in recent years. It refers to the way in which state and local governments are increasingly taking part in international negotiations and cooperation to advance global climate objectives. This signifies a sizable shift in the traditional approach to state-to-state diplomacy. However, the value of subnational climate diplomacy to the global fight against climate change is currently almost exclusively measured in terms of clearly quantifiable outputs, which largely overlooks its less directly quantifiable contributions and broader social, economic and political impacts. Therefore, this thesis analyzes how subnational climate diplomacy can contribute to transformative change through more indirect impacts. The indirect impacts that are measured are ‘rescaling’ and ‘entrenchment,’ based on the frameworks developed by authors van der Ven, Bernstein and Hoffmann (2017) and Setzer (2017). These two concepts serve to guide the analysis undertaken in this thesis, which aims to answer the following research question: How can subnational climate diplomacy contribute to transformative change through rescaling and entrenchment? To answer this question, the thesis includes a detailed case study of the international climate agenda of the U.S. state of California. The analysis of California's international climate agenda shows how the state’s subnational climate diplomacy is contributing to a rescaling of climate governance. By establishing international linkages along both the vertical and the horizontal axis, California is triggering a rescaling of climate governance on the subnational, national and international/supranational level. Additionally, California’s subnational climate diplomacy is fostering entrenchment by generating effects in climate governance that are durable and difficult to reverse. Overall, this study emphasizes that subnational climate diplomacy can contribute to transformative change in global climate governance, not only through producing directly quantifiable emission reductions, but also through rescaling climate governance and entrenching durable change.Show less
This thesis revisits the Japanese student delegation of 1863, which was sent by the Tokugawa Shogunate to the Netherlands. The thesis concentrates especially on the journey of Nishi Amane and Tsuda...Show moreThis thesis revisits the Japanese student delegation of 1863, which was sent by the Tokugawa Shogunate to the Netherlands. The thesis concentrates especially on the journey of Nishi Amane and Tsuda Mamichi, who studied Western academic disciplines with Leiden University professor Simon Vissering between 1863 and 1865 and introduced this knowledge to Japan for the first time in history. The thesis revisits the case in Chapter 1 from the perspective centered around Nishi, Tsuda, and Vissering, who were long thought to be the most important characters of this trip. In chapter 2, with the help of previously unmentioned primary sources, the thesis revisits the case from the Dutch perspective, a perspective never taken by previous historians. By analyzing these new sources in a broader context, the thesis discovers numerous new insights. The most important insight was the pivotal role of Johannes Josephus Hoffmann, the professor of Chinese and Japanese studies at Leiden University and the translator of the Netherlands Indies Government, within this study trip. This thesis finds that Hoffmann was essential for this historical event to happen, due to his envisioning actions to persuade both the Japanese and the Dutch decisionmakers to conduct this event in the way they did. In addition, the thesis finds that Hoffmann was the central figure in preparing, receiving, optimizing, and coordinating the trip. Therefore, this thesis argues that the current public and scholarly attention, as well as the historical recognition granted to Hoffmann, are remarkably inadequate.Show less
Amid the ongoing controversy over Affirmative Action in the admissions policies of elite colleges in the US, the term “model minority,” and its implicit racial link with the Asian American...Show moreAmid the ongoing controversy over Affirmative Action in the admissions policies of elite colleges in the US, the term “model minority,” and its implicit racial link with the Asian American community, has once again resurfaced in American national discourse. As such there is an increasing need to understand the Model Minority Myth in a wider, historical perspective. Drawing on Claire-Jean Kim’s racial triangulation theory, this thesis examines how Japanese American newspapers in California during the 1930s engaged in discursive self-essentialization, and dissociation from other non-white minorities as a means of survival in American society, and by doing so inadvertently contributed to the further perpetuation of a white-dominated racial hierarchy in the United States and a further solidification of the reputation of Asian Americans as an alleged Model Minority. It then critically analyzes the work of two contemporary Asian American authors known for their embrace of the Model Minority Identity, Amy Chua and Yukong Zhao, and demonstrates how the tactics they deploy in their works reiterate discursive strategies used by their Japanese American predecessors during the Depression Era. Rather than viewing model minority discourse as a strictly American phenomenon or a product of white American agency, this thesis argues for a wider, transnational lens with which we view patterns of discrimination across borders and time, taking into account conflict and compliance, action and reaction. In this way the thesis aims to contribute to an improved understanding of systems of discrimination and oppression and, more importantly, how to dismantle them.Show less
