Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

This paper compares access to information legislation in the United States and Canada and uses the findings of this comparison to test three theories of policymaking. In particular, the paper uses the comparison to explore the idea that the existence of access to information policies contradicts policymaking theories which stress the autonomy of the state. The paper begins with a detailed comparison of the Canadian and American legislation as it has been interpreted by the courts. This comparison finds that the two policies are very similar but three are some significant differences in the details of the two regimes and that these differences tend to make the Canadian access policy more restrictive than the American. The paper then examines whether these findings can be explained as being consistent with policy making theories which explain policy as being the result of a copying process, of interest group pressure or of institutional forces. In order to better understand the forces behind the legislation the legislative comparison is supplemented by reference to relevant policy papers and evidence from the period of the development of the two acts. The results of the analysis indicate that no one of the three theories is provides an adequate explanation of the two access policies. The legislation was a result of a combination interest group pressure and institutional forces and, in the case of the Canadian legislation, the process of copying also played a key role. The findings also indicate that explanations which stress the role of the state are not inconsistent with a policy that results in weakened state autonomy.

This thesis interrogates the social/political stakes in three nonfiction narratives of life and death: Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, Peter Gzowski's The Sacrament and John and Jean Silverwood's Black Wave. An analysis of Nietzsche's concept of "freedom as responsibility," as developed by contemporary theorists of freedom and the body, especially Wendy Brown and Judith Butler, provides the ground for this theoretical examination. Additionally, Fred Alford's consideration of "freedom with" and Laurence Gonzales's interrogation of the conditions of survival help delimit this site of contest. Each of the texts is critiqued in terms of its engagement with freedom as a practice of responsibility grounded in recognition of mutual vulnerability and enacted through a contest for meaning. / Graduate

In 1997 the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) initiated a project to promote and defend the right to information. This decision to engage proactively with human rights was a radical expansion of the profession�s self-conception. Applying an action research methodology, this study traces the development and implementation of the Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) initiative. It traces the origins of the decision, and assesses the outcomes of its first five years as it developed from a project into a continuing and central program of the Federation. Both the internal effects on IFLA and the consequences of the project for the profession of librarianship are explored. The thesis locates the key decision in the history of librarianship, its growth as a profession paralleling the development of libraries as institutions. In turn, the decision is also located in IFLA�s own history, and the way it survived and worked to advance the ideas and tools of librarianship amid difficult and changing international environments. The politics of professionalism is at the core of the study. The disturbing innovation which FAIFE represented took IFLA outside its traditional focus on the status and techniques of the profession, postulating a new role for the Federation. By investing librarianship with a higher responsibility, it has gone further than the now widely accepted expectation that professionals will place community interests before organisational and personal interests at all times. The responsibility to promote the fundamental human right to information has been embraced as the key principle underlying and informing library and information service, the touchstone for evaluating professional priorities. This locates the primary purpose of the profession outside the profession�s institutional base in a supranational, absolute and almost universally recognised social goal. Adopting these aspirations and this role carried many dangers for IFLA. It would inevitably seem a deviation into politics by some. It heightened the risks of both internal dissent and external criticism. It challenged the habitus of disinterested professionalism by invoking a more interventionist social responsibility for IFLA, its constituent library associations and the broader profession. It drew on evolving and contested understandings of professional responsibilities in a complex global environment and has redrawn the accepted boundaries of professional discourse in librarianship. At least so far, the consequences have been beneficial for IFLA, reinforcing its jurisdiction and strengthening the Federation. As an international federation of professional associations, IFLA faces particular challenges in working across diverse national traditions, ideologies and cultures. Its existence and effectiveness rest primarily on internal cohesiveness. Its capacity to develop the FAIFE initiative into a program without schism, and indeed with growing support, has strengthened rather than weakened its organisational capacities. Through that process IFLA has reinvented itself, to a considerable degree, as a form of transnational social movement organisation. It has developed strong relationships with other civil society organisations while maintaining its position as a respected international professional body. It has strengthened its position by becoming a vigorous advocate for the right to information, thereby becoming an actor in the growing international concern with human rights. This study of a decisive period in IFLA�s history offers a rare example of an international professional association in transition. In examining this project to promote unrestricted access to information as the reciprocal right of freedom of expression, the research is a case study of the politics of an expanding sense of professionalism. IFLA�s experience is pertinent to a range of other organisations, and is itself part of the realignment of international political discourse in response to the growing influence of international organisations and the priority of human rights in international political agendas.

"Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy, by the graduate school of New York University, in 1904. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 79-81.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. 164-174.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1965. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-89).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

"Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy, by the graduate school of New York University, in 1904. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 79-81.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 44 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-38).