Thèses sur le sujet « Economia libica »

This thesis develops a conceptual framework of the drivers and barriers to e-commerce adoption in developing countries such as Libya. One of the main drivers of economic development is technology. Technology adoption usually results in rapid economic growth, and rapid economic growth is usually accompanied by rapid structural change. It is now widely accepted by policy makers that e-commerce is at the centre of an economic and social transformation that is affecting all countries. E-commerce creates new economic and social landscapes. E-commerce enables producers in developing-country to overcome traditional business limitations. The research process involves a mixed research approach. Firstly, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted involving decision makers, government officials, managers and general employees regarding e-commerce and economic development in Libya. Secondly, a questionnaire was distributed across a population of 150 Libyan Internet users on a face-to-face basis. There are many drivers and barriers to the adoption of e-commerce. Most issues (competition, cost, employment, economic development, government, infrastructure, legislation and regulation, payment system) could be drivers or barriers. These issues created the theoretical framework. All issues were examined in Libya, the research findings confirmed the effects of these issues on e-commerce adoption. Moreover, the research findings resulted in an amended theoretical framework by introducing two new issues (knowledge and security). Additionally, the literature on e-commerce drivers and barriers issues has been expanded. The thesis concludes with a plan of action to assist Libya’s government on e-commerce adoption. The plan of action is driven by four main actors (Government, technologically advanced countries, companies and e-commerce users). These four actors and the plan of action comprise the three-quarter moon model that encourages the fourth actor (e-commerce users) to complete the circle of adoption. The thesis concludes that the three-quarter moon model can be generalized to other developing countries and proposes a classification model for e-commerce adoption along with a formula of Internet involvement. The classification model classifies countries according to their technological advancement. The new classification groups countries into non-technologically advanced, less-technologically advanced and technologically advanced.

This research is an empirical analysis of trade led growth of Libya during 1963-2008. Overall objective of this research is to investigate the role of international trade on Libya’s economy through reviewing various phases of economic growth in Libya starting from 1963. During this period, Libyan economy has undergone various structural changes. Not only has oil been one of its main exporting commodities, but also earnings from this sector of the Libyan economy have been credited with high growth rates experienced in the country. The research comprise of five specific objectives of which four require empirical justification. The non-empirical objective of the research is to obtain a trade profile of Libya. The empirical objectives include the analysis of relationship between trade and economic growth of Libya with and without incorporating the role of trade partners and the development of import demand in Libya with and without incorporating expenditure component. Results of the research showed that Libya is significantly dependent on international trade with countries of European Union; however, feedback effect from these countries is low. Mostly, Libya depends on the trade partners to cover the import demand. Import demand of the country is determined via price level instead of the income of the country. The only expenditure in Libya out of household consumption, government consumption, and investment, investment has sing incant effect on the price level. Therefore, for Libya to receive tread led growth, the country should employ such policies that favour total investment.

Large increases in water demand with very little recharge have strained Libya’s groundwater resources, resulting in serious declines in water levels and quality, especially along the Mediterranean coast where most of the agricultural, domestic and industrial activities are concentrated. To meet these increases, Libya turned to desalination as a supplementary water resource as early as 1964. Both thermal and membrane desalination technologies have been used. This study shows that the problem of water scarcity is likely to increase further in the future. This study has three aims: first, to estimate the historical relationship between population growth and the various uses of water; second, to forecast water consumption according to the various uses; third, to estimate the elasticities of water demand and examine the effect of price, income, population and temperature on water demand in Libya in the short and long-run. To achieve these aims, an econometric model of Libyan water demand is constructed and estimated for the period 1975-2005, using the Box-Jenkins approach to forecast water demand and the Engle-Granger two-step approach to estimate the short and long-run elasticities of water demand. As a result this study provides considerable information for policy makers concerning current and future Libyan water demand. By examining the relationships between population growth and the future consumption of water in Libya, it is possible to reach the following conclusions. • Population growth in Libya will be very high. • Population elasticities for water demand are elastic for agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes. Water demand for all purposes is extremely elastic. • Most of the population and agricultural lands are concentrated in the northern part of the country. • The Libyan economy depends heavily on underground water. • In Libya, as a whole, water demand will increase. Available water in 2020 will be less than half of water demands, implying an increase in the water scarcity problem over time. • The short and long-run price elasticties are negative, suggesting that there is an inverse relationship between water demands and price. Also, these elasticities indicate that water use is generally inelastic with respect to price. • The income elasticities are all positive in the short and long-run. This result accords with demand theory, implying that water is a normal good. • The estimation results suggest that, in the long-run, water demand for agricultural, domestic and industrial use is highly elastic for population and inelastic for price and income. • The short-run elasticities are less than the long-run elasticities, as economic theory suggests. Also, all elasticities in the short-run are less than one. This implies that water demand is inelastic in the short-run.

Esta investigación parte de dos objetivos principales: en primer lugar, efectuar un estudio comparativo entre la identidad libia de antes y de después del petróleo; y, en segundo lugar, examinar de manera objetiva, además de la historia política y económica, la historia cultural y social durante estos dos periodos. Este estudio ha abarcado las tres décadas sucesivas que se inician a partir de 1950. En ese final de la primera mitad del siglo XX, el país sufría una situación económica muy angustiosa y tenía el ingreso per cápita más bajo del mundo. La posibilidad de crear capital era casi inexistente, la economía nacional tenía una incapacidad permanente, la pobreza extrema se cernía sobre todos los lugares y en el horizonte apenas se veían rayos de esperanza. La economía del país dependía principalmente de dos modelos: el ganadero y el agrícola. El primero era tribal, colectivo, y se basaba en el pastoreo y el inestable y débil rendimiento agrícola. El segundo, un modelo rural de producción agrícola, se basaba en el agricultor independiente que sólo trabaja para sí mismo. Este patrón quedaba limitado a las pequeñas áreas agrícolas colindantes con la costa mediterránea. Pero, al cabo de treinta y cinco años, en 1985, el país se había convertido en uno de los mayores exportadores de petróleo crudo del mundo, disfrutaba de superávit en sus balanzas comerciales y de pagos, tenía un alto ingreso per cápita y, con el establecimiento de una economía capitalista global, pasó de una economía deficitaria a otra con grandes excedentes y abundante capital. El año 1961 se considera como el inició de la transformación de la vida económica libia a consecuencia del primer hallazgo de petróleo, el inicio de su exportación en el segundo año de la década de los sesenta, generó grandes cambios en la identidad libia, especialmente en la estructura económica, política, social y cultural del país. En el aspecto económico, el petróleo proporcionó un enorme recurso financiero que el país necesitaba de forma desesperada, con el cual fue capaz de deshacerse de sus graves problemas de financiación y permitirse prescindir de las ayudas externas que conseguía con la firma de acuerdos condicionados. En cuanto a los aspectos sociales basados en la tribu y los fuertes lazos familiares, el oro negro contribuyó a la dispersión de la sociedad tribal mediante la migración de miles de personas del campo a la ciudad en busca de trabajo, y el enriquecimiento rápido del país en los ámbitos del comercio, la construcción, los servicios y las nuevas profesiones. Los cambios no se limitaron a los aspectos externos, sino que estuvieron acompañados de cambios internos en la relación entre hombres y mujeres, mediante los cuales, a diferencia de la familia tradicional en la que el hombre tenía el poder absoluto, la mujer libia consiguió su independencia económica y física. Al finalizar este periodo de mejoras, en su balanza de pagos, balanza comercial y renta per cápita aparecieron consecuencias negativas debido a la alta inflación y al aumento de los precios, así como problemas relacionados con la capacidad de absorción de la economía nacional derivados del creciente auge económico y del papel del Gobierno como salvador, a partir de la creación de un número creciente de proyectos de desarrollo económico. Algunas de las características de la sociedad tribal todavía son patentes en Libia, aunque el país se ha desarrollado más allá de su estructura tribal tradicional. Pero en ausencia de instituciones políticas democráticas, el tribalismo sigue presente en la sociedad y, si no se resuelve el problema de la democracia, puede llegar a ser perjudicial para el proceso de modernización en el largo plazo.
When I began to work on this research, I observed that in the history of Libya there are some aspects that still remain far from the attention of historians and have not been sufficiently investigated, because they focused their major efforts on studying the political and economic history of Libya, paying less attention to the sociological and demographic aspects. For that reason, I had two objectives in mind: first, to carry out a comparative study between the identity of Libya before and after oil; and, secondly, to objectively examine, in addition to political and economic history, cultural and social history during this period. My Libyan origin, my knowledge of the environment and my ability to contact the Libyans, gave me a unique opportunity to understand interests and events, and then reflect them in this research from a point of view very close to reality. This study has covered the three successive decades that began in 1950. At the end of the first half of the 20th century, the country suffered a very distressing economic situation and had the lowest per capita income in the world. The possibility of creating capital was almost non-existent, the national economy had a permanent disability, extreme poverty hovered over the entire country and on the horizon, there was no hope. But at the end of thirty-five years, in 1985, the country had become one of the largest exporters of crude oil in the world, enjoyed surpluses in its trade and payment balances, had a high per capita income and, with the establishment of a global capitalist economy, went from one deficit economy to another with large surpluses and abundant capital.

The Libyan economy relies heavily on increasing oil revenues, which may deteriorate with a future oil price decline. The Libyan economy performed as well as resource poor countries over the past few decades. The oil booms of 1973 and 1979 brought unprecedented income to Libya but, despite the substantial oil revenues, much of the potential benefit of the windfall has been dissipated. Libya relies heavily on oil receipts, the price of which tends to fluctuate widely in the international market. Also, the Libyan economy is dominated by hydrocarbons and the public sector. Sizeable oil wealth has supported a decent living standard for Libya's population, and socio-economic development compares favourably with standards in other Middle Eastern and North African countries. Libya has the potential to raise oil production and revenues significantly in coming years, given its large reserve. The reliance of public finance on a single sector means that shocks threaten the economy's fiscal balance and stability. Libya has over-consumed in response to windfalls from surges in world prices. Libyan government spending has outstripped the gain in revenues. These sharp increases in government spending are difficult to reverse when the boom ends and often lead to large fiscal deficits rather than surplus. However, the main challenge for Libya is to promote growth of the non-oil sector and spur diversification of its economy. Non-hydrocarbon GDP growth has been weak and oil revenue volatility has been transmitted to non-hydrocarbon GDP. Weak non-oil GDP growth reflects both insufficient private investment and low productivity of capital importing efficiency. Productivity growth is a precondition for faster growth and greater investment effort. Strong productivity growth is also a prerequisite for competitive diversification out of hydrocarbon. Projected high oil revenue will provide the finance for growth but will not necessarily spur sustained growth in the non-oil sector. Overoptimistic predictions of future oil revenues are shown to have seriously adverse consequences, particularly if the non-oil economy adjusts to falling demand through underdevelopment and capital flight is provoked. Policy options for protecting the economy from volatility in oil revenues, without eliminating the benefits from rising prices include the formation of a stabilization fund and hedging strategies in the international markets. The stabilization fund would smooth consumption and reduce the costs associated with volatile spending. Libya needs sound economic management and to address the problems associated with oil windfalls. Market processes are required to help allocate public resources, and governments and others responsible must take account of risk and uncertainty when selecting projects, and formulating plans for development. Consequently, there is a macroeconomic need to diversify the economy to avoid the pitfalls which so often plague developing countries with vast natural resources. The decisions concerning public investment in a social economic infrastructure would be better if unconnected to the presence of hydrocarbon windfalls. To speed up non-oil growth and job creation, the oil windfalls should be used strategically, with the aim of facilitating the transition to a competitive, market-led economy. Over the long-term, the intermediation of hydrocarbon windfalls through the household and business sectors might produce superior long-term growth, but it should go in tandem with considerable strengthening of the investment climate. Enhancing the quality of Libya's human resources will also be essential to improve productivity and diversify out of oil - especially into services - and compete in the global economy. Improving the quality of governance deserves particular attention, because it underlies the development reform agenda. Libya would probably have seen a larger benefit from its windfalls had it saved a higher proportion abroad and limited domestic investment through applying market criteria more rigorously. Quite clearly, good fiscal control of periodic boom episodes enables the boom to temporarily accelerate the rate of economic development. In addition, such questions as the magnitude of the windfalls, how Libya has used them and their impact on non-oil a sector have been addressed in this research. The adoption of sound economic policies and the good management of oil windfall gains will allow Libya to continuously manage growth and become one of the greatest success stories of all developing countries.

It is widely recognised that the construction industry has a positive role to accelerate the wheel of economic growth in any country. This research is concerned with the Libyan construction industry (LCI). Libya is a developing country which suffered from a big loss in its infrastructures and its unemployment rate increased to 30% in the middle of 2013. Regarding the importance of the construction industry through the role it has in providing infrastructure and creating employment and the poor economic condition of Libya, the rationale of this research follows the example of other nations such as Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia , and Middle East countries where the construction industry was evolved with a target to further boost up the process of economic development. The case of Libya in this regard is valid for the financial stability in the country given its oil reserves and the capacity of the country to absorb migrated skilled labour. This situation is expected to follow the fall of Gaddafi’s regime. The approach of selecting construction as providing input to economic growth follows the strong evidence of the significant role that the construction industry plays in economic growth of the country. The construction industry contributes to economic growth from the demand side and in the traditional Keynesian economy, sustainable short-run economic growth is dependent on the increased demand. For example, in the UK, construction’s 2.5% growth in the third quarter of 2013 helped the overall economy grow by 0.8% over the same period. In comparison with the other industries that contribute to the economic growth of developing countries, the construction industry is more labour-intensive while the developing countries are mostly labour-abundant. The main aim of this research is to investigate the contribution of the construction industry to economic development in order to establish a comprehensive list of recommendations and a guideline for achieving an efficient construction industry to accelerate the process of economic growth. For this aim, the first objective is to examine the causal relationship between the construction industry and gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of the economic growth and between the construction industry and other economic sectors. To achieve the aim of this research, Granger causality tests have been conducted. The financial data about the expenditure on the construction industry in Libya and its share in the GDP of the country and the share of the other economic sectors in the GDP during 1986-2009 was provided by an authority from the Libyan construction industry. First, The Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and the Philip Perron (PP) unit root tests were conducted to confirm that the tested time series are stationary. After that, to determine the existence of the long-run causal relationship between the CI and GDP, Engle-Granger co-integration test was used and, finally, vector error correction (VER) model was employed to detect the direction of the causal relationship between the two variables. The study found that in Libya, like in other countries, the relationship between the construction industry and GDP is bi-directional: GDP produces a short-term impact on the investment in the construction industry while investment in the construction industry produces a long-term impact on GDP. However, except for trade, no economic sector was found to have a causal relationship with the construction industry. According to these findings, another objective was established in this research: to identify safety and total quality management (TQM) which can play an important role in growing the efficiency of the Libyan construction industry. To achieve this objective, telephone conversations were conducted with the officials of the largest construction company in the city of Benghazi. The findings indicated that the TQM does not exist in the construction company and, although the safety department does exist, it works via strict procedures. Thus, opportunity to increase the performance of the CI in order to increase its contribution to economic growth does exist through implementation of the safety and TQM implementation in Licccbyan construction companies. The previous studies used the causal relationship just to prove specific hypotheses. The novelty of this research is to obtain benefits from the existence of the causal relationship from the CI to GDP in the long term through suggesting major issues as safety and TQM implementation to raise the performance of the CI in the current period in order to increase its contribution to the economic growth in the future.

This thesis investigates the social and economic history of slavery in Libya in the period between 1800 and 1950. Focusing on Tripoli and the trading centres of Ghadames and Fezzan, it uses a combination of sources including legal records, travel accounts, commercial correspondence, memoirs and oral interviews to examine the impact of the slave trade, the economic and social lives of the enslaved, and their experiences of emancipation. Examining the trading of slaves in Ghadames, the thesis reveals how merchants considered slaves one commodity among others. It analyses how the slave trade continued until the Italian occupation of Libya in 1911, long after the formal prohibition of the trans-Saharan slave trade in 1856. Despite a long-term decline, caravan trading networks remained somewhat resilient and continued with alternative commodities such as ivory and ostrich feathers. This thesis then moves to analyse the social and economic lives of the enslaved, and the legal status of slavery in Libya. It explores the dynamics of employment, resistance by slaves and master-slave relations by analysing two major categories of slaves, who were treated considerably differently; those who worked in the caravan trade in Ghadames, and those slaves who worked as domestic servants in Tripoli. Many existing sources showed the differences in social relationship between slaves and masters. Different occupational categories, such as caravan workers and domestic servants, had different access to patronage, or experiences of abuse and violence. Oral interviews reveal that slaves in Tripoli experienced less violence compared to those in Ghadames and Fezzan in the nineteenth century. However, mistreated slaves had the right to a court hearing. The court provided a platform for slaves to challenge abuse, with some slaves seeking to push these boundaries further by going to court to assert their rights to better treatment by their owners. The third chapter explores the patterns of religious and economic manumission that existed in Libya before the abolition of slavery, It also traces changes of policies of emancipation that pursued by Ottoman and Italian governments. Finally, the thesis explores the social history of emancipation through examining the economic and social lives of communities of freed slaves. Through surveying a large number of legal cases, the thesis argues that slavery in Libya was marked more by continuities than change across the period of study. The legacy of slavery has persisted over time as relations of clientship between ex-slaves and ex-masters replaced direct relations of ownership. This thesis shows the difficulties faced by slaves in negotiating for clientship (al-wala’) from their former masters. Some ex-slaves unquestionably improved their status with a substantial minority experiencing social mobility as caravan workers and agents, while others remained ill-treated, with irregular work and subsistence wage labour; living on the margins of Libyan society.

The financial liberalisation theorem postulates that liberalising the financial sector is a route to increasing savings and investment, and thus the promotion of growth. Endogenous growth models suggest that financial sector development increases savings mobilisation, transfers savings into investments, and increases the productivity of investment, with the consequence of economic growth and improved economic performance. However, in practice, experience has shown that a number of developing countries do not demonstrate this kind of relationship, and have rather, recorded relatively low growth despite achieving high savings rates. It is argued that the reason why few authors have found empirical evidence supporting the notion that saving causes growth in developing countries, and have found instead that growth causes savings, is these scholars' failure to consider the productivity of investment financed by savings, evidenced by the tendency to use aggregate measures of savings. This work proposes that the quality of saving is important, and instead of using gross saving, financial savings is used as a measure of savings. Despite the implementation of reforms and liberalisation in the financial sector, especially the banking industry, as the major elements of the economic reforms and structural adjustment programmes in Libya in the early 1990s, the resulting improved economic performance has not been followed by sustained economic growth and development, and investment rates are still insufficient to achieve this. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to identify the role of the financial sector, examining the impact of its development on saving, and on the growth of the Libyan economy. The methodology used in this research involved the quantitative approach. The quantitative aspect was based on an empirical assessment of the importance of financial sector development by using time-series econometric techniques including the unit root test, testing for cointegration and causality for the variables of the study. The results indicate that the impact of the real interest rate on financial saving and domestic investment is negative in the long run. The impact of real output on financial savings and domestic investment is positive in the long run. Credit as an indicator of financial sector development, has a very small impact on domestic saving in the long run and is highly insignificant in the long run. The causality test results indicate that causality runs from growth to financial savings, from growth or real output to credit. The study suggests that more attention should be paid to other aspects of financial liberalisation and financial reforms because liberalising the interest rate is not only the key aspect of financial sector reform.

The objectives of this thesis are to: (1) examine if the resource curse exists in the context of Libya; (2) assess the role of institutions in avoiding or minimising the resource curse, and; (3) evaluate institutional and economic reforms required, and the best options to diversify the economy from oil, hence avoid the resource curse in Libya. To achieve these, three approaches are applied, (i) a three country comparative analysis; (ii) Libya country-level time-series analysis, and; (iii) institutional descriptive analysis. This thesis uses time-series data and annual datasets covering 1970-2010. Johansen’s co-integration is used to establish the long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables in the models. The Johansen co-integration test, based on the Trace and Maximum Eigenvalue statistics, is applied. In the first approach, the three case studies included in the study are Nigeria, Norway and UAE, with outcomes suggesting that Norway managed to avoid the Dutch disease, the UAE show no major signs of the resource curse, Norway and the UAE have largely managed to overcome Dutch disease, while Nigeria suffers a management curse. The first model suggests that Libya may experience a resource curse, but this may not be as a result of an appreciation of the real exchange rate. A 1% increase in the oil price will cause the Libyan exchange rate to increase (depreciate) by 1.41%. The country could potentially suffer from Dutch disease, but no evidence can be brought by the first model alone. In an attempt to reinforce the first analysis, the second model examined the sectoral impacts of the Dutch disease. Three relations are estimated; tradable sectors (manufacturing and agricultural), and non-tradable sectors (construction and services). These were all found to have been affected by oil revenue. This therefore confirms the existence of Dutch disease in Libya. The descriptive statistics analysis is used alongside five governance indicators: political stability, government effectiveness, and regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption. It is concluded that the quality of institutions in Libya affects economic growth negatively. The study holds several implications for policy-makers.

Doutoramento em Engenharia Mecânica
The PhD project addresses the potential of using concentrating solar power (CSP) plants as a viable alternative energy producing system in Libya. Exergetic, energetic, economic and environmental analyses are carried out for a particular type of CSP plants. The study, although it aims a particular type of CSP plant – 50 MW parabolic trough-CSP plant, it is sufficiently general to be applied to other configurations. The novelty of the study, in addition to modeling and analyzing the selected configuration, lies in the use of a state-of-the-art exergetic analysis combined with the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The modeling and simulation of the plant is carried out in chapter three and they are conducted into two parts, namely: power cycle and solar field. The computer model developed for the analysis of the plant is based on algebraic equations describing the power cycle and the solar field. The model was solved using the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software; and is designed to define the properties at each state point of the plant and then, sequentially, to determine energy, efficiency and irreversibility for each component. The developed model has the potential of using in the preliminary design of CSPs and, in particular, for the configuration of the solar field based on existing commercial plants. Moreover, it has the ability of analyzing the energetic, economic and environmental feasibility of using CSPs in different regions of the world, which is illustrated for the Libyan region in this study. The overall feasibility scenario is completed through an hourly analysis on an annual basis in chapter Four. This analysis allows the comparison of different systems and, eventually, a particular selection, and it includes both the economic and energetic components using the “greenius” software. The analysis also examined the impact of project financing and incentives on the cost of energy. The main technological finding of this analysis is higher performance and lower levelized cost of electricity (LCE) for Libya as compared to Southern Europe (Spain). Therefore, Libya has the potential of becoming attractive for the establishment of CSPs in its territory and, in this way, to facilitate the target of several European initiatives that aim to import electricity generated by renewable sources from North African and Middle East countries. The analysis is presented a brief review of the current cost of energy and the potential of reducing the cost from parabolic trough- CSP plant. Exergetic and environmental life cycle assessment analyses are conducted for the selected plant in chapter Five; the objectives are 1) to assess the environmental impact and cost, in terms of exergy of the life cycle of the plant; 2) to find out the points of weakness in terms of irreversibility of the process; and 3) to verify whether solar power plants can reduce environmental impact and the cost of electricity generation by comparing them with fossil fuel plants, in particular, Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) plant and oil thermal power plant. The analysis also targets a thermoeconomic analysis using the specific exergy costing (SPECO) method to evaluate the level of the cost caused by exergy destruction. The main technological findings are that the most important contribution impact lies with the solar field, which reports a value of 79%; and the materials with the vi highest impact are: steel (47%), molten salt (25%) and synthetic oil (21%). The “Human Health” damage category presents the highest impact (69%) followed by the “Resource” damage category (24%). In addition, the highest exergy demand is linked to the steel (47%); and there is a considerable exergetic demand related to the molten salt and synthetic oil with values of 25% and 19%, respectively. Finally, in the comparison with fossil fuel power plants (NGCC and Oil), the CSP plant presents the lowest environmental impact, while the worst environmental performance is reported to the oil power plant followed by NGCC plant. The solar field presents the largest value of cost rate, where the boiler is a component with the highest cost rate among the power cycle components. The thermal storage allows the CSP plants to overcome solar irradiation transients, to respond to electricity demand independent of weather conditions, and to extend electricity production beyond the availability of daylight. Numerical analysis of the thermal transient response of a thermocline storage tank is carried out for the charging phase. The system of equations describing the numerical model is solved by using time-implicit and space-backward finite differences and which encoded within the Matlab environment. The analysis presented the following findings: the predictions agree well with the experiments for the time evolution of the thermocline region, particularly for the regions away from the top-inlet. The deviations observed in the near-region of the inlet are most likely due to the high-level of turbulence in this region due to the localized level of mixing resulting; a simple analytical model to take into consideration this increased turbulence level was developed and it leads to some improvement of the predictions; this approach requires practically no additional computational effort and it relates the effective thermal diffusivity to the mean effective velocity of the fluid at each particular height of the system. Altogether the study indicates that the selected parabolic trough-CSP plant has the edge over alternative competing technologies for locations where DNI is high and where land usage is not an issue, such as the shoreline of Libya.
O projeto de Doutoramento aborda o potencial de usar centrais de energia solar concentrada (CSP) como um sistema de produção de energia alternativa disponível na Líbia. Uma análise nas vertentes exergética, energética, económica e ambiental foi realizada para um tipo particular destas centrais – um sistema de 50 MW com receção parabólica, porém ela é suficientemente geral para ser aplicada a outras configurações. A originalidade do estudo, para além da modelação e análise da configuração selecionada encontra-se na utilização do estado da arte em termos da análise exergética combinada com a avaliação do ciclo de vida (LCA). A modelação e simulação da central CSP selecionada são efetuadas no terceiro capítulo tendo em consideração as duas componentes: ciclo de potência e campo de coletores solar. O modelo computacional para a análise do sistema foi desenvolvido com base em equações algébricas que descrevem o sistema, e que são resolvidas usando o software EES. Deste modo, são definidas as propriedades em cada ponto de interesse para os diferentes elementos do sistema, o que assim permite determinar as energias, eficiências e irreversibilidades desses elementos. O modelo desenvolvido tem o potencial de se tornar uma ferramenta de grande utilidade para o projeto preliminar de engenharia de centrais CSP, e também para a avaliação da eventual reconfiguração de centrais elétricas solares comerciais em operação. Além disso, o modelo pode ser utilizado no estudo de viabilidade da operação de centrais CSP, através da análise energética, económica e ambiental, para regiões diferentes da que foi escolhida no presente estudo -Trípoli (Líbia). O cenário total da viabilidade da operação da central CSP é completado através da análise horária com base anual apresentada no quarto capítulo. Esta análise permite a comparação de diferentes sistemas e, eventualmente permite fazer a seleção com base nas componentes económicas e energéticas, que são determinadas dentro do contexto do software greenius. A análise também toma em conta o impacto de financiamento e incentivos dados aos projetos no custo da produção de energia. O principal resultado desta análise é a verificação que o desempenho é mais elevado, com o consequente menor custo nivelado da eletricidade, para a Líbia em comparação com o Sul da Europa (Espanha). Assim a Líbia tem o potencial de se tornar um candidato atrativo para o estabelecimento de centrais CSP com o objetivo, como foi considerado em várias iniciativas europeias, de exportar eletricidade gerada através de fontes de energia renováveis de países do Norte de África e Médio Oriente para a Europa. A análise apresenta uma breve revisão do custo corrente da eletricidade e o potencial para reduzir o custo da energia a partir da tecnologia de receção parabólica de centrais CSP. A avaliação do ciclo de vida com base exergética (ELCA) e a avaliação do ciclo de vida convencional são realizadas para a centrais CSP específicas no quinto capítulo. Os objetivos são 1) avaliar o impacto ambiental e custo, em termos de do ciclo iv de vida exergético do sistema; 2) identificar pontos fracos em termos da irreversibilidade dos processos; e 3) verificar se as centrais CSP podem reduzir o impacto ambiental e o custo de geração de eletricidade em comparação com centrais que consomem combustível fóssil. O capítulo ainda apresenta uma análise termoeconómica com base na metodologia do custo específico da exergia (SPECO), que avalia o custo relacionado com a destruição de exergia. A análise verificou que o impacto mais importante é a contribuição apresentada pelo campo solar (79%), e os materiais com maior impacto são: aço (47%), sal fundido (25%) e óleo sintético (21%). A análise ELCA mostra que a maior demanda de exergia é devida ao aço (47%); a análise existe uma considerável demanda de exergia relacionada com o sal fundido e ainda o óleo sintético. Em comparação com as centrais que consomem combustível fóssil (NGCC e óleo) a central sistema CSP apresenta menor impacto ambiental, enquanto o pior desempenho ambiental é o da central com queima de óleo seguida pela central a gás natural (NGCC). Na central CSP, o campo solar apresenta o custo mais elevado, enquanto o gerador de vapor, entre os componentes do ciclo de potência, apresenta o maior custo. O armazenamento de energia térmica permite que as centrais CSP superem a intermitência de radiação solar para responder à procura de energia elétrica independentemente das condições climáticas, e também possam estender a produção de eletricidade para além da disponibilidade da radiação solar diária. A análise numérica do transiente térmico de um sistema de armazenamento de gradiente térmico é realizada durante a fase de carregamento. O sistema de equações que descreve o modelo numérico é resolvido através da utilização de diferenças finitas implícitas no tempo usando o software Matlab. Os resultados da análise indicam que as previsões estão em boa concordância com os dados experimentais para a evolução no tempo da região de gradiente térmico, em particular para regiões mais afastadas da entrada. Nesta região os desvios observados são provavelmente causados pelo alto nível de turbulência devido à penetração do jato no seio do tanque de armazenamento. O modelo analítico simples para simular a turbulência que foi desenvolvido melhora os resultados. Esta abordagem não requer esforço computacional adicional e determina a difusidade térmica efetiva ao longo do tanque.

Libya has an economy over dependent on hydrocarbon and the petroleum industry. In a bid to diversify, the Libyan government is looking at Free Economic Zones (FEZ) as a viable option versus other avenues, like Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This thesis explores FEZ as a tool to fetch investment for the development of Libya's economy. Some of the factors in favour of FEZ are believed to be employment opportunities for local labour, enhancing their skills and knowledge, as well as bringing new technology along with management styles, thereby boosting not only the national economy, but overall growth of society. This thesis examines these arguments by comparing existing FEZ in various parts of the world, particularly Al-Ameria FEZ in Alexandria, Egypt. The case study revolves around this FEZ, as it has geographical and cultural similarity to that of Libya. In stimulating a potential decision making process, cost-benefit analysis is carried out to evaluate financial return against benefits envisaged. Finally, the study recommends the perceived best way forward in establishing successful FEZ to achieve desired sustainable economic growth in Libya. This is the first study of its kind in the Arab world that covers cost-benefit analysis of different industries within FEZ, and could prove to be a guideline for academics and business communities working in this field.

Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. In North Africa the most dramatic are a loss of habitat for wildlife, desertification, soil erosion, and climate change. In the Jefara plain, Libya, tree planting was undertaken to combat desertification and stabilize sand dunes and by 1984, 248,000 ha had been planted. However, these forest now suffer from severe deforestation, leading to serious encroachment of sand dunes, which now puts at risk those areas converted to agriculture. The major objective of this thesis was to understand the real causes of deforestation focussing mainly on socio-economic and policy drivers in Algarabulli District. Interviewed respondents stated that deforestation commenced in 1986, the major direct causes being agricultural expansion, building and road construction, and land trading. However, the major indirect cause contributing to deforestation was reported to be the change of forest governance in 1986; this led to an increase in corruption and a decrease in law enforcement, resulting in many land allocation contracts being issued to officers and government officials who then cleared forestland for themselves and later by local people. They reported that deforestation increased dramatically in the study zone after the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011, due to the total breakdown in governance. Interviews were also conducted with 20 government officials (in the Ministry of Agriculture and legal experts of in administrative and real estate law) Legislation, Forest Department records and policies were also reviewed. These findings agreed with those from research with local residents. Officials added that the former regime contributed to destruction of the forests indirectly by: giving orders to abolish the Ministry of Agriculture several times, encouraging burning of the Land Registry Centres, and distributing forest land to officials, all of which led to an increase the corruption and lack of law enforcement. This was despite the de jure adequacy of forest protection legislation. Remote sensing, using SPOT imagery was used to estimate the rate of land cover change. The results of supervised classification and ground truething showed a remarkable degree of agreement with other two methods (local residents’ estimates and Forest Department records): 27% of total forest area was cleared between 1986 and 2010, but after the fall of the Gaddafi regime another 35% was cleared between 2011 and 2013. Currently only 36% of the originally planted forest remains. Finally, a survey was conducted with 43 forest clearers. The results showed that population growth and density had not contributed to deforestation. Analysis of the characteristics of forest clearers found that 93% of respondents were educated, 100% were employed and their income was slightly higher than respondents who had not cleared forests. The main purpose of clearing forest after the 2011 uprising was to sell the land illegally, due to a tenfold increase in land prices, which incentivised land speculation and forest clearance as a means of money laundering. If deforestation continues at the current rate, all forests will be lost within three years. Due to the total breakdown in governance, deforestation in Libya nowadays is one of the biggest environmental challenges.

Building a liberal economy requires fulfilling some major conditions that are necessary for its proper operation. In order to have a healthy economy there is a need to have a variety of financial markets, such as money and capital markets. The capital market consists of two main markets; the primary and the secondary markets.

There is no doubt that in recent years Corporate Environmental Disclosure (CED) by corporations has received much attention among accounting academic researchers. However, reviewing previous studies has identified the following existing gaps which have given an impetus for this study and need to be bridged namely: (1) the need for a new approach of analysis namely, a three-dimensional analysis that includes the intra-country (external) factors, inter-organisational (internal) factors and content analysis; (2) the requirement for investigating other available means of CED such as internal reports and stand alone environmental reports; and (3) the call for examining CED practice in Libya where there was no previous attention given to this country. This study aims to examine the various aspects of CED in Libya with a view to testing the applicability of Environmental Determinism Theory. It did this initially by providing the first detailed and longitudinal description of the extent of practices of CED which were made by the all the largest industrial companies quoted on the Libyan Industrial Production Administration for the years 1998-2001. It then endeavoured to explain and understand this evidence of CED practice (or non-practice) by utilising (1) the perspectives of a sample of corporate managers of such companies regarding the nature of corporate environmental responsibility and CED; and (2) the political, economic and social contexts in which the CED is being made. To achieve this, three methods (triangulation approach) were utilised in this study, namely, content analysis, questionnaire and historiography. The results of content analysis showed that CED has yet to develop in Libya. There is no evidence of environmental disclosure either in terms of its quantity or quality, especially if the health and safety category is excluded. Libyan companies provide some statements in their annual reports, and, in some cases, other external reports (specific forms) or internal reports related to only one category of CED namely health and safety information. Apart from health and safety disclosed, the companies studied have disclosed no other environmental information. They still have a long way to go in order to reach the level reached by their counterparts in developed countries. An interesting point was that Libyan companies, by contrast with their counterparts even in developing countries, have given more attention to negative news. The perceptions of managers were investigated by using a questionnaire survey. Fifty three questionnaires were used with a rate of response of 62%. The results suggest that the vast majority of them accept that Libyan companies should recognise their environmental responsibility and provide environmental disclosure to the central authorities. However, most managers felt that a scarcity of legal and professional standards and guidelines, along with their lack of expertise, qualification and training in the field of CED have prevented them from engaging in CED. Therefore CED has not been put in the agenda of many Libyan companies. The analysis of the environmental influence on CED practice in Libya indicates that the social context including religion seems to be having to some extent an influence upon CED practice in Libya. However, the country's unique political and economic contexts along with the managers' attitudes and qualifications were the fundamental CED disclosure determinants. Therefore, this study has concluded that CED practices in Libya are shaped not only by one single factor but by the external and internal factors. The impact of the political, economic and social (external) factors reflects the indirect influence on the disclosure environment. Whereas, the internal factors (perception and cognition) reflect the direct impact of those involved in the disclosure process, namely the managers, as they are the ones who decide what information to be disclosed.

The research has three objectives. The first is to investigate the extent of publishing delay and its determinants in Libya. The second is to find out how useful the annual report is to five user groups in Libya namely the Tax Authority, Academics, Auditors, Banks and the Auditing Authority. Finally, the research also seeks to determine the impact publishing delay has on banks, Tax and Auditing Authorities. A sample of 33 companies over two year period was used to determine the extent of publishing delay and its determinants. The results indicate that the average publishing delay is 154.86 days. The results of the ordinary least square regression analysis indicate that company size, profitability, company age, number of accountants, accountant qualification, and audit opinion are significantly associated with publishing delay. However, the type of accounting system is not associated with publishing delay. The results of the usefulness of the annual report indicate that the balance sheet is regarded as the most important followed by the profit and loss account, auditors' report, management report and the funds flow statement. The results also suggest that there are significant differences in the perceived usefulness of 'on-time' and 'late' annual reports in terms of predictive value, confirmatory value and faithful representation. The results of the impact of the publishing delay on banks, Tax authority and Auditing authorities are as follows. Loans advanced by banks on the basis of 'on-time' annual reports are more likely to be repaid than those made on the basis of 'late' annual reports. The Tax Authority collect less revenue from companies whose annual reports are produced late compared to those whose annual reports are produced on time and Auditing Authority is more likely to issue a qualified audit report if the annual report is produced late compared to one produced 'on-time'. The results have important implication for the Libyan Authorities in terms of what actions they should take to reduce the publishing delay. Reduction in publishing delay is likely to increase the usefulness of the annual report and reduce the impact the delay is having on banks, Tax and Auditing Authority.

The purpose of the study is to identify the tourism potential, examine the significance of tourism to the national economy and evaluate the marketing of Libya as a tourist destination. The effects of tourism development on several countries including Libya are considered. Concepts of tourism development including policies, planning and marketing for tourism are used to provide a theoretical basis for the study. Policy recommendations are produced to encompass a strategy framework to improve the performance of the tourism sector in Libya.

The development of small businesses and the increasing role they are playing as engines of economic growth, employment generation and social change is making them a subject of major strategic importance to governments, and growing interest to researchers. Small businesses are increasingly regarded as both indicators of the economic dynamism of an economy, and agents of economic growth: in the developing economies small businesses are also regarded as being capable of improving standards in areas such as training. technical expertise and management throughout an economy. Of particular concern in many economies, especially those such as Libya which are in transition to a free-market model, is the contribution small businesses can make to employment growth outside of the public sector. The broad aim of the research discussed here was to enhance understanding of the factors influencing the growth of Libyan small manufacturing firms from the perspective of owner-managers and to develop an explanatory conceptual framework that aids this understanding. As secondary aims, it also seeks to inform government policy and to contribute to the success and growth of the sector overall. Informed by a comprehensive literature review, the research approach was to investigate and interpret the opinions, experience, attitudes and ideas of a sample of owner-managers with respect to the factors that they considered to be of the greatest influence on the growth of small manufacturing firms. Because of the lack of prior research, the study was exploratory in nature and a qualitative methodology was employed, employing a grounded approach with qualitative content analysis, Following a pilot study, the researcher conducted twenty-eight semi-structured interviews with the owner-managers of small manufacturing businesses: the sample consisted of owner-managers located in two Libyan cities, Tripoli and Misurata. Tripoli is Libya's capital, economic centre and overwhelmingly the area with most manufacturing output, while Misurata is the second largest manufacturing centre and the focus of much investment in infrastructure by the Libyan state. The interviews were designed to explore four sets of factors that may influence the growth of small manufacturing firms in Libya: the characteristics of the owner manager, the characteristics of the firm, the business's strategy and factors in the external environment. The interviews generated a substantial amount of rich data and this was interpreted and analysed on a cross-case basis and the findings were organised according to these four sets of factors. The research produced a range of interesting findings, many of which confirmed those of other studies in developed countries, such as the importance of ownermanager growth aspirations, education, experience and networks, the firm's age and location and aspects of its strategy such as marketing, innovation and training. Other findings retlected relatively widespread issues in developing economies, such as shortages of skills and finance, infrastructural inadequacies, bureaucracy and corruption. However, the research also highlighted a number of issues that are specific to Libya, or whose impact is different or more extreme because of the combination of political, economic and socia-cultural circumstances. It is concluded that Libya's combination of a bloated public sector with widespread corruption, slow transition from a socialist economy, frequent changes in economic policy, large informal sector, weak legal enforcement and predominance of family and personal relationships has created a particularly challenging environment for small businesses. As the research demonstrates, some owner-managers have found ways to overcome these problems and achieve high levels of growth but many others find their growth severely constrained by these environmental issues. The research is exploratory in nature and many of the issues discussed merit further research, in particular to inform future policy and support. Key areas for future research are outlined and tentative recommendations are made for future government policy with respect to the Libyan small firm sector. Note: the fieldwork for this thesis was carried out prior to the popular uprising in Libya, which began in February 20 II and resulted in a change of government. References to government policy throughout the thesis refer to the previous government, with the exception of the policy recommendations in Chapter 6, which refer to the new government of Libya.

The present study is concerned with the settlement and agricultural development process as it is taking place in the Wadi Al-Hai agricultural project and the influence of some socio-economic factors on the agricultural exploited area. The Wadi Al-Hai project is one of the most important agricultural development projects in Libya. It is located 85 km south-west of the capital city Tripoli, and includes 417 farms, with each farm being 25 hectares, and consisting of a modern house and all agricultural requirements. For the empirical study, two types of analysis will be used: - Descriptive statistical analysis: describing the study the main features of the structure of agriculture development in the Wadi Al-Hai area, and the economic situation of the farmers in the project. The data for this part were analyzed on the basis of simple but appropriate statistical measures, such as frequency ratios, means and distributions, standard error and the chi-square test. - Econometric Analysis: using economic statistical analysis and the relations between different economic and social variables in a set of mathematical models aiming to explore the potential contributions and influences of such factors in this project. In short, a log-linear cross sectional model is developed aiming at relating the relevant socio-economic factors to the exploited areas. Also the study is based on a survey of 105 settlement households located in the Wadi Al- Hai project. Key socio-economic characteristics of the farmers are related to their experience and quantitative survey data are supplemented by qualitative interview material. Additional documents were provided by the Council of Agricultural Development, Secretariat of Planning. The theoretical analysis is based on economic development and growth with reference to agriculture and agricultural development in Libya. A number of weaknesses in the project are identified such as in the operation of co-operatives, marketing arrangements, extension services and water management. In conclusion, some agricultural policy recommendations are made for the exploitation of natural resources and human resources in the project. Our initial results indicate that all the variables studied have statistically significant effects on the agricultural exploited area in the project.

The Libyan economy is highly dependent on oil export revenues, which allied to a small population, makes Libya one of the richest countries in Africa. In order to diversify its sources of income, the government undertook measures to liberalise its economy and foreign trade. The central strategy of enhancing trade and developing the Libyan economy is to integrate with the EU by taking a pro-active part in EU-initiated economic cooperation and integration programmes and treaties, such as the Barcelona Process. This process constitutes an important step towards enhancing the openness of Libya’s economy and creating convergence towards EU economies. The research explores the perceptions of Libyan businessmen on the economic and trade relationship between Libya and the EU by focusing directly on trends, developments, problems and prospects. The research also aims to explore problems encountered between Libya and the EU with the objective of establishing ways in which to lessen the adverse effects. It suggests policy measures to be adopted to improve Libya’s trade and economic relations with the EU. To fulfil its aims and objectives, this study utilised both primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected through a survey questionnaire conducted in Libya, which explored the opinions, perceptions and attitudes of Libyan businessmen towards trade-related issues with the EU. In addition, the secondary data were in the form of published statistical data relating to trade between Libya and the EU. The findings of this study demonstrated that the majority of Libyan businessmen have positive attitude towards economic cooperation and the integration process between Libya and the EU within the EU-Mediterranean Partnership (Barcelona Process) in general, and towards the establishment of FTA in particular. In addition, the majority of Libyan businessmen think that achievements in the economic field were the most successful policy aims within the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, while perceiving the political and military and security fields to be of a minor role. However, the majority consider that trade between Libya and EU still faces a number of obstacles, despite Libya joining the Barcelona Process. These include the high price of EU products, the difference in terms of quality, and the adoption of high customs duties on EU products by the Libyan authorities and the lack of information about the opportunities available in EU markets. The study, also, finds that the majority of Libyan businessmen see the future of Libyan economy tied closely to the EU, rather than in an African, Arab or Islamic Union, in which they show little interest.

The thesis provides an integrated approach to tourism development within a destination (in this case Libya) that is currently suffering from lack of both short and long term investment due to an extremely uncertain political and social environment. The influences are both internal and external and could be classed as a ‘perfect storm’ affecting the country. The thesis identifies the stages of development, and those responsible for development by using an adapted butler model. It then suggests potential interventions at stages within the development, and ways in which the industry can respond quickly to the ever-changing environment of both investment and capacity building. The responses are based within the concept E-Marketing; a broad term but a modern approach to marketing that can respond quickly to changing environmental conditions. The thesis asserts that with these new methodologies the uncertainty element within a destination can be somewhat negated by the ability of the tourism industry to respond quickly both to market and de-market a destination. The suggestion is that for the foreseeable future tourism development in Libya will always be in a transitional period. The why for the thesis is because tourism has the potential to generate sizeable revenues within the Middle East and Africa, but has always suffered from significant underinvestment and varying levels of development. Libya has tourism development potential, and the thesis outlines the large number of tourist areas and unique attractions. To understand the current position of Libya in touristic terms an exploratory, qualitative, cross-sectional research strategy was adopted based on interviews with Libya stakeholders, Muslims consumers and country case analysis. The theoretical framework draws on contemporary marketing and e-Marketing theory intersecting development theory and destination management theory to investigate the role of e-Marketing. The key findings indicate that e-marketing represents a diverse toolbox that can be brought to bear in a highly integrated and focused approach that in itself becomes a source of competitive advantage. A technology-enabled e-marketing driven tourism framework provides Libya with the capacity to de-market its tourism programme, combined with the ability to reposition geographically and respond to crises caused by civil unrest. e - ii - Marketing systems provide significant potential to establish highly resilient and available infrastructures and the creation of a virtual space for planning management and tourism marketing. Critically, this thesis suggests tourism development is not wholly constrained by fragmented and transitional context. E-Marketing can counter physical and geographical constraints to facilitate diverse forms of information, communication, knowledge transfer and collaboration that enable creative forms of financing and resourcing and product development. The interconnectedness of e-Marketing processes and systems and the links between diverse actors, and institutions reflects in essence an ecosystem that is significant in allowing countries in transition to develop in highly dynamic and responsive approach. There is thus the substantial potential for the model proposed to progressively mobilise collective action, market knowledge and engagement that is critical for transitional economies.

This thesis seeks to explore the changes of the Libyan economy, which began in the mid-1980s. The core of this research is to examine the influence of these changes on the course of the state and the implementation of the economic reform programmes. The relevant theoretical literature is based upon the relationship between the international and internal factors leading up the economic reform. The globalisation and state power are reviewed. The theory of rentier state and also the discussion of the most relevant aspects of the privatisation process were considered. The contribution of the thesis is its sustained analysis of the Libyan economic policies and, more importantly, its response to the neglect of the international and domestic influences of the economic reform process particularly in oil states. In addition, the literature on Libya and its structural and economic reform suffers from a lack of theoretically-grounded analysis. The methodology of this study is based upon combination of both interviews and questionnaires seemed the ideal methods in examining the economic reform and the privatisation programmes. The documentary research was also an important element for this study. In order to identify the determinants of the changes of the Libyan economy and the implementation process, it employs a variety of Libyan official documents and economic data. In general the study reveals that the relationship and the interaction between the international and domestic factors is extremely vital to understand the economic reform and privatisation programmes in Libya. Despite the significance of the international arena, its impacts are mitigated through the domestic context. Moreover, the previous state policies, the role of the state institutions and the interaction between the state apparatus and the Libyan society are important in understanding the Libyan economy.

In a developing oil-based economy like Libya the availability of finance is largely affected by the availability of oil revenues which are subjected to disturbances and shocks. Therefore, the decision to save and invest a certain ratio of the country's aggregate output is, to large extent, determined (and affected) by the shocks in the oil markets rather than the requirements of economic development. In this study an attempt is made to determine the optimal rate of saving and investment, both defined as a ratio of the aggregate output, according to the requirements of economic development. For this purpose, a neo-classical Ramsey-type model for Libya is constructed and applied to obtain theoretically and empirically the optimal saving and investment rate during the period (1965-1991). The results reveal that Libya was investing over the optimal level during the oil boom of 1970s and less than the optimal level during the oil crisis of 1980s. In addition, an econometric investigation of the determinants of actual investment by sector (agriculture, non-oil industry, and services) is carried out in order to shed lights on how possible it is for Libya to adjust actual investment towards its optimal level. It is found that, as expected, the most important factor which can be used in this respect is the oil revenues or, generally, the availability of finance. In addition, the study reveals that investment in agriculture is associated, during the period of study, with a very low marginal productivity of capital whereas marginal productivity was higher in both non-oil industry and services. Finally, the study investigates also the future potential saving and investment rates and concludes that the economy, which has already reached its steady state, can be pushed out towards further growth if the economy can be able to increase the level of per worker human capital, proxied by the secondary school enrolment as a percentage of population.

Given the significance of financial liberalization and the key role of financial development in economic growth, according to the financial liberalization theory, liberalizing the financial sector is a route to increasing savings, investment and growth. However, the recent studies have shown that a number of developing countries do not demonstrate this kind of relationship and have, rather, recorded relatively low growth. The primary purpose of this research is to explore the potential economic impacts on the Libyan economy of economic liberalization in general, and liberalization of the financial services sector in particular, in the event of Libya‟s accession to full membership of the WTO. In order to ascertain and to quantify this impact, the study used a mixed methodology. The existing theoretical arguments have been critically reviewed in order to develop the research idea. In line with the research objectives, the methodology used include a quantitative and qualitative approach. First, the quantitative aspect is based on an empirical assessment of the impact of financial liberalization using time-series econometric techniques from 1978 to 2011 for secondary data analysis; and second, the qualitative approach, based on semistructured interviews directly related to the research aims and objectives. The empirical findings achieved the aim of the research. The results obtained show that despite the reforms and liberalization in the financial sector, there is a negative relationship between financial liberalization in Libya and economic growth during this period. This disproves the theory of financial liberalization that claims a positive co-relation between financial liberalization and economic growth. The research outcomes include a set of recommendations based on the findings of the study, which are potentially useful for policy makers and further research.

Since the 1980s, due to the disappointing performance of public sector enterprises and state economies, privatisation has been considered an essential policy tool for economic transformation by privatising state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and restructuring the economy for the private sector and private investors to participate more extensively in economic activities. Privatisation, however, as past experiences have proved, is not a simple issue, nor is it the same in all countries. Although in many industrialised and developing countries privatisation has achieved many positive results, in other developing and transitional countries the consequences of the experiment have been unsatisfactory. Worldwide experience has proved that there are several financial, economic, legal, administrative and social requirements that must be fulfilled in order to attain success and achieve the desired objectives of privatisation and economic transformation policies in an efficient and effective manner. This study, therefore, aims to explore the availability of these conditions in Libya by evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of the Libyan financial, economic, administrative and legal environment for the efficient implementation of the privatisation programme. The main focus is on the financial and economic requirements; including restructuring the financial sector such as establishing the stock exchange market, reforming the banking sector, in addition to liberalizing the market, reforming exchange rate policies. In addition, it aims to assess the effectiveness of the policies and actions taken by the former Libyan government to support and regulate the privatisation process, as well as to assess policies addressing the potential social impacts of privatisation, such as redundancy and effects on consumer welfare. Moreover, this study aims to evaluate the legal environment and its appropriateness for implementation of the privatisation policy, promotion of private investors’ participation, and regulation of the market economy. The research methods used in this study are mainly based on qualitative techniques, and data were collected by two modes of data collection. The first is the collection of secondary data from documents including financial, economic and administrative reports, and laws and resolutions related to the topic in question. In addition, content analysis is used to analyse laws in order to examine the adequacy of the legal environment for successful privatisation and the transformation to a market economy. An attempt is also made to use statistical data in the form of secondary data to illustrate the developments and trends in privatisation policies and the impact of such policies. The second method of data collection used in this study is structured interviews, which targeted a variety of specialists and stakeholders of the privatisation process and economic policies in Libya. Findings of the study reveal that decision-makers in the former regime did not show a clear desire and sufficient support for privatisation and the transformation to a market economy. In addition, findings show that many regulative and administrative difficulties prevented the transparent implementation of privatisation in Libya. Furthermore, findings obtained from document analysis and the interviews prove that, although many positive procedures were implemented and new institutions created by the governments of the former regime, including attempts to reform the banking sector, liberalise the market and establish a stock market, etc., many difficulties and challenges are still facing the new Libyan government in developing a proper financial and economic environment for privatisation and economic reform policies and also establishing an efficient market economy. Similarly, with regard to social aspects, findings of the study demonstrate that the former Libyan government paid explicit attention to some potentially negative social impacts of privatisation. However, there are still some shortcomings, especially with regard to the redundancy problem and consumer protection issues. With regard to the legal environment, the former government issued several important laws and legislations for privatisation, and to encourage private sector investment. However, the findings demonstrate that these measures were and still are insufficient, as there have been many inappropriate constitutional provisions, in addition to non-activation of several new essential laws. This study, therefore, demonstrates that, although many positive procedures were implemented by the former Libyan government, many difficulties and challenges are still facing the government of the new regime to achieve the desired objectives of the privatisation programme and transformation to the market economy. The success of future governments will also be heavily dependent on their performance in creating an efficient market economy.

This thesis investigates cereals, grapes and horses as key examples of Cyrenaica's agro-pastoral economic resources in the Hellenistic and early-mid Roman periods. These have been examined in three case studies to indicate the region's potential for producing annual crops, fruiting plants and animal products. Since cereals and horses are difficult to trace archaeologically and the archaeological data associated with grape cultivation and wine production is quite modest, the main database used in this thesis relates to textual evidence. This includes the literary documents of the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans, and the first European travellers. The epigraphy and a papyrus relating to the period of study are also significant data used in this project. The epigraphic data collected from the Inscriptions of Greek Cyrenaica (IGCyr), Greek Verse Inscriptions of Cyrenaica (GVCyr) and Inscriptions of Roman Cyrenaica (IRCyr) projects are the principal sources of information. Using textual data required me to implement new approaches to test the region's agro-pastoral capacity. In order to demonstrate the region's connectivity, the thesis investigates some of the imported commodities and highlights things that were perhaps exported in return. It also discusses the reasons why Cyrenaican citizens received honours attested in external and local epigraphic evidence. The research suggests that these people were Cyrenaican cereal traders involved in Mediterranean commercial activities. Additionally, ancient geographical references to Cyrenaican coastal sites including harbours and anchorages receive close attention in this thesis. The 16 maritime points (9 are ports and anchorages) between Cherronesos (Χερρόνησος) and Catabathmus (Κατάβαθμος) mentioned in Stadiasmus, raises a question about the maritime connectivity between Cyrenaica and Egypt in the second century AD. Finally, the results also allow me to draw a clear picture of the economic contribution of Libyan groups to Cyrenaica's prosperity. This includes harvesting silphium, breeding animal and connecting Cyrenaica with the African Sahara.

This thesis is an in-depth case study in agricultural resource management for semi-arid regions based on primary data for 120 farms gathered in the three farming areas of the Jebel El Akhdar region of north-east Libya and on secondary data for the physical environment. The research analyses the impact of agricultural development on farm structure in the study area. Social and economic change is evaluated with a view to the resolution of long-standing regional problems of the physical and human limitations on the progress of agricultural development. This study provides an overview of resource management together with a geographical treatment of physical landscape and social resources. Thus it provides an integrated review of the rural resource system. It isolates potential and actual conflicts between resources in farming with the help of detailed case studies by comparing two types of farming systems according to development policy. Modern farms, either rainfed or irrigated, are developed with intermediate technology, and are very different from small traditional irrigated farms. The study also addresses a number of questions concerning the agricultural' policy bias towards new modern farming methods . It is shown that the use of capital intensive technology of government projects severely affects land potential in the long term. All in all, the state has played a dominant role in developing and changing the farm structure in Libya. Increasing oil revenues have made available massive funds for economic and social development programmes and facilitated certain changes in agricultural land use. Arable land has experienced and continues to experience rapid expansion and in many cases this growth has outpaced the planning process, reducing its effectiveness to control vertical expansion and creating serious problems of physical resource management and social adaptation. This study highlights the major problems facing Libyan agriculture in terms of farm and resources management conflict and development policies.

Electronic payment systems (EPS) have received considerable attention from researchers and business owners worldwide, because of their potential to support economic development and growth. Despite the significant contribution of the growth in EPS to the ability to complete transactions via the Internet, Libya lags significantly behind developed countries in its adoption of EPS. This research focuses on factors affecting EPS adoption and use in Libya, explaining how they positively or negatively affect Libyan customers and organisations‟ willingness to adopt EPS. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders, including consumers, organisational staff (e.g. Telecommunications Companies, Banks, the Ministry of Telecommunication and Informatics, etc.), and strategic decision-makers (e.g. the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Director of Islamic Banking at Bank of Republic). The research implements Grounded Theory methods (GT), in particular the Straussian approach, to analyse, explore, and investigate the socio-organisational, technical, political, and economic factors affecting the adoption of EPS in Libya, and importantly the relationship between these factors. It discusses the impact of the factors identified, from both organisational and consumer perspectives, highlighting the factors and issues that need to be overcome to support successful adoption of EPS. The findings confirm that, for consumers and organisations alike, economic factors (e.g. perceived benefits, cooperation with existing entities, mutuality of stakeholders, Internet costs, standard of living, marketing businesses, awareness, withdrawal control, XX feasibility studies on EPS implementation, Islamic banking services and competition) are the core factors influencing the system‟s adoption. Furthermore, the findings revealed three new and significant factors of relevance to Libya, including standard of living, post coding and the unstable political situation in the country. These represent a unique contribution to the body of knowledge, illustrating the attitude of the Libyan people toward Internet usage, and current obstacles to EPS adoption. The use of substantive GT, in particular the Straussian approach, for data collection and data analysis in the field of EPS adoption, and the assessment of organisational and consumer attitudes, is unique to this research to the best of the researcher‟s knowledge. Thus, the research embodies a substantial contribution to the body of knowledge. The interpretive analysis of data using a Straussian approach has permitted the researcher to attain a deep understanding of the socio-organisational, economic, political, and technical factors affecting adoption of an E-payment system in Libya, as implemented by different stakeholders: Consumers, and Organisational. The benefits that the adoption of EPS in Libya will bring, include facilitation of online transactions, the availability of more secure websites, easier payment and access to the global markets. Furthermore, detailed recommendations are also being offered to assist decision-makers in the development and introduction of EPS in Libya, i.e. including the Communications and Informatics Ministry, which is hoped will advise internet service providers and companies to discount the cost of using the internet for limited bandwidths, in order to insure everyone access to the internet, and EPS.

The first formal distinction between human smuggling and trafficking in international law was made with the signing in December 2000 of the Palermo Protocols. These definitions have influenced and shaped most of the academic research, discourse, methodology and language on human smuggling and trafficking. In turn, an understanding of the formal definitions of these crimes is necessary to appreciate their influence on policies and therefore their effects on the individuals and institutions involved (Campana and Varese, 2015). The argument at the basis of this thesis is that academic research on especially migrant smuggling has often blindly adopted the above-mentioned definitions as a given-for-granted and solid basis to apply to a multitude of diverse cases, failing to highlight the extremely polymorphic nature of migrant smuggling as an international phenomenon. One important consequence of this instance has been that at least some academic efforts in the field of human smuggling have more often than not created a “theoretical bias” whereby smuggling is interpreted as a constitutive element of “irregular migration”, and where research findings have served the interests of migration policies- most notably to prevent the irregular crossing of national borders- rather than of victims of smuggling per se. The thesis presents findings from a preliminary qualitative investigation conducted by the author in Tunisia, Sicily, and aboard a rescue vessel in the Libyan SAR zone. The study design and methodology were structured based on a human rights and social perspective which took account of migrant smuggling in the specific context of post-Arab Spring migration from Africa to Europe. The cases presented should be able to demonstrate how the current legal and institutional definition of migrant smuggling cannot explain some of the principal findings of the investigation, especially for what concerns the role of exploitation, consent and coercion, broadly regarded as more consistently related to trafficking than to smuggling. The thesis argues that studies should refrain from blindly adopting pre-defined definitions and social categories on the topic, but rather critically employ them on a case-to-case basis. This would divert academic efforts away from often controversial political interests concerning irregular migration, and help produce transparent and independent research that sheds light on the nature, causes and effects of human smuggling, and related policies.

The world-system today promotes inequalities between and within states through the maintenance and strengthening of uneven and hierarchical global relations established by colonialism. The reinforcement of colonial structures has unfolded into neocolonial relations in the post-colonial world, explaining the underdevelopment and marginalization of former colonies in the world-system today, and why many African countries largely experience internal instability on several fronts, revealing how individuals from these states tend to experience some sort of human insecurity. This scenario is permissive to the development of the new wars – representing a different perspective on the patterns of violence and war of contemporaneity – and the new global war economy and its parallel economy. It is from this context that the commodification of migrants happens, challenging and often defying migrants’ access to human rights andhuman security. The present study is therefore primarily a theoretical research and an empirical investigation on the commodification of migrants in contemporary Libya, sustained by four main theoretical frameworks and the analysis of selected secondary materials from international organizations and NGOs. This study aims at addressing the different forms of commodification of migrants in Libya today and who are the actors that control these markets and benefit from the commodification of human life. This analysis evidences the contradiction between the bleak reality of migrants in contemporary Libya and the applicability of the normative concepts of human securityand migrants’ rights.

This case study research aimed to investigate the impact of five economic reform events namely privatisation, investment fund, listing on Libyan Stock Market, business laws reform and anti-corruption committees on the extent of corporate financial disclosure (CFD) over the transition period 2005-2012. A disclosure index based mainly on IFRS was adapted, annual reports of Libyan stock companies were scored to their disclosures over the period pre-and post the economic events, embedded multiple and individual company case studies used to capture the effect of each economic event. The findings showed that the extent of CFD has increased due to the economic reform events. It was found that the investment fund as a block holder played a beneficial role in promoting the CFD during the phase of transition. It also found that the external auditors promoted and facilitated the reporting practice through their opinions. The findings are consistent with stakeholder and agency theories. It was noted that the presence of investment fund and government as block holders provides Libyan companies with incentives to comply with the external auditors’ requests that based on legislations and IFRS disclosure requirements. These findings have important implications for policy makers and government as they contribute to the debate on the choice between IFRS versus other accounting standards. The study also draw attention to a potential agency problem, which might affect success of privatisation plans. This is the first study to examine the CFD in Libya pre-and post the implementation of economic reform plans. Prior evidence indicates a low level of disclosure but this study demonstrates an improvement in line with the study predictions that suggested the economic reform events promoted the CFD over the phase of transition.

Mestrado em Economia Internacional e Estudos Europeus
O modelo da diplomacia económica potencia um ciclo virtuoso em que a diplomacia e a economia se alavancam mutuamente em prol de mais e melhores exportações nacionais, da internacionalização das empresas portuguesas, da promoção de Portugal e da sua imagem, e da contribuição para a captação de investimento directo estrangeiro de qualidade. A diplomacia económica é essencial ao desenvolvimento económico dos países e, por isso, tem de ser decididamente activa e pró-activa, interventiva e precursora. A sua acção tem de se pautar pela investigação científica e tecnológica, de entidades públicas envolvidas na expansão da internacionalização das empresas, na captação de investimento, na celebração de parcerias e na promoção do turismo. A diplomacia económica tem um carácter eminentemente instrumental de grande alcance, não apenas na internacionalização da economia, mas acima de tudo, na construção de um perfil económico e político do país. As empresas, ao internacionalizar-se, desenvolvem uma crescente actividade económica conduzindo as suas acções em múltiplos países, sendo obrigadas a discutir com os governos locais e entidades regionais novas condições, novos investimentos, obrigações sociais, ambientais e mesmo éticas, para além da criação de organizações empresariais internacionais com a missão de desenvolver o lobby empresarial através de funções diplomáticas. No comércio internacional o grau de conhecimento prévio dos mercados constitui um critério relevante para determinar o grau de articulação necessária entre diplomacia, diplomacia económica e empresas. A existência de um conhecimento prévio relativo a alguns países recomenda uma presença diplomática em todos estes países parceiros comerciais e justificar-se-ia aí uma boa articulação entre diplomacia e empresas. Mas, porque os recursos são limitados, têm que ser estabelecidas prioridades que tenham em consideração a relevância das trocas comerciais actuais quer o potencial de expansão num futuro próximo, quer ainda a eficácia da sua acção. Neste sentido, e por consequência, é importante que se assegure uma melhor articulação entre empresas e o aparelho diplomático nos mercados. Diversificar os destinos das exportações foi um objectivo claro destes últimos anos, da política externa portuguesa, e no centro desta aposta encontram-se os três países em estudo: Angola, Venezuela e Líbia. Estes países têm como característica de terem sido pouco explorados pelas empresas portuguesas, mas com oportunidades promissoras. A realidade é que as exportações portuguesas para esses países extracomunitários têm vindo a aumentar ao longo dos últimos anos, o que poderá revelar um sucesso relativo da diplomacia económica portuguesa.
The model of economic diplomacy enhances a virtuous cycle in which diplomacy and economy engage each other to promote more and better national export, to internationalization of Portuguese enterprise, the promotion of Portugal and its image, and contributing to the attraction of foreign direct investment of quality. The economic diplomacy is essential to the economic development of countries and therefore has to be decidedly pro-active and active, interventive and pioneer. Its action has to be guided by scientific research and technology, by public entities involved in the internationalization of expanding enterprises, attracting investment, in the creation of partnerships and the promotion of tourism. The economic diplomacy has an eminently instrumental character in reaching not only the internationalization of the economy, but above all in building an economic and political profile of the country. During internationalization, enterprises develop a growing business by conducting their actions in several countries and at this point, they are impelled to discuss with local governments and regional entities new terms, new investment and social responsibilities, environmental, and ethical response as well as the creation of international business organizations with the goal to develop business lobbies behind diplomatic functions. In international trading the degree of prior knowledge of markets is a relevant criterion to determine the appropriate articulation between diplomacy, economic diplomacy and enterprises. The existence of a prior knowledge on some countries recommends a diplomatic presence in all these countries and trading partners, this would justify a good link between diplomacy and business. But because there are limited resources it has to be established priorities that take into account the relevance of existing trade and potential expansion in the near future, or at the effectiveness of its action. In this case, and consequently, it is important to ensure better connections between business and the diplomacy in the markets. To diversify export destinations was a clear goal in recent years of Portuguese foreign policy, and at the center of this commitment are the three countries under study: Angola, Venezuela and Libya. These countries are characterized by being poorly explored, but with promising opportunities. Actually, Portuguese exports to those countries outside the EU have grown over the last years, which could prove a relative success on the Portuguese economic diplomacy.

If as argued the Mediterranean consisted in Antiquity of a unity determined by similar environmental factors and crises which were mitigated through established networks of trade and exchange, the border regions of the Roman Mediterranean, particularly to the South and East, were characterised by a radically different environment. This thesis focuses on the development of three of the arid regions bordering the ancient Mediterranean, namely the Fazzan oases in the Libyan Sahara, the Eastern Desert of Egypt and the region of Palmyra in Syria. These arid regions have received considerable archaeological attention in recent years, and a review of them will highlight the factors which enabled these regions to interact with the Roman Empire through trading dynamics, but also through the development of local resources. Central questions within this thesis concern the extent to which the environment would have tailored the potential of these regions, and if the existence of trade routes and social networks both affected and were affected by settlement and exploitation patterns in the region. Trade was created by geographically much broader social requirements for foreign or exotic goods, yet was restricted by the possibility to pass through these regions. Developments were conditioned by the constant need for balance between the state as a power enforcing and representing peace and security and local entities, and what the local social organisation had to offer in term of rent and stability to the state as an institution. After an introduction (Chapter 1) delineating the aims of the thesis, Chapter 2 defines influential theories and models that will be considered for this thesis, namely environmental factors, social networks and institutional economics. The archaeological evidence is then discussed in each relevant chapter: Chapter 3: The Libyan Sahara; Chapter 4: The Eastern Desert of Egypt; Chapter 5: Palmyra. Chapter 6 discusses major factors that may work as explanations for the development of agriculture, the exploitation mineral resources, and trade in these regions. The choice of regions both inside and outside the Roman Empire also allows a discussion on the rise of economic activities linked to the imperial economy. As such, the thesis moves away from a romano-centric perspective and proposes to look instead for internal factors, such as the development of complex societies with organisational frameworks and social networks which enable them to overcome the challenges of their geo-climatic settings. This study concludes that the developments identified in each chapter were not a factor of environmental changes but human agency. The state, or private individuals or communities successfully organised the resources necessary to integrate the regions into wider networks of intense trade in the imperial period. These concerned both physical infrastructure, and the development of far-reaching social networks.

Mestrado em Economia e Estudos Europeus
Este trabalho tem por objectivo principal compreender a razão de o Reino Unido não ter adoptado o euro. Seguimos dois objectivos secundários: perceber a atitude dos governos britânicos face à União Económica e Monetária e os efeitos das políticas da União Europeia sobre a convergência/divergência das economias inglesa e da Zona Euro. A metodologia usada para avaliar o objectivo principal consistiu na análise da intensidade comercial do Reino Unido com a Dinamarca, Suécia, Estados Unidos e Zona Euro no período 1988-2007. Concluímos que a intensidade comercial do Reino Unido é mais forte com a Zona Euro do que com os outros parceiros escolhidos, apesar de existir grande sincronia do ciclo económico britânico com o do Estados Unidos. Dado que a intensidade comercial do Reino Unido já é mais forte com a Zona Euro, a adesão do Reino Unido ao euro não suscita a expectativa de criação adicional de comércio e, nesse aspecto, a Zona Euro parece não satisfazer este critério da Teoria das Zonas Monetárias Óptimas. Neste contexto, as autoridades britânicas não têm motivação económica e é frágil a vontade política de se submeterem ao regime de funcionamento do Banco Central Europeu, que consideram lento e pouco transparente.
This work’s main goal is the understanding of why the United Kingdom has not changed to the Euro. Secondarily, we addressed the British governments’ attitude towards the Economic and Monetary Union and the European Union politics’ effects on convergence/divergence of the British and Euro zone economies. The methodology used to fulfil the main goal consisted in an analysis of the commercial intensity between the United Kingdom and each of the following countries — Denmark, Sweden, United States of America and the Euro zone — from 1988 to 2007. We concluded that the commercial intensity is higher between the United Kingdom and the Euro zone than with the other chosen countries, even though the British and U.S. economical cycles are in synchrony. Given the actual strong commercial intensity between England and the Euro zone, a possible membership of the United Kingdom to the Euro zone would not create the expectation for additional commerce. Thus, the Euro zone seems not to be an Optimal Currency Area. In this context, the British authorities have neither economical motivation nor political willingness to accept the European Central Bank governance, which they consider inefficient.

This study wants investigate the impact of Italian dominion on Libyan economy during the period between 1922 and 1940. In particular, we attempt to understand if the repression in Cyrenaica in years between 1930-33, with the creation of concentration camps, caused a deconstruction of local economy. To make this, we reconstructed the events related to Italian colonialism until WWI and then we collected data about Libya between 1920 and 1940. Our work focused on the relationship between two primary indigenous goods: barley and sheep, although we also used other several control variables. Analysing this, we conclude that the dynamics of local economy, which showed a strictly negative correlation between agriculture products and breeding products before the Fascist Regime, and which are represented by the town of Barce in the Cyrenaic hinterland, changed in the period between 1926-39 compared to the three years between 1920 and 1922.

This thesis investigates different aspects of the relationship between economic growth and mainstream macroeconomic variables, using time series data. The time series data is used to attempt to incorporate the major characteristics of the Libyan economy for the period 1962 to 2009 into a macroeconomic model, one objective of which is to estimate the relationship between the three mainstream macroeconomic variables: RGDP, inflation and unemployment, by using some extensions to Okun’s Law (1962), Phillips curve (1958), and the Cobb–Douglass (1928) and Solow (1956) growth models. Using a recent econometric approach of co-integration, Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VECM), Generalised Method of Moment (GMM), Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Impulse Response Function (IRF), we can estimate an extended production function to analyse the long-run growth effects of important macroeconomic factors such as inflation, oil revenue, foreign direct investment, trade openness and government expenditure. The Libyan economy, like that of other developing countries in North Africa and the Middle East, has been subject to a multitude of structural changes, as well as of the fluctuation in oil prices during the sample period. Thus, after applying conventional unit root test like ADF and Phillips–Perron (PP), we find structural break in the time series selected. The Chow test (1960) for the presence of one or two structural breaks in data is considered appropriate for this study. The analysis is divided into two time series to get the best results for the models by employing different techniques of econometrics such as co-integration, VECM, GMM, OLS and IRF. The results show that there is a relationship between RGDP, inflation and unemployment. Additionally, the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) are found to vary from one phase to another, and both foreign direct investment and open trade have a positive effect on both long-run and short-run growth in the Libyan economy. The empirical findings of this thesis indicate that in order to achieve high and stable economic growth and protect the economy from the negative effects of oil price fluctuations, the Libyan government should continue its quest for more efficient and effective non-oil export promotion policies as well for diversification strategies aimed at weaning the economy from its dependence on the oil sector. Economic growth has become an important aim for almost all countries in the world; it is of particular concern for developing countries, which need more growth in their RGDP. This study uses time series data from 15 countries from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) from 1970 to 2010, adding to the growing literature on the issues of economic growth by throwing light on the Cobb-Douglas production function (1928). To find the stationarity of the variables selected, the Dickey-Fuller test is utilised with the Generalised Least Squares (Df-GLS) unit root test to deal with unknown structural breaks in data. Co-integration, VECM and IRF are employed to estimate the production function in the short and long run. The results show there is a relationship between the effects of capita and labour on growth in some MENA countries. In addition, the growth of capital in some oil-exporting MENA countries is growing faster than the labour supply in contrast to the situation in the non-oil exporting countries. Further analysis and research is necessary into these methodological issues, which is beyond the scope of a single contribution.

This research looks at the controversial issue of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Libya. Global FDI usually flows from capital surplus countries towards capital deficit countries. However, Libya is a capital surplus country, yet is still requires foreign investments. Therefore, an empirical question arises: why does Libya, as a capital surplus country, have to allow FDI? This research examines this question, as well as the distribution of FDI in Libya. It considers why most FDI in Libya is concentrated on the petroleum sector, while other sectors such as education, health, transport, manufacturing, technology and trade are ignored. The complex empirical field for this study requires close examination of the economic policies of FDI that are issued by the Libyan government. This study also examines the pattern and distribution of FDI in Libya during the international economic sanctions and following the recent removal of these sanctions, from 1992 to 2010.

International economic embargoes (IEEs) against nation states have become one of the most contested issues in the world because of the complex relationship between global politics and national economic systems. Such embargoes have been imposed six times on Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Cuba and eight times on Libya by the United States (US) from 1981 to 1991, and from the United Nations (UN) from 1992 to 2003. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of the IEEs on the Libyan economy in general, with special reference to Libyan banks and financial institutions over the last three decades (1980 to 2010). This research answers two main questions. First, have the IEEs achieved their intended goals? Second, given Libya's position as a Third World nation that was under IEEs for 12 years, have such economic restrictions had any significant effects on the activities and performance of the Libyan banking sector and Libyan financial institutions, and if so, what strategies has Libya used to deal with such embargoes?

In this study, empirical research was conducted to investigate the effects of IEEs on Libyan banks and the Libyan economy. In general, the IEEs had a negative effect on the exchange of modern technology and services in the Libyan economy. This implies that most of the transactions between the local banks were very slow due to weak infrastructure and inadequate communication systems during economic sanctions. Moreover, the sharp decline in oil prices during 1993 to 1998 had an overall negative effect on the Libyan economy during the IEEs. To cope with the crisis, many positive monetary and financial policies were implemented by the former Libyan government-including attempts to reform the banking sector, such as controlling the interest rate, encouraging privatisation and controlling the exchange rate.

More specifically, the key findings indicated that the effect of United Nations sanctions had direct negative effects on the Libyan banking sector, including the areas of the banking staff experts, technological equipment, and foreign business. In terms of the impact of IEEs on the Libyan economy, it had more adverse effects on other sectors of the economy, such as education, health, tourism, and agriculture.

With regard to coping strategies used by the Libyan government against the IEEs, these strategies reduced the harmful effects of embargoes on the Libyan banking sector and its economy. It can be said that during international embargoes, there were successful trading relations between Libya, the European Union (EU) and neighbouring countries.

Over the last decade, the emergence of Complementary Currency Schemes (CCS) has shown a new promising innovative means to face big banks’ austerity, following the 2008 economic crisis. Given the diversity in their design and operational model, each one of them has a different goal and impact. This study aims to demonstrate the potential of a CCS in the transformation of a community, as they are considered to be currencies created by and for the general public. Moving from theory to practice, it takes as an example the local currency, the Bristol Pound. Launched in 2012, the Bristol Pound is mainly known as one of the most successful CCS in the UK. The local currency was designed with the primary aim to boost the local economy by creating a shorter trade circuit and keeping the money inside the city. Given the analysis of secondary data, the study focuses on the three sustainable development dimensions to highlight the Bristol Pound’s impacts. In addition, it will examine all the components of social capital to understand better how the local currency empowers it. This study can assist future or current managers of CCS with the development, evolution and strategic path they want to follow. It will help managers, intending to make a similar choice, to understand the best practices needed to make their CCS successful and enduring.
Ao longo da última década, o surgimento dos Sistemas Complementares de Moeda (CCS) mostrou um novo e promissor meio inovador para enfrentar a austeridade dos grandes bancos, na sequência da crise económica de 2008. Dada a diversidade na sua concepção e modelo operacional, cada um deles tem um objectivo e um impacto diferentes. Este estudo pretende demonstrar o potencial de um CCS na transformação de uma comunidade, uma vez que são considerados como moedas criadas por e para o público em geral. Passando da teoria à prática, toma como exemplo a moeda local, a Libra de Bristol. Lançada em 2012, a Libra de Bristol é principalmente conhecida como uma das CCS mais bem sucedidas do Reino Unido. A moeda local foi concebida com o objectivo principal de impulsionar a economia local, criando um circuito comercial mais curto e mantendo o dinheiro dentro da cidade. Dada a análise dos dados secundários, o estudo centra-se nas três dimensões do desenvolvimento sustentável para destacar os impactos da Libra de Bristol. Além disso, examinará todas as componentes do capital social para compreender melhor a forma como a moeda local o capacita. Este estudo pode ajudar os gestores futuros ou actuais da CCS no desenvolvimento, evolução e caminho estratégico que pretendem seguir. Ajudará os gestores, que pretendem fazer uma escolha semelhante, a compreender as melhores práticas necessárias para que a sua CCS seja bem sucedida e duradoura.

Dissertação de mestrado em Relações Internacionais
As questões relacionadas com a Segurança continuam a ocupar um papel central no domínio das Relações Internacionais, no entanto, de uma forma distinta no que respeita à abordagem que, desde o final do sec. XX, tem vindo desenvolver-se em torno da conceção de Segurança Humana. Uma abordagem que tem como principal foco a segurança do Indivíduo, de modo que atende à diversidade de fontes e perceções da ameaça podendo assim assumir dimensões distintas. A dimensão estrita da Segurança Humana - freedom from fear -, que se traduz na conceção de que o Ser Humano não deve estar sujeito a viver em constante receio pela sua vida e integridade física em cenários de crise e conflitos internos, representa uma constante preocupação para a comunidade internacional, máxime a ONU, que tem vindo a encetar esforços no sentido de criar mecanismos capazes de garantir a sua proteção nestes contextos. A R2P resulta desse empenho e tem vindo a ser progressivamente implementada, sendo certo, porém, que é na intervenção militar levada a cabo na Líbia em 2011, sob a sua égide, que encontra o seu maior desafio. O que nos leva a questionar se a Responsabilidade de Proteger (R2P) constitui não só uma alteração do conceito Segurança para a Segurança Humana, mas também uma potencial norma de Direito Internacional de caráter preventivo, sendo esta intervenção reflexo dessa transição por um lado, e de um processo normativo por outro. Uma operação que convoca, assim, à reflexão alargada relativamente aos termos em que a R2P é aplicada, à possibilidade de se tornar uma norma internacional e, ainda, sobre o papel que a interdisciplinaridade entre Relações Internacionais e Direito Internacional representa neste domínio. Uma análise que, enquadrada pelo Construtivismo e pelo seu processo de difusão normativa, nos permite alcançar uma resposta para esta questão, assim como avançar com possíveis cenários de desenvolvimento deste princípio da R2P.
Security issues continue to play a central role in the field of International Relations, however, in a different way considering the approach that, since the end of the 20th century, has been developing around the concept of Human Security. An approach that has as main focus the security of the Individual, and so, attends to the diversity of sources and perceptions of the threat and thus can assume different dimensions. The strict dimension of Human Security - freedom from fear - which means the conception that the Human Being should not be compelling to live in constant fear for his life and physical integrity in crisis situations and internal conflicts, represents a constant concern for the international community, especially the UN, that has been making efforts to create mechanisms capable of ensuring its protection in these contexts. R2P is a result of this commitment and has been progressively implemented, nevertheless, is in the military intervention carried out in Libya in 2011, under its aegis, that finds its highest challenge. This leads us to the question about if the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) constitutes not only a change of the traditional concept of Security to Human Security, but also a potential norm of International Law with preventive character, being this intervention, at the same time, the reflection of this change and a normative process. An operation that calls for a broader reflection about the terms of its application, the possibility of becoming an international norm and, also, the role that interdisciplinarity between International Relations and International Law represents in this sphere. Analysis that, framed by Constructivism and its process of normative diffusion, let us to achieve an answer to this question, as well as to come up with possible scenarios for developing this principle of R2P.

The master's thesis The United Kingdom and the European Integration: Influence of foreign trade and monetary politics on the British attitude towards Europe between the years 1941 and 1973 explores the relationship of the United Kingdom towards European integration in a period from the end of the Second World War to the point of becoming a member of the European Economic Community in 1973. The relationship of the United Kingdom with Europe is studied by analysing international monetary and trade politics of the United Kingdom, its economic standing in the world and comparative strength of Pound Sterling. All of these variables played a key role in the development of aforementioned relationship. The aim of the thesis is to ascertain the role played by international monetary and trade politics of the United Kingdom in relation to European integration. The research itself is divided into three chapters and overall defined and underpinned by conjoining two theories of hegemonic stability and aspects of realist school of political economy. First chapter examines the emergence and development of Bretton Woods system and American economic hegemony. Following chapter explores the relationship between the United Kingdom and the Sterling Area. Final chapter deals with British economic relationship towards...

Orientação: Teotónio R. de Souza
O presente relatório é o resultado do estágio curricular realizado na Embaixada de Portugal em Trípoli, Líbia. O estágio realizado dedicou-se essencialmente à Diplomacia Económica o que me permitiu compreender as relações económicas bilaterais entre os dois países e a intervenção do Estado Português no apoio empresarial português. A Embaixada é um serviço externo do Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, a quem tem que reportar todas as suas atividades e os acontecimentos que ocorrem no Estado acreditador considerados relevantes pelo corpo diplomático. Este relatório de estágio versa também sobre as diretrizes gerais da política externa portuguesa e líbia e por fim as relações bilaterais entre os dois países. No caso português o estudo inicia-se no fim da Monarquia e acaba na República Democrática, no caso líbio o estudo inicia-se no período Monárquico, logo após a descolonização italiana e termina com o recémformado governo nomeado pela Câmara dos Representantes. Relativamente às relações bilaterais são abordadas as relações com o regime de Qadhafi onde se estabeleceu a reciprocidade nas relações diplomáticas, as relações durante e após a revolução de 2011 que depôs o Coronel Muhammar Qadhafi e o seu regime e as relações eco nómicas. No contexto multilateral são abordados o Diálogo 5+5, e a Parceria UE-África. Para terminar são descritas todas as tarefas por mim desempenhadas durante o estágio na Embaixada, desde o apoio à internacionalização empresarial portuguesa, às atividades na Secção Consular e de representação do Estado Português.
The present internship report is the result of the curricular internship done in the Embassy of Portugal in Tripoli, Libya. The internship was dedicated essentially, to the economic diplomacy which allowed me to understand the bilateral economic relations between Libya and Portugal and the intervention of the Portuguese Government in supporting portuguese business. The Embassy is an external unit of the Ministry Foreign Affairs to whom it has to report all the activities and events occurring in the receiving state deemed relevant by the diplomatic body. This internship report also deals with the general guidelines of the portuguese and libyan foreign policy. In the portuguese case, the study starts at the end of the Monarchy and ends in the Democratic Republic; the libyan case starts with the Monarchy period, after the Italian decolonization and ends with the newly formed House of Representatives. Regarding the bilateral relations, the Qadhafi regime is also explored since the diplomatic relations were established during his leadership. It also reports the relations during and after the 2011 revolution that ousted Colonel Qadhafi Muhammar and his regime and bilateral economic relations. In the multilateral context the 5 + 5 Dialogue, and the EU-Africa Partnership are also studied. Finally it describes all the tasks performed by me during the intership in the Emba ssy providing support for Portuguese business internationalization, activities done in the Consular Section and activities representing the portuguese state.

Dissertação de mestrado em Relações Internacionais
Nos últimos anos assistimos, um pouco por todo o mundo - mas no Médio Oriente com uma dimensão particularmente alarmante - à eclosão de conflitos com uma característica em comum. Tratam-se de conflitos ligados à insurreição de populações que viveram à sombra de governos autoritários. Estes mantinham-se no poder há décadas e exerciam o seu direito de governar sem olhar aos direitos dos próprios cidadãos. Com o eclodir do que hoje conhecemos como ‘Primavera Árabe’, assistimos à luta das populações pelo respeito por parte dos governantes dos seus direitos e liberdades fundamentais. A Responsabilidade de Proteger, hoje um princípio adotado pela Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas e pelo seu Conselho de Segurança, surgiu em resposta a experiências de falhanço da comunidade internacional em impedir ou fazer cessar casos extremos de violações maciças e sistemáticas dos direitos humanos (por exemplo Ruanda em 1994 e Srebenica em 1995). Essa dissertação tem como principal objetivo estudar este novo conceito, ainda em evolução, tomando como objeto de estudo a União Europeia, o que permitirá tirar elações sobre a sua expansão e aceitação, quer em termos de discurso, quer em termos de implementação estratégica do mesmo, designadamente no âmbito da Política Externa e de Segurança Comum/Política Comum de Segurança e Defesa. Embora se identifique a presença deste conceito no discurso da União Europeia, e esta instituição defenda o conceito, esta dissertação demonstra que não ocorreu uma transposição do conceito para a ação estratégica da União Europeia no âmbito da Política Externa e de Segurança Comum/Política Comum de Segurança e Defesa. Em termos gerais, esta tese demonstra, através do estudo dos casos das intervenções na Líbia e no Mali, que a União Europeia não foi capaz de espelhar o apoio a este conceito na sua ação estratégica. Isto deveu-se, em grande medida, às divergências entre os principais Estados-membros da União Europeia, que mostraram ter visões incompatíveis no que toca ao uso coercivo da força, e mais concretamente quanto à implementação do princípio da Responsabilidade de Proteger.
In recent years we have witnessed, all over the world - but in the Middle East with a particularly alarming dimension - the outbreak of conflicts with a common characteristic. These are conflicts related to the insurrection of populations that lived in the shadow of authoritarian governments. The latter remained in power for decades, exercising their right to rule without regard to the rights of its own citizens. With the outbreak of what came to be known as the ‘Arab Spring’, we have witnessed the struggle of peoples for respect of their fundamental rights and freedoms. The Responsibility to Protect, now a principle adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations and its Security Council, emerged in response to experiences of failure of the international community in preventing or bringing to an end extreme cases of massive and systematic violations of human rights (such as Rwanda in 1994 and Srebrenica in 1995). This thesis aims to study this new concept taking as its object of study the European Union, in order to allow one to draw conclusions about the expansion and acceptance of this principle, both in terms of speech, and in terms of strategic implementation of the same, particularly within the Common Foreign and Security Policy/Common Security and Defence Policy. While identifying the presence, acceptance and defence of this concept in the discourse of the European Union, this dissertation demonstrates that there has been no transposition of the concept to European Union’s strategic action under Common Foreign and Security Policy/Common Security and Defence Policy. The study of the cases the interventions in Libya and Mali allows to conclude that the European Union has not been able to match its discursive support with a respective strategic action. This was largely due to differences between the major European Union Member States, which have showed to have incompatible visions with regard to the coercive use of force in general, and the implementation of the principle of the Responsibility to Protect in particular.