Between 1989 and 2007, Poland went through numerous reforms, the aim of which was to build a democratic country based on the rule of law. At the core of the multiple transition from the communist state to democracy was devolution which has been translated at different scales, national, regional and local. Of central importance were the local government reforms. Analyses of local outcomes of democratisation need to include the difficult to measure effects which manifest themselves through activities of local authorities and local communities. The aim of this thesis is to help fill the gap in understanding the processes and outcomes of the democratic transition by investigating the functioning of democracy at the local level, focusing on local self-government and its relations with civil society in the context of democratic consolidation in one of the major cities in Poland – Poznań and two of its community-based self-governing bodies called Estates which are accessory sub-local government units. The main question of this thesis is what is democratic about Poznań’s local government today. Here, the functioning of local representative democracy and citizens’ inclusion in local decision making are key. It is argued that in a ‘healthy’ democracy the actual practices of local authorities should facilitate an increasing involvement of local residents in decision-making processes. Consequently I focused on local democratic practices trying to evaluate local government’s responsiveness, effectiveness and accountability. In the light of the prevailing opinion that civil society in CEE has been weak, the effectiveness and efficiency of civil society in Poznań and its relations with the local authorities were explored. The study was based on a combination of qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (questionnaires) methods of research. The research identifies that the activities of the local government of Poznań are symptomatic of the authorities’ recognition of the need to be responsive, effective and accountable. Poznań’s authorities have partners in civil society. Among these partners are organisations with a low level of formality, i.e. a community, neighbourhood and a group of residents which organise themselves to achieve their objectives. The environment (law, regulations and attitudes of local authorities) in which they operate was noted to be important to their activities and much effort has been put into upgrading the quality and intensity of the authorities’ communication with local residents. The learning process has reached the stage at which the democratic system has begun to improve itself, a sign of a maturing democracy. The thesis addresses a gap in the literature on the processes underpinning democratic consolidation in Poland. Its findings suggest that as the reformers of Polish local government in the years immediately following the overthrow of communist rule believed, local democracy and local democratic practices are an important component of the wider (national) project of democratic consolidation.

This thesis examines the relationship between British colonial legacies and a culture of migration amongst mobile Malaysians (tertiary-educated Malaysians with transnational migration experience). Drawing from Bourdieu’s “habitus”, I propose the concept of “citizenship habitus” – a set of inherited dispositions about the meanings and significance of citizenship – to understand how and why mobile Malaysians carry out certain citizenship and migration practices. These practices include: firstly, interpreting and practising Malaysian citizenship as a de-politicised and primordial (ethno)national belonging to “Malaysia” that is conflated with national loyalty; and secondly, migration (especially for overseas education) as a way of life (i.e. a culture of migration) that may not be recognised as a means of circumventing pro-Bumiputera (lit. “sons of soil”) structural constraints. Methodologically, I draw from my reflexive reading of archival documents and interview-conversations with 67 mobile Malaysians: 16 in London/UK, 27 in Singapore, six in other global locations, and 18 returnees. I argue that mobile Malaysians’ citizenship and migration practices have been informed by three British colonial legacies: firstly, the materialising of race and Malay indigeneity; secondly, the institutionalisation of race-based school systems and education as an aspired means towards social mobility; and thirdly, race-based political representation and a federal state consisting of an arbitrary amalgamation of socio-economically and historically diverse territories. The Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) further instilled state-led focus on “racial tensions”, resulting in default authoritative strategies to govern, educate, and motivate the citizenry. These colonial legacies, inherited and exacerbated by the post-colonial Malaysian state, contributed to the institutionalisation of Malaysia’s Bumiputera-differentiated citizenship and race-based affirmative action policies, with particular effects on education, migration and social mobility. By adopting a postcolonial approach to migration phenomena, this thesis highlights the longevity of British colonial legacies with long-lasting effects on Malaysia’s contemporary skilled migration, both in terms of migration geographies and citizenship practices.

Waste management has become one of the major global environmental concerns of our times associated, as it is, with the consumerist tendencies which fuel the engine of economic growth and environmental impacts. Existing policies in the UK have not yet managed to curb the problem of steadily increasing waste generation despite efforts by Central government and the European Union to set inflexible national targets for waste management. A major problem is that while central government sets the overall goals to be achieved, actual waste collection and disposal are functions of 'local government. In many cases local governments lack the resources and capacity to make economically efficient and environmentally effective decisions. Waste management infrastructure must be developed for the long-term, yet economic efficiency considerations often conflict with local political objectives and with a wide range of resource constraints. Local government is not always the most suitable level to deal with problems that often have regional impacts or can be more efficiently organised within larger geographic units. The European Commission is starting to re-consider the application of its rigid waste management hierarchy in light of suggestions that sustainable solutions may vary across regions. Changes in the regulatory environment for solid waste and the regionalisation of disposal infrastructure present economic opportunities which pose the need for institutional change in waste practices. The study examines the institutional arrangements for municipal solid waste management within the South West of England region. Using in-depth key actor interviews, questionnaires, and Force Field Analysis, key actor and stakeholders perceptions on the concept of sustainable waste management are examined, and opportunities and obstacles arising from evolving institutional arrangements are identified. The study finds that there are significant barriers to the development of more sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in the South West Region, iii especially in the areas of 'culture' (both public culture and organisational), regional institutional capacity, and related markets. Amongst the issues that need to be addressed are the interrelated issues of public awareness, participation and empowerment, parochialism and the lack of power of regional institutions to deal with Local Authority waste management contracts within an implementable strategy for the region, the (often negative) influence of the markets related to MSWM, the lack of responsibility for funding of programmes aimed at changing public behaviour, and potential conflict of interest amongst stakeholder groups. Central government, Local Authorities and the waste management industry all need to instigate significant changes in institutions and institutional arrangements in order to achieve a move towards more sustainable MSWM.

This doctoral study investigates the different forms, levels, and pathways of youth engagement with climate change and the implications for the well-being of youth in different contexts of vulnerability and adaptability. It aims to understand such engagement through the accounts and interactions of youth themselves and within their own environmental, socio-cultural, and political context, thereby contributing a holistic understanding of youth engagement in specific countries, an area under-researched in current literature. cultural stereotypes, and socio-political worldviews and structures; b) the need for enhancing young people's skills and prospects for future employment and welfare within an increasingly interconnected, technologically-driven, and sustainability-oriented workplace, through incorporating more critical, futures-oriented, and inter-disciplinary pedagogies of education and learning for sustainability within the higher education curriculum; c) the importance of academic and socio-political spaces and opportunities that foster critical reflection, interpersonal interaction, and collective action in strengthening young people's influence for change and their subjective and social well-being; and d) the need for more critical and empowering platforms and pathways that promote meaningful youth engagement and conscious power-sharing amongst youth and other stakeholders in society. Key recommendations emphasize multi-stakeholder partnerships with youth across political, academic, medical, civic and corporate spectrums to empower young people, especially higher education youth, to meaningfully contribute to future educational, developmental, and health agendas and strategies. The study aligns its conceptual and methodological rationale through applying a critical interpretivist research approach which ensures an analytical, contextual, and in-depth understanding of such engagement in different countries. It is conducted in the Netherlands and South Africa, which historically have had distinct vulnerabilities and approaches to climate change and diverse pathways for youth engagement. Particular emphasis is placed on higher education youth who constitute the future leaders, informed decision makers, and active and innovative agents of society. Fieldwork was undertaken throughout 2011, coinciding with the International Year of Youth and the COP17 international climate change conference. In each country, focus groups were conducted with university and college students from diverse socio-demographic and academic backgrounds. These focus groups sought depth and meaning through critical reflection, futures thinking, and a profound and interactive dialogic process. Qualitative interviews investigated more in-depth the emerging themes; whereas participant-observation, meetings with key informants, and document review promoted a comprehensive and valid understanding of the context in which such engagement is taking place. Key findings reveal: a) the contextual power differentials that strongly shape youth efficacy and agency, especially personal demographic and academic backgrounds, cultural stereotypes, and socio-political worldviews and structures; b) the need for enhancing young people's skills and prospects for future employment and welfare within an increasingly interconnected, technologically-driven, and sustainability-oriented workplace, through incorporating more critical, futures-oriented, and inter-disciplinary pedagogies of education and learning for sustainability within the higher education curriculum; c) the importance of academic and socio-political spaces and opportunities that foster critical reflection, interpersonal interaction, and collective action in strengthening young people's influence for change and their subjective and social well-being; and d) the need for more critical and empowering platforms and pathways that promote meaningful youth engagement and conscious power-sharing amongst youth and other stakeholders in society. Key recommendations emphasize multi-stakeholder partnerships with youth across political, academic, medical, civic and corporate spectrums to empower young people, especially higher education youth, to meaningfully contribute to future educational, developmental, and health agendas and strategies.

At the global level, a noticeable rise has been observed in the adverse impact of an increasing number of hazards, in particular floods, on society. This condition has brought into greater focus the issues of vulnerability, environmental justice and resilience in the recovery of community groups. In Mauritius, economic development, growth in population and intensive land use have resulted in greater human use-environment interaction with accompanying increase in flood conditions and the vulnerability of inhabitants exposed to flood risk. Traditional top-down hazard risk reduction strategies have not been very effective in reducing vulnerability or in promoting resilience of affected communities as they are often left to fend for themselves immediately after the emergency and relief stage of the recovery process. Using three case studies, this thesis explored the perception of the affected communities in building resilience to recover in the aftermath of flood hazards. Mixed methods of collecting and analysing data using both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. They provided a comprehensive way of gathering information from households, agency stakeholders and secondary sources. The data were analysed and the results assessed through the lens of the overarching concept of community resilience that encompasses six types of resilience. This new approach provided a holistic perspective in exploring factors that influence the building of community resilience and the realisation of long-term recovery and rehabilitation. Findings from this study showed evidence of social inequity and environmental injustice mostly among the low income groups in all the three case studies. Evaluation of results revealed a number of factors that were gradually increasing their level of vulnerability and adversely impacting on their resilience. In order to achieve recovery and community resilience, the various types of resilience needed to be reinforced. It was found that social networking and a combination of local knowledge with that of experts, through community participation in decision making, were crucial in reinforcing community resilience. Based on the research findings, an integrated framework for disaster risk reduction management (IFDRRM) was developed. The framework could be applicable in defining policy options and implementation strategies in Mauritius and possibly in other Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) with similar challenges.

This thesis analyses how Chiquitano people engage with the state and to what effect,based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out between September 2006 and August 2007 in the Bolivian Concepción, San Javier and Lomerío municipalities, in the eastern Bolivian lowlands. It focuses on the most contentious areas of Chiquitanostate relations, namely the emergence of the Chiquitano social movement, the struggle for territory and territorial autonomy and participation in the local state bureaucracy. While Chiquitano interact with the state in order to protect their sociocultural communal reproduction, this thesis finds that in many ways the Chiquitano organisation acts as part of the state and replicates its neo-liberal multicultural rhetoric. The state remains the main shaper of forms of political engagement and collective identification (such as indigeneity), resonating with Fried’s (1967) and Scott’s (1998) notions that the state implies some sort of process, one of ‘restructuring’ and ‘making legible’. Consequently, this thesis argues that from the Chiquitano perspective, the election of Bolivia’s first indigenous president in 2005 and his radical state reform project through the 2006-2007 Constituent Assembly, has not fundamentally transformed previous patterns of indigenous-state engagement. It posits that the more successful resistance continues to reside, perhaps more subtly, in comunidades’ socio-cultural relations.

Despite the importance of satellite-enabled applications to society, geographical discussions of the space sector have been dominated by accounts of the geopolitics ‘up there’, without due consideration of the industry driving the use of space ‘down here’. As a result, the geography of the space sector, and the interactions between the agents and institutions involved, have been overlooked in the academic literature. To address this ‘silence’, this thesis explores the competitiveness, organisation and governance of the UK space sector. The primary method of data collection for this thesis was eighty semi-structured interviews with representatives from the UK space sector. The conceptual framework integrated economic and geopolitical concepts on competitiveness, organisation and governance. Key findings of this thesis include: (i) orbital slots and frequency spectrum are competitive assets, which highlight the verticality of our economy; (ii) heritage is a source of competitiveness, which can cause technological lock-in; (iii) different segments within the UK space sector manage their own production projects, which are linked by buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs); (iv) BSRs are influenced by buyers, contracts, technology, time and geography; and (v) the governance of the UK space sector is multi-centric, with a dominance of regulatory forms.

Recent debate has focused on the role of state spatial approaches to the governance of an increasingly networked and fluid economy. This has seen transitions in both the scale of practise, focused on meso-level spaces, and the form of scalar fix, progressing from region to city-region and Functional Economic Area. As theories of spatial economy argue an increasingly dispersed mode of practise, integrated into global exchanges, state spatiality has responded through spatial reform to capitalise on this networked model. This study seeks to understand the link between spaces of economic governance, the formal spaces in which meso-level policy is pursued, and spaces of economic production, created by flows of firm transaction and exchange. Situated in the Southern Staffordshire area of the English Midlands, it considers how these forms of space are constructed, interpreted and integrated through articulations and practices of state spatial policy. Using a relational framework, interpreting space as a dynamic phenomenon, it considers the critical factors linking spaces of economic production and economic governance and the influence of ongoing rescaling tendencies within state and industrial strategy. It proposes whilst the sub-national has been debated as a critical point of convergence for these separate spatial articulations, this is highly selective through its capacity to interpret spatial economy and privileging of specific spatial and sectoral interests.

The research examines the way gender relations affect land management and the perception and experience of degradation in two communities in rural Kano, northern Nigeria. Gender plays a central role in the organisation of northern Nigerian society, not least because of the prevalence of wife seclusion and the strict separation of male and female space. The Nigerian government considers desertification and land degradation to be the main environmental issue affecting northern Nigerian communities and links it to poverty and food insecurity, and considerable sums are targeted towards it. Agriculture is the mainstay of rural economies in the region, but women farmers are a minority of the public workforce in agricultural production and the extent of their involvement decreases with increasing seclusion. The study focuses on this minority and examines the interaction of 2 groups of women with natural resources, one secluded and the other non-secluded, their perception of and response to land degradation and their land management practices. The study finds that though gender is an important differentiation, both men’s and women’s views are influenced by their socio-economic positions. The study finds that the women’s land management practices are mediated by their relationships with men and with other women. Men act as a cushion to certain aspects of land degradation such as food insecurity, but other important aspects of women’s lives such as their social net-works and their economic independence are vulnerable. The study also uncovers the centrality of faith in people’s experience of and response to environmental change.

As the global population urbanises, the benefits derived from contact with nature increasingly depend upon the presence of diverse urban ecological communities. These may be threatened by changes in land-cover and the intensification of land-use. A key question is how to design and manage cities to retain desirable species, habitats and processes. Addressing this question is challenging, due to the dominant role of humans in shaping spatially and temporally complex urban landscapes. Earlier research identified ecological patterns along urban–rural gradients, often using simplified measures of built form and disturbance. The central theme within this thesis is that we require a more mechanistic understanding of the processes that created today‘s ecological patterns, which recognises the interactions between social and ecological sub-systems. Using bats (Chiroptera) as a case study group, I identified a broadly negative association between bat activity and built density. Urban tree networks appeared beneficial for one species, and further work revealed that their role in facilitating movement depended upon the size of gaps in tree lines and their illumination level. Resilience analyses were used to map diverse dependencies between the functioning of urban bat habitats and human social factors; illustrating the value of a more mechanistic systems-based approach.