The Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa has been seen as an innovative approach to youth development. The E tipu e rea – Rangatahi Development Package was particularly useful for organisations implementing the strategy with Maori youth. There have been successful Maori youth development initiatives, though these have been ad hoc. Nonetheless, the realities and experiences of Maori youth are still not being fully addressed in national policy. This has implications for the support and resourcing of Maori youth development initiatives. Maori youth are members of a range of groups including whanau, hapu, iwi and Maori communities in te ao Maori as well as the wider youth population and New Zealand society. The histories, experiences and viewpoints of each distinct group contribute to diversity in the Maori youth population which presents challenges for Maori youth development. Maori development goals do not adequately focus on Maori youth and youth development theory does not fully consider culture. The challenge is to successfully integrate Maori culture and youth culture in a relevant and meaningful manner so that Maori youth can positively contribute to Maori development and wider New Zealand society. This study examines purakau (narratives) about Maui (Polynesian ancestor) as a template for the analysis of Maori youth development. Interviews were undertaken with a group of Maori youth from the Manawatu region. The research showed tikanga and ahuatanga were relevant to the contemporary daily lives of the participants. The study found that positive development and the realisation of potential for Maori youth was affected by individual and environmental influences. This thesis concludes by making recommendations for policy, practice and further research. Finally, it offers a culturally appropriate theoretical approach for positive Maori youth development.

The Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa has been seen as an innovative approach to youth development. The E tipu e rea – Rangatahi Development Package was particularly useful for organisations implementing the strategy with Maori youth. There have been successful Maori youth development initiatives, though these have been ad hoc. Nonetheless, the realities and experiences of Maori youth are still not being fully addressed in national policy. This has implications for the support and resourcing of Maori youth development initiatives. Maori youth are members of a range of groups including whanau, hapu, iwi and Maori communities in te ao Maori as well as the wider youth population and New Zealand society. The histories, experiences and viewpoints of each distinct group contribute to diversity in the Maori youth population which presents challenges for Maori youth development. Maori development goals do not adequately focus on Maori youth and youth development theory does not fully consider culture. The challenge is to successfully integrate Maori culture and youth culture in a relevant and meaningful manner so that Maori youth can positively contribute to Maori development and wider New Zealand society. This study examines purakau (narratives) about Maui (Polynesian ancestor) as a template for the analysis of Maori youth development. Interviews were undertaken with a group of Maori youth from the Manawatu region. The research showed tikanga and ahuatanga were relevant to the contemporary daily lives of the participants. The study found that positive development and the realisation of potential for Maori youth was affected by individual and environmental influences. This thesis concludes by making recommendations for policy, practice and further research. Finally, it offers a culturally appropriate theoretical approach for positive Maori youth development.

The Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa has been seen as an innovative approach to youth development. The E tipu e rea – Rangatahi Development Package was particularly useful for organisations implementing the strategy with Maori youth. There have been successful Maori youth development initiatives, though these have been ad hoc. Nonetheless, the realities and experiences of Maori youth are still not being fully addressed in national policy. This has implications for the support and resourcing of Maori youth development initiatives. Maori youth are members of a range of groups including whanau, hapu, iwi and Maori communities in te ao Maori as well as the wider youth population and New Zealand society. The histories, experiences and viewpoints of each distinct group contribute to diversity in the Maori youth population which presents challenges for Maori youth development. Maori development goals do not adequately focus on Maori youth and youth development theory does not fully consider culture. The challenge is to successfully integrate Maori culture and youth culture in a relevant and meaningful manner so that Maori youth can positively contribute to Maori development and wider New Zealand society. This study examines purakau (narratives) about Maui (Polynesian ancestor) as a template for the analysis of Maori youth development. Interviews were undertaken with a group of Maori youth from the Manawatu region. The research showed tikanga and ahuatanga were relevant to the contemporary daily lives of the participants. The study found that positive development and the realisation of potential for Maori youth was affected by individual and environmental influences. This thesis concludes by making recommendations for policy, practice and further research. Finally, it offers a culturally appropriate theoretical approach for positive Maori youth development.

Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions has the potential to cause widespread damage to the environment. As scientific and political consensus converged on the necessity to take action, a large number of countries negotiated the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1997, with the goal of limiting these emissions. Australia under the Howard Government initially played an important part in these negotiations, but refused to ratify the Protocol. The government cited the lack of binding targets on developing countries and the potential for harm to the Australian economy as the reasons it rejected the agreement. International relations theory studies large-scale political forces and analyses their interplay in the global political system. Realism is a model of international relations that views countries as self-interested, security-driven bodies that exist in a state of international anarchy. This study examines whether realist theory offers a satisfactory explanation for the Howard Government’s decision not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. The study focuses on six realist ideas and examines the evidence for each. Based on thematic analysis of textual data taken from official political archives and newspapers from 1998–2004, it suggests that realist theory does provide an adequate explanation of the Howard Government’s rejection of the Kyoto Protocol.

This thesis seeks to make sense of the emergence of neoliberalism at the close of the twentieth century and the subsequent appearance of Third Way strategies of government in recent decades. In so doing it deals comparatively with the work of two very different, yet nevertheless both increasingly influential theorists of social change - Karl Polanyi and Nikolas Rose. In the middle decades of the twentieth century Karl Polanyi theorized what he held to be the inevitable shift from a market society to one in which the economy was embedded in a web of social relations. Some half century later in the 1990s, Nikolas Rose theorized the 'death of the social', the process by which the social logic that underpinned Western welfare states for much of the twentieth- century is giving way to a new formula for rule. Rose terms this new way of governing advanced liberalism. This thesis argues that an approach to neoliberalism and the third way that employs both Polanyi's analytical and critical tools as well as the insights gained from Nikolas Rose's governmentality studies can help to render neoliberalism both visible and contestable in new ways. Further such an approach might serve to illuminate potential paths forward.

Sustainable development is the modern rhetoric to guide environmental or natural resources management. There are many ways to do this and one concern the wider utilization of economic instruments, such as taxes or levies. Although such levies are becoming common in Australia and worldwide, the role of the taxes or levies is still limited. In many cases, these taxes/levies -although environmentally related- have a fiscal rather than a purely environmental motive, for example, the Natural Resources Management (NRM) Levy in South Australia. In South Australia, under the NRM Act 2004, all property owners are required to pay the NRM levy. Local governments collect the levy and distribute it to the relevant NRM board. The NRM boards have selected to calculate the levy on the basis of property value or simply applied a flat rate. The percentage of property value or the amount of the flat rate can vary amongst local government areas. How a tax or levy is designed should be determined by its ultimate purpose. Taxes or levies for fiscal and/or redistributive reasons should be designed in a way securing stable inflow of revenues, such as, levying on the values of property. However, this approach is often in sharp contrast with the goal of environmental taxes or levies which aim to change resource consumption behaviour. This study evaluates the NRM levy policy in South Australia using one NRM region and focussing on the urban community. The justification of this research is that few analyses of the effectiveness of environmental taxes or levies have ever been carried out, although the implementation of these measures has increased significantly during the last decades. There are fewer studies analysing the impacts of the tax or levy base method. This is the first study on this NRM levy policy from the perspective of the urban community who actually pay it. This study employed the Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen & Fishbein 1980) to examine the relationships between community attitudes to the levy policy and water consumption behaviour. Data was collected through a web-based survey with 770 respondents who answered 59 questions. The key findings show that governments are perceived to have the main responsibility for water resources management by respondents. However, there is huge information void towards the NRM levy policy. Community has few complaints about the levy level but strongly prefers to have a levy calculated on the volume of water consumed. Respondents also indicated that they would use less water if the levy were calculated on the volume of water consumed. The study makes contributions to relevant theory and policy analysis. Theoretically, the results show that the theory of reasoned action has limited strength in explaining the present research context. Practically, the study provides recommendations for policymakers and practitioners in South Australia, other Australian States, and internationally. The clear implications of the results suggest that if a tax or levy aims to change water consumption behaviour then it should be based on the volume of water consumed not on property value.

Sustainable development is the modern rhetoric to guide environmental or natural resources management. There are many ways to do this and one concern the wider utilization of economic instruments, such as taxes or levies. Although such levies are becoming common in Australia and worldwide, the role of the taxes or levies is still limited. In many cases, these taxes/levies -although environmentally related- have a fiscal rather than a purely environmental motive, for example, the Natural Resources Management (NRM) Levy in South Australia. In South Australia, under the NRM Act 2004, all property owners are required to pay the NRM levy. Local governments collect the levy and distribute it to the relevant NRM board. The NRM boards have selected to calculate the levy on the basis of property value or simply applied a flat rate. The percentage of property value or the amount of the flat rate can vary amongst local government areas. How a tax or levy is designed should be determined by its ultimate purpose. Taxes or levies for fiscal and/or redistributive reasons should be designed in a way securing stable inflow of revenues, such as, levying on the values of property. However, this approach is often in sharp contrast with the goal of environmental taxes or levies which aim to change resource consumption behaviour. This study evaluates the NRM levy policy in South Australia using one NRM region and focussing on the urban community. The justification of this research is that few analyses of the effectiveness of environmental taxes or levies have ever been carried out, although the implementation of these measures has increased significantly during the last decades. There are fewer studies analysing the impacts of the tax or levy base method. This is the first study on this NRM levy policy from the perspective of the urban community who actually pay it. This study employed the Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen & Fishbein 1980) to examine the relationships between community attitudes to the levy policy and water consumption behaviour. Data was collected through a web-based survey with 770 respondents who answered 59 questions. The key findings show that governments are perceived to have the main responsibility for water resources management by respondents. However, there is huge information void towards the NRM levy policy. Community has few complaints about the levy level but strongly prefers to have a levy calculated on the volume of water consumed. Respondents also indicated that they would use less water if the levy were calculated on the volume of water consumed. The study makes contributions to relevant theory and policy analysis. Theoretically, the results show that the theory of reasoned action has limited strength in explaining the present research context. Practically, the study provides recommendations for policymakers and practitioners in South Australia, other Australian States, and internationally. The clear implications of the results suggest that if a tax or levy aims to change water consumption behaviour then it should be based on the volume of water consumed not on property value.

This study investigated 15 child care centres to find out their responsiveness to the needs of families from non-Anglo backgrounds. Results of this study showed a need to improve service quality in child care to best serve the needs of children from non-Anglo backgrounds. Forty Filipino, 15 Cambodian and 30 Sudanese families were involved in this study.

Changes in juvenile justice are often attributed to increases in offending and media attention to crime. A "cycle" of reforms, which alternate between punitive and treatment type responses has been identified. This study explores the possibility that wider socio-political events also have implications for reforms. Nations in which welfare and juvenile justice systems are highly integrated, may exhibit different patterns of policy change than those observed elsewhere. Changes in juvenile justice policy in New Zealand and Sweden are examined. The implications of policy change for the rights and responsibilities of those involved in the juvenile justice system are also examined. This includes the State, juvenile offenders and their parents and the victims of crime. Particular attention is given to the status of parental rights.

This thesis investigates the social and economic factors affecting small-scale forestry development in Leyte Province, the Philippines, and in particular, the potential to use typologies of rural households to aid the description and interpretation of the diversity of households in relation to forestry development. Data for the analysis of the relationships between socioeconomic factors and tree management behaviour and intentions and the construction of a typology of rural households in Leyte was gathered from four case study communities on the Island. Following focus group discussions in each of the participating communities to gather background data and populate the structured interview schedule, representative samples of 50 households were selected and interviewed in each of the four communities. Analysis of the present tree management activities of households in the four communities revealed that most households surveyed (approximately 80%) indicated that they are presently managing at least a few trees, the primary purpose of most tree management activities being to supply timber for the households' own needs. Only 10% of respondents indicated that they intend to sell trees they are presently managing, and 25% stated that they intend to plant and manage trees for the production of timber for sale in the future. Approximately 60% of responding households indicated an interest in developing commercial tree farming on the land they manage. Thus it is concluded that small-scale commercial tree growing is uncommon in the communities involved in the survey, and that many households are interested in developing their tree planting and management activities but feel constrained from participation by various factors. The first level of exploration of the socioeconomic factors affecting rural households' tree management behaviour involved univariate analyses of the relationships between households' tree management behaviour and intentions, their socioeconomic characteristics and their attitudes to forestry. The level of resources controlled by the household, in terms of the area of the land managed by the household, their tenurial security and their cash income, are correlated with higher levels of participation in forestry activities, and greater intentions to plant higher numbers of trees in the future. Some farming system variables are also related to higher levels of tree planting and management activity, including the management of livestock and of farm plots distant from their house. While control over higher than average levels of productive resources are, in general, positively correlated to the active management of trees on their land, there are patterns of exceptions to this trend. The exploration of the interrelationships between socioeconomic factors and attitudes affecting households' tree management behaviour was undertaken through the definition of a typology of rural households in relation to forestry. Five types were defined, each having different attitudes to forestry activities. The interpretation of the types was undertaken by describing and comparing the socioeconomic and behavioural characteristics of the types in the typology. The types were characterised by differences in their control of productive resources, differences in their present and intended levels and types of forestry activity, and by differences in their participation in training activities run by development programs. The characteristics of the types were found to correspond highly with descriptions of the socioeconomic factors affecting forestry activities of smallholder households reported by previous studies into and theories about the socioeconomic factors affecting smallholder forestry development. The typology of rural households does help to describe and interpret the variation within each of the four communities in terms of households' attitudes to forestry development and their socioeconomic characteristics. It is concluded that these variations between households mean that the various types of households will be affected in different ways by forestry development programs. It is also concluded that the present state of forestry policies and the market for timber products is such that substantial increase in the level of forestry activity by smallholders is unlikely without comprehensive land use planning, policy reform in regards to tree registration and transport permits, and market development. Recommendations for further research and policy development arising from the thesis focuses on the need to create enabling conditions in which forestry activities can occur and on ways to address the differing needs of the various types defined in the typology.