This thesis investigates how the different aspects and claims associated with moral relativism can be applied to the issue of corporate governance convergence. The question of how corporate governance models may be converging around the world is considered within the law, finance and management literature. To date, however, there has been no detailed consideration from a moral perspective of whether such convergence should occur. This study investigates this question, using South Africa as a case study, through an analysis of the claims of Descriptive, Metaethical and Normative moral relativism. South Africa is selected as a useful case study in the light of its colonial heritage, complex demographics and the ongoing project of post-apartheid ‘nation-building’. Different moral philosophies can be identified that underlie the predominant models of corporate governance around the world. The differences between these moralities can be expressed in terms of differences in the prescribed moral obligations and objectives of corporations. The claim of Descriptive moral relativism is that there are significant differences in moral judgement between groups or individuals. In the context of South African corporate governance, the principal area of interest concerns moral judgements that reflect corporate obligations and objectives that differ from those that underlie the shareholder model evident in Anglo-American jurisdictions. This was investigated in three ways: firstly, through a literature study that identified existing evidence of moral judgements relevant to corporate governance in South Africa; secondly, through a quantitative survey of a group of professional accounting students in South Africa; thirdly, through a series of semi-structured interviews with professional accounting students in South Africa. In all three cases there was some, albeit limited, evidence to support the claim of Descriptive moral relativism. The claim of Metaethical moral relativism is that there is no single ‘true’ or ‘correct’ morality, but that morality is relative to different groups or individuals. Applied to corporate governance, this claim was investigated firstly by examining the arguments that a particular corporate governance model is morally superior and thus universally applicable, as well as by considering the extent of moral agreement on the issue. Secondly, the positions of prominent supporters of moral relativism were considered in terms of how these could be applied to the issue of corporate governance convergence. It was concluded that universalist claims in support of particular models of corporate governance are largely insufficient, and that a limited relativist approach is more plausible. The claim of Normative moral relativism is that one should not interfere with the actions of another where these are based on different moral judgements. Although the claims of Descriptive and Metaethical moral relativism have implications for the normative claim, the normative claim does not necessarily follow. Adopting a value of tolerance or accommodation (from the work of David Wong) can, however, strengthen the normative argument. It was concluded then that based on the evidence of this study, and within its limitations, it is morally wrong to impose an Anglo-American model of corporate governance on South Africa. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Philosophy / unrestricted

This master thesis examines the North American model of sport and possibility of its application to the European environment. It is divided into theoretical and analytical part. In the theoretical part, the author first clarifies concept of sport and its individual roles in our society, it is followed by explanation of sport training, its factors and regularities. Description of models of financing sport clubs and individual elements of both North American and European models of sport concludes the theoretical part. The analytical part begins with a brief history of the most important team sport competitions in the USA and Europe and it follows with an education system of athletes in both mentioned environments. The penultimate chapter contents detailed description of the organization of professional sport competition in the Czech Republic. Analytical part ends with the SWOT analysis of possible form of the North American model of sport in European terms.

La constitution moderne du Bénin date du 11 décembre 1990. Elle établit un régime démocratique, fondé sur le peuple, l’unique détenteur du pouvoir souverain et, définit les institutions ainsi qu’un organe de contrôle qui veille sur les rapports de leurs actions réciproques. En tant que corps électoral, ce peuple exerce sa souveraineté par ses représentants légitimes.La présente thèse vise à étudier l’aspect démocratique, le rapport au peuple en utilisant les exemples français et américain. L’analyse porte à la fois sur le pouvoir constituant et les pouvoirs constitués. D’abord, elle met en exergue l’intervention du peuple à la fois dans le processus de l’élaboration de la constitution et de la révision de cette dernière.En contexte démocratique, le peuple souverain intervient d’une part, lors de la désignation de l’organe constituant originaire et à la fin du processus pour ratifier le texte constitutionnel par voie référendaire ; d’autre part, lors de la mise en œuvre de la fonction constituante dérivée, soit au début, à l’initiative, par ses représentants, soit à la fin, ou par ses représentants, ou par lui-même au moyen du référendum populaire.Ensuite, quant aux pouvoirs constitués, le peuple exerce sa souveraineté par le biais des élections pour désigner ses représentants, ceux qui incarnent ces pouvoirs, au moyen du suffrage universel direct ou indirect. Ces deux interventions du peuple sont mises en parallèle avec les exemples américains de 1787 et français de 1958 pour en tirer les conséquences qui s’imposent.Le but est de comprendre les spécificités du Bénin en matière du suffrage universel, de séparation des pouvoirs et dans le rapport établi avec le peuple. / The modern constitution of Benin dates from December 11, 1990. It establishes a democratic regime, based on the people, the sole holder of the sovereign power and, defines the institutions as well as a control organ which watches over the relations of their reciprocal actions. As an electoral body, this people exercises its sovereignty through its legitimate representatives.The present thesis aims to study the democratic aspect, the report to the people using the French and American examples. The analysis deals with both constituent power and constituted powers. First, it highlights the intervention of the people both in the process of constitution-making and revision of the constitution.In a democratic context, the sovereign people intervene on the one hand, in the designation of the original constituent organ and at the end of the process to ratify the constitutional text by referendum; on the other hand, during the implementation of the derived constituent function, either initially, on the initiative, by its representatives, or at the end, or by its representatives, or by itself through the popular referendum.Then, with regard to constituted powers, the people exercise their sovereignty through elections to appoint their representatives, those who embody these powers, by means of direct or indirect universal suffrage. These two interventions of the people are compared with the American examples of 1787 and French of 1958 to draw the necessary consequences.The goal is to understand the specificities of Benin in terms of universal suffrage, separation of powers and the relationship established with the people.

Three years after the Bosman case, it was decided that a socio-cultural approach on sports be introduced in Europe. EU presented a formulation for the same purpose – The European Model of Sport. The purpose of this formula was to maintain the socio-culture and traditional ap¬proach to all kinds of amateur and professional sports in Europe. If we were to com¬pare this model with the American model of sport, it shows many different ways of thinking in terms of organised sport. However, both models show that they have to adjust to the processes that are on-going in western societies. The development of civilisation, professionalisation, com-mer¬cialisation, commodification, and globalisation are all processes to which sports have to adjust.Because of the adjustments mentioned above, another process was introduced, this was called “ju¬ridification”, which is very prevalent today. The process of “juridification” involved all legalities in the sports system. The purpose of introducing this process was mainly to question the sports autonomy. The autonomy in sport defines itself as a self-regulator and is not part of the civil law. A ma¬jor part of the “ques¬tion¬ables” to the sports autonomy is, that sports of to-day have a symbiotic relationship with the media industry and the commercial market, which means that there is a huge in-flow of cash into elite sports. However, this has become a ques-tionable aspect, as to why sport should not be part of the competition law as any other busi-ness. As a result of this, several legal cases relating to sports are ending up in courts.EU has a divided and vague approach when it comes to handling these matters. On the one hand it de¬clares clearly that economic activities should be part of the EU law and on the other hand, if sports cases go to trial to the Competition Law, it would be decided on a case-to-case basis. In the US, pro¬fessional sports are part of the Common Law and their sports, had on a much earlier stage become involved with the judicial system. The American Model of Sport, have also a clear distinction be¬tween amateur and professional sports. Together, these two aspects show that the model in the US is bet¬ter adjusted to the present on-going processes in contempo¬rary societies.

Some innovations are termed ‘disruptive’, a designation that is normally applied to technology; examples include computers, digital cameras, and mobile phones. The term can also be applied to groups of workers, particularly if they are able to offer specific technical capabilities within a market at lower cost, but broadly equal and effective to that offered by traditional products or services. Paramedics could be described in this way and are a newly professionalised group, with distinctive capabilities in terms of responding to the needs of not just the acutely ill and injured, but increasingly those patients with undifferentiated non-life- threatening conditions, which increasingly make up the bulk of 999 call demand. The key to their transition from an artisan, skilled worker to professional status is the acquisition of certain ‘hallmarks’. Perhaps the most important of these is the completion of more prolonged education that affords the opportunity to graduate with enhanced decision-making and other clinical skills in order to meet the needs of the full spectrum of patients in the pre-hospital setting. Paramedics were surveyed to determine how they rated their ‘traditional’ preparation and to establish what their attitudes were to a more educationally based approach. Paramedics themselves proved to be realistic regarding shortcomings in established training and education systems, while also being strongly motivated to learn more within a higher education setting, particularly if this additional effort would result in being able to offer a wider range of care to their patients. During the study, major changes in the health care environment and the role of the Ambulance Service took place, leading to a requirement to undertake a second phase of research. This took the form of ‘Horizon Scanning’ in an attempt to detect ‘signals’, themes and trends in relation to newly emerging ‘competitors’ to the paramedic role. These included nursing, new practitioners and most critically, the rapidly emerging medical sub-speciality of pre-hospital care, staffed by medical personnel on a pattern found specifically in some European countries, sometimes termed the ‘Franco-German’ model/System (FGM/S). Hitherto, the model of provision in the UK had followed the ‘Anglo-American’ model/System (AAM/S), approach, with paramedics providing direct patient care in the field and medical staff largely involved in medical oversight, teaching, clinical governance and other higher level roles. As part of this research, the evidence base for change was examined and consideration given to the factors that might help clarify what the likely situation could be in 2030 in respect of ambulance services, pre-hospital care and paramedics. This future is uncertain, but factors have been identified that would militate in favour of one or other model prevailing, with close links established between educational preparation, system design, career structure and the continuance of the professionalisation process favouring paramedic progression. However, other factors, most specifically professional power, the absence of a clear evidence base and an apparent reluctance to clearly acknowledge this in some respects, lead to the conclusion that the future of pre-hospital care remains uncertain and contested, but also potentially amenable to a well-directed influencing strategy.

Les entreprises américaines implantées en France ont été étudiées de 1890 à 1990 à partir des archives de la Chambre de Commerce américaine en France (AmCham). Cette source permet d’analyser les actions collectives qu’elles ont menées et l’influence qu’elles ont eue sur le milieu des entreprises françaises, dans cinq périodes successives où la cohérence entre leurs actions et celles des autorités américaines a été plus ou moins étroite. Dans la première période (1890-1914), l’AmCham est un club de riches hommes d’affaires dans un environnement prestigieux. Dans la deuxième (1914-1945), elle est une association d’entreprises, plus nombreuses mais placées dans un contexte de guerre et de crise, sans stratégie commune. Dans la troisième (1945-1970), elle est un outil efficace du Plan Marshall puis du « défi américain ». Dans la quatrième (1970-1990), les implantations se multiplient mais la montée en puissance de l’union européenne, les réticences américaines sur l’investissement à l’étranger et la francisation des filiales américaines font apparaître des facteurs de fragilité et finalement dans la cinquième (après 1990), l’AmCham, dont l’influence a décliné, cherche, avec difficulté, des éléments de solidarité entre ses adhérents dans le contexte nouveau de la mondialisation. A partir de cette source, on a étudié les interactions culturelles entre l’AmCham et son milieu et la diffusion du modèle de management américain, qui a conduit à une forte francisation des filiales américaines en France. / American firms in France have been studied from 1890 to 1990, from the archives of the American Chamber of Commerce in France (AmCham). This source provides the elements of an analysis of the collective actions they implemented and the influence they had on French firms over five successive periods where there was more or less a consistency between their actions and the US government’s decisions. In the first periode (1890-1914), AmCham was a club of wealthy businessmen in a prestigious environment. In the second one (1914-1945), it was an employer’s association, with more members but in a context of wars and crisis, without a common strategy. In the third one (1945-1970), it was an efficient instrument of the Marshall Plan and later the « American challenge ». In the fourth one (1970-1990), with a growing number of firms, with the European project gaining ground, US policy’s reluctance to FDI and US firms becoming more and more « frenchized », significant factors of fragility appeared and finally in the fifth one (after 1990), AmCham, whose influence has diminished, is trying painfully to identify new elements of solidarity between its members in the new context of globalization. From this source, the study focuses on cultural interactions between AmCham and its environment and the spread of the American management model, which led to a large « frenchization » of American subsidiaries in France.

L’objet de cette thèse est de replacer la Constitution de la Fédération de Russie, adoptée par référendum le 12 décembre 1993, dans ses différents contextes de production. En effet, ce texte juridique est à la fois le produit d’une Histoire courte et d’une Histoire longue, d’un conflit intra-élite et d’une somme de représentations héritées des périodes précédentes et reconstruites à la fin des années 80 et au début des années 90. Ainsi, il ne semblait pas suffisamment pertinent de limiter notre étude au processus rédactionnel proprement dit, entamé à l’été 1990. Nous avons pris le parti de tenter de reconstituer ce que pouvait être l’« épistémè », les représentations politico-juridiques, des acteurs ayant joué un rôle décisif dans la discussion de la Constitution. Ce parti nécessitait de retracer les occurrences les plus significatives de l’Histoire du droit et des institutions en Russie tsariste et en Union Soviétique. Cette démarche fait l’objet de la première partie de la Thèse, « La Péréstroïka comme réceptacle, révolution et modèle ». Il ressort de l’analyse que malgré la présence de traditions intellectuelles libérales et d’institutions proto-parlementaires, la tradition dominante, et acceptée comme telle par les rédacteurs de la Constitution russe, est largement antijuridique et autoritaire. C’est dans ce contexte que les acteurs de la Ière République russe ont cherché à puiser dans les modèles étrangers (américain et français en particulier) et les modèles théoriques du Droit constitutionnel (régime parlementaire et régime présidentiel) pour créer le nouvel agencement institutionnel. La seconde partie de la thèse, « Le processus de rédaction de la Constitution de 1993 », porte sur l’Histoire courte, c’est-à-dire sur les années 1990-1993 qui ont vu s’affronter deux camps, tant sur le plan politique que constitutionnel. Le camp du Congrès des députés du peuple emmené par son Président Rouslan Khasboulatov défendait un projet permettant d’assurer la domination du Parlement, alors que le camp du Président de la Fédération, emmené par Boris Eltsine, cherchait à imposer un projet assurant à la présidence une position dominante. De part et d’autre, les modèles empiriques et théoriques du Droit constitutionnel furent instrumentalisés et largement trahis. Entre ces deux camps, la Commission constitutionnelle crée au sein du Congrès des députés du peuple cherchait, à travers ses différents projets, à trouver un agencement équilibré nourri des expériences étrangères et de la science du Droit constitutionnel. Le camp de la présidence réussit finalement à faire prévaloir ses vues, dans le cadre d’une Conférence constitutionnelle organisée en juin 1993, mais surtout par sa victoire politique sur le camp du Congrès suite à la crise d’octobre 1993. Le texte adopté par référendum le 12 décembre 1993, très favorable à la Présidence, peut être considéré comme l’héritier de ce conflit, mais également en partie comme l’héritier des traditions politiques russes et soviétiques. / The aim of this dissertation is to analyse the Constitution of the Russian Federation passed by referendum on 12 December 1993, in its various contexts of production. Indeed, this legal text is both the result of a short history and of a long history, of an intra-elite conflict and of an amount of representations, inherited from the past and rebuilt at the end of the 80’s and at the beginning of the 90’s. We chose to attempt to reconstruct what has been the « épistémè », the legal and political representations of the key actors of the constitutional discussions. This choice made it necessary to recount the most significant facts and conceptions of the legal and institutional history of Tsarist Russia and Soviet Union. This approach is found in the first part of this dissertation, « Perestroika as a recipient, a revolution and a model ». It appears that despite the existence of liberal traditions and proto-parliamentary institutions, the dominant tradition, granted as such by the drafters of the Russian Constitution, is basically anti-juridical and authoritarian. It is in this context that the actors of the first Russian Republic tried to use foreign patterns (mostly American and French) and the theoretical patterns of Constitutional law (parliamentary regime and presidential regime) in order to create the new institutional design. The second part of the dissertation, « The redaction process of the Constitution of 1993 », deals with short history, that is years the 1990-1993 during which two sides challenged each other, both on a political and on constitutional grounds. The side of the Congress of People’s Deputies led by its President, Ruslan Khasbulatov, promoted a project of Parliament domination, while the side of the President of the Federation promoted a project of President domination. On both sides, empirical and theoretical patterns of constitutional law were exploited and their true meanings betrayed. Between these two sides, the Constitutional Commission created by the Congress of People’s Deputies, through its several drafts, tried to find a balanced design on the basis of foreign patterns and of the science of constitutional law. Finally, on the side of the President there was success in making its conceptions prevail, within a Constitutional Conference organized in June 1993, but mainly through its political victory of October 1993. The text passed on 12 December 1993, very much in favor of the Presidency, can be considered as the heir of this conflict, but as well partly as the heir of Russian and Soviet political traditions.