The water privatization project in Buenos Aires, Argentina between 1993 and 2006 serves as the main case study in this investigation. The study begins by introducing background information on neo-liberalism and free market capitalism and their role in promoting private sector participation in the water supply and sanitation (WSS) services industry. A comparative case study analysis of the Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Dolphin Coast, and United Kingdom case studies has revealed that there are some key similarities between the case studies. In the conclusion, the key similarities are analyzed to make broader implications about the nature of private sector participation in the WSS services industry.

Observers of neo-liberal persuasion claim that a financial system free of government regulation can lead to better allocation of resources and if the actual process of deregulation is done properly, the results can benefit society as a whole. Deregulation requires dismantling those state-based banking structures that are perceived as economically inefficient. This approach sets up a dichotomy between financial deregulation, which is portrayed as an intrinsic part of economic progress, and state regulation, which is seen as a force that interferes with entrepreneurial freedom and efficiency. This thesis argues that such a dichotomy can only be possible within the dominant neo-liberal discourses on the economy that have displaced Keynesian style economic management in core and peripheral areas of the world. Following Marxist structural approaches I also argue that financial deregulation is a class-based project that opens up profit sites and reflects the crisis in capitalist accumulation occurring in the latter part of the 20th century. Unlike neo-liberal followers I contend that the role of the state in maintaining and/or transforming capitalist structures in order to achieve certain outcomes (whatever they might be) is crucial in nation-building strategies in peripheral countries such as Costa Rica. As in many other countries, credit allocation was actively used in this country, for some thirty years in order to achieve high levels of investment, economic planning and re-distributive policies. However, the once fully nationalised banking system, as one of the few mechanisms available to the state to regulate savings and offer credit to different socio-economic groups, has gone through dramatic changes in the period from 1980-2000. Using a modified version of Hirschman's exit/voice framework for financial systems and available institutional data, I suggest that Costa Rica has moved from having a financial system that was predominantly owned by the state (public) and whose institutional arrangements were elite-led to one whose ownership is mixed but still led by elites. However if the trend persists I anticipate that it will become a predominantly privately owned system with an equal mixture of elite-voice and exit institutions.

近廿年來新自由主義經濟全球化在強勢國家及國際性經貿組織的強力推動下，已於世界各國成為無可抵禦的趨勢及潮流。在新自由主義擘畫的藍圖下，政府唯有大規模轉型，揚棄傳統治理模式之制約與控制，使個體自由地創造最大的利益，進而走上經濟全球化的道路，如此方能確保人民福祉的有效提昇，並且化解種種因經濟轉型所造成之社會問題。 然而，在本研究觀察OECD各先進國家的實際情況後，吾人卻發現，一方面，經濟全球化下社會問題之構成與錯誤的意識型態－如過度競爭、最大自利－實有密不可分的關係；另方面經濟全球化在稅收、貿易、金融等方面所造成之影響業已使政府之治理能力遭受嚴重的削弱；此時政府若能試圖重拾主動性，適時扮演起安全網的角色，則尚可使社會問題受到控制。然而不幸的是，政府為配合經濟全球化所做之種種治理轉型其實亦受到錯誤意識型態之影響，非但沒有以積極之態度去解決社會問題，反而大幅放棄自身之職責並且過度地朝向個體利益傾斜，結果導致社會問題不但無法減輕，反而日形嚴重；易言之，儘管經濟全球化及其錯誤意識型態是造成社會問題發生的來源，但政府治理轉型的失當更是加劇這些社會問題的主要原因！而這也使新自由主義對於經濟全球化、政府治理與社會問題三者間將產生良性互動的說法為本研究所否定。是故，在得到上述之研究發現後，吾人更進一步地認為我國政府在面臨經濟全球化的浪潮時，決不能抱持著盲目樂觀的態度，對可能之危機和挑戰予以忽視，而是應該在政府治理之強化、社會問題之因應，以及全球自由市場之衝擊等方面都以主動務實的態度去面對，及早規劃並執行相關的對策，如此方能避免他國之困境在我國重複發生。 而為了使本研究之動機、目的及最終之發現和建議能清楚的呈現，本文在第一、二章中將說明研究之動機、目的、方法、範圍和限制，並且歸納整理相關之文獻；由第三章開始，筆者則先介紹新自由主義經濟全球化下對於社會問題、政府治理等方面之觀點，從而分析目前經濟全球化對於政府治理能力是如何予以削弱(第四章)，並更進一步地探討經濟全球化下社會問題之成因以及政府治理轉型對社會問題所構成之影響(第五章)。最後並由前述研究之發現對於我國未來之對策提出具體的建議(第六章)。

This thesis examines the impact of neo-liberal economic restructuring on teachers, specifically teachers in technical and further education. Historically, there has been limited research undertaken on teachers as workers, and even less on TAFE teachers. During the period covered by the study, TAFE was buffeted by the massive changes, social, political, cultural and economic, that were occurring on a global scale. As a result, TAFE has been a system in crisis. The consequences are addressed by an empirical study that examines NSW TAFE teachers' experience of the great changes that have occurred to their work since the late 1980s. Forty-one teachers were interviewed in tape recorded sessions lasting around one hour each. The respondents were drawn from twenty-seven teaching sections across all the major industry areas represented in TAFE. Twenty of the teachers were from metropolitan locations, twenty-one were regional. Nine managers were also interviewed, from Head of Studies to senior management levels, covering those with local as well as state-wide responsibilities. The changes to TAFE have been driven by a pervasive neo-liberal ideology adopted by both major parties in Australia. This study documents the experience of TAFE teachers as that ideology led to a corporatised vocational education and training system strongly oriented to the market. It also records their responses to the narrowing of curriculum that resulted from the "industry-driven" vocational education and training policies of governments. The study gives voice to their grief, frustration and anger as their working conditions deteriorated and their commitment to quality education was undermined. The study documents the teachers' resistance to the processes of organisational fragmentation, the increasing incidence of cost-driven, rather than educational, decision-making, and the commodification of curriculum driven by a series of policy decisions taken at both national and state level. The study compares these experiences with those of the TAFE managers, whose response to the crisis, while differing from that of the teachers, supports the teachers' commitment to public education as a social good. The study concludes that the NSW TAFE teachers' resistance has continued to act as a brake on the excesses of neo-liberalism. Some possibilities for an alternative vision of technical and further education thus remain.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to analyze China-EU trade relations with focus on the period after 1975, when the diplomatic relations between China and EU developed. The research questions are (i) what is the driver in the development of China-EU trade relations? This question is subdivided into two questions: how do economic factors impact on China-EU trade relations and how do political factors influence China-EU trade relations? (ii) what are the existing problems in the current China-EU relations? (iii) what are the future prospects? </p><p>To carry out the research questions and fulfill the aim of the paper, a qualitative and quantitative method has been chosen in order to interpret and understand China-EU traderelations. The theoretical framework of this study is neo-realism and neo-liberalism with particular attention focusing on political issues and economic issues respectively. </p><p>A number of conclusions can be drawn from research. First, China-EU trade has developed very rapidly. Trade relations between the two sides are good. They are the third largest traders with each other. Secondly, the momentum for the development of China-EU trade relations is rooted in their common interests in both the political and economic fields. Thirdly, the prospect of China-EU trade relations is promising. These factors include (i) the establishment of a foundation to promote the healthy development of China-EU trade (for example, a set of legal framework provides both sides with the legal basis for their economic relations); and (ii) the prediction of future political and economic environment as favorable to the development of China-EU trade relations. </p><p>All factors show optimistically that China-EU trade will continue to prosper. The China-EU trade relationship is not without friction and the author theorizes that there are some potential danger factors; such as the Taiwan issue and trade disputes that may shadow the future development of China-EU trade relations and cannot be overlooked. At the end the author puts forward four suggestions to promote the further development of China-EU trade relations: (i) maintain the existing high-level of exchanges such as the annual EU-China summit; (ii) set up a warning mechanism to prevent trade disputes escalating; (iii) provide a method for establishing negotiations; (iv) prevent the politicizing of trade relations, for example, do not connect human right issue with trade relations. Unrelated issues should be addressed separately.</p>

<p>Combining insights from critical discourse analysis (CDA) and neo-Gramscian IPE theory, this paper puts forth a cultural political economy (CPE) perspective to analyse the discursive articulation of ‘European subjects’ in the context of the EU’s Lisbon Agenda modernisation strategy. It is suggested here that the transformation proposed in Lisbon to the new economic imaginary of the knowledge based economy (KBE), depends on ‘new subjects’ and thus new discursive constructions of identities to reflect the new economic and social formations it envisions. The citizenship discourses of two of the Lisbon Agenda’s main supporters, specifically European business lobbies (represented by the ERT and LCEC) and the EU Commission, are examined in order to explore the relationship between citizenship rights and responsibilities and the two main goals of the Agenda, namely economic competitiveness/growth and social inclusion/social welfare protection modernisation. The argument is made that the discursive articulation of a ‘neoliberal communitarian’ variant of citizenship, especially evident in the discourses of the EU’s business lobbies and the EU Commission since the ‘shift’ to jobs and growth in early 2005, represents an attempt to further the commodification of the EU polity, and as a result, subordinate the more social goals of the Lisbon Agenda to the perceived imperatives of economic growth and competition. The Lisbon Agenda does not therefore mark a dramatic ‘turning point’ in favour of a more ‘social Europe’ as was speculated early on, but instead works to consolidate the dominance of ‘embedded neoliberalism’ as the socio-economic governance model for the EU. The paper ends with a discussion of the possible counter-hegemonic movements challenging the orthodoxy of embedded neoliberalism and neoliberal communitarian conceptions of citizenship.</p>

<p>This thesis tries to evaluate the very large question of how globalization can be said to have an effect on democracy by reducing both concepts to a more usable format. In doing so it tries to evaluate how a special theory of democracy put forward by Robert Dahl in 1971 – polyarchy – could be said to be affected by the workings of contemporary globalization. When assessing the variables of the investigation, globalization is being represented by two constructed ideal images that are later measured against a set of seven variables extracted from Dahl’s theory.</p><p>By the use of qualitative text analysis the constructed ideal types help provide a framework for how one can measure the effects of globalization on polyarchy. The analysis ends in a result where it is clear that if globalization is understood as a neo-liberal ideal image it is making the circumstances for the creation of polyarchies in the future more favorable. However, if globalization is understood as an ideal image of world-system theory explanations then the circumstances for future polyarchies are less favorable. In a concluding discussion important implications of the results are highlighted when the thesis concludes that regardless of ideological starting point globalization can be said to affect the theory of polyarchy in such a way that it is in dire need of reevaluation. At the same time the essay concludes that whenever the concept of globalization is being used with scientific ambitions by politicians, they need to be aware of, and reflect, the different results that it brings depending on how it is explained.</p>

The chief preoccupation of the dissertation revolves around the European Union's project of calling forth a collective sense of "European identity" amongst people in the Union. It focuses specifically on how the European Union's identity politics plays out once the ethnic minorities with immigrant background now living in the Union are brought into view. The main purpose can be described as twofold; involving, firstly, a mapping and examination of how the EU construes and defines the identity it seeks to mobilize, and, secondly, a thorough discussion of the types of consequences or implications that stem from this endeavour. In demonstrating the strong tendency on part of the EU to articulate a common identity for the Union in ethno-cultural terms — whereby the EU is conceived as primarily a cultural community whose members are said to share the same origin, cultural heritage, religion and history — the study goes to great length in discussing the excluding implications that an ethno-cultural identity politics gives rise to. The dissertation argues that such an ethno-cultural disposition partly must be seen in light of the European Union's gradual adjustment to a largely neoliberal order; an order which has worked restraining on the feasibility of a social and political articulation of identity and citizenship in the Union. An introductory chapter outlines the discourse theoretical approach which guides the analyses in five essays. The essays mainly explore how the European Union's discourse on identity manifests in various policy areas - immigration, citizenship and education - all of which in one way or another address the issues of culture, the multicultural society, ethnic exclusion, racism and the situation for ethnic minorities and migrants. The complex of problems concerning ethnic, cultural and social exclusion in today's European Union thus constitutes a central theme engaged with throughout the dissertation. / digitalisering@umu

The aim of this thesis is to analyze China-EU trade relations with focus on the period after 1975, when the diplomatic relations between China and EU developed. The research questions are (i) what is the driver in the development of China-EU trade relations? This question is subdivided into two questions: how do economic factors impact on China-EU trade relations and how do political factors influence China-EU trade relations? (ii) what are the existing problems in the current China-EU relations? (iii) what are the future prospects? To carry out the research questions and fulfill the aim of the paper, a qualitative and quantitative method has been chosen in order to interpret and understand China-EU traderelations. The theoretical framework of this study is neo-realism and neo-liberalism with particular attention focusing on political issues and economic issues respectively. A number of conclusions can be drawn from research. First, China-EU trade has developed very rapidly. Trade relations between the two sides are good. They are the third largest traders with each other. Secondly, the momentum for the development of China-EU trade relations is rooted in their common interests in both the political and economic fields. Thirdly, the prospect of China-EU trade relations is promising. These factors include (i) the establishment of a foundation to promote the healthy development of China-EU trade (for example, a set of legal framework provides both sides with the legal basis for their economic relations); and (ii) the prediction of future political and economic environment as favorable to the development of China-EU trade relations. All factors show optimistically that China-EU trade will continue to prosper. The China-EU trade relationship is not without friction and the author theorizes that there are some potential danger factors; such as the Taiwan issue and trade disputes that may shadow the future development of China-EU trade relations and cannot be overlooked. At the end the author puts forward four suggestions to promote the further development of China-EU trade relations: (i) maintain the existing high-level of exchanges such as the annual EU-China summit; (ii) set up a warning mechanism to prevent trade disputes escalating; (iii) provide a method for establishing negotiations; (iv) prevent the politicizing of trade relations, for example, do not connect human right issue with trade relations. Unrelated issues should be addressed separately.

This research considers the place of media in society by means of a Foucaudian genealogy of welfare and neo-liberal discourse surrounding youth misconduct in two Toronto newspapers. It was found that the overall “mode of talking” about youth misconduct has shifted from welfare to neo-liberal discourse, and that resistance or critical thought surrounding current neo-liberal discourse emerges in The Globe and Mail. I explore the role of newspapers in the process of governance by analyzing these discourses in terms of Foucault’s three rationalities for “the art of government” and also by analyzing the knowledge produced or titillated and the power outcomes or effects of these discourses. It is argued that newspapers can benefit governance by reflecting, validating and perhaps even rendering current neo-liberal governmentalities more efficient, by encouraging non-government groups to assist in the management of youth misconduct.