Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (University of Texas Digital Repository, viewed on August 5, 2009). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 377-408).

In 2002 the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA) was promulgated to regulate the exploitation of minerals and petroleum in South Africa. With the promulgation of the MPRDA landowners’ rights regarding the minerals embedded in their land have been annihilated. South Africa’s mineral and petroleum resources were statutorily bequeathed to all the people of South Africa and the state was statutorily appointed as the custodian thereof for the benefit for all South Africans. All the rights to minerals have been severed from the ownership of land and the MPRDA does not recognise the existence of common law mineral rights as they existed directly before the MPRDA took effect. As a result thereof, landowners are not entitled to compensation for the loss of the minerals that are mined from the soil of their land. In addition, landowners ostensibly no longer possess the right to enforce negotiations regarding compensation for losses suffered or damages caused during the course of mining operations. It is against this background that this study seeks to determine to what extent the MPRDA or common law provide for the protection of landowners’ rights regarding compensation claims against the holder of statutory prospecting or mining rights for the infringement of their ownership brought about by mining activities on their land. / LLM (Estate Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

In 2002 the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA) was promulgated to regulate the exploitation of minerals and petroleum in South Africa. With the promulgation of the MPRDA landowners’ rights regarding the minerals embedded in their land have been annihilated. South Africa’s mineral and petroleum resources were statutorily bequeathed to all the people of South Africa and the state was statutorily appointed as the custodian thereof for the benefit for all South Africans. All the rights to minerals have been severed from the ownership of land and the MPRDA does not recognise the existence of common law mineral rights as they existed directly before the MPRDA took effect. As a result thereof, landowners are not entitled to compensation for the loss of the minerals that are mined from the soil of their land. In addition, landowners ostensibly no longer possess the right to enforce negotiations regarding compensation for losses suffered or damages caused during the course of mining operations. It is against this background that this study seeks to determine to what extent the MPRDA or common law provide for the protection of landowners’ rights regarding compensation claims against the holder of statutory prospecting or mining rights for the infringement of their ownership brought about by mining activities on their land. / LLM (Estate Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This thesis examines the ways in which development actors respond to and interpret a Rights-Based Approach (RBA) to development. It draws on a case study undertaken over a period of more than two years in Pakistan. The central research vehicle is a capacity-building process on RBA involving around 300 development professionals. The thesis examines the different responses to and understandings of RBA emerging in the case study, whether there are indications of changes in thinking and practice, and how the analysis fits with existing ideas about rights and development. Analysis draws on an ethnographic perspective and on participant observation, questionnaires, interviews and a range of tools, within the RBA process and from the wider social development field. It is argued that organisations increasingly aim to operationalise RBA through more inclusive, participatory development which enables the claiming of rights and promotes accountability for their fulfilment. One strand of RBA emphasises implementation of a universalising legal framework; another turns to more consciously political processes of struggle for, and institutional responses to, people's claims. The strands reflect a tension that runs through both the fieldwork and examined literature, between formal, centralist, and pluralist, actor-oriented approaches. Adopting one or the other of the two approaches has profound implications for what is 'seen' in development. The thesis shows that, depending on the approach taken, relations in the private sphere are either shut out or exposed, and the operation of power either hidden or revealed. Actors' responses to RBA are absorbed into, and used within, underlying debates on social relations and social and political change. In a Muslim context, responses lead people to confront sacrosanct certainties about human organisation and relations with authority. This is seen most vividly through gender relations, which are used both as a central expression, and a protector, of a particular construction of power. A formal, centralist treatment of RBA tends to reinforce existing relations through which rights are 'given' and 'received'. The thesis case study shows that, conversely, a pluralist, actor-oriented approach is more process-centred and places more emphasis on rights being 'made'. This, in itself, signals a change in actors' roles. It is argued that the energy of RBA lies in transformations in actors and in development relationships, rather than in achievement of bounded development outputs. Significant impacts, amongst a minority of responses to RBA, grow out of actors seizing more active, politicised roles in development, despite depoliticised donor approaches.

Past research has categorized animal rights groups into three main categories; conservative, moderate, and radical. While a few studies exist on the animal rights movement as a whole, none have focused specifically on the radical groups. This research project uses an ethnography of communication approach to examine how language constructs notions of radicalism inside a small grass roots level animal rights group. The basic theoretical foundation guiding the study is that language constructs social reality and is thus inherently linked with culture. Using Del Hyme's (1972) ethnography of communication as a theoretical and methodological guide, this research takes into an account the importance of analyzing language and communication as something that forms the cultural landscape of animal rights subculture. This thesis explores the four main cultural themes of animal rights activism at the local level; (1) the centrality of activism in the lives of the informants, (2) the frustration of being labeled and not being taken seriously, (3) the centrality of radical action, and (4) the national movement as a source of further frustration but also as an important element of the activist identity. Furthermore, based on the informant data I identify four main issues within the public discourse, which the activists find problematic. Critical Discourse Analysis is used in order to explore the ways in which radicalism is constructed in the media coverage of animal rights issues. / Graduation date: 2002

Thesis (M.S. in International Affairs)--Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2003. Directed by Sylvia Maier. / Includes bibliographical references (42-44).

Thesis(LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 159 p. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-157).

Thesis (M.S. - Hydrology and Water Resources)-University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 285-287).