Print

Acknowledgments I AM TRULY blessed to receive help and advice from so many people throughout the three-year span of this project. I would like to thank all my friends and colleagues who offered their valuable time and advice, but fi rst, I must thank my family for their patience and generous support throughout the entire process. I would like to thank my parents, Bruce and Ewa Wolfe, for their unwavering love and support, which has always been a great comfort. Also thanks to Dr. Yiu and Christina Leung, for their kind generosity, their confi dence, and for being my cheerleaders. Thanks to Annette Leung Evans for providing benefi cial writing advice this made a signifi cant difference in the various revisions. Also, thanks to Larry and Linda Giebelhaus for their help and encouragement throughout the years. Thanks to Chad and Brandi Gatlin for their support. A huge thanks to John Fry and Ota Ulc, my two best friends that supported me throughout the years. I would like to thank my dissertation chair Colin Dueck. First, I have to thank him not only for giving me the opportunity to tell this story, but also for teaching me how to tell a story. His patience through the many changes to this project and his willingness to allow me the latitude to chart its direction provided the basis for its successful completion. I am very grateful to Steve Chan, whose advice continues to be invaluable. His diffi cult but honest challenges not only increased my understanding of social science but also contributed to a better fi nal product. I am honored to have had the benefi t of his mentoring. Thanks to David Leblang for his continued support on this project and through- out the graduate studies program. Thanks to Joe Jupille for his help at a crucial time in the completion of the project. Gerard Hauser’s input on the dissertation