This thesis has two interrelated aims, both of which reflect my interest in the development of a variety of supra-national organisations since 1945 and the possibility that a new system of global soft governance may be emerging. The first is to fill a gap in the literature created by scholarly neglect of one of the most important of these supra-national bodies, viz. the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The method adopted partly involves archival research and partly elite interviews with fifteen of the twenty original OECD member states. The second aim is more theoretical. It consists of relating my research on the OECD to the development at global level of what some scholars have termed a novel system of soft governance. What characterizes soft governance is the gradual establishment by international organisations like the OECD of a relative degree of autonomy in their relations with the larger states with which they interact. My findings suggest that the this autonomy has transformed the OECD from a purely economic tool of large states into an institution enjoying a degree of independence as an expert adviser on issues of technology and development; as a moral educator on issues of social reform; and as a locus for diplomatic activity. Although soft governance is fragile, my research points to the emergence of a wholly unplanned normative framework for interaction which alleviates the uncertainties of a post-Westphalian international order. Particular attention has been devoted to Turkey, one of the original OECD members, since the Turkish case illustrates the great change in the global role of the OECD from being merely an American creation for implementing the Marshall Plan to a relatively autonomous international institution possessing a moral authority capable of transcending in some degree national economic, political, and cultural diversity.

Abstract not available

This study sought to address the significant paucity in the medical decision making literature regarding the knowledge and attitudes of emerging adults toward advance care planning. Using a mostly qualitative approach, we attempted to document several dimensions of preferences and perspectives within a population well known for risk-taking behaviors, which may result in death, serious injury, and states of decisional incapacitation. Fifty-six undergraduates from two Pittsburgh universities took part in six focus group interviews between February-April 2007. Using a semi-structured focus group guide, participants were led through discussions on hypothetical end-of-life care scenarios, eliciting their views on Living Wills, Health Care Proxies, preferences for surrogates and their behaviors, and for life-sustaining treatment. Content analysis revealed inter-subject variability and intra-subject inconsistency among participants within all domains analyzed. Fifty-six percent of our sample had correct knowledge of advance directives, while only 10% understood that they offer proxy designation. Themes related to age-mediated invincibility, decreased risk perception, and an inexperience with morbidity and mortality relative to their elders emerged from the data. The findings of our study underscore the need for a through, quantitative effort to examine this volatile populations familiarity and attitudes regarding decisional incapacitation and the legal provisions in place to ensure autonomous and/or shared decision making. Additionally, we review the psychosocial literature related to advance care planning and apply it to this population, suggesting that current legal statutes are inappropriate for this age group, given their ongoing individuation and identity development.

<p>This is a study of the contest over political and social legitimacy in a former precolonial kingdom, Oukwanyama, in northern Namibia, from 1915 to the present. It tracks the historical shifts in this long time frame through the history of one place, a site of important local power, Omhedi. The research begins with the colonial occupation of the kingdom by Portugal and South Africa during World War 1, which resulted in the displacement of the kingship to the southern half of the territory which was now bifurcated by an&nbsp / international boundary between Angola and South West Africa. Following resistance by the last king Mandume, the institution of kingship was abolished and a Council of Headmen installed in its place. Omhedi emerged as a site of important opposition to Mandume by a leading headman, Ndjukuma, and he became one of the senior headman elevated to new levels of authority by&nbsp / olonial rule. The thesis tracks the establishment and consolidation of the policy of Indirect Rule under South Africa, whose aim was the efficient supply of migrant labour to the&nbsp / south, and the selective preservation of traditional customs in Oukwanyama in order to maintain stability in a time of rapid change. The main contribution of the research however is&nbsp / to follow this story into the second half of the 20th century, when Ndjukuma was succeeded by Nehemia Shoovaleka and then Gabriel Kautwima, at a time when nationalist&nbsp / opposition to South African rule was growing and old political legitimacies were tested. Omhedi became a site of the enforcement of headmen&rsquo / s authority over both striking workers&nbsp / and the educated elite in the early 1970s when Ovamboland became a Bantustan homeland under apartheid. After Independence in 1990 and the demise of Kautwima, Omhedi remained empty until the restoration of the Kwanyama kingship occurred under postcolonial legislation on Traditional Authorities. The question becomes one of how political&nbsp / legitimacy can be reactivated at such a contradictory site of &lsquo / traditional&rsquo / power like Omhedi, now the seat of the new Kwanyama Queen. The thesis engages with notions of gender,&nbsp / history, landscape and memory, as well as theories of space developed by Lefebvre and de Certeau, in order to understand the local reconceptualisation of Omhedi as different&nbsp / things over different times. It also analyses the textual, visual and cultural representations of the place, most notably under colonial rule, and the impact of this archive (or its limits)&nbsp / on postcolonial political developments.</p>

special reference to general will

Plato's republic and Shantiparva

System in Bangladesh

Some administrative aspects

United nations and South Africa

Parliament in Kenya