My thesis explores the knowledge, subjectivities and work performances that activist social workers bring to their practice in Ontario, Canada during a period of workplace restructuring that includes cuts to services, work intensification, increased surveillance and the evolving discourses of neoliberalism. A key aspect of my dissertation is the exploration of tensions between the attachments, desires and aspirations of the activist social work self and what that self must do every day to get by. I am interested in how it is that social workers produce and maintain their sense of identities – their integrity, ethics and responsibilities as activists – while also managing to navigate the contradictions of restructured workplaces. My aim is to understand not how power in the form of restructuring policies is imposed on people, but rather, how power acts through subjects who find themselves both implicated in, and struggling to resist neoliberal restructuring. My research lens draws on Michel Foucault’s ideas about governmentality and on feminist poststructural, critical race, and postcolonial theories. I use these theories to see neoliberal strategies of rule as working in diffuse ways through social and health service workplaces, encouraging service providers to see themselves as individualized and active subjects responsible for particular performances that enact specific types of change. My research findings reveal that activist social workers respond to neoliberal strategies of rule in multiple ways while constituting themselves through a variety of competing discourses that exist in their lives. Social workers subjectivities appear to be produced through a range of discourses drawn from their family histories, unique biographies and the intersections of socially produced distinctions that are based on gender, race, class, sexuality, age and nationalism. My dissertation traces some of the many ways that social workers position themselves within and beyond the changing context of neoliberalism. In doing so, my research reveals tentative pathways for building critical resistance practices and suggests future social welfare measures that are based on social justice and equity.

My thesis explores the knowledge, subjectivities and work performances that activist social workers bring to their practice in Ontario, Canada during a period of workplace restructuring that includes cuts to services, work intensification, increased surveillance and the evolving discourses of neoliberalism. A key aspect of my dissertation is the exploration of tensions between the attachments, desires and aspirations of the activist social work self and what that self must do every day to get by. I am interested in how it is that social workers produce and maintain their sense of identities – their integrity, ethics and responsibilities as activists – while also managing to navigate the contradictions of restructured workplaces. My aim is to understand not how power in the form of restructuring policies is imposed on people, but rather, how power acts through subjects who find themselves both implicated in, and struggling to resist neoliberal restructuring. My research lens draws on Michel Foucault’s ideas about governmentality and on feminist poststructural, critical race, and postcolonial theories. I use these theories to see neoliberal strategies of rule as working in diffuse ways through social and health service workplaces, encouraging service providers to see themselves as individualized and active subjects responsible for particular performances that enact specific types of change. My research findings reveal that activist social workers respond to neoliberal strategies of rule in multiple ways while constituting themselves through a variety of competing discourses that exist in their lives. Social workers subjectivities appear to be produced through a range of discourses drawn from their family histories, unique biographies and the intersections of socially produced distinctions that are based on gender, race, class, sexuality, age and nationalism. My dissertation traces some of the many ways that social workers position themselves within and beyond the changing context of neoliberalism. In doing so, my research reveals tentative pathways for building critical resistance practices and suggests future social welfare measures that are based on social justice and equity.

Submitted by JOSÉ QUEIROZ DE MIRANDA NETO null (mirandaneto@ufpa.br) on 2017-01-09T14:53:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE - VERSÃO FINAL - REPOSITÓRIO.pdf: 29755447 bytes, checksum: 9d45784f6fc62a0d914b4e30abf686e7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by LUIZA DE MENEZES ROMANETTO (luizamenezes@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2017-01-11T19:17:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 mirandaneto_jq_dr_prud.pdf: 29755447 bytes, checksum: 9d45784f6fc62a0d914b4e30abf686e7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-11T19:17:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 mirandaneto_jq_dr_prud.pdf: 29755447 bytes, checksum: 9d45784f6fc62a0d914b4e30abf686e7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-15 / Outra / As implicações espaciais da instalação de grandes projetos na Amazônia, como estradas, usinas hidrelétricas e indústrias de mineração, têm sido objeto de várias frentes de análise em Geografia no intuito de debater a respeito do papel transformador desses empreendimentos em contextos urbanos particulares. A partir de 2010, quando é liberada a licença de instalação da usina hidrelétrica de Belo Monte, percebe-se uma dinâmica social diferenciada, sobretudo marcada pela produção de novas formas espaciais e novas relações que envolvem a cidade e a rede urbana. Considerando essa realidade, a presente pesquisa resolveu articular o processo de construção da usina de Belo Monte ao tema das cidades médias, tendo como como base a seguinte questão: em que medida as transformações espaciais desencadeadas a partir da instalação da usina hidrelétrica de Belo Monte produzem uma reestruturação da cidade e uma reestruturação urbana? A área efetiva de estudos abrange, portanto, duas escalas de análise articuladas: a cidade de Altamira-PA, situada às margens do rio Xingu, a 54 km² de distância da área de construção da usina de Belo Monte, e a Região de Influência de Altamira (RIA). Esta última é baseada em dois estudos complementares do IBGE (REGIC de 2007 e Divisão Urbano-regional, de 2013) e corresponde aos centros urbanos situados no interfluxo entre o rio Xingu (Vitória do Xingu, Senador José Porfírio e Porto de Moz) e a rodovia Transamazônica (Altamira, Anapu, Pacajá, Medicilândia Uruará e Brasil Novo). No que se refere a Altamira, parte-se da ideia de que esta cidade atua como uma cidade média, uma vez que funciona como uma intermediadora entre as grandes cidades e os centros locais, permitindo-se adentrar aos autores que trabalham nesse campo de estudo. A pesquisa em questão possui como objetivo geral analisar os eventos resultantes da instalação da usina hidrelétrica de Belo Monte em Altamira-PA e em sua região de influência (RIA), de modo a verificar em que medida produzem a reestruturação da cidade e a reestruturação urbana. Com a utilização do método dialético, pretende-se fazer a leitura do movimento, da contínua transformação, do perpétuo vir-a-ser, enfatizando-se a lei da transformação da quantidade em qualidade. Por essa perspectiva, os dados sobre a cidade (o crescimento populacional, a expansão territorial, a criação novos loteamentos e as transformações na paisagem) e os dados regionais (a intensidade das interações espaciais, os atendimentos de saúde, as diferenças do PIB municipal, as características das finanças públicas, a distribuição das instituições financeiras e as mudanças no quadro empresarial) são devidamente analisados e articulados em um modelo explicativo denominado de “nexos de re-estruturação da cidade e da rede urbana”, que situa os acontecimentos, práticas e processos espaciais de acordo com um eixo de transformação estrutural (da estruturação à reestruturação) e com a escala de análise (da cidade e da rede urbana). A tese comprovada pela pesquisa é de que os feixes de vetores desencadeados pela usina hidrelétrica promovem transformações que se vinculam tanto à estruturação (lógica mais duradoura de constituição espacial) quanto à reestruturação (rupturas nas tendências anteriores) e se apresentam em intensidades diferenciadas de acordo com cada escala analisada. Pela disposição dos nexos inseridos dentro do modelo explicativo, é possível afirmar, portanto, que as transformações desencadeadas pela usina hidrelétrica de Belo Monte possuem um caráter concentrador, com mudanças que apontam mais em direção à reestruturação da cidade que no sentido da reestruturação urbana. / The spatial implications of large projects installation in the Amazon, such as roads, hydroelectric plants and mining industries have been the subject of several fronts of analysis in geography in order to demonstrate the transformative role of these enterprises in particular urban contexts. Starting in 2010, when the license installation of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte is released, it is clear a different social dynamic, particularly marked by the production of new spatial forms and new relationships involving the city and the urban network. Given this reality, this study decided to articulate the process of construction of the Belo Monte plant to the issue of medium-sized cities, based on the following question: how far the spatial transformations triggered from the installation of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte produce a city reorganization and an urban reorganization? The effective area of study covers, therefore, two articulated scales of analysis: the city of Altamira (Pará), situated at the margins of the Xingu river – 54km² away from the area of construction of the Belo Monte plant –, and the Region of Influence in Altamira (RIA). This latter is based on two complementary studies of IBGE (REGIC of 2007 and Division Urban-Regional, of 2013) and corresponds to the urban centers in the interflow between the Xingu river (Vitória do Xingu, Senador José Porfírio and Porto de Moz) and the Trans-Amazonian highway (Altamira, Anapu, Pacajá, Medicilândia, Uruará and Brasil Novo). With regard to Altamira, it is started from the idea that this city serves as a medium-sized city, since it functions as an intermediary between the big cities and local centers, allowing to enter authors who work in this field of study. The research in question has as main objective to analyze the events resulting from the installation of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte in Altamira-PA and its area of influence (RIA) in order to verify how much they produce the reorganization of the city and the urban reorganization. With the use of the dialectical method, is intended to do the reading of the movement, of the continuous transformation, of the perpetual coming-to-be, with emphasis on the law of transformation of quantity into quality. Under this perspective, the data about the city (population growth, territorial expansion, new allotments creation, and the changes in the landscape) and the regional data (the intensity of spatial interactions, the health care, the differences of local GDP, the characteristics of public finances, the distribution of financial institutions and changes in the business environment) are properly analyzed and articulated in an explanatory model called “nexus of re-structuring of the city and the urban network”, which places the events, practices and spatial processes according to an axis of structural transformation (from structuration to restructuring) and with the analysis scale (of the city and the urban network). The thesis confirmed by the research is that the vectors beams triggered by the hydroelectric plant promotes transformations that are linked both to the structuration (the most enduring logic of space constitution) as to the restructuring (ruptures in the previous tendencies) and are present in different intensities according to each analyzed scale. By the arrangement of inserted nexus within the explanatory model, it can be said, therefore, that the changes triggered by the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte have a concentrator character, with changes that point more toward the restructuring of the city than in the direction of urban restructuring.

The Slovak insolvency law reform, which came into effect on 1 January 2006, introduced a brand new restructuring option for business debtors. In this thesis, we present the first complex empirical analysis of all restructuring attempts allowed in the period 2006-2010. Results, based on a large amount of data, which we gathered for this purpose, suggest that the restructuring option is much more viable than the composition option under the previous Bankrupcty and Composition Act. The system is characterized by very high success rates (in terms of plan confirmation) and speedy proceedings. The size of the debtor affects neither the prospects for success, nor the length of proceedings significantly. We conclude that, even though a lot of improvements still need to be done, the reform moved the Slovak insolvency law closer to the standards of the best-performing jurisdictions. JEL Classification D23, K12, K20 Keywords insolvency law, reform, restructuring, bankruptcy, restructuring plan, trustee Author's e-mail hrnciarpavel@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail tomas.richter@cliffordchance.com

This paper investigates the mechanism for nominative/accusative Case alternations in the siph-ta ‘want-to’ construction in Korean. I argue that the Case alternations in the Korean siph-ta construction are motivated by the peculiar property of siph- that it has dual argument structures and restructuring properties. Specifically, the structural Case on the embedded object is determined by 1) the type of the matrix vP that siph- takes—vP(DO) or vP(BE) - and 2) the presence/absence of the functional category responsible for accusative Case checking, which is selected by the matrix predicate siph-. In so doing, it is demonstrated that the dual argument structure analysis can be extended to account for the same type of Case alternations exhibited by Korean psych-verbs as well as the incompatibility between a nominative object and an embedded psych-verb in the siph-ta construction.

Since the 1970s, waves of deindustrialization have dramatically transformed the urban Rust Belt. The plight of cities in this region is well documented by scholars. The story they present upholds central assumptions in theories of urban growth, mainly new cities grow in new economic regions at the expense of others. This dissertation challenges this notion by addressing the following question: What are the different economic trajectories Rust Belt cities have taken over the course of global economic restructuring from 1970 to 2000? In this research, 69 Rust Belt cities are classified into three different categories based on their performance on a quality of life index over this time period: stable, struggling, and devastated. Then, conventional quantitative methods are used to map changes in employment trends onto the cities in each category. This step provides a general picture of economic restructuring experiences in these cities, which shows all lose manufacturing employment, but increases in business services employment distinguishes stable cities while increases in professional services employment distinguishes devastated cities. Next, an innovative methodology is used to identify different kinds of economic transitions for different types of cities. The analysis shows larger, stable cities have been able to reorganize their local economies into producer service-based economies. It also indicates manufacturing remains central to the local economies in smaller, stable cities, and finally, all devastated cities are developing healthcare-based local economies. Finally, two stable and two devastated cities are examined in-depth to provide a detailed description of local economic transformations. The stable cities have combined local R&D facilities with a strong infrastructure of specialty manufacturers to become high-tech production sites. This change has fueled business services development in these cities. Devastated cities are holding onto old manufacturing while greatly expanding hospital-based employment. Overall, this dissertation makes a contribution by using multiple and innovative methods to develop a rich portrait of the economic reorganization of the urban Rust Belt. This portrait questions central assumptions in theoretical understandings of urban growth and serves as a foundation for an examination of the causes of successful local economic transformation.

This thesis makes a productive contribution to understanding the rapidly expanding and contested field of global school partnerships, by placing the rich narratives from a handful of school partnerships into the global education context of social, historical, political, and cultural processes. Principally, it tells the story of one partnership, between two primary schools in rural Devon and urban Tanzania, nested within a network of partnerships and governed by DfID’s Global School Partnership (GSP) programme. The cross-continental nature of the school partnerships called for a multi-sited, ethnographic approach, informed and shaped by postcolonial and feminist principles. Partnerships comprise a range of practices, most significant of which were the reciprocal teacher visits that punctuated, and energised, the partnership calendar, presenting spaces for encounter. The emotional and embodied encounters formed the backbone of the partnerships, and produced narratives that were circulated amongst the partnerships and re-presented to audiences in the home country. Firstly, school partnerships engendered the production of moral subjectivities, which were underscored by broad discourses of citizenship, global citizenship, and moral education. With its objective to foster global citizenship, the global partnership occupied an ambiguous position within this discursive framework. Secondly, the encounters presented moments in which narratives of education, teaching, and learning were produced, contested, negotiated, and in some cases, reworked by the participating teachers. As a cultural device, the GSP was both indicative, and constitutive, of the discourse surrounding the neoliberal realignment of the education sector around the world, and provided a productive lens through which to reflect upon the contemporary transformation of the institution. Importantly, the GSP presented a significant site in which neoliberal stories of aspiration, hard work, and global outlooks, became intimately entangled with ‘caring’ stories of concern and responsible citizenship. Most scholarship has focused on the role of secondary and tertiary education sectors in the production of the knowledge economy, but this ethnography finds that nascent discourses and imaginaries of the ‘global’ citizen are already being established and performed in primary schools around the world.

The thesis deals with organizational structures, emphasizing a flexibility of their forms, and reorganization. In the theoretical part there were explained reasons of modern organization, types of organizational forms, incentives and way of reorganization as well as corporate control mechanisms. The practical part applies these findings to restructuring of SAP corporation by a design of a control process of the newly formed organizational structure.

Inúmeras razões podem levar uma empresa até então saudável a enfrentar dificuldades financeiras. Entretanto, as pesquisas demonstram que a falta de liquidez, geralmente, não é o problema central, mas apenas uma conseqüência de outros fatores que, possivelmente, já manifestaram seus sintomas antes da crise financeira se instalar. Se os primeiros indícios desta situação puderem ser percebidos em tempo hábil, talvez a espiral decrescente possa ser evitada ou revertida, desde que haja um trabalho consciente de detecção dos reais problemas enfrentados pela empresa, conjugado com intervenções rápidas e eficazes que restabeleçam o seu equilíbrio econômico e financeiro. Esta tese estuda todo este processo de recuperação de empresas em dificuldades financeiras, desde os sinais de uma eventual deterioração, o diagnóstico que identifique suas causas, a formulação de um plano de recuperação e a sua negociação com os stakeholders em circunstâncias de fortes conflitos de interesses, até o turnaround em si. Os objetivos centrais foram identificar fatores críticos que mais podem contribuir para o sucesso de uma recuperação e propor um modelo teórico que sirva de referência para a estruturação destes processos. Para tanto, esta tese desenvolveu uma significativa pesquisa qualitativa, com características descritivas, explicativas e exploratórias. A técnica utilizada como estratégia de coleta de dados foi a entrevista individual e em profundidade, visto que se buscava conhecer detalhes de um processo e o universo da pesquisa é composto por experts profissionais. Todas as entrevistas foram conduzidas com base em um formulário de pesquisa semi-estruturado e flexível, o que permitiu grande interação ao longo de diálogos orientados. A amostra da pesquisa se baseou no critério da representatividade, permitindo aprofundamento, abrangência e diversidade na compreensão das múltiplas dimensões de um turnaround. Foram entrevistados conceituados consultores com vasta experiência nesta atividade, além de outros importantes agentes envolvidos neste processo, como investidores, gestores, advogados e administradores judiciais. Trata-se de uma amostra representativa, cujo valor provém do conhecimento, da experiência e da reputação dos profissionais ouvidos. Os resultados da pesquisa distinguem causas e sintomas das crises financeiras e evidenciam a existência de problemas recorrentes, padrões de atitudes, erros e comportamentos que precedem o insucesso das empresas. Foram identificados dez fatores críticos de sucesso para a recuperação de empresas em dificuldades financeiras; são eles: negociação, estabilização, tempo, atitude, os fundamentos do negócio, credibilidade, informação, unidade de comando, implementação e uma oportunidade. Por fim, foi proposto um modelo conceitual com três dimensões básicas: estratégica, organizacional e financeira, cujas fases em cada dimensão evoluem ao longo do tempo e afetam a função-objetivo da empresa. / A previously healthy company can find itself in financial difficulty for countless reasons. Research shows, however, that lack of liquidity is generally not the central problem, but a consequence of other factors, whose symptoms may have already started to appear before the financial crisis began. If the first signs of this situation can be recognized far enough in advance, the downward spiral may be avoided or even reversed, as long as there is a conscious effort to detect the company\'s real problems, together with quick, effective interventions to reestablish economic and financial balance. This thesis examines the whole turnaround process of companies in financial difficulty, from the first signs of deterioration, through a diagnosis of the causes, the formulation of a recovery plan and negotiations with stakeholders in a situation where there are strong conflicts of interests, to the actual turnaround itself. Our main objectives were to identify the critical factors that most contributed to the success of a recovery and to propose a theoretical model to serve as a reference for the structuring of these processes. To this end, this thesis involved an extensive qualitative study, which was descriptive, explanatory, and exploratory. We used in-depth, individual interviews as a data collection strategy, since we were interested in the details of the process, and the interviewees were all experts. All of the interviews were based on a loosely structured, flexible questionnaire, which allowed a great deal of interaction throughout the prompted conversations. Study participants were chosen for their representativeness, allowing for depth, breadth, and diversity in the understanding of the multiple dimensions of a turnaround. We interviewed highly respected consultants with extensive experience in the area, as well as other important agents in the process, such as investors, managers, lawyers, and legal administrators. It is a representative sampling, whose value is derived from the knowledge, experience, and reputation of the professionals interviewed. The results of the study distinguish between causes and symptoms of financial crises and show that there are recurrent problems and patterns of attitudes, errors, and behaviors that precede such crises within companies. We identified ten factors critical to the successful recovery of companies experiencing financial difficulties, these being: negotiation, stabilization, time, attitude, business foundations, credibility, information, unity of command, implementation, and an opportunity. Finally, we propose a conceptual model with three basic dimensions - strategic, organizational, and financial - whose phases in each dimension develop over time and affect the objective function of the company.

This thesis is a study of working-class women and their paid employment between the temporal limits c.1945 and c.1971. Centralising women’s experiences, three distinct methodologies – statistical analysis, archival research, and oral history – discretely delivered, explore changing patterns of women’s employment. Four case studies of northern industrial towns and cities – Glasgow, Dundee, Newcastle, and Preston – are used to test the notion of regional distinctiveness and its survival into the twentieth-century. Statistical analysis of women’s labour market participation demonstrates convergence of regional differences. Women’s participation in paid work was augmented across the country, and married women became an increasing part of the labour force. In industrial towns which historically employed large numbers of married women, such as Preston and Dundee, women’s experiences converged with those of cities, such as Newcastle and Glasgow, with strong heavy industry traditions. Economic restructuring entailed women’s concentration in service and clerical occupations, compared to manufacturing, such as textiles and ‘light’ engineering. Until 1970 at least, mothers increasingly returned to employment part-time, contrasting with previous generations of female breadwinners who worked full-time. The provision of childcare sits at the site of a series of arguments about mother’s employment, maternal deprivation, and social problems. National policy lines were rarely drawn around encouraging women into work. An archival method, exploring local authority nurseries and nursery schools, and private nurseries illustrates meagre provision. Women’s continued use of childminders and informal care evidences a demand for provision which was not adequately met by the state. Oral history interviews found few women used local authority childcare, partly because of stringent admittance criteria and the stigma attached. The fundamental argument of this thesis focuses on working-class women and situates their experiences, sense of self, and personal struggles against family and societal expectations at the core of the profound changes in women’s working lives, in contrast to government policy and market economies. Oral history is the final methodology. Original oral history research testifies to work as part of the changing nature of the female self. However, it is emphasised that despite momentous transformation in women’s lives, gendered expectations were a limiting force on women’s ability to break free from a confining domesticity and unsatisfying work.