This research project investigates how a coastal community in the Upper Gulf of Thailand has been dealing with a local ecological crisis, the rapid erosion of their coastline and potential loss of the entire territory of their village. The case study examines the community’s interactions with development agents and their engagement with broader political and economic forces. Empirically, the thesis is based primarily on participant observation of the community, Ban Khun Samut Chin, supported by extensive documentary research. Applying theoretical frameworks from the fields of political ecology, environmental sociology, and sociology of the self and everyday life, the thesis demonstrates some interesting findings. Firstly, rather than passive victims of national economic development and ecological change, many members of the Ban Khun Samut Chin community have proven to be sophisticated strategic actors. Through interactions with researchers and other external stakeholders, Ban Khun Samut Chin villagers have encountered multiple framings of their situation. This has provided them alternatives for self-understanding and self-representation, and allowed for sophisticated adaptation in the face of a challenging ecological and political environment. Articulating their identity as a self-sufficient, close-knit community, they have taken advantage of the romanticized ideas many of their potential supporters have about them, in order to secure resources for adaptation. The community has even found ways to leverage their ecological crisis in order to generate alternative sources of income, for example through “disaster tourism”. The research explores how individual members of the community have negotiated their own somewhat inconsistent beliefs and hopes, and plans for the future. The research finds that despite their sophisticated understandings of different environmental narratives and possible scenarios for the village, most of the villagers continue to rely on their customary social networks and livelihood skills, as they struggle to adapt.

In an effort to document and monitor the scale and scope of recent conflicts (1998–2004) in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the International Rescue Committee (IRC), in conjunction with some of the world’s leading epidemiologists, conducted a series of five surveys in the country over a seven years’ period (2000–2007). Estimates of conflict-related mortality generated from the IRC’s surveys range from 3.3 million between years 1998 and 2002, to 5.4 million excess deaths for the period between 1998 and 2007. Reflecting on the IRC’s work, the current study combines four different data sources – 1984 DRC Population Census, 1995 and 2001 DRC Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and the 2007 DRC Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) – to derive demographic estimates and assess the extent of population loss associated with the conflict period between 1995 and 2007. Both statistical and demographic techniques are relied upon for this purpose. Findings from this study do not warrant estimates produced by the IRC. The IRC approach may have overestimated the scale of excess deaths associated with the 1998 – 2007 armed conflict period. Because the approach used in the current study is mainly based on selected assumptions, a level of uncertainty is expected to be associated with the derived estimates. For this reason, sensitivity analyses have been conducted to define a range of plausible estimates representing the excess population loss.

The strand of Nineteenth-Century Anarchism known as Anarchist-Communism conceived of the abolition of both state and market, and their replacement by a system of free distribution of goods organized through federated communes. While briefly this was the most developed and sophisticated strand of anarchism, it suffered an eclipse in the face of both the failure of the Russian Revolution, and the rise of the essentially a-theoretical industrial syndicalism that blossomed in many countries during the early decades of the twentieth century. With the expansion of the state and capitalism after WWII new forms of contestation appeared, most notably, in terms of Anarchist Communist theory, in the United States. In the 1960s and 1970s two currents emerged which represented the first significant development in anarchist communist theory for fifty years. These were the Social Ecology of Murray Bookchin, and a current which grew up around the Detroit underground paper Fifth Estate, later known as "Anarchist Primitivism". It is these two strands that are the subject of this research. Not surprisingly these two perspectives, appearing around a decade apart, and both in the same country, dealt with many of the same issues. What is more surprising is that in virtually every area, the conclusions they arrive at are completely different. In this research I locate these two strands historically as developments of Anarchist Communist theory, and examine their theories in four key areas: The Primitive, History, Reason and Rationality, and Technology. Examination of these areas serves to define the projects themselves, as well as highlighting how they disagree. To explain why they disagree, this work uses a methodological approach suggested Quentin Skinner. Skinner argued that in order to fully understand a text in the history of ideas, it is necessary to understand the author's intention in writing it. The study therefore examines not only the texts, but also the backgrounds of the writers concerned, their aims in producing it, and their approaches to debate with other theorists and perspectives. Through a combination of textual analysis and recovering the intentions of the writers, the high levels of disagreement can be accounted for.

This thesis presents a case study of Welsh innovation policy from the period of political devolution (1999) to the present day (2014), exploring the role of regional government as a driver of innovation and economic development. It proposes a multi-theoretical framework to be employed in the study of real world innovation interventions, to illicit nuanced insights into the Wales case study, and also to test the applicability of key regional innovation theories in a weaker region context. The four regional innovation theories identified as the most prominent in both academic literature and policy, and incorporated into the conceptual framework of this study are: systems of innovation, clusters, the learning region, and the triple helix. The case study presented consists of a systematic review of Welsh innovation and related policy since devolution and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in the Welsh innovation system. The Welsh approach to innovation is found to have evolved in three distinct phases, whereby innovation is prioritised differently relative to other policy spheres, and the dominant approach to innovation varies over time. Innovation interventions have met with varying levels of success, and, interestingly, the most prominent approaches have been, on the whole, less successful in Wales. This thesis argues that no one theory is ideally suited to the analysis and development of innovation policy in weaker regions; instead it draws on the strengths of the four key theories identified. It argues against a “one-size-fits-all” approach to innovation policy, premised on exporting models from exceptional leading regions in a manner that is geographically, historically, and culturally blind. It supports a move away from normative approaches to the study and practice of innovation policy, instead drawing on the different theoretical elements that are particularly relevant to the case in question.

Severe declines in biodiversity have been attributed to anthropogenic changes in the composition and structure of our landscapes. Predicting the impact of landscape change on biodiversity is essential to halt further declines. In this thesis butterflies were used as indicators of biodiversity, and spatial assessments of butterflies were summarised at 1 km scale across Warwickshire to assess whether landscape characteristics can be used as surrogate measures of butterfly distribution and community measurements. When determining the optimal scale (grain size) for capturing landscape patterns, a grain size of 25 m was found most appropriate for maximising landscape discrimination and detecting landscape patterns which occur within the perceptual range of butterfly species. Utilising a grain size of 25 m landscape metrics measuring the composition, connectivity and structure of the 1 km landscapes, were extracted from the Land Cover Map 2000 (LCM) and the Warwickshire Phase 1 Habitat map (PH1). Logistic regression analysis based on landscape metrics created predictive models of butterfly distribution for all species and species grouped by their ecological attributes (EAGs). Model performance was improved when the landscape metrics were considered in a combined landscape model, and different combinations of landscape parameters were important for the EAGs. Models derived from the PH1 were most accurate in predicting observed presence-absence and were successfully transferred when tested using temporally independent data. The models were also successfully transferred to collected butterfly data which was spatially and temporally independent. This data was also collected alongside information on the local habitat such as vegetation composition. Probability of butterfly occurrence derived from the presence-absence models was successfully related to butterfly community characteristics and measures of local habitat quality. To conclude developed models provide indications of habitat suitability, which together with successful transfer demonstrates their potential for identifying biodiversity hotspots and facilitating targeted conservation efforts.

The world is increasingly mobile (Adey 2006). Flows of good, services and cultures are changing the relations between people and place, leading scholars to questions existing notions of home, travel, and belonging. This thesis explores these issues by focusing on one group who epitomise the twenty-first century world of mobility: lifestyle travellers. The thesis considers the experiences of lifestyle travellers across numerous world-wide locations, drawing on primary data collected over two years. It adopts an explicitly geographical approach to studying lifestyle travel, focusing attention on the significance of place and movement for these highly mobile beings, in order to examine what this mobility means for ideas of identity and home. Complementing research in the tourism field, the research highlights how lifestyle travel is a heterogeneous and difficult to classify activity, involving a myriad of different ideas, practices, behaviours and motivations. However, by adopting Cresswell’s ‘constellations of mobility’ (2010) as an organising rather than classifying device, the thesis is able to unpack this diversity and illuminate the embroilment of ‘mobilities’ and ‘moorings’ in the practices of lifestyle travellers. It goes on to demonstrate how place immersion is crucial to lifestyle travel, illustrating how practices of mobility extend past corporeal movement between places, exploring the unique and diverse practices within places. This pursuit of integration within places by lifestyle travellers shows how place and mobility can be complementary rather than exclusionary, with different immersion techniques outlined to demonstrate the different depths of place experience desired by participants (ranging from ‘spectating’ at the peripheries to becoming ‘community members’ within places). From these findings, the research emphasises how place itself is mobile, as well as lifestyle travellers. By illustrating the relational ways in which lifestyle travellers continually take and make place, the thesis uncovers new ways of conceptualising ‘home’ that are formed through the co-constituent relationship between place and mobility. The thesis therefore demonstrates these factors to be significant and mutually enabling components to the identities of lifestyle travellers in the twenty first century.

The present study analyses Roman-native interaction from a landscape perspective in a core territory of both Iron Age and Roman Dacia. The study are includes the royal Dacian heartland (the Orastie Mountains) and its surrounding lowlands, and also the hinterlands of Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa and Apulum, the two most important Roman towns in the province. The research considers the nature and distribution of lower-order settlements in the pre-Roman and Roman periods, human impact on the local landscape and the changes which occurred as a result of the Roman occupation. Also, it addresses previous biases of interpretation through re-evaluation of earlier data and consideration of new datasets provided by the interpretation and mapping of recent oblique aerial photographs. New detailed plans of the sites discovered through aerial photography have been integrated within a significant amount of scattered published data (excavation and field walking reports; gazetteers) and relevant information from historical maps. Al the material has been analysed utilising a relational database linked to a GIS. The results provide a complex reconsideration on a more realistic and up-to-date basis of previous theories regarding the native settlement pattern and the impact of Roman colonisation in the chronological and geographical context specified. Also, through the resulting database and GIS, it provides a methodological framework and a customised tool for further analysis of the landscape and of the evolution of the settlement pattern which can be extended throughout the province of Dacia and into the neighbouring areas. Finally, it creates a useful source of analogy or contrast for Empire-wide studies of Romanisation and Roman-native interaction.

Economic policies are often suggested as mechanisms for promoting rainforest conservation in developing countries. To help decide whether international resources should be used to protect specific rainforcsts, the calculation of a "rainforest supply price" (RSP) is proposed. If protection is warranted, then empirical analyses explore the conditions under which selected policies within developing countries might be effective in protecting rainforests. Korup National Park in Cameroon contains the oldest rainforest in Africa and - as a haven for important endangered species- it is the subject of active international conservation efforts. A cost-bencfit analysis of a conservation project to protect Korup from increased land-use pressures suggests that it is not in Cameroon's interest unless a 5.4 million ECU inducement is transferred to Cameroon. Given the protection afforded, the transfer is equivalent to a RSP of 1060 ECU per km2 per year. Evaluations of six other tropical rainforest projects suggests that international donors made transfers having values ranging from 15 to 1575ECU per km2 per year. It is thus concluded that the inducements required are within a range which conservation interests are apparently willing to mobilise. To target inducements the provision of incentives in a "buffer zone" around a park is often believed to promote conservation. This is based on the hypothesis that increased incomes will draw individuals out of the park and will give them something better to do than exploit the park. A survey of 341 households around Korup was analysed in detail to test this hypothesis. Evidence suggests that economic development in the buffer zone would increase pressures on the park because: a) higher incomes would reduce emigration from the region and would thus cause greater population pressure on the Park; and, b) hunting effort increases as non-hunting income increases.

Assessment and reporting (A/R) initiatives such as State of the Environment Reporting, State of the Protected Area Reporting and Management Effectiveness Assessment provide protected area managers and their clients with tools and knowledge to better understand complex human-ecological relationships, and support efforts to achieve more sustainable living. This research reports on the findings of a global survey of 62 A/R initiatives in 19 countries and a corresponding analysis of the application of the ecosystem approach in these initiatives. An organisational culture that supports evaluation and participation is an important ingredient for effective A/R. Survey respondents believe that participatory approaches yield many benefits despite greater complexity of the process and expenditure of time and resources. Benefits include: realising positive conservation outcomes; helping to enrich the organisation’s technical capacity through the contributions of others; improving the accuracy, completeness, acceptance and use of information; and enhancing organisational transparency, cooperation and the capacity of the participants. On average, the A/Rs examined achieve a moderate to high degree of success in implementing the ecosystem approach through their A/Rs, as determined through a proposed composite index to assess application of the ecosystem approach. An integrated planning and assessment model and a priority setting procedure were developed to simplify and improve requirements for protected area A/R while ensuring technical rigor. The results and lessons from field testing elements of the integrated model in four Egyptian National Parks are presented. Overall, the research suggests it is possible to integrate sophisticated management tools and achieve effective and efficient processes for performance assessment in protected areas.

This research is concerned with the practice of local partnerships in the promotion of rural development with particular reference to two case study areas, Newent in the UK and Sault in France. In recent years, local partnership working has become increasingly common in the promotion of rural development. It is presented by academics, politicians, policy makers and practitioners as 'inherent' and 'imperative' to the preparation and implementation of rural development programmes today. However, there still exists limited understanding and knowledge about local partnership working in practice and the validity and importance of such statements. To advance this understanding the present research had four main objectives organised around the identification and the exploration of four main issues: the reasons, the processes, the outcomes and the implications of the local partnership practice in rural development. The author has sought to elucidate the subject by means of a detailed exploratory study involving the longitudinal observation of two particular examples of local partnerships. Two case study areas were selected, both with an active history of rural development initiatives and partnership working at parish or commune level. Newent is a small town in the Forest of Dean, which has sought to address growing socio-economic decline in recent years by preparing and implementing a regeneration strategy through local partnership working. Sault is a village in Provence, which has had to respond to depopulation and various economic difficulties as well as the closure in 1996-98 of the military base of Albion. Qualitative data on local partnership evolution and operation, collected in both areas between 1998 and 2001, was assembled from documentary research, semi structured interviews and direct observation at meetings. This investigation has allowed the identification of various explanations for the recent increase in the practice of local partnership in rural development, explanations which are mainly associated with the underlying context of the rural development process today and with the meaning of the partnership concept itself. From this investigation local partnership working in rural development has emerged as a long-term, progressive, comprehensive and pragmatic process that is organised over time. Its existence and longevity depend primarily on the local context, the existence of opportunities, the issues to be addressed, a broad mobilisation of local/rural actors, a flexible local space, some local re-organisation as well as regular and concrete achievements. In this respect, the most commonly reported outcomes of local partnership working pertain to the process of partnership working more than to the tangible outputs that may have resulted from it. These meet the initial expected benefits from such a practice as for example broader participation, greater reciprocity between rural development actors and territories, and an increase in local capacity for development action.