This dissertation is a descriptive study of a policy network designed for U.S. government and global cooperation to promote Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). It is aimed at exploring the historical and structural features of the ITS policy network, and evaluating its roles in the policy process. Until now, the network literature has barely examined the full arrays of networks, catching just part of their full pictures. First, this study draws attention to transnational networks and their organic or systematic relationships with lower levels of networks. Second, it examines the individual properties and synergy of three core elements of the ITS policy network: public-private partnerships, professional networks, and intergovernmental networks. Third, it takes a close look at the pattern of stability change and power relations of the policy network from within the net. Finally, this study discusses what difference networks make, compared to hierarchies and markets. This dissertation employed multiple sources of evidence: unstandardized elite interviews, government documents, and archival records. Through a networking strategy to find the best experts, face-to-face, telephone, and e-mail interviews were conducted with twenty-two public officials and ITS professionals. It was found that the U.S. ITS policy network was a well-designed strategic governance structure at the planning level, but an experimental learning-focused one at the implementation level. It was initially designed by a new, timely, cross-sectional coalition, which brought together field leaders from both the public and the private sectors under the slogan of global competitiveness. Yet, day-to-day managers within the net often experience much more complex power relationships and internal dynamics as well as legal obstacles; also, they confront external uncertainty in political support and market. For better results, policy networks should be designed in flexible ways that will handle their disadvantages such as ambiguous roles, exclusiveness, and increased staff time. In this respect, it is inevitable for the networks to include some components of a wide range of conventional structures, ranging from highly bureaucratic to highly entrepreneurial, on the one hand, and ranging between issue networks (grounded in American pluralism) and policy communities (based on European corporatism), on the other hand. / Ph. D.

This study seeks to explore, and in exploring to describe, and illuminate, <i>Al-Amal </i> a private bilingual school in Kuwait that adapts and implements a curriculum designed by U.S. educators in three main academic subjects (English, science, and mathematics), while at the same time, focuses extensively on an Islamic studies curriculum. The main incentive for selecting this focus was the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Since that date, the mass media have paid much attention to Islam and to Muslim society, particularly to its educational system, which has usually been viewed with skepticism (Charif, 2002; Rugh, 2002). This study focuses on a single school, for the general insight it can offer into a number of related research questions: How do Islamic parents who send their children to this school define the spiritual and/or religious needs they want their children to possess, and what role does the school play in fulfilling such needs? How do spiritual/religious and academic needs intersect within the formal curriculum at the school, as a result of daily interactions between teachers and children? Finally, in the midst of increased westernization and globalization, how do the teachers of this school negotiate the influences of western values on their students and curriculum? By exploring the nature, philosophy, and context of one Islamic school, this study seeks to enable readers to understand more fully and accurately how those involved with such an institution cope with the various challenges they meet in the global sphere. To reach its goal, this study utilizes a number of research methods and tools, including direct observation, interviews, a research diary and reflection, and a traditional literature review. Ultimately, this study suggests that Al- Amal possesses unique complexities and contradictions. Those characteristics derive from the institution's transformation of traditional Islamic schooling in order to prepare its students for life in the global arena and from its desire to develop both academically and spiritually a new generation of Muslims better able to cope with the challenges they confront in this arena. / Ph. D.

As the economic, political, and cultural forces of globalization continue to proliferate throughout the international community, the concept of sovereignty will be increasingly challenged with the task of grappling with the problems of governing these forces. This thesis examines Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's characterization of how globalization will be governed — imperial sovereignty — in their vast work, Empire. In doing so, Michel Foucault's theoretical construct of bio-power is analyzed as it relates to the constitution of sovereignty, and how it subsequently can benefit international relations theorists' understanding of how power may be implemented to help effectively govern, protect, and promote life on a global scale. Yet, Empire is not without its shortcomings. Its nebulous take on imperial sovereignty is too ephemeral; there is no conception of a center to Empire, no institutional arrangements that articulate the use of power. The role of "big players" such as the United States must be taken into consideration in addressing the future prospects of governing the forces of globalization and the populations exposed to these forces. Ultimately, it appears that the best hopes for such governance lies in wedding the national self-interests of states in seeking security to the use of international institutions for more humanitarian intervention. Such a union grants force and structure to an international community otherwise devoid of authority and order. / Master of Arts

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between economic globalization and human development in low to medium developed countries and to see if different aspects of economic globalization have different effects on human development. The theoretical starting point of this study assumes that an increased level of economic globalization will lead to increased human development as governments will create new regimes aimed to maximize economic growth and to increase the welfare of the citizens. This study uses a quantitative method where statistical testing is preferred in order to be able to examine how economic globalization affects human development. The results of this study indicate that economic globalization has a positive effect on human development and that it is mainly trade globalization that makes up that effect, while financial globalization has no significant effect. It also suggests that the effects of economic globalization are weaker for the countries with the lowest levels of human development compared to countries with higher development.

Globalizacija - tai laisvas kapitalo, prekių, paslaugų ir darbo jėgos judėjimas pasaulyje, kai kompanijoms yra sudaromos vienodos veikimo sąlygos įvairiose pasaulio šalyse. Globalizaciją galima laikyti tais erdvės ir laiko pokyčio procesais, kurie skatina žmonių veiklos sandaros transformaciją susiedami ir praplėsdami jų veiksmus už regionų ir kontinentų ribų. Globalizacija yra šiuolaikinės ekonominės pažangos ir pasaulio vystymosi forma. Jos sulaikyti neįmanoma: geriausias būdas kovoti su globalizacija yra nesipriešinimas jai. Globalizacijos dimensijos (kultūrinė, socialinė, ekonominė, politinė, aplinkos) yra tampriai tarpusavyje susijusios, apimančios pagrindines valstybės sferas ir įtakojančios jos gyvavimą. Dalyvavimas globalizacijos procese užtikrina prekybos plėtrą, technologijų sklaidą ir inovacijas, suteikia galimybių plėsti rinkas ir dalyvauti žinių bei patirties mainuose, žodžiu, leidžia plėsti ir ugdyti gamybą bei kelti gerovę. Globalizacija yra nevaldoma ir mažai reguliuojama, jos subjektai - didžiosios tarptautinės korporacijos, jos vienintelė varomoji jėga - ekonominis racionalumas ir pelningumas. Pagrindinis globalizacijos privalumas - jos teikiama ekonominė pažanga, pagrindinis trūkumas - stichiškumas ir nestabilumas, kurį patiria kiekviena valstybė. Pagrindiniai jos bruožai ir jėgos yra tarptautinė prekyba, kapitalo judėjimas, didėjantis tarptautinių bendrovių vaidmuo ir gamybos internacionalizavimas, technologijų kaita. Kalbant apie Lietuvos valstybės... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Globalization is a process that nobody can stop. The best solution for the defense is to stop the resistance against this process. Globalization does not give heed to borders; it progresses every day and involves all domains of the country. Globalization is understood as a growing interdependence of world economy, as an economic integration of different countries through an international trade, the movement of capital and the movement of people with their feelings and knowledge. Globalization is the penetration of the global market into the life of the countries, caused by the strengthening international financial markets, rising world trade, creation of multinational business and progress in telecommunications. General globalization processes show the benefit of free economic relations between the states for all participating countries. Increased capital mobility limits the opportunities of economics politics and develops pressure for the market to implement useful politics. The benefits of globalization are obvious: it is faster growth, higher standards of life and new opportunities. The phenomenon of globalization seems to weaken the traditional power and sovereignty of nation-states, since much of the aspects seem to be out of control for the states. On of the means of market’s mergers between Lithuania and foreign countries is foreign direct investment (FDI), international trade and migration. These are the key factors for moving globalization process toward different... [to full text]

"Zugl.: Dissertation, Fachbereich Kulturgeschichte und Kulturkunde, Universität Hamburg, 2002"--T.p. verso. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 384-461).

It is our great pleasure to introduce you to the inaugural edition of Compliance Elliance Journal, also known as CEJ. This project has been a labor of love over the past year and we are excited to publish some thought-provoking works. But before we present the pieces, we would like to introduce CEJ and share our vision. We initially began our collaboration through our academic work in developing crosscultural educational programs. Along the way, we realized that we shared a mutual interest, research, and scholarship in the area of compliance and ethics. Correspondingly, we decided that an open-access journal would be a fitting way to expand our vision of making the global compliance dialogue more easily accessible. It is our sincere wish to create an atmosphere encouraging the exchange of ideas between business and legal practitioners, academics, and students from around the world while also creating a platform to combine practical solutions to problems facing the compliance industry with scientific findings.

How the current globalization process should be looked upon and handled has been a major concern for development thinkers’ world wide. There are many different answers to this question. Some would say that it is the natural evolving of our society while some say that it is a plague that needs to be rid of to achieve a sustainable development. This debate has been a central figure in the current development debate and a major concern. Even if it does achieve good sustainable economic development there is always social factors that come into play. Globalization has since the early 90’s been referred to as an enormous force that can not be stopped and that whilst some might not like it, it is here to stay.   This essay is concerned with investigating the different economic and political theories surrounding globalization. Three different theories and three different key thinkers in the respective schools have been examined to illuminate key arguments within their theories of globalization. These schools of thought are: The liberal school and Martin Wolf, the reformist school and Joseph Stiglitz and the radical school with Naomi Klein as their key thinker.  Selected works by these three authors selected to further represent the different schools have been critically assessed to find key arguments concerning the conceptualization about globalization and how it should be looked upon and to see how they differ between amongst each other and how the theories cope when applied on a specific case, namely Brazil.   This study shows a deeply mixed result where it is made clear that all theories have valid points in their arguments but also faults in their arguments. There is no outstanding theory in this study that over shadows its’ adversaries. However the study shows that left-wing thinkers in general put more emphasis on social justice and social development whilst more right-wing thinkers put emphasis on development though economics and solid growth. There is little chance of sustainable development if these divided groups continue to work against each other. Therefore there is a great need for a middle ground that sees both the social and the economic aspects to help form a globalized world where real development is achieved

<p>It is difficult to generalize the interconnection of the three themes when using a qualitative method. But the analysis made for each theme and conclusion is both interesting and informative. Throughout the thesis focus will be on the three cross-cutting themes that constitute our purpose. These themes are: Globalization, Expansion and Corporate Culture, and we will look into their interconnection. Focus will be on how IKEA handles external changes, changes due to globalization and expansion, and how these issues affect the corporate culture of IKEA. Everything will then be compiled in chapter six, where we also created a model to demonstrate our own conclusions.</p>

The emergence of supranational organizations like the European Union (EU) raises questions fundamental to the sociological study of regions and nation-states. Hypothetically, the EU could provide regions within nation-states most of the governmental services that they currently receive from the state. For regions with strong ethnic and cultural identities that have sought to break away from the nation-state over time, decreased political and economic dependency may provide the autonomy that they have been seeking. On the other hand, if the emergence of supranational organizations like the EU represents state-building at the global level, then the EU can pose a threat to regional groups seeking autonomy from the nation-state. At issue is how the growing influence of supranational organizations like the EU is affecting the demand for autonomy within ethnically, politically, and culturally distinct regions. This dissertation attempts to answer these questions by examining variations in nationalism over time for three regions in Spain (Basque Country, Galicia, Catalonia) from 1977-2002. In order to begin to answer this question, I created a new dataset of protest events in Spain in order to assess variations in demands for autonomy over time. The protest event counts were incorporated into a comparative historical analysis that seeks to explain the effects of the influence of the evolving European Union (EU) on contentious demands for autonomy within those three regions; the variations in the protest event counts over time were analyzed against additional economic and political data collected from archival materials. I find that, while nationalism declined overall over time, it did not disappear but rather took on a different character. The classical manifestations of nationalism transformed into distinct movements centered on human rights. I argue that this transformation took place as a result of three interrelated factors: 1) Forced cooperation between the regions and the central Spanish government; 2) Elite abandonment of the nationalist movement; and 3) The state of the regional economies. In contrast to what extant theory might predict, my results indicate that nationalism continues to exist for the following reasons: 1) The EU has not rendered the nation-state irrelevant, but rather has altered their competencies; 2) The EU has not resolved the tensions between the nation-state and regions, but rather has created new ones; and 3) The EU has not leveled the economic playing-field between regions, but rather has opened them up to new forms of competition. In conclusion, this dissertation argues that supranational organizations like the EU have altered the relationship between regions and nation-states, thus transforming - but not solving - the nationalist question.