Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'History and countries'
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Chen, Ying. "Essays on urban and environmental economics in developing countries." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2018. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3817/.
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My thesis is comprised of essays that study urban and environmental economic topics in developing countries. Three of the four essays study causal drivers behind the phenomenal urbanization and local economic growth in China. Its rapid growth in the recent decades provides an illustrative case for understanding how the spatial distribution of economic activities is affected by policies regulating factors of production. The fourth essay extends to another developing country, Tanzania, where the challenges posed by climate change faced by populations agglomerating in fast growing urban centers are substantial. This thesis strives to contribute to current research with my understanding of the contexts, utilization of new yet publicly available data, and novel methodology. The fist chapter, Political favoritism in China's capital markets and its effect on city sizes, examines political favoritism of cities and the effect of that favoritism on city sizes. To study favoritism we focus on capital markets, where defining favoritism is more clear-cut and not confounded with issues of city scale economies. Efficiency in capital markets requires equalized marginal returns to capital across cities, regardless of size. We estimate the city-by-city variation in the prices of capital across cities in China from 1998 to 2007. It shows how the prices facing the highest order political units and overall cross-city price dispersion change with changes in national policy and leadership. Next, the effect of capital market favoritism on city growth after the national relaxation of migration restrictions in the early 2000's is investigated. We develop a simple model to show that those cities facing a lower price of capital respond with larger population increases over the next decade, with the change labor mobility. The elasticity of the city growth rate with respect to the price of capital is estimated to be - 0.07 in the OLS approach and -0.12 in the IV approach. The second chapter, Early Chinese development zones: fist-mover advantage and persistency, studies the heterogeneous effects of China's special economic zone program by their level of government support and timing of designation. Using a difference-in-differences (DID) approach, I observe that the early national development zones in China have substantially greater and persistent success in attracting FDI compared to national zones established later, or those at the provincial level. Early national zones persistently attract higher levels of FDI inflows, attract more internal migration and are of significantly larger city sizes. To investigate whether the persistent success of early national zones is driven by their first-mover advantage or their unobservable high growth potential, I use their stronger ties to overseas Chinese investors in past waves of political instability as instrumental variable. The IV estimates are comparable to DID, suggesting the success of early national zones relative to newer and provincial zones can be attributed to their first-mover advantage. This conclusion also suggest that the large positive impacts found in China in the existing literature of evaluating place-based policies can potentially be driven by a small group of first-movers. In the third chapter, Air pollution, regulations, and labor mobility in China, I study the local economic impacts of pollution regulation in China at the time when migration costs fall. On the one hand, environmental regulations impose costs on firms, which tend to reduce local employment. On the other hand, lower pollution levels are an appealing amenity that attracts human capital to the region, possibly providing a boost to economic activity. The overall net effect of these two opposing forces is ambiguous. To investigate this, I study how local economies in China between 2000 and 2010 are affected by two significant reforms in environmental regulations and internal migration. Following the environmental reform, Chinese prefectures face new national air quality standards whose enforcement intensity can be proxied by their existing air quality at the time of the policy introduction. Meanwhile, the migration reform reduces migration costs and allows workers to relocate based on their preferences for air quality across prefectures. To formalize how air quality regulation affects local employment and city sizes by skill types following the two reforms, I first develop a spatial equilibrium model to guide the empirical analysis. To address the non-random spatial distribution of local air quality, I construct a novel instrumental variable of power plant suitability to capture a prefecture's likelihood to pollute heavily. Thermal power plants are major contributors to China's emissions, while electricity distribution and pricing are centralized. Therefore, locations with comparable economic characteristics may differ substantially in their air pollution levels simply because that some host thermal power plants and some do not. The estimation results show that air pollution regulations have an overall adverse impact on local manufacturing employment, with modest reallocation from heavy to non-polluting industries locally. There is little reallocation across space of low-skilled workers, whose employment prospects are more vulnerable under pollution regulation. However, the population of high-skilled workers in heavily polluted prefectures declines, showing their strong preference for air quality as migration costs fall. The last chapter, Cholera in times of floods: weather shocks and health in Dares Salaam, takes a slightly different perspective on urban and environmental issues in developing countries. We examine the challenges faced by urban population in Tanzania as the result of growing urban density and increasing extreme weather occurrences. Urban residents in developing countries have become more vulnerable to health shocks due to poor sanitation and infrastructure. This paper is the first to empirically measure the relationship between weather and health shocks in the urban context of a developing country. Using unique high-frequency datasets of weekly cholera cases and accumulated precipitation for wards in Dar es Salaam, we find robust evidence that extreme rainfall has a significant positive impact on weekly cholera incidences. The effect is larger in wards that are more prone to flooding, have higher shares of informal housing and unpaved roads. We identify limited spatial spillovers. Time-dynamic effects suggest cumulated rainfall increases cholera occurrence immediately and with a lag of up to 5 weeks.
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Mbu, Enow Tagem Abrams. "Essays on aid allocation and effectiveness in developing countries." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51654/.
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Kusuma, Igp Wira. "Essays on inflation dynamics in selected Asian countries." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2013. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/4365/.
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This thesis analyses inflation dynamics in eight Asian countries. The second chapter analyses inflation persistence and exchange rate pass through (ERPT). The findings on inflation persistence show that for most countries this declines after the Asian financial crisis. The findings for ERPT are more mixed and vary by country. The role of Inflation Targeting Framework (ITF) on inflation persistence and ERPT is also examined. The estimation results suggest it is too early to generalize that ITF exerts a consistently discernible influence on inflation dynamics across this group of Asian ITF countries. The third and fourth chapters focus on the impact that world oil and world food price shocks have on domestic prices. On average, the pass-through of the world oil price is higher than for world food prices. Another finding is that the domestic food supply capacity of a country succeeds in dampening the effect of world food price shocks. The fifth chapter employs disaggregated data on prices to examine inflation dynamics in Indonesia. The main finding is that price behaviour exhibits heterogeneity. Disaggregated prices are more flexible in response to sector specific shocks and are more sluggish in response to macroeconomic shocks. In response to deposit rate shocks, the price puzzle becomes weaker after the full implementation of ITF.
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Massie, A. W. "Great Britain and the defence of the Low Countries 1744-48." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.234606.
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Fischer-Kamel, Doris Sofie 1934. "THE MIDWIFE IN HISTORY WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON PRACTICE IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE AND IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/276411.
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Srinivasan, Thirumlai Gopolan. "Empirical macro models for developing countries : the case of Latin America." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1991. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4141/.
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The study treats Latin American countries as one regional economy by aggregating data of individual countries. Principles of aggregating data of individual countries for different types of variables are laid out and the generated data is laid out in terms of an accounting framework. Data series are also projected up to 2000 to provide a long track of 29 years for simulations which follow later. Original econometric work consists in estimating equations for export volume and prices, which is very much in the tradition of global modelling, and modelling aggregate investment for the region. A prototype full macro model is assembled for the Latin American region by using own work and also adopting econometric contributions from others. First, partial model simulations are performed to understand the underlying structural features. Aggregate demand block is simulated to reveal the size, plausibility and time pattern of Keynesian multipliers. This reveals a multiplier of 1.6 and a 11 year cycle generated by the multiplier-accelerator process. Aggregate supply bloc is simulated to exhibit the nature of supply response which shows that supply elasticity with respect to real exchange rate is about .2 and it is unkeynesian in the sense that there is little scope for action by inflationary surprises. Trade bloc is simulated to check whether Marshall-Lerner conditions are satisfied. Current account balance does improve upon devaluation with an elasticity of 2, but once prices and output are endogenized very soon the improvements are lost. Then, full model simulations are conducted in open loop mode to study the response of the regional economy to both external and internal shocks. These simulations show sensible and stable outcomes. Finally the Latin American model is simulated in `closed loop mode' to illustrate the use of the model built for policy analysis. Fiscal and exchange rate policy choices in the face of a negative external shock are investigated. The policy seeks to correct external imbalance. A qualified conclusion is drawn that expenditure cutting works as desired but exchange rate policy sets up severe cycle in current account balance.
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Mitchell, Tara. "Essays on the importance of access to information in developing countries." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2012. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/520/.
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The aim of my thesis is to investigate the importance of access to information for individuals in developing countries. In the first chapter, I describe an important channel through which improved access to market information could increase the prices that producers receive from middlemen. I develop a theoretical model of trade between a farmer and a middleman which allows for the existence of different types of middlemen and I provide an empirical test of the theory from an original framed field experiment carried out with farmers and middlemen in India. In chapter 2, I investigate the relationship between the decision to produce high-quality goods and two important characteristics of the product: the degree of observability of quality and the level of intermediation in the supply chain. I present a model which demonstrates that if quality is not perfectly observable, there will be a range of values of the price difference between high-quality and low-quality goods for which production of high-quality goods will occur with vertical integration but will not occur if the stages of production are carried out by separate agents. This chapter also presents some case studies of supply chains for various products in a number of developing countries that have characteristics which are consistent with the predictions of the model. In the final chapter, I try to understand how access to information could be improved for individuals in developing countries. I investigate the relationship between rates of mobile phone and Internet use and a number of geographic, institutional and economic variables in a sample of 164 countries from 1990 to 2009. The aim of this chapter is to identify the main characteristics of countries that have had success in adopting these new technologies in order to gain some insight into the barriers which may be faced by those countries that have been less successful.
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Nott, Michael J. "Photopoetry : a critical history of collaborations between poets and photographers in the Anglophone world, 1845-2015." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/7811.
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This thesis examines the history of collaborations between poets and photographers in the Anglophone world, from 1845 to 2015, and argues for a new form of art distinct from the photobook. It identifies a new body of work, ‘photopoetry', and develops this discovery into a critical exegesis of its forms and potentials. Proceeding chronologically, this thesis explores photopoetic history from its nineteenth-century roots to modern-day collaborations between renowned poets and photographers. Chapter I examines early experiments in photopoetic form, including scrapbooks and stereographs, and identifies two thematic trends characterising photopoetic history to the present day: the picturesque and the theatrical. The second chapter focuses on the identity politics of photopoetic books in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, exploring how the relationship between poem and photograph can both perpetuate and subvert representations of the objectified other, from British India to the American South. Chapter III theorises Imagism from a photographic perspective, examining how, in the absence of any discernibly modernist photopoetry book, the most important dialogue between poem and photograph was enacted within Imagist verse. It proceeds to examine the introduction of urban environments into early-to-mid-twentieth-century photopoetry. Chapter IV analyses the reinterpretation of photopoetic topography in mid-to-late-twentieth-century collaborations, exploring how picturesque landscapes in nineteenth-century photopoetry were reinvented as immersive environments that echoed the rise of photopoetic co-authorship and the development of more symbiotic, less literal photopoetic relationships. The fifth chapter expands upon ideas analysed in Chapter IV, arguing how, in narrowing both poetic and photographic focus to objects rather than picturesque vistas, twenty-first-century photopoetry encourages a non-linear approach to reading and viewing, abandoning the ‘journey' paradigm of earlier photopoetry. Overall, this thesis represents the first book-length history of photopoetry, and expounds both a new area of analysis for scholars of text and image, and a new critical discourse for such analyses.
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Regan, Paul John. "The construction of patriotic sentiment in the sixteenth-century Low Countries : cartography, Calvinism and rebel propaganda." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.296141.
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Napran, Laura Marie. "Marriage contracts in the southern Low Countries and the north of France in the twelfth century." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2001. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/273074.
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Durbarry, Ramesh. "The impact of foreign aid on growth and savings in developing countries." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1998. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13187/.
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Developing countries have received foreign aid and other forms of capital flows for a long time, although they have been subject to some fluctuations. The key question is whether these flows have helped them in achieving their objectives? Aid has been evaluated at two levels: micro and macro. While micro evaluations have found that in most cases aid 'works' (for example Cassen et al., 1986), those at the macro-level are ambiguous. This thesis is predominantly concerned with the macroeconomic impact of foreign aid. There have been considerable efforts to improve both the theoretical and empirical literature on aid effectiveness, both suffer from serious weaknesses and shortcomings. At the theoretical level, there are not many models which capture the full potential of foreign aid within a consistent, fully specified, growth framework, while existing empirical studies are flawed by model mispecification, questionable sample composition and size, and inappropriate econometric techniques. This has led to inconclusive and often misleading results in assessing the effectiveness of foreign aid. This thesis attempts to address some of these deficiencies. The impact of aid is mainly assessed on growth and savings in developing countries. Before testing its impact, aid is introduced into some growth models. Cases are analysed where an economy, after initial aid flows, can become independent of aid and experience sustained growth through its ability to raise labour efficiency. On the empirical front, two techniques are used: a preliminary statistical analysis is performed, followed by an econometric analysis. The former allows a better understanding of the geographical distribution of aid, the link and any correlation between the macro variables: aid, growth, savings and investment. Since aid flows have been influenced by major international shocks (e. g. oil price shocks, debt crises, etc.), a simple taxonomy is used to indicate how these events have influenced the effectiveness of aid. Using a macroeconometric model from Fischer-Easterly to control for the recipients' macroeconomic environment (previously overlooked in the literature), a positive and significant impact of foreign aid on growth is found. This result is confirmed using both cross-section and panel data for the period of 1970-1993. We make use of Hall's (1978) life cycle/permanent income hypothesis, but do not find evidence that current aid flows leak into consumption, hence rejecting the fungibility hypothesis. Although much further work concerning the developmental effectiveness of aid remains to be carried out, it is hoped that this study will stimulate improved techniques and methods used in testing the effectiveness of aid in future work.
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Al-Tarawneh, Alaaeddin. "Topics on financial crises in emerging countries case of Jordan." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2012. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/3636/.
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This thesis investigates the effect of monetary policy on financial stability and part of the real side of the Jordanian economy over the time period 1976-2009. It uses a number of empirical methodologies including: a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) to investigate the relationship between monetary policy and financial stability in Jordan; A Logit model and Markov switching model to study the currency crisis in Jordan; and an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) to estimate an investment function for the Jordanian economy. Findings of the VAR models confirmed the relationship between monetary policy and financial stability in Jordan. However, a number of indictors were found to have a significant effect on the currency crisis in Jordan. These indictors included the real exchange rate, money supply-reserves ratio, and growth rate of domestic credit. On the other hand, a stable long-run investment function exists. Real income and real credit were found to have a positive impact on real investment. However, the user cost of capital has had a negative impact on real investment.
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Hitchcock, Timothy V. "The English workhouse : a study in institutional poor relief in selected countries 1696-1750." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1985. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:57a30e82-1101-4b09-ab83-8e8e271c77f4.
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Two appendixes have also been produced. The first lists all of the workhouses the location and date of foundation of which have been identified, and the second, all of the houses positively associated with Matthew Marryott either in the role of advisor or contractor.
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Zafar, Muhammad Hasan. "Pakistani documentary : representation of national history and identity (1976-2016)." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2017. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8386/.
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This thesis presents a study of Pakistani documentary, with a focus on the ways in which it represents Pakistan’s national identity and history. The study examines three sources of documentary production – state media, commercial television channels, and independent filmmakers – as three distinct voices of Pakistani documentary. The study argues that the discourses of these institutions are governed by their respective ideological, political, and economic priorities. These factors result in two competing approaches to Pakistan’s national history and identity: right-wing and left-wing. The Islamic ideology of the state governs the discourse of state-sponsored documentaries. The commercial television documentaries take an anti-establishment position, however, they remain faithful to Islamic ideology of the state to a large extend. The independent filmmakers, on the other hand, offer a liberal perspective of history and a secular identity of Pakistan. Hence, they offer a critical view of the state’s Islamic ideology as a governing principle of historiography and identity formation. The notion of representation entails the issues of authenticity, credibility, and truth-value, associated with the various methods adopted by the filmmakers. Hence, attention is paid to the styles and modes of documentary, with a reflection on the documentarian’s individual approaches to realism. The documentaries have been placed within historical and political contexts considering Pakistan as a postcolonial state, which also functions as a critical framework of this study.
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Buhigiro, Jean Leonard. "The changing role and identity of the Nonaligned Movement (1955-1998)." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/53090.
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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to determine how the role and identity of the Nonaligned Movement (NAM) changed during and after the Cold War. The demise of the Movement in the post-Cold War era, predicted by some scholars, is discussed. This study examines whether the Movement merely offered an alternative grouping during the Cold War. The issue that becomes evident with respect to the Cold War is to show the terror it brought about and how the Third World became the battleground of the Superpowers. The question as to what extent the role played by the Movement defused the Cold War is investigated. It is shown that the Movement sent emissaries to Washington and Moscow to resolve the German Crisis in 1961 and to reduce the arms race. A historical overview of the Movement is offered, which determines the role of Afro- Asianism in the birth of the Nonaligned Movement. It is explained that the 1955 Bandung conference gathered leaders from independent African and Asian states - with different foreign policies - which created energies that in the following years greatly affected Third World politics and the shaping of nonalignment. This study traces also the role of different gatherings of the Movement up to the Durban Summit of 1998. At issue are also participating countries in the 1961 Belgrade Summit, which are described, as well as the growth of the Movement's membership. Different goals of the Movement are examined. Some, like nuclear disarmament, the right to self-determination, peaceful coexistence, and the right for the Palestinians to a homeland, were adopted during the Cold War and still remain valid. Others, like protection of the environment, and the struggle for human rights, were implemented during the post-Cold War era. The détente allowed the Movement to launch a New International Economic Order. An attempt is made to show the failure and success of the Movement in this respect.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om te bepaal hoe die rol en identiteit van die Onverbonde Beweging (NAM) tydens en na die Koue Oorlog verander het. Die ondergang van die Beweging in die na-Koue Oorlogse era soos deur sommige kenners voorspel is, word ook ondersoek. Die studie het probeer vasstelof die Beweging 'n alternatiewe groepering tydens die Koue Oorlog teweeg gebring het. Die kwessie met betrekking tot respect tot die Koue Oorlog bewys dat terreur meegebring word en hoe die Derde Wêreld die slagveld van die Supermoondhede gemaak het. Daar word ook gepoog om vas te stel tot watter mate die Beweging 'n rol gespeel het in die ontlonting van die Koue Oorlog. In die verband word onder andere verwys na die Beweging se pogings om die Duitse Krisis (1961) te ontlont en die wapenwedloop te beëindig deur die stuur van afgevaardigdes na Washington en Moskou. In 'n historiese oorsig van die Beweging word die rol wat 'n Afro-Asiatiese gevoel/gees in die stigting van die Onverbonde Beweging gespeel het, ondersoek. Die studie toon aan hoe die Bandung Konferensie van 1955 leiers van onafhanklike state van Afrika en Asië, wat uiteenlopende buitelandse beleidsrigtings gehad het, bymekaar gebring het. Hierdie uiteenlopendheid het 'n dinamika geskep wat Derde Wêreldse politiek en die aard van onverbondenheid wesenlik beinvloed het in die jare na die Konferensie. Verskeie byeenkomste van die Onverbonde Beweging tot en met die Durbanse spitsberaad (1998) word ontleed. Die samestelling en verloop van die spitsberaad in Belgrado in 1961 en die groei in die lidmaatskap van die Beweging kom onder andere onder die loep. Verskeie van die Beweging se doelwitte wat tydens die Koue Oorlog beslag gekry het en steeds geldig is, word onder die soeklig geplaas. Kernkrag ontwapening, die reg op selfbeskikking, vreedsame naasbestaan en die Palestyne se reg op 'n eie staat/tuisland is voorbeelde in die verband. Ander doelwitte van die beweging wat veral in die na-Koue Oorlogse era geimplementeer is, soos die bewaring en beskerming van die omgewing en die stryd om menseregte, word ook ondersoek. Die loodsing van 'n Nuwe Internasionale Ekonomiese Orde deur die Beweging wat deur die détente van die na-Koue Oorlogse era moontlik gemaak is, word ook bespreek en die sukses en mislukking daarvan geëvalueer.
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Ruitenbeek, Herman Jack. "Evaluating economic policies for promoting rainforest conservation in developing countries." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1990. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/19/.
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Economic policies are often suggested as mechanisms for promoting rainforest conservation in developing countries. To help decide whether international resources should be used to protect specific rainforcsts, the calculation of a "rainforest supply price" (RSP) is proposed. If protection is warranted, then empirical analyses explore the conditions under which selected policies within developing countries might be effective in protecting rainforests. Korup National Park in Cameroon contains the oldest rainforest in Africa and - as a haven for important endangered species- it is the subject of active international conservation efforts. A cost-bencfit analysis of a conservation project to protect Korup from increased land-use pressures suggests that it is not in Cameroon's interest unless a 5.4 million ECU inducement is transferred to Cameroon. Given the protection afforded, the transfer is equivalent to a RSP of 1060 ECU per km2 per year. Evaluations of six other tropical rainforest projects suggests that international donors made transfers having values ranging from 15 to 1575ECU per km2 per year. It is thus concluded that the inducements required are within a range which conservation interests are apparently willing to mobilise. To target inducements the provision of incentives in a "buffer zone" around a park is often believed to promote conservation. This is based on the hypothesis that increased incomes will draw individuals out of the park and will give them something better to do than exploit the park. A survey of 341 households around Korup was analysed in detail to test this hypothesis. Evidence suggests that economic development in the buffer zone would increase pressures on the park because: a) higher incomes would reduce emigration from the region and would thus cause greater population pressure on the Park; and, b) hunting effort increases as non-hunting income increases.
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Lee, Jong Sun. "Attitudes of civilian and military leaders toward war initiation : application of Richard Betts' analysis of American cases to other countries /." The Ohio State University, 1991. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu148775868016317.
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Li, Danying. "Household finance, consumption and health : evidence from China and European countries." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2019. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/8862/.
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This thesis presents three empirical studies on household finance. The thesis is inspired by the following phenomena: (1) the development of household finance; (2) the importance of enhancing financial inclusion; (3) the rising prevalence of obesity in western countries; (4) the global ageing challenge. Using the China Household Finance Survey, I investigate the determinants of financial inclusion, focusing on the role played by informal finance. I test the extent to which financial inclusion affects households' consumption. My findings suggest that enhancing financial inclusion in China may play an important role in rebalancing the economy towards domestic consumption. Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, I investigate the extent to which households' consumption profile changes after health shocks. My findings suggest that non-medical consumption is generally insured against health shocks in China. Using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, I find a positive association between financial stress and bodyweight in Europe. I find that individuals are more likely to respond to self-perceived financial stress than to objective levels of debt. Thus, policies aimed at improving citizens' ability to cope with financial stress may play a role in tackling the obesity epidemic in Europe.
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Höhne-Sparborth, Thomas. "The socio-economic spill-over effects of armed conflict on neighbouring countries." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2018. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3691/.
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This thesis explores the channels by which armed conflict may have wider regional effects through socio-economic spill-over effects. Collier (1999) has explored the economic consequences of civil war and other authors such as Murdoch and Sandler (2004) and de Groot (2010) have sought to verify the existence of neighbourhood effects through quantitative, large-N studies. These studies have only found mixed evidence of a net negative effect and have failed to identify the channels through which conflict affects neighbouring countries. This thesis adopts a case study approach to complement the longitudinal studies that have dominated the analysis of spill-over effects, focusing its primary case study on the example of Zambia, which experienced prolonged exposure to conflicts in Rhodesia, Mozambique, Angola and the DRC. Progressing from a survey of potential spill-over effects postulated in the existing literature, this thesis finds that the actual neighbourhood effects on Zambia have been more numerous and more ambiguous than previously acknowledged. In separate chapters on trade and investment, human capital and migration, food security, and military expenditure, this thesis assesses the range of effects by which these conflicts affected Zambia’s development. The thesis argues that trade and investment, agricultural policies, food security, and the escalation of government debt were affected by the pattern of regional instability, often in unexpected ways that defy easy generalisation. In addition to the Zambian case, the thesis offers a comparison with examples from Malawi, Belize, Jordan and Thailand. These supporting case studies demonstrate that the mechanisms identified in the study have widespread relevance in varied conflict situations, but that the net effect of individual channels of spill-over are dependent on local risk factors and policies. The thesis concludes with the provision of a framework outlining the various channels by which spill-over occurs, the risk factors involved, and possible policy responses.
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Niknam, Esfahani Naser. "The impact of macroeconomic variables on the stock market of the oil-exporting countries| The case of Iran." Thesis, Alliant International University, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10243507.
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The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of oil income and the gold price fluctuation on the stock market of Iran, and to examine whether consideration of the oil and the gold markets followed by other investment markets, such as the real estate market and the foreign exchange market have any significant impact on the stock market behavior. This study examines the impact of the oil income and gold price fluctuation, as well as other macroeconomic indicators such as housing construction, deposit interest rate, foreign exchange rate, consumer price index, and gross domestic products on the Iranian stock market, as measured by the quarterly data from January 1990 to December 2012. First, regression analysis was applied for oil revenue, housing activities, deposit interest rate, foreign exchange rate, CPI, and GDP to examine the stock market reaction to each market activity. After this, ceteris paribus, oil revenue was replaced with gold price to examine whether the price of gold without consideration of the oil revenue had any impact on the stock market activity. Finally, the model was run to examine the impact of all variables, including oil revenue and gold price, upon stock market activity. In a separate model, this paper also examines the relationship between all of the above-mentioned variables and stock market volatility. In the next phase, the impulse response function based on the vector auto-regression model was generated to examine the behavior of the stock market followed by a shock to each independent variable. Because Iran is an oil-exporting country—not an oil-importing country—economic forces, market structure as well as the investment culture and investing policies are different in Iran than in Western nations or other oil-importing countries, it may not be wise or productive to analyze investment in the Iranian stock market from the same perspective or with the same methods used when analyzing investment in Western countries. Because gold, foreign currencies, and the real estate market are the most popular and common investment markets in Iran for domestic investors, this paper aims to determine whether there is any relationship between those markets and the stock market in general from an investment point of view.
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Thomas, Jon E. "The Worldwide Expansion of Seminaries to English Speaking Countries from 1967 - 1970." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2011. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2756.
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This thesis explores the initial expansion of the seminary program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beyond North America from 1967 – 1970. During these years, seminary expanded to Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. William E. Berrett, as the administrator of the seminary and institute program, is involved in each phase of the program's expansion and therefore acts as a constant influence throughout the study. This study explores the conceiving and developing of the home study seminary program as well as the pilot program coordinated by Don Bond in the Midwestern United States. The efforts of the first international coordinators during the first year of expansion are related and examined. Administrators selected John Madsen to establish the program in Great Britain, J. L. Jaussi to establish the program in Australia, and Rhett James to establish the program in New Zealand. Each of these coordinators identified the challenges they faced and successes the program achieved. This study highlights the collective concern of Church Board members, local priesthood leaders, and Church education administrators for the youth of the Church as they approved, developed, and established the program internationally in Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.
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Al-Seghyer, Mohamed. "OPEC : tested by fire - prepared for the future; a review of its development, history and an assessment of its effectiveness." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.324766.
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SulejmanpaÅ¡iÄ, Adnan 1976. "Telecommunication technologies development in countries of the former Yugoslavia : history, needs and policy options for the future." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32289.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-90).
In the first part of this thesis I give an overview of the political-economic and telecommunications sector developments in major western economies, as well as some of the advanced Eastern European countries. I use this framework to analyze the telecommunications sector development in countries of the former Yugoslavia: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. Here I address the relevant legal and regulatory landscape development as well as the entrance of the most important business actors in the telecommunications markets of these countries. The history of the telecommunications sector development is also placed in the context of a broader set of political and economic shocks that affected this region of the world after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Throughout the thesis I build on insights learned during the research internship project that I undertook this summer: I visited capitals of all the former Yugoslavian countries and gathered data relevant to the telecommunications sector development by interviewing government and business sector officials there. This information is heavily used for the derivation of a set of policy recommendations and options that government officials should consider for advancing the development of the telecommunications technologies in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Strategies for telecommunications sector development, their barriers, and solutions for surmounting these barriers are presented in the third part of this thesis.
by Adnan Sulejmanpasic.
S.M.
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Luintel, Kul Bahadur. "Macroeconomics and money in developing countries : an econometric model for an Asian region." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1993. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/829/.
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This thesis is a contribution towards the macroeconomic and monetary analysis of developing countries. A fully-fledged macroeconometric model is theoretically specified, econometrically estimated and dynamically simulated for policy analysis. The model contains demand side, supply side, balance of payments accounts, government accounts and a financial sector. The model is tested using regional data consisting of seven Asian Developing Countries, namely, Fiji, India, Malayasia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. A regional econometric model for Asian LDCs was lacking in the realm of global econometric models and this study is an attempt to bridge this gap by building a first ever model for this region. In the demand side of the model volume equations for consumption, investment, exports and imports and an equation for export prices are estimated. The supply side is derived from wage and price equations following a production function approach which is neo-classical in spirit. Inflation is modelled as a function of the divergence between demand and supply. Government accounts and the balance of payments accounts are fully specified. Most of the existing macroeconomic models in LDCs context abstract from modelling a financial sector. The implicit reason for this is that the financial sector in these economies is underdeveloped; therefore, little scope exists for monetary policy instruments. We have developed a detailed bank based financial sector model where all the balance sheet flows of the Central Bank and commercial banks are at the centre stage. We show that monetary policy instruments are effective in affecting macro activity. The interlinkage between the financial and the real sector comes not through the cost of capital, rather it arises due to income-expenditure flows and the real financial asset stocks. Such linkages operate even if the financial sector is undeveloped.
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Shriver, Cameron. "Indians, Empires, and the Contest for Information in Colonial Miami and Illinois Countries." The Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1469107790.
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Haveric, Dzavid, and mikewood@deakin edu au. "Islamisation of Bosnia: Early Islamic influence on Bosnian society." Deakin University. School of Social and International Studies, 2004. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20051123.133900.
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This Masters thesis examines the process of the Islamisation of Bosnia from the eighth century to the end of the fifteenth century. This era of early Islamic influence has not previously been systematically studied, and remains an area little understood by many medievalists. The major foci of the analysis are the pre-Ottoman era and early Ottoman periods. This thesis raises the following research questions: When and how did the first Islamisation of the Balkan Slavs (including Bosnians) occur? How did Islam influence Bosnian society and culture, and where were the Bosnian Muslim settlements established?
This thesis includes a detailed historical investigation that makes use of a range of bibliographic materials. These consist of fragmentary works, archival and administrative documents and other relevant factography collected from a research field trip to Bosnia between June 27 and July 24, 2003.
The main findings reveal the complexity of this culturo-religious process in terms of both the early Islamic influence and contemporary cultural diversity. While different theoretical approaches to cultural representation and social space assist in exploring the hybrid nature of Bosniak identity, the primary and secondary data analyses highlight the significance of the phenomenon of the early Islamisation of Bosnia
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Bagley, Petra M. "Somebody's daughter : the portrayal of daughter-parent relationships by contemporary women writers from German-speaking countries." Thesis, University of Stirling, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/2134.
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The purpose of this thesis is to examine the complexities of daughterhood as portrayed by nine contemporary women writers: from former West Germany(Gabriele Wohmann, Elisabeth Plessen), from former East Germany (Hedda Zinner, Helga M. Novak), from Switzerland (Margrit Schriber) and from Austria (Brigitte Schwaiger, Jutta Schutting, Waltraud Anna Mitgutsch, Christine Haidegger). Ten prose-works which span a period of approximately ten years, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, are analysed according to theme and character. In the Introduction, we trace the historical development of women's writing in German, focusing on the most significant female authors from the Romantic period through to the rise of the New Women's Movement in the late sixties. We then consider a definition of 'Frauenliteratur' and the extent to which autobiography has become a typical feature of such women's writing. In the ensuing four chapters we highlight in psychological and sociological terms the mourning process a daughter undergoes after her father's death; the identification process between daughter and mother; the daughter's reaction to being adopted; and the daughter's decision to commit suicide. We see to what extent the environment in which each of these daughters is brought up as well as past events in German history shape the daughter's attitude towards her parents. Since we are studying the way in which these relationships are portrayed, we also need to take into account the narrative strategies employed by these modern women writers. In the light of our analysis of content and form we are able to examine the possible intentions behind such personal portraits: the act of writing as a form of self-discovery and self-therapy as well as the sharing of female experience. We conclude by suggesting the direction women's writing from German-speaking countries may be taking.
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黃慶恩 and Hing-yan Simon Wong. "Reconstructing the origins of contemporary Chinese law: the history of the legal system of the Chinese communistsduring the revolutionary period, 1921-1949." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2000. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31241207.
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Mendieta, Muñoz Ivan Irmin. "Essays on the endogeneity of the natural rate of growth in Latin American countries." Thesis, University of Kent, 2016. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/54346/.
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This Thesis contains four original essays that have been devoted to the study of different elements of the hypothesis of endogeneity of the natural rate of growth. The theoretical framework of the Thesis is presented in Chapter 1. In it, we explore various elements that are of utmost importance in order to understand the hypothesis of endogeneity and that have been generally overlooked by the literature. The four empirical essays presented in Chapters 2 to 5 explore different aspects of the endogeneity of the natural rate of growth in a sample of thirteen Latin American countries during the period 1981-2011. The first two empirical essays test the hypothesis of endogeneity using new specifications and various econometric techniques. The results indicate that the natural rate of growth is endogenous to the actual rate of growth, so that the long-run economic growth rate presents sensitivity both in the upward and downward directions in the majority of countries of study. We also find evidence that suggests that expansions are more important than recessions in the sample of Latin American countries. Chapter 4 tries to: 1) estimate a time-varying natural rate of growth; and 2) measure the sensitivity of the latter with respect to its individual components: the rate of growth of labour productivity and the rate of growth of labour force. The results show that the natural rate of growth is more sensitive to labour force growth in the sample of Latin American countries. Finally, the fifth essay studies the interactions between the individual components of the natural rate of growth and the individual components of the rate of growth of aggregate demand. The empirical results show that the rate of growth of labour productivity is more sensitive to the different components of the rate of growth of aggregate demand. However, we find mixed evidence regarding which component of the rate of growth of aggregate demand is more relevant, so that it is not possible to derive a single conclusion that encompasses all the Latin American countries of study. All in all, the present research finds both theoretical elements and empirical evidence that support the hypothesis of endogeneity of the natural rate of growth in Latin America during the period 1981-2011.
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Neal, Sarah Elizabeth. "Neonatal mortality in developing countries : an analysis of trends and determinants." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2009. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/72371/.
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There is limited understanding of how both trends and determinants of neonatal mortality vary from post-neonatal mortality, and more specifically how health care variables are associated with deaths in the first month of life. In particular the association between care at delivery and neonatal mortality is difficult to determine: in developing countries many women only seek skilled care once complications arise, making poor outcomes more probable. It is therefore inappropriate to directly compare outcomes from those who did and did not receive care at delivery due to this heterogeneity between the groups. This three-paper PHD thesis attempts to address some of these issues. Chapter 1 provides an overview of what is known about the determinants of neonatal and child mortality, before developing a conceptual framework for the analysis of neonatal and post-neonatal deaths. Chapter 2 (paper 1) provides a comprehensive analysis of the quality of Demographic & Household Surveys (DHS) data, before describing how trends in neonatal mortality differ from post-neonatal mortality over the short- and medium- term. It then examines how the associations between gross domestic product and neonatal, post-neonatal and early childhood mortality at national level differ using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Chapter 3 (paper 2) uses DHS data from Bangladesh to carry out bivariate and multivariate analysis to determine how the determinants of neonatal mortality vary from those of postneonatal mortality. It also tries to identify groups of women who are at ‘high’ or ‘low’ risk from institutional deliveries and compares rates of neonatal mortality. The risk categories are based on socio-economic, maternal health and health care utilisation factors that influence whether or not they are likely to have planned their delivery care or sought hospital care only in the event of complications. Chapter 4 (paper 3) furthers this work using Indian DHS data by examining how the association between health care determinants and neonatal mortality differ by asset quintile, mother’s education and state-level access to professional attendant at delivery. In this chapter I also use instrumental variable methodology to overcome the problem of endogeneity between delivery care variables and neonatal mortality. This technique enables me to examine the association between professional assistance at delivery while adjusting for the heterogeneity between women who do and do not seek such care. Chapter 5 concludes with a summary of key findings, as well as outlining areas for further research in this area.
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Gnanapragasam, Justin Bernard. "Catholic education in Sri Lanka during its first century as a British colony, 1796-1901." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1988. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/399862/.
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Irmawan, Yudi. "Globalization and the accountancy profession in developing countries : an examination of the historical developmemt of the Indonesian accountancy profession (1954-2008)." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4427.
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Studies on the development of the accountancy profession in the ex-colony countries have recently adopted theoretical and methodological frameworks that linked such development with the socio-historical context of these countries as former colonies or dependants of the more developed countries. More specifically, they associate the emergence and development of the accountancy profession in these countries with the historical and contemporary global expansion of capitalism. However, there is still a need for further research. First, how global expansion of capitalism penetrates is different across different country settings. Hence, this process would be best understood by incorporating the socio-political, economic and historical specificity of the given country. Second, previous studies emphasize the internal dialectic contradictions of capitalism in analysing the changes and dynamics of the profession in ex-colony countries. Recent literature, however, has introduced methodologies that recognize the need to acknowledge the existence of any rivalling structures as possible external sources of the dialectic progress of capitalist expansion. In regard to this, the socio-political and historical context of Indonesia may offer a case of how the interactions between global expansion of capitalism and existing rivalling structures may shape the development of the accountancy profession. The need for further research is amplified by the fact that previous studies on the Indonesian accountancy profession have generally ignored the influence of these wider socio-political factors. The primary aim of this study is thus to investigate how the accountancy profession has emerged and developed in Indonesia over the last five decades. To achieve its objectives, this research draws insights from the tradition of the globalization theory as a critique to global expansion of capitalism and Robert Cox historical structure methodology. The central argument of this thesis is that the development of the Indonesian accountancy profession followed the changes in the country's system of political economy, which in turn has been heavily influenced by the relationship between ex-colony countries with their former colonizers within the context of the capitalistic world order. In other words, this study accepts the contention that the spread of the Western-style accountancy profession across the globe, including Indonesia, was the consequence of global expansion of capitalism. However, the working and the extent of such influence is also shaped by alternative social structure(s) existing at the global level and/or emanating from the complexities of the Indonesian historical and societal context. To substantiate this argument, the study uses document analysis to understand the development of the Indonesian accountancy profession during the three main periods in its history. In the first period (1954-1966), the analysis shows that the Westernization of the accounting profession was compromised by Indonesian nationalism, ideological division amongst the Indonesian leaders and the Cold War. In the second period (1967-1997), the process was compromised by the oligarchic capitalism of the New Order political regime. The Westernization of the profession could only reach full speed after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which has undermined the politico-business coalitions under the New Order that had prevented Indonesia from fully integrating into the global capitalist economic order.
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Wouters, Olivier. "Essays on prices, volumes, and policies in generic drug markets in high- and middle-income countries." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2018. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3827/.
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Background and importance: Rising drug prices are putting pressure on health care budgets. Policymakers are assessing how they can save money through generic drugs. Objective: The aim of this Ph.D. was to explore issues relating to the prices and usage of generic medicines in high- and middle-income countries in five articles. This was done using quantitative and qualitative methods, including price and Herfindahl-Hirschman indexes, difference-in-differences regression analyses, semi-structured stakeholder interviews, and literature reviews. As a Ph.D. "thesis by papers", each of the five articles should be read as a stand-alone piece. However, the thesis presents an overarching narrative, outlined at the end of Chapter 1. Novelty and empirical contribution: My original contributions to knowledge are: (i) updated analyses of generic drug policies, prices, and usage rates in high-income countries, based on a large, representative sample of generic medicines from 2013 (Chapters 2 and 3); (ii) evidence on the impact of a pharmaceutical tendering system on medicines prices, demand, and competition over a 15-year period (Chapter 4); (iii) quantitative data on the impact of therapeutic tendering on drug spending and prices (Chapter 5); and (iv) qualitative data on how a country can move from a fragmented health-care system to a single-payer one, using tendering as the basis for a comprehensive drug-benefit plan (Chapter 6). Key findings: The prices and market shares of generics varied widely across Europe. For example, prices charged by manufacturers in Switzerland were, on average, more than 2.5 times those in Germany and more than 6 times those in the United Kingdom, based on the results of a commonly used price index. However, the results varied depending on the choice of index, base country, unit of volume, method of currency conversion, and therapeutic category. The results also differed depending on whether one looked at the prices charged by manufacturers or those charged by pharmacists. The proportion of prescriptions filled with generics ranged from 17% in Switzerland to 83% in the United Kingdom. The results of the first two studies indicated that the countries which used tender or tender-like systems to set generic drug prices in retail pharmacies (ie, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden) had among the lowest prices among the countries included in the studies. Tendering can be an effective policy to procure essential medicines at low prices, based on analysis of data from South Africa and Cyprus. For instance, the average prices of antiretroviral therapies, anti-infective medicines, small-volume parenterals, drops and inhalers, solid-dose medicines, and family-planning agents dropped by roughly 40% or more between 2003 and 2016 in South Africa. Many tender contracts in South Africa remained competitive over time, based on the Herfindahl-Hirschman results, with some notable exceptions. However, the number of different firms winning contracts decreased over time in most tender categories. Also, there were large discrepancies between the drug quantities the health ministry estimated it would need to meet patient demand and the quantities the ministry went on to procure during tender periods. In South Africa, the introduction of therapeutic tendering was associated with an estimated 33% to 44% reduction in the prices of solid-dose drugs in 2014. National governments in countries aiming to introduce national health systems (eg, Cyprus and South Africa) will need to adapt their tendering systems and other pharmaceutical policies during transition periods. Future research directions: More research is needed to better understand the drivers of differences in generic drug prices between countries. It is also important to examine why there are large differences in the prices of drugs in various therapeutic areas, both within and between countries. Also, data from more countries, especially low- and middle-income ones, are needed to determine which features of tendering systems are associated with lower prices. Future studies should re-examine the South African therapeutic tendering system once data from more post-intervention periods are available, possibly using other research designs like interrupted time-series models (ie, segmented regression analysis). Policy implications: Price indexes are useful statistical approaches for comparing drug prices across countries, but policymakers should interpret price indexes with caution given their limitations. This thesis offers useful data for policymakers using, or planning to introduce, tendering systems, especially in countries aiming for universal health coverage, like Cyprus (Chapter 6) and South Africa (Chapters 4 and 5).
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Abu, Nuwar Ma?n. "The creation and development of Trans-Jordan, 1920-1929." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.670354.
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Biswas, Margaret Rose. "FAO : its history and its achievements during the first four decades, 1945-1985." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2008. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:0b79db50-0d09-422e-8a11-d0ef8e9d47c3.
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Osborne, Thomas W. (Thomas William). "The Gleichschaltung of the Germandom organizations : 1933-1939." Thesis, McGill University, 1995. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=23731.
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This thesis examines and assesses the Gleichschaltung of the Germandom organizations from 1933 to 1939. The first chapter outlines the Peace Treaties of Versailles, Trianon and St. Germain and their effect upon the increased German minority in Europe. This body of Germans in countries outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland are referred to as the Volksdeutsche. The policies of the Weimar Government towards the German minorities in Europe are then examined. The second chapter outlines the minority policy of the National Socialist Party and various prominent National Socialist leaders. Chapter three outlines the major non-National Socialist and National Socialist Germandom organizations. Particular emphasis is given to the Verein fur Deutschtum im Ausland or the VDA, the Volksdeutscher Rat or the VR, Auslandsorganisation der NSDAP or AO, the Buro Kursell and the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle or VoMi. Chapters four through six deal with the events that lead to the Gleichschaltung of the Germandom organizations. Although the non-National Socialist Germandom organizations maintained a degree of independence from Nazi influence from 1933 until 2 July 1938, there was never any doubt that eventually the National Socialist Germandom organizations would gain ascendancy over them. In late 1936, the National Socialist Germandom organizations began to achieve lasting power and influence. By 1938, the non-National Socialist Germandom organizations were virtually impotent. The Gleichschaltung of the Germandom organizations, therefore, mirrors the Gleichschaltung that occurred on all levels of society in Germany following Adolf Hitler's appointment as Chancellor on 30 January 1933.
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El, Baker Lina. "L'Institut du monde arabe : une institution culturelle au carrefour des récits." Thesis, McGill University, 1997. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=28267.
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This thesis is a case study of a cultural institution located in Paris, France, namely the Arab World Institute. It strives to identify the various political and ideological discourses that manifest themselves throughout the Institute's history. The Institute's mission is to bridge the two cultures, Arab and European. It is a particularly interesting case study because of its problematic status which lies somewhere between the imperatives of local policies and those inherent to the international arena.The first chapter is a presentation of the institute, its history and its mission. It also dwells upon the local French political scene and the relations between France and the Arab world. It also offers a brief overview of the political and social realities of the Arab world.
Chapter two is an introduction to the particularities of the French cultural landscape. It looks at the historical and social movement towards the democratization of culture, specifically through the transformation of the museum and of cultural institutions as a whole.
Chapter three aims at identifying the repercussions of the French cultural policies on the Institute's functioning. The perceived failure of these policies is confronted with the official discourse surrounding the Institute.
Chapter four is a mapping of the different discourses that manifest themselves through the Institute. The multiplicity of the discourses and the discrepancies of their proclaimed objectives are understood to be at the source of the malfunctioning of the Institute.
This thesis does not attempt at finding solutions to the many problems of the Arab World Institute. It is rather an excavation work that aims at bringing forth some of the issues that could be explored while attempting at finding a resolution to the ailments of the Institute.
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Limm, Andrew Robert. "'Fairly out-Generalled and disgracefully beaten' : the British Army in the Low Countries, 1793-1814." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2015. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/5792/.
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The history of the British Army in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars is generally associated with stories of British military victory and the campaigns of the Duke of Wellington. An intrinsic aspect of the historiography is the argument that, following British defeat in the Low Countries in 1795, the Army was transformed by the military reforms of His Royal Highness, Frederick Duke of York. This thesis provides a critical appraisal of the reform process with reference to the organisation, structure, ethos and learning capabilities of the British Army and evaluates the impact of the reforms upon British military performance in the Low Countries, in the period 1793 to 1814, via a series of narrative reconstructions. This thesis directly challenges the transformation argument and provides a re-evaluation of British military competency in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
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Slabbert, Roelou. "A study of the history of and prospects for economic growth in African countries, with specific reference to Angola, Ghana and Nigeria." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/49207.
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Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2007.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Africa's economic growth will not be found across the Atlantic or Indian oceans in international markets. Growth will not be achieved by simply giving away state assets in large privatisation transactions. Growth will also not come from giving away valuable concessions to scarce natural resources or handing out investment incentives to resource seeking foreign investors. Governments and policy makers need to accept that drivers to sustainable economic growth, lies much closer to home. Not in greater domestic savings by that average man in the street (who, in Africa's poor economies, often would need to forego a daily meal in order to save), but even closer. The policies for economic growth in Africa need to be focussed on flrst achieving production and allocative efficiencies at home. The real drivers to achieve growth are to be found in the primary responsibilities of the state: Political stability though good governance Stable macroeconomic environments Good working infrastructures Educated and trained labour forces Sizable market through regional cooperation (eg. SADe) African leaders and policy makers would be well served by a change in policy and attitude. Searching for solutions from within, rather than from abroad, will provide more sustainable growth. Requests for international debt relieve, complaints about (and excuses based on) the wrongs of the colonial past, demands for international trade concessions and efforts to secure international investment; may only result in a shift in the focus away from the basic problems at home. At the same time, a committed and disciplined focus on political and macro-economic stability; an efficient infrastructure, quality labour and bigger markets will naturally lead to substantial increases in international trade (while at the same time provide for better platform for negotiating international trade dispensation), will generate foreign investment and will reduce the importance of debt relieve. In addition, an stable environment combined with a reliable infrastructure and a quality labour force provides fertile grounds for local African entrepreneurs to excel and in time create opportunities for domestic savings and organic growth. This study does will not convey a popular message. No quick fixes exist and Africa will have to turn their focus inwards. Africa will have to stop blaming past rulers and stop pleading with current the world leaders. International political and economical leaders will not come to the rescue of Africa, however wrong the past has been. Africa will have to pick itself up by its own bootlaces.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ekonorniese groei in Afrika sal nie gevind word oorkant die Atrlantiese of Indiese oseane in intemasionale markte nie. Groei sal nie behaal word deur eenvoudig staatbates weg te gee in groot privatiserings transaksies nie. Groei sal ook nie bewerkstellig word deur waardevolle konsessies tot skaars natuurlike hulpbronne uit te deel of deur toegewings vir die aansporing van beleggings aan hulpbron soekende intemasionale beleggers te maak nie. Owerhede en beleidmakers moet aanvaar dat die drywers vir volhoubare ekonomiese groei veel nader aan die huis Ie. Nie in groter huishoudelike besparings deur die man in die straat nie (wie Afrika se arm ekonomie waarskynlik 'n maaltyd sal moet prysegee om te kan spaar.), maar selfs nader. Die beleid vir ekonomiese groei in Afrika moet gefokus wees daarop om eerstens produksie en allokasie effektiwiteit in die plaaslike ekonomie te behaal. Die drywers om dit reg te kry word gevind in die primere vernatwoordelikhede van die staat: -Politieke stabiliteit deur goeie regering -Stabiele makro-ekonomiese omgewing -Goeie werkende infrastruktuur -Opgevoede en opgeleide werkersmag -Redelike grootte markte deur samewerking op streeksvlak (bv. SAOG) Afrika leiers en beleidmakers sal baat by 'n verandering in beleid en houding. Die soeke na oplossing van binne eerder as in die buiteland, sal eerder volhoubare groei bied. Versoeke vir intemasionale skuldverligting, klagtes rakende (en verskonings gebaseer op) die foute van die koloniale verlede, eise vir intemasionale handelskonsessies en pogings om internasionale beleggings te lok; al hierdie aksies lei waarskynlik slegs daartoe dat die fokus en aandag wegskuif van die basiese probleme in die plaaslike ekonomie. Terselfdertyd sal 'n toegewyde en gedissiplineerde fokus op politieke en makroekonomiese stabiliteit, 'n effektiewe infrastruktuur, hoer kwaliteit arbeidsmag en groter markte verseker oor die lang termyn weI lei tot 'n wesentlike toename in intemasionale handel (terwyl dit ook gelyktydig 'n beter platform skep om te onderbandel vir 'n meer voordelige intemasionale handelsdispensasie), meer intemasionale beleggings en sal die belangrikheid van skuldverligting laat afneem. Verder sal 'n stabiele omgewing, gekombineerd met 'n betroubare infrastruktuur en 'n bekwame arbeidsmag 'n vrugbare omgewing daar stel vir plaaslike Afrika entrepreneurs om uit te styg en te presteer. Dit sal oor die lang termyn geleentheid skep vir huishoudelike besparing en organiese groei. Hierdie studie bring nie 'n gewilde boodskap nie. Geen kitsoplossings bestaan nie en Afrika sal hul fokus inwaarts moet verskif. Afrika sal moet ophou om die koloniale heersers van die verlede te blameer en moet ophou om by huidige internasionale leiers te pleit vir hulp en toegewings. Intemasionale politieke en ekonomiese leiers sal nie tot die redding van Afrika kom nie, hoe verkeerd die verlede ookal was. Afrika sal homself moet optel aan sy eie skoenveters.
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Laverick, Jane A. "A world for the subject and a world of witnesses for the evidence : developments in geographical literature and the travel narrative in seventeenth-century England." Thesis, University of Stirling, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/2250.
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In the latter half of the seventeenth century, the first-person overseas voyage narrative enjoyed an unprecedented degree of popularity in England. This thesis is concerned with texts written by travellers and the increasing perception that such information might be useful to those engaged in newly-developing scientific specialisms. It draws upon a wide range of texts including geographiae, physico-theological texts, first-person voyage narratives and imaginary voyage prose fictions. The main focus of the thesis is on the movement away from traditional encyclopaedic geographical textbooks whose treatment of non-European countries comprised an amalgam of unattributed information and a mass of traditional and erudite beliefs, towards a priontising of eyewitness accounts by named observers. Following an introductory survey of the production of an indigenous body of geographical literature in England, the first chapter traces the decline in popularity of traditional geographiae and the separation of regional description from general theories of the earth. The second chapter shows how in the Restoration period the concerted efforts of Fellows of the newly-established Royal Society resulted in a significant increase in the number of overseas travel narratives being published. The third chapter looks at the way in which the Royal Society's campaign developed from its initiation in 1666 to the close of the century, focusing on the response of travellers to the Society's requests for information. The fourth chapter considers the way in which earlier accounts were advertised as fulfilling contemporary expectations of this type of discourse. The fifth and sixth chapters concern fictitious voyage narratives. Imitative of a genre the value of which was increasingly seen as residing in its veracity, these fictions adapted in accordance with the changes being introduced to real voyage accounts whilst continuing to perpetuate the archaic myths and traditional beliefs which had been ehminated from factual geographical description. Appended to the thesis is a list of accounts of voyages and travels outside Europe, printed in the Philosophical Transactions (1665-1700). Also listed are reviews and abstracts of geographical texts, inquiries concerning specific locations and directions and instructions aimed at seamen, with brief biographical information about the authors to indicate the range of contributors to that journal.
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Li, Kwan-leung, and 李君樑. "The European currency crisis: a replay of strains on bretton woods system." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1995. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31954522.
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Goma, Ophelia D. "An investigation of the behavior of replacement investment /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 1997. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p9841143.
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Ahsan, Mohammad Kamrul. "Sustainable development and environmentalism : an ethical framework for policy and decision making in developing countries with special reference to Bangladesh." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2012. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/41969/.
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There is a growing consensus that the currently dominant economic practices, which excessively rely on incessant profitability‘, fails appropriately to value ethical components of environmental problems: valuation of bearers of intrinsic value (e.g. all creatures), or again bearers of inherent and instrumental value (e.g. species and ecosystems). This has led to a systematic defect in relevant decision-making with diverse associated economic, social and environmental disbenefits. Although the UN formulation of sustainable development (as opposed to the currently dominant development paradigm) provides us with guidance on formulating an alternative framework for sustainable development, it involves some serious problems. Some of these problems suggest the need for revisions, while others seem fatal to the definitions as they stand. This study argues that a different revision, suggested by the basic needs approach, can surmount the various problems, and present and defend a revised definition accordingly. The revised account recognises economic inequality and social injustice as the underlying causes for environmental injustice and thus appropriately focuses on the principles of environmental justice. This conveys a framework for corresponding systemically the interconnectedness between the seemingly competing aspects of sustainable development, the dynamic flux between development needs and environmental limits. I defend Attfield‘s version of biocentric consequentialism, which supplies a strong theoretical basis for such an ethically informed and comprehensive policy framework for sustainable development. Furthermore, I tackle different approaches to security and argue that it is hardly possible to attain a sustainable future,while disregarding the human security view in its wider sense. The study examines in close detail the applicability of the proposed policy framework for sustainable development to developing countries, with special reference to Bangladesh. It offers a list of recommendations for Bangladesh and concludes that a sustainable future for Bangladesh (and developing countries at large) is for the most part reliant on the successful implementation of recommendations of the broad general kind made in this study.
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Almquist, Karin Marie 1966. "Works of mourning: Francophone women's postcolonial fictions of trauma and loss." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/8337.
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x, 215 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: KNIGHT PQ149 .A56 2004This dissertation project seeks to connect the thematic concerns of Francophone women's post-colonial fiction to broader issues of breaking cycles of violence and resisting the negative effects of globalization. An important part of the study will be a discussion of the historical trend towards the mechanization of nature to account for an ideology of domination that the West has exported to its colonies. Borrowing especially from Carolyn Merchant and the Frankfurt School of critical theorists but also from feminist object relations theorist Jessica Benjamin, I trace masculine culture's will to mastery over a weaker other to a primal fear of chaotic nature and the omnipotent Mother. Violence that is currently directed at nature, women and children, and that is a central theme in the narratives I consider, has a long history. Colonization in all its forms stands out as the main characteristic of this history that will continue to repeat itself if left unexamined. My project demonstrates how these particular post-colonial novels engage with the past in such a way as to diffuse the internal mechanism of abusive power. There are two principle components of this engagement: one is the bringing-to-light of a buried history, personal and collective, that Western, masculine culture strives to repress. The other is the creation of an aesthetic that offers a means to mourn a traumatic past, thereby initiating a process of emotional and social healing. Both phenomena serve as political resistance to a hegemonic system based on denial of loss. In these novels I refer to this aesthetic of mourning as a "feminine symbolic of loss" to distinguish it from a traditional male canon of melancholy literature which instead capitalizes on loss for its own advancement. Their representations of oft-tabooed subjects attest to a refusal to comply with the cultural mandate of silence, driving a wedge into that mechanism of power that perpetuates itself by the disavowal and repression of loss.
Committee in Charge: Karen McPherson, David Castillo, Linda Kintz, Wolf Sohlich
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Gallmann, Elena. "A critical appraisal of coverage and resource allocation decisions through the use of health technology assessment : evidence on orphan drugs from four countries." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2015. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3433/.
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Health Technology Assessment (HTA) relies on evidence-based medicine to inform drug coverage recommendations about the most efficient use of resources. Despite appraising the same evidence based on similar methodological approaches, HTA recommendations for the same drug differ across countries. This thesis aimed to understand the reasons for these differences, and based on cross-national comparisons, whether they are a consequence of methodological challenges in HTA. A mixed methods research design was used to develop a methodological framework that allows to breakdown these complex processes in a comparable and understandable manner, by considering: (a) the evidence appraised, (b) its interpretation, and (c) how this influenced the final decision. Ten orphan drug-indication pairs appraised in four countries (England, Scotland, Sweden and France (N=35)) were systematically analysed and compared on this basis. Results present the criteria accounted for at each stage of the process in the decisions, the reasons for differences across countries, and how HTA bodies are dealing with issues relating to orphan drugs. Quantitative analysis of these provided information about agency-specific risk and value preferences, and measured agreement in interpreting the same evidence. There was heterogeneity within and across countries in the criteria accounted for and reasons for cross-country differences. Interviews to competent authorities provided insights about these differences and implications for HTA. Although agreement was seen in the evidentiary requirements or preferences, there were subtle differences in the circumstances where uncertain evidence may be considered acceptable, partly explaining diverging HTA recommendations. The three main contributions of this thesis are: (1) the development of a methodological framework to understand what criteria feed into HTAs, which can be applied to other drugs and countries; (2) through its application, the identification of a full taxonomy of criteria considered in decisionmaking; and (3) the ability to understand the differences in HTA recommendations across countries. A better understanding of HTA in different settings may help advance these processes, and, ultimately, improve access to treatments.
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Mäkinen, Ilkka. "On suicide in European countries : some theoretical, legal and historical views on suicide mortality and its concomitants." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Sociologiska institutionen, 1997. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-48376.
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The theme of this thesis is suicide mortality in its various aspects, seen from an international, European perspective. It questions the existence of social (structural) concomitants to suicide mortality and investigates attitudes towards and legislation concerning suicide, as well as some historical processes pertaining to their development. Paper 1 replicates an authoritative study of the "correlates of suicide" on a national level in European countries. It shows that the findings of this study do not hold 16 years later, and it presents some ideas as to why these changes have taken place. It is suggested that there are no simple social correlates to suicide on this level, and that suicide rates tend to vary according to, among other things, international cultural influences. Paper 2 investigates penal legislation relating to suicide in European countries. Three types of punishable action are found: 1) aiding suicide, 2) abetting suicide, and 3) driving somebody to suicide. A majority of European countries include some of these acts in their criminal laws. However, the laws vary very widely between countries, thereby constituting a notable exception to the common presumption of uniformity of law. The scope of the criminalization and the severity of the penalties for the crimes covary both with cultural attitudes towards suicide and with suicide rates. The results are interpreted as indicating the existence of a cultural-normative system, consisting of the cultural attitudes towards suicide, the laws regulating the actions relating to suicide and, perhaps, religion. It influences the occurrence of suicide, mainly by offering individuals cultural models of behavior. Paper 3 describes the process towards the decriminalization of suicide (in 1864) in Sweden, its causes and consequences. It is suggested that the law change took place because of a) the international ideological currents of the time (the heritage of the Enlightenment), b) the examples presented by other European countries, and c) the radical changes in people's behavior. The reform was long overdue, and thus did not have a direct effect on suicide mortality. The increase in Swedish suicide rates in the 19th century is seen as connected with certain aspects of the "modernization" process. Paper 4 addresses the prospects and problems connected with the ap-plication of Talcott Parsons's functionalist theory to suicide research, in particular when contrasting it with Durkheim's theory. It is found that the latter, despite its shortcomings, still dominates socially oriented suicide research. Parsons's theory is seen as implicating the cultural primacy of suicide mortality. Its general usability is, however, highly uncertain since many of its essential constituent parts are not well suited to the subject. A model for suicide rates, consisting of cultural (domestic and inter-national), political, social, diffusion and availability factors is presented. Taken together, the papers constitute a case for cultural (as opposed to socio-structural) research into suicide mortality. They question the repeated testing of structural variables in favor of creating cultural indicators. They suggest some new lines of research, and call for a consistently universal perspective on the problem of suicide and suicide mortality.Härtill fyra uppsatser.
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Martill, Benjamin. "Cold War at the centre : liberalism and the politics of Euratlantic strategy, 1945-1990." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:59dc5f4a-5a58-4b0e-8690-9f99595e5200.
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Patterns of domestic political contestation in international affairs often see the centre aligned against both the left and the right of the ideological spectrum. This is observable in a range of issues, from democracy promotion, intervention, international law, European integration, free trade, globalization and the creation of international regimes. Why centre-periphery ideological competition occurs is an interesting puzzle, given the challenge it offers to the idea that partisanship is an inherently left-right phenomenon. Yet the role of the political centre in foreign policy has not been subjected to systematic analysis. This thesis studies the nature and effects of the foreign policy position of the political centre. It argues that the centre is distinguished from left and right by its embrace of distinct elements of liberal ideology. The liberal view of international politics differs in thee important respects from its socialist and conservative competitors: It is particular, rather than pluralist, when it comes to questions of sovereignty and international legitimacy; it views interdependence, rather than independence, as a natural and desirable condition of the international; and it views deterrence, rather than diplomacy, as the best means of achieving security. To test the validity of this thesis I discuss the role of ideology in explaining variation in relations between four Euratlantic states (Britain, France, West Germany and Canada) and the United States during the Cold War. This is a hard case given the intensity of global threat at the time. The thesis tests the claim that the strength of Euratlantic-American relations is a function of the relative influence of the political centre at the time. To do this it outlines a mixed-methods research design that combines in-depth case studies with a quantitative analysis of Euratlantic-US relations. The results from both elements confirm the validity of the theoretical proposition.
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Lantschner, Patrick. "The logic of political conflict in the late Middle Ages : a comparative study of urban political conflicts in Italy and the southern Low Countries, c. 1370-1440." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:88345337-bad5-4eb6-b626-ec6ae003cfef.
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This thesis examines urban political conflict in the late Middle Ages (c. 1370-1440) in Europe’s most heavily urbanised regions, Italy and the Southern Low Countries. Conflicts have frequently been viewed in the context of an emerging state-controlled political order, and have been interpreted either as forms of disruptive disorder, or as affirmations of political processes shaped by states. This thesis suggests that urban conflict should be studied not in the context of a state-controlled political order, but within the political framework provided by the numerous semi-autonomous jurisdictional institutions inside and outside cities (such as guilds, parishes or contending outside powers). This pluralistic order of politics gave rise to a form of political order sui generis which expressed itself in two ways. According to a general logic of conflict (Part One), particular rationales for justifying conflict (Chapter One) and specific political practices ranging from concealed protest to urban warfare (Chapter Two) were embedded in this multi-faceted and shifting political framework. Action groups could be negotiated and renegotiated around the resources provided by the city’s multiple legitimating institutions (Chapter Three). At the same time, such political institutions were configured differently in different cities, and this also generated a particular logic which lay at the basis of different systems of conflict (Part Two). Levels of conflict could, in fact, vary greatly between Bologna and Liège (Chapter Four), Florence and Tournai (Chapter Five), and Lille and Verona (Chapter Six), where, on the basis of different underlying political institutions, diverse practices of conflict and forms of association prevailed. The pluralistic order of politics itself was, therefore, a form of political organisation which crystallised around conflict. It gave rise to a logic which put conflict at the centre of the political order of late medieval cities.
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Magnette, Paul. "Citoyenneté et construction européenne: étude de la formation du concept de citoyenneté et de la recomposition de ses formes institutionnelles dans le cadre de la construction européenne." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/211973.
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Mund, Stéphane. "Genèse et développement de la représentation du monde "russe" en Occident (Xe - XVIe siècles)." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/211728.
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