This research is about how development practice is produced by development bureaucracies. In 2001, the Mexican Congress enacted a new national law called Ley de Desarrollo Rural Sustentable (Sustainable Rural Development Act) seeking to produce the radical change that the Mexican rural sector needed to improve the social and economic conditions of the rural population. Its policy design was based on the dominant paradigm of rural development, of which ideas such as sustainable livelihoods, decentralisation and community participation compose the core elements. Ten years since the launch of this policy it has not triggered the expected changes in social and economic conditions in rural Mexico. This work seeks to provide grounded explanations about why some ‘good’ development policies produce unexpected outcomes. The research focus is on understanding how development bureaucracies translate the directives of development programmes. It is possible to see their influence on policy outcomes and in the rationale behind the decisions made by bureaucratic actors in the implementation arena. Making use of actor-oriented approaches, this thesis develops a case study that describes how, responding to multiple realities, bureaucratic actors make their decisions in the implementation arena. It analyses the different rationales by which bureaucracies at different levels interpret and produce meaning from the notions of decentralisation and community participation in the process of the implementation of Mexico’s Ley de Desarrollo Rural Sustentable. The case study shows that development bureaucracies play a key role in the generation of policy outcomes. It shows that Mexican development bureaucracies have a particular rationale that is significantly different from the implicit assumptions made in the design of the planned intervention and in which informal institutions such as compadrazgo and clientelism are used strategically by bureaucratic actors to produce development practice. The main conclusion of the thesis is that understanding development bureaucracies’ rationales provides coherent explanations about the apparently contradictory outcomes produced by novel policy approaches in developing countries.

This study analyses Turkey’s relations with states and non-state actors on transboundary water issues by examining hydropolitics at the inter-state and transnational layers from 1923 to 2011. The cases investigated are Turkish – Syrian relations primarily over the Euphrates and Tigris basin, and relations between opponents and proponents over the construction of the Ilısu Dam, which is currently underway. Turkey is fully engaged in its ‘hydraulic mission’, very extensively and rapidly ‘developing’ water resources throughout its territory. Some of these flows cross international borders, specifically the very heavily contested Euphrates and Tigris basin. This large basin has attracted considerable academic attention, notably in regards to Turkey’s relations with downstream neighbours Syria, Iraq. Yet, the great bulk of the existing analysis falls prey to two broader weaknesses: a) it has narrowly applied the recently developed literature regarding the role of power in transboundary water politics, and b) it has also neglected or under-emphasised how non-state actors enrol in hydropolitical processes. Informed by deep investigation of the cases, the study develops and applies the distinct theoretical framework referred to as “An Enhanced Analytical Framework of Power in Hydropolitics”. The theoretical framework includes the conceptual frameworks that critically look at the role of power in transboundary water basins in terms of material and discursive power capabilities of actors. It also enhances the existing conceptual frameworks by demonstrating the following key elements of power: a) scalar dynamics (where actors are located and they interact with one another) and its linkage with power and b) the role of values and norms in terms of conflictual/cooperative hydropolitical relations and their linkage with power. Thus, the broader notion of power employed and elaborated upon here enables the analyst to understand how power influences the outcome of interactions, conflictual and cooperative relations between the actors in question. Constructivist approaches in the theories of international relations and its application to hydropolitics and other critical conceptual approaches to transboundary water politics have been used in making the analysis. The theoretical framework makes an original contribution to existing conceptual frameworks, as it widens understanding and role of power in hydropolitics. The application of the theoretical framework to Turkish-Syrian hydropolitical relations and relations between the III opponents and proponents over the construction of the Ilısu dam provides an empirical contribution to knowledge. The analysis shows how power dynamics as well as conflictual and cooperative relations dramatically change in different hydropolitical eras. By highlighting the influence the transnational anti-dam activist networks, the study shows the relevance of including non-state actors into the analysis. One of the several conclusions drawn is that such actors lack material power but are able to use discursive (ideational and bargaining) power very effectively to meet their interests.

The regulatory guidelines on obtaining informed consent require that all protocols be reviewed by an ethics review committee; in addition study information must be presented to volunteers by the research teams in simple and understandable language, to ensure they are able to give informed consent for their participation. Despite the innovative methods that have been developed over the years to improve informed consent, the informed consent process is still a difficult subject and not fully understood particularly in developing countries. Objective: In this study I sought to understand and evaluate the informed consent process as perceived by the different actors in two HIV clinical trials and how their understandings and interpretation of the process are reflected in standardized informed consent guidelines. Methodology: The actors included: members of the ethics review committee, senior researchers, the field research teams, the community advisory board members and the research volunteers. Data were collected using semi-structured interview guides and focus group discussion guides and unstructured observation and document review. Results: A total of sixty three respondents took part in this study. I found that although the informed consent process is emphasised in research ethics guidelines and clinical research protocols which are approved by the ethics research committees before they are implemented, how the process is perceived and interpreted by the actors is very varied. The different actors’ beliefs, values, gender, trust, power differentials and decision making all contribute to the negotiations that take place during the informed consent process. The standardised informed consent guidelines are a useful tool to manage the bureaucracy of conducting research in order to protect research volunteers from any form of harm and allow for individual autonomy; it is however the relationships and interactions of the different actors which are built over time during the research process that in practice lead to a meaningful informed consent process as each actor interprets and understands the process within their own context and experience.

This research assesses how discourses on climate change and water security during policy making impact on actual water management, analysing the Equatorial Nile Basin and its riparian countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and DR Congo) as a case study. The thesis looks at the significance of informal policy networks for water governance, and critically discusses the extent to which the framing of issues by these networks are reflected in the practical implementation of multilevel water governance. This thesis uses a mixed methods approach, combining qualitative with quantitative methods. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with policymakers, through the analysis of policy reports and other documents, and through a focus group with representatives of Water User Associations. Qualitative data was triangulated with quantitative data derived through a Q Methodological study on perceptions of water resources management, climate change and water security. The thesis finds that two policy networks, which revolve around the Nile Basin Initiative and the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, shape the design and implementation of multilevel water governance in the Basin. Actors from both policy networks frame water resources management along the following three frames: environmental risk, governance, and infrastructure development – which are then transferred onto thinking around climate change and water security. The thesis concludes that, whereas climate change and water security are explicit in policy design, consideration of policy delivery does not feedback into future policy framing. The research therefore provides strong evidence that, for successful integration of climate change and water security in the development context, the starting point for policy creation should be a realistic view of the challenges surrounding practical delivery of current water management.

This research is concerned with understanding how the management authority of the Bardiya National Park (the BNPMA) is able to adapt to the pressures of increasing climate variability and change. To that end, this study employs a mixed-methods case study approach to elucidate the key drivers of change facing the BNPMA, the processes through which the organisation adapts to these challenges, and the factors that enable and constrain action. In doing so it intends to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the potential future effectiveness of adaptation interventions. Analysis of local weather data, in conjunction with data obtained from village level surveys, highlights a number of climatic trends which, along with related environmental changes are shown to have an important role in driving change within the BNPMA. A range of anthropogenic drivers are also shown to be relevant. The factors enabling and constraining the BNPMA’s ability to respond to these identified drivers of change are subsequently examined through the analysis of data obtained from Likert questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and field observations. Organisational systems, culture, internal resources and the process of knowledge generation and sharing are all found to play a pivotal role in determining the capacity of the BNPMA to respond to its drivers of change. The final analytical section of this thesis uses three examples to evaluate the learning processes through which the BNPMA operationalises its adaptive capacity and mobilises it as adaptive management interventions. Drawing on the results of semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, official park documents, and fieldwork observations, three distinct types of learning are identified within the organisation. In conclusion, this study argues that learning plays a key role in adaptive management approaches to conservation and in operationalising organisational adaptive capacity, enabling the BNPMA to effectively respond to new challenges. However, further research is needed to assess the wider applicability of the drivers of change highlighted in this study, within Nepal and beyond, as well as the interplay of components of adaptive capacity in conservation organisations and the learning processes through which this capacity is mobilised.

No description available.

The global rise of China occurs at a time when Africa undergoes an institutional effort to reshape its internal security dynamics. President Museveni of Uganda has utilised this context to centralise his position within an East African regional security environment which remains fluctuating and unstable, and offers an outstanding example of African agency. A continental overview of Africa using Buzan and Wæver’s Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) shows China impacting on security dynamics by creating a structural context in which African leaders must operate, as well as contributing to low-level security issues. A case study analysis of the East African Community (EAC) uncovers nuances therein, by establishing China’s role in the ongoing security issues related to ‘Terrorism’ and the ‘Oil Sector.’ Detailed interrogation of Uganda and President Museveni’s role within this environment, shows that China’s role in Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) proliferation and global ivory trade; and it being a market for oil, involved in developing the sector, and a key partner in mega-infrastructure construction, has greatly aided Museveni. The EAC is stabilising into a pre-complex, where a set of bilateral security relations potentially seem able to bind into a Regional Security Complex (RSC), and shows clear signs of moving to proto-complex status, where sufficient manifest security interdependence delineates it as a region (although thinly and weakly). Museveni’s role in this becoming of an RSC is crucially important. He has utilised Chinese engagement to a great extent, in order to shape this process in a way beneficial to himself and Uganda. China’s attempted exploitation of East Africa’s various opportunities has ultimately seen it become an unwitting accomplice in aiding President Museveni’s machinations. Museveni has successfully incorporated and deflected Chinese interests so as to maintain his domestic position and regional aspirations.

This dissertation presents the first systematic study on cluster relocation, providing a non- random and dynamic analysis of firm relocations. Seeking to contribute to the understanding of cluster relocations and their consequences for the destination region, I explore the process and determinants of a particular cluster relocation and investigate the growth and maintenance of the new cluster through the enhancement of its supplier base, the diffusion of innovations, and advances in technological change. I analyse the differences between first and late mover firms in the process of cluster relocation to unveil the elements that boost relocation. I examine the process of technological change that occurs in the destination region. On one hand, I explore the channels for the diffusion of specific innovations and provide novel evidence for the cluster literature by considering different channels simultaneously. I measure the importance of local and relocated firms for the diffusion of innovations, unveiling the mechanisms by which knowledge spillovers with and among local firms take place. On the other hand, I present a dynamic view of the impact of relocated firms in the new region, providing unique details of technological change and the build-up of absorptive capacity over time. I analyse the changing role of relocated firms in the creation and expansion of local firms' capabilities. The relocation of the Sinos Valley footwear cluster in Brazil is analysed as a case study in this research. After being defined as a 'supercluster' by Schmitz (1995), the cluster collapsed and partially relocated in the end of the 1990s to the northeast of Brazil, and to China, following major changes that affected the competitiveness of the sector. In their attempt to survive, several firms relocated to the Cariri area in the state of Ceará, northeast Brazil. I follow this relocation process using mapping techniques, analysing the diffusion of innovations and technological change processes through an extensive set of interviews and a complete social network analysis.

This thesis attempts to highlight some of the factors driving the Niger Delta conflicts. First, by exploring the limitations of economic understanding of conflicts and reviewing the policy implications of assessing these unrests through a singular economic lens, my research sought to underline the need to shift beyond singular issue understanding of the region's unrests. To drive this shift in the assessment of conflicts, I adopted a multifocal, interdisciplinary approach to complement the economic school and its assessment of conflictual issues in the region. This was achieved by assessing the micro dynamics of disputes in four communities in the Niger Delta. Structured as three case studies, emphasis was placed on examining the nuances that undergirded some of the frequent clashes in the region. In assessing these randomly selected communities, I was attempting to explore in detail, the factors that continue to drive conflicts in the Niger Delta. Through this examination, it was possible to focus on some factors that had previously received very little attention in the study of the region. In a case study exploring militancy, charting Ateke Tom's rise, I was able to show that militant leaders were dextrous actors who leveraged federal government's dependency on the region's oil to secure privileges for themselves and for the people of the Niger Delta. Though commonly understood as 'criminals masquerading as freedom fighters' I was able to show that ex-militant leaders are important actors in a new system of alternative governance in the Niger Delta. This system involves ex-militant leaders providing goods and services in lieu of state provisions. This allows these actors to manage tensions in the region - in return for these provisions, they maintain access to state's decision making and the privileges attached to accessing key stakeholders. In another section of the thesis, I explored communal conflicts in the region and identified that government's interest in the region's peace is directly correlated with presence of natural resources. Communities with no natural resources were more likely to be ignored by state institutions. Instead of relying on state intervention, communities involved in conflicts appear to depend heavily on the existence of 'sons of the soil'. These actors, in my case studies, were patrons who treated their communities as 'communal clients' who had to be protected from external threats. Often using state resources, patrons who were 'sons of the soil' leveraged their government positions to disenfranchise rival communities. Instead of assuaging competing factions, the process of using federal government resources to protect communal clients was found to exacerbate tensions in the region. The thesis was also able to highlight the frictions emanating from internal governance struggles. By focusing on a community with ongoing chieftaincy disputes, I was able to explore the source of the tensions between chiefs in the community. Interestingly, the chieftaincy dispute had a generational dimension where youths were pitted against each other, but also against traditional elites. After many interviews, and discussions with opposing camps and interest groups, I was able to challenge the idea of generational crisis where modernity is assumed to be in direct competition with tradition. I conclude by positing that there is in fact a transgenerational continuum whereby the interests of youths, the agents of modernity, and traditional elites, the custodian of tradition, are much more aligned than was previously thought. Overall, the thesis was able to draw attention to some of the multiple causes of the Niger Delta conflicts. It was important to note that the factors driving conflicts in the region are many and are varied, but it was also important to emphasise that the conflicts in the Niger Delta were neither unique nor exceptional. I conclude by challenging the idea of Niger Delta exceptionalisam. I argue that, although the region unlike many other regions in Nigeria has been able to leverage its resources to gain attention domestically and internationally, the underlying factors driving conflicts in Niger Delta can be found across Nigeria.

Decentralisation, democratisation, and social protection (SP) are widely regarded as three important endeavours that developing countries ought to pursue. Research has, however, neglected the relationship between these three. An exploration of this interplay is important given that efforts by decentralised governments to expand SP are often unaccompanied by sufficient resources. In the Indonesian context, most local governments struggle to maintain the viability of SP while attempting to garner electoral votes with various entitlement programmes. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature. The thesis asks what mechanisms of decentralisation and democratisation have supported SP effectively. The study uses a mixed method approach and finds the quantitative results to be consistent with the qualitative findings. The finding suggests that being strategically responsive to the needs of the public, local governments tend to expand their SP programmes. The thesis is comprised of three parts. The first concerns the conceptualisation of theoretical and methodological frameworks, underpinned by theories and assumptions in the literature. In the second part, one framework has been utilised to explore the secondary quantitative data sets obtained from the World Bank’s INDO-DAPOER repository and series of annual household surveys (Susenas). These two are followed by an in-depth qualitative exploration of case studies in two selected districts, specifically, Surakarta and Sragen. The thesis contributes to knowledge about SP programmes in democratic settings and their effectiveness in poverty and vulnerability reduction. The findings of the thesis highlight the factors that mediate the development of SP at the implementation level. The study concludes that current fiscal arrangements are susceptible to the fluctuations generated by budget cycles related to elections. The case studies in this thesis corroborate the argument that although the expansion of SP is an important way to reduce poverty and vulnerability, it does not necessarily ensure success in local elections.