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.

This essay aims to emphasize and clarify the positions that exist within the current globalization debate. The positions are the neo-liberal, the opponents, the pragmatists and the skeptics. The text presents and explains their ideological, moral and political positions and beliefs about the world, the nation state, the society and the individual; in light of Steven Lukes’ and Antonio Gramsci's theories regarding the interaction and the relationship between power and hegemony. The methodological starting point is the ideology-critical analysis; in which their arguments in the current globalization debate is highlighted and categorized. The neo-liberals consider globalization as a tool to legitimize the notion of the free, rational and autonomous individual – who in a free market chooses to contract, interact and relate to each other without facing any government intervention. Opponents see that globalization does not necessarily have to mean the spread of neoliberal economic doctrines – or government deregulation or privatization – but instead may represent a path towards a more just, democratic and inclusive world. Between these two diametrically opposed positions are the pragmatists; who argue that there must be a balance between political and economic freedom and government regulation and their institutional powers. Only then will globalization have the desired effects needed to be able to lift nations out of poverty, bring well being and evoke a greater temporal coherence at the global level. Finally, the skeptics’ viewpoint is that the concept of globalization is misleading and is used mainly as a diversion to hide the real interests – namely the U.S. ambitions to maintain its hegemonic position to continue to spread their neo-liberal ideology through the principles of free trade and democratization through the abolition of the welfare state. The analysis shows that the globalization debate is not primarily about what arguments are discussed at the present time, but instead deals with the political and ideological beliefs concerning how society should be designed and how the world should be comprehended and understood. The globalization debate is really about the individual and collective consciousness created by the liberal hegemonic exercise of power, and how this influence is manifested through the intellectual and moral leadership of the ruling class in the world today.

Whithin the recent human centered development approach, the mission of development&#039 / s declared aims are alleviating poverty, increasing choices by reducing &#039 / risks&#039 / and empowering women. In line with the human development framework, Reproductive Health program aims at improving women&#039 / s health, enlarging women&#039 / s chices and engendering reproductive rights. The scope of &#039 / empowerment&#039 / is conceptualized as strenthening their capabilities to prevent sexual reproductive health risks, thereby enlarging their reproductive choices whithout reflecting on the role of general political economic structures. this thesis argues that while general health indicators and life choices and rights of poor women are decreasing due to neoliberal shrinkage of social policy and flexible working regimes, the sole focus on reproductive health and rights by development agents is irrelevant. In line with this argument, this study draws upon post-development theory in order to argue that development is a historically specific representation of social reality which permits particular modes of knowing while disqualifying others for perpetuating gobal hegemonic regimes.

Privatization, which is the most important component of neo-liberal policies since the 1980s, has been legitimized by the neo-liberal doctrine through a purely economic and technical terminology. Contrary to this, this thesis maintains that privatization is a highly political process, shaped by intertwined class- and identity-based interests in different countries. To support this argument, the thesis makes a comparative analysis of the privatizations of large-scale state economic enterprises in Turkey in the 2000s, namely Petrol Ofisi, T&Uuml / PRAS, ERDEMIR, T&uuml / rk Telekom and PETKIM, as part of the neo-liberal transformation of the Turkish state. It concludes that the privatizations of large-scale SEEs in Turkey represent typical examples to what David Harvey terms as &ldquo / accumulation by dispossession&rdquo / throughout which wealth has been transferred from the laboring classes to capital by the active involvement of the state though the Turkish experience has its own historical specificities. Political preferences made by governments in charge since the late 1990s in general and by the Islamist AKP government after 2002 in particular have to be understood to make sense of these specificities.

This thesis aims to analyze the inner dynamics as well as the outcomes of the health sector restructuring process in Turkey, by focusing on Neo-Liberal transformation, New Public Management practices and European Integration process. The thesis argues that health reform process along with other public sector reforms have been initiated by Neo-Liberalism as the new face of institutional and structural arrangements during 1980s. Within that process, it is underlined that New Public Management approach with its commitment to private sector methodology and techniques reflected the underlying philosophy and basic premises of Neo-Liberalism which dominated the health sector restructuring process in Turkey, as well as in Eastern Europe since 1990s. Often characterized with the notion of &ldquo / efficiency&rdquo / , the New Public Management techniques and methodologies claimed to bring a more efficiently working health system. In order to refute this claim, the health sector reforms that have been exercised in the past two decades in Turkey as well as in Eastern Europe are analyzed within a historical context. It is also argued that while the Neo-Liberal policies and policy initiatives proposed by International Monetary Fund and World Bank had a direct effect on health sector restructuring process, the role of the European Union has been indirect with regard to organization and service provision. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to analyze the outcomes of the health reforms carried out in Turkey in a multidisciplinary manner in order to reveal its political, economic,social and administrative implications in terms of service providers and service takers.

After the end of the Second World War, three major economic powers emerged. Japan in Asia, Germany in Europe, and the United States in North America, quickly became the economic engines of their respective regions. Japan, with its "catch-up" and producer centered economy, grew so fast and so large, that there were worries in America that the Japanese would end up winning the economic war. West Germany, supported by the capitalist world, became a miracle economy, and the economic power of the European Union. In the past fifteen years however, these two economies have faltered and stagnated. In Japan, the nineteen nineties are referred to as the "lost decade". In Germany, unemployment continued to grow throughout the decade, and in the former East Germany remained at near catastrophic levels. Much has been written about the reasons for this, referring to the quick and somewhat chaotic reunification of Germany, and the focus of the Japanese on "catching up" to the West. Yet these are not adequate explanations. The problems lie deep in the systemic level of both economies, particularly in the area of labor policies, both in formal written laws and policies prevalent in Germany, and the informal cultural guarantees that are seen in the Japanese systems. The area of the non-liberal capitalist model, particularly the banks and capital investment also contributes to the continued economic stagnation of these two states. Comparing these to the liberal economic policies in the United States, this thesis will show that greater flexibility in both the capitalist and labor models allow [sic] for greater success in the globalized economy.

The roots of international voluntary work can be said to stem back to the 19:th century missionary work. It is thus nothing new with westerners wanting to spread their knowledge or help the poor in other countries. However, relatively recently the international voluntary work or, as termed in this thesis, volunteer tourism have become more like an industry. Both the older phenomenon of non-profit organizers of volunteer travels and the newer, nowadays more visible, alternative of commercial companies are to choose from. Within this relatively new landscape of volunteer travels, this study seeks to understand the volunteers’ and the volunteer experience through a comparison of non-profit and profit organizers of volunteer travels. To do this, open-ended interviews were conducted with 14 former volunteers who had travelled with various organizers. The interviews took place in Stockholm, March-April 2015. The theoretical framework is based on critical theories, social movement theory and theories about (volunteer) tourism. The study showed that the experiences of and motivations for volunteering were quite similar between the groups. However, the volunteers’ who had travelled with non-profit organizers were in retrospect less focused on the aim of “helping” and they had to a larger extend revalued the aim and concept of volunteering. The most common least satisfactory part of the travel was the working situation. For all, the in general most valuable outcome of the travel was a cultural insight (exchange) rather than making a difference or helping, which is the common image marketed by many volunteer travel organizers.

Despite the general academic consensus that liberal democracy has triumphed over communism, Marxist-inspired movements continue to thrive across the global south. This is a curious phenomenon in the post-Cold War era. This paper explores the recent growth of both The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in India, and compares the two groups. It analyzes the factors that have led to their resurgence, in particular, the political and economic dimensions. Specifically, it addresses the impact of two dominant factors in fomenting their resurgence: neo-liberalism and political exclusion. First, recent growth of both groups seems to correlate with the adoption of neo-liberal economic policies and progressively draconian structural adjustments, which aggravated existing poverty and inequality, in their respective countries. Second, recent growth of both groups seems to correlate with political exclusion of marginalized groups, an exclusion increasingly enforced by state violence. The survival and growth of Marxist-inspired armed movements across the globe also raises important questions about the future of liberal democracy. This paper asks whether the persistence of Marxist-inspired movements across the global south has given the lie to the "end of history" theory, and what their resurgence says, if anything, about the "clash of civilizations theory. It concludes that the success of these movements challenges the apparent triumph of liberal democracy in both Colombia and India, and perhaps in the post-Cold War era globally.

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.

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.