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This thesis examines the outcomes associated with women’s participation in development scholarship schemes. These schemes, which provide citizens from Third World countries with opportunities to undertake tertiary training abroad, have featured prominently within the development assistance programmes of many Western nations. However, the longer-term impact of this type of educational experience on the lives and communities of individuals who take up this form of aid remains under-studied. This is particularly the case for female development scholars, who have been both historically excluded from opportunities to take part in these schemes, as well as marginalised within academic evaluations of their outcomes. This research provides an in-depth qualitative exploration of the experiences of twenty women who have completed a tertiary qualification through a development scholarship scheme. The participant sample is diverse, and includes a group of New Zealand-based female doctoral students who have participated in several of these programmes, as well as two groups of women from Thailand who have returned home after taking part in a scholarship scheme funded by the New Zealand Agency for International Development. This research identifies a number of positive and negative outcomes for women associated with this distinct type of educational experience. Beneficial outcomes include greater emotional autonomy, increased cross-cultural knowledge, new professional networks, new work skills, and improved English-language competency. Participants within this research report that these benefits have translated into increased respect within their workplaces; new opportunities to represent their organisations at home and abroad; greater participation in international research and policy forums; increased control over negotiations with foreign consultants; and an enhanced commitment to collaboration with other professionals in the ASEAN region. Negative outcomes to arise out of the scholarship experience include role tension and relationship conflict for married women; career disruption associated with employment bonding and job restructuring during the period of absence abroad; new unwanted work responsibilities; and dissatisfaction with some aspects of quality of life in their country of origin. This thesis provides rich narrative material that increases our understanding of the concrete ways that this form of educational aid is ‘lived out’ in the lives and communities of female development scholars.

This thesis is concerned with the impact of neo-liberal reforms, initiated in response to the exigencies of a new technologically-driven global economy, on a conservative interventionist state. It is a sociological work, which encompasses history, politics, economics, organisations, social action and societal change. Between 1984 and 1990, the Fourth Labour Government embarked upon the reform of the structure and operation of the New Zealand economy. That reform ranks amongst the most radical and far-reaching in twentieth century New Zealand. Not only were the scope and magnitude of the changes significant but they were also implemented with a rapidity that took most of the country by surprise. Consequently, New Zealanders were exposed to a new and flexible economy, where market forces provided a major contrast with the ideals of equity and consensus that had shaped social conditions since the 1950s. This new environment had significant implications for the career expectations and working environment of many people, and for the delivery and content of public services. This thesis adds to the existing body of knowledge on the New Zealand reforms by capturing and investigating the perspectives of key actors who were involved, in a number of ways, with the transformation of the economy. It explores the theoretical and empirical basis of the reform programme, the restructuring process, the nature and scale of an intense commercialisation strategy, the attitudes of a new generation of workers and the reactions of New Zealanders when their ontological security came under threat. Key aspects of the reforms are framed and analysed through the transformation of the New Zealand Post Office from an icon of the interventionist state, a major employer and key service provider - to a commercial enterprise which sought to be a competitive, flexible, profit-driven organisation typical of the new economy. The experiences of politicians and senior managers who were responsible for this transformation through to individuals who depended on the organisation for services and jobs, are represented in the thesis as indicative of the actions and responses of New Zealanders, generally, regarding much broader social and organisational changes brought about by the reforms.

Adolescence is a time of great changes, a time where experimentation and exploration is expected and when the values of authority figures are examined and challenged. Adolescents will experiment and push the boundaries of all aspects of their life in order to find their own place and identity in a world that has changed its expectations of them. Use of drugs is one of the ways that they do this. Australian adolescents grow up in a society where alcohol and tobacco is an acceptable part of daily life. Their use of drugs is at least on par with and in some cases exceeds that of the general population. The overall goals of this research were to gain more information on drug use of Australian adolescents, using existing data sets. This research examined, using a number of different age groups, the differences in adolescent drug use between urban and rural Australia for lifetime use, use in the last year and use in the last month using the 2002 edition of the Australian School Student Alcohol and Drug (ASSAD) survey series in conjunction with the 2001 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS). It also used these data sets to investigate differences between indigenous adolescents and non-Indigenous adolescents and whether there were any differences in adolescent drug use across socio-economic status groups. Four hypotheses were developed. The first was that rural adolescents are more likely than urban adolescents to use licit drugs and the second was that urban adolescents are more likely than rural adolescents to use illicit drugs. Thirdly, that Indigenous adolescents are more likely than non-Indigenous adolescents to use both licit and illicit drugs and the fourth was that adolescents from low socio-economic status (SES) groups are more likely than adolescents from high SES groups to use licit and illicit substances. The data offered little support for any of the hypotheses. The hypothesis on rural adolescents being more likely to use licit drugs was supported by the ASSAD surveydata but not the NDSHS. All other hypotheses were not supported by either of the data sets. While there are aspects of the information from the two data sets that are contradictory making it difficult to prove or disprove the hypotheses formulated for this research, they highlighted a number of aspects of adolescent drug use. The first of these is that this research supports the premise that rural adolescent drug use rates are converging with urban drug use rates for younger adolescents. It also highlighted that there are a large number of rural school students who are using alcohol and cannabis. The ASSAD data also confirmed other Australian research showing that Indigenous adolescents are less likely than their non-Indigenous counterparts to use alcohol. Both data sets confirmed previous research by indicating that adolescents from the high SES groups are more likely than their counterparts in the lower SES groups to consume alcohol. Further investigation is needed to find out why the data sets did not substantiate each other and to gain further insight into the consumption of alcohol by Indigenous adolescents and adolescents from the higher socio-economic status groups. Increasing the samples of Indigenous people in both of the data sets and lobbying the Australian Bureau of Statistics to increase their sample for the Indigenous Social Survey to include 12-14 year olds should give more information on Indigenous adolescents that could be used in research and prevention activities.

The focus of this study is on a rural South Island community and how it managed the dramatic social changes over the past fifty years. Government policies, changes in international trade and markets, environmental policies, globalisation, change in the structure of local and regional government and legislative changes impacted on all New Zealanders during this period but the rural hinterland of New Zealand was affected in particular ways. The township which is the focus of this study is Tuatapere on the south west corner of southern New Zealand. The researcher grew up in the district and witnessed the changes from a flourishing timber and farming service centre to a quaint tourist town. The residents and how these changes impacted on their lives are explored in this thesis through the eyes of eight long term residents. This is a qualitative study in which four men and four women were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire exploring their views on social change, the way the community has responded to changes in service provision, how they have managed the move from being a vibrant rural service community to a tourist town. This thesis celebrates their successes, tells of their hardships, explores their attitudes to change, records their life work choices and decision making. Five themes were identified from the literature and provide a framework for this study: historical influences and cultural expectations, impact of Government decisions on their lives, sense of community, sense of self and access to services. The population in rural communities has been slowly decreasing over the years as urbanisation has been a reality in New Zealand. Services within the area have diminished and younger families have moved away to seek employment elsewhere. The remaining residents are an ageing population. This brings with it a range of interesting issues for the community. The elderly have to travel for their health and other service needs and the unavailability of regular daily transport services makes it difficult for them to meet appointments. They have to rely on family and friends for transport and many no longer have the family available to support them locally. This older population also provides the pool of volunteers for recreational and social functions. The elderly feel burdened with this responsibility. The geographical isolation provides a sense of wellbeing and attraction for the residents but it also has its disadvantages. The remoteness is a deterrent for access for tourists that would bring financial advantages to the community. The isolation is also a deterrent for new inhabitants who would provide the much needed contribution to the social functioning of the community. In spite of the aforementioned difficulties with living in a remote rural corner of New Zealand the participants expressed a determination and stoicism that can only be admired. Their life stories are presented in this research