This thesis explores the hitherto undocumented disestablishment and reconstruction of the Anglican Church of Ireland, c.1868-1870, and argues that this experience was formative in the emergence of Home Rule. Structurally, the Church’s General Synod served as a model for an autonomous Irish parliament. Moreover, disestablishment and reconstruction conditioned the political trajectories of the Protestants initially involved in the first group to campaign for a federal Irish parliament, the Home Government Association (HGA). More broadly, both the HGA and the governance of the independent Church—the General Synod—grew from the bedrock of the same associational culture. The HGA was more aligned with the public associations of Protestant-dominated Dublin intellectual life and the lay associational culture of the Church. Although the political vision advocated was different from the normal conservatism of many of its Protestant members, culturally it was entirely grounded in the recent Anglican experience.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

This thesis examines the growth of commercial lobbying in Scotland with the devolution of political power to Edinburgh in 1999. The study analyses the nascent public affairs community in Edinburgh in the lead up to, and during, the first session of the Scottish Parliament. This period covers the public debate at Holyrood over the registration and regulation of outside interests, and examines both the public and private political communication of those actors involved. The evidence base for this thesis is drawn from archival and documentary research, extended observational fieldwork in Edinburgh, and in depth interviews with informants from lobbying consultancies, corporations, voluntary sector organisations, elected representatives and public servants. A key focus of this study is the role of commercial and corporate lobbyists in Scottish public affairs and the Scottish public sphere. The analysis concludes that the Scottish Parliament's founding principles of openness, equality and accountability could be served through the regulation of lobbying.

County jurisdictions in America are increasingly exercising self-government in the provision of public community services through the context of second order federalism. In states exercising this form of contemporary governance, county governments with “reformed” policy-making structures and professional management practices, have begun to rival or surpass municipalities in the delivery of local services with regional implications such as environmental protection (Benton 2002, 2003; Marando and Reeves, 1993). The voter referendum, a form of direct democracy, is an important component of county land preservation and environmental protection governmental policies. The recent growth and success of land preservation voter referendums nationwide reflects an increase in citizen participation in government and their desire to protect vacant land and its natural environment from threats of over-development, urbanization and sprawl, loss of open space and farmland, deterioration of ecosystems, and inadequate park and recreational amenities. The study’s design employs a sequential, mixed method. First, a quantitative approach employs the Heckman two-step model. It is fitted with variables for the non-random sample of 227 voter referendum counties and all non-voter referendum counties in the U.S. from 1988 to 2009. Second, the qualitative data collected from the in-depth investigation of three South Florida county case studies with twelve public administrator interviews is transformed for integration with the quantitative findings. The purpose of the qualitative method is to complement, explain and enrich the statistical analysis of county demographic, socio-economic, terrain, regional, governance and government, political preference, environmentalism, and referendum-specific factors. The research finds that government factors are significant in terms of the success of land preservation voter referendums; more specifically, the presence of self-government authority (home rule charter), a reformed structure (county administrator/manager or elected executive), and environmental interest groups. In addition, this study concludes that successful counties are often located coastal, exhibit population and housing growth, and have older and more educated citizens who vote democratic in presidential elections. The analysis of case study documents and public administrator interviews finds that pragmatic considerations of timing, local politics and networking of regional stakeholders are also important features of success. Further research is suggested utilizing additional public participation, local government and public administration factors.

The UK, traditionally one of the more fiscally centralised of OECD countries, is currently in the midst of an extensive programme of tax decentralisation. This is most evident in Scotland. Ten years ago the Scottish Government was almost wholly reliant on a block grant from the UK Government to fund its spending, and debate was focussed on how the determination of this grant should be reformed. Today the Scottish Government has far greater fiscal autonomy. Income tax was almost fully devolved to the Scottish Parliament in April 2017, and around half of VAT revenues will be assigned to Scotland by 2020. As a result, the devolved Scottish budget will in future be linked much more closely to Scotland’s economy, and Scottish politicians will be able to deviate from UK policy on the setting of income tax and various smaller taxes. The objective of this PhD is to examine the economic and political motivations for and implications of greater fiscal decentralisation, with a particular focus on the Scottish case. Its key over-arching questions include: • Which fiscal powers are more and less suitable for decentralisation, and what might constraints might a devolved government face in exercising devolved tax powers? • To what extent are the objectives of fiscal decentralisation compatible with the goal of inter-regional equity in public good provision? • To what extent is fiscal decentralisation likely to enhance the incentives faced by politicians in a devolved parliament to pursue particular types of policy? And to what extent does the answer to this question depend upon the way in which supporting fiscal institutions, notably including the design of block grant arrangements, influence this? • What factors determine regional economic performance, and to what extent can devolved governments be held accountable for (or face the budgetary consequences of) those trends? • To what extent might fiscal decentralisation assuage or accentuate demands for Scottish independence? This PhD consists of four academic papers covering aspects of regional economics and constitutional change in the UK, with a particular focus on Scotland. Each of the four papers is preceded by an abstract. An introductory chapter provides theoretical and policy context within which the four papers are situated. A concluding section to the PhD is provided in Chapter 6. The four papers cover the following topics: • Paper 1 (Chapter 2) was published in the immediate aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, and considers the issues and constraints involved in devolving further fiscal powers to the Scottish Parliament. • Paper 2 (Chapter 3) considers the scope for replacing the Barnett Formula (used to allocate funding to the Scottish Government) with a form of spending-needs assessment, based on a comparative analysis of formulae used within England and Scotland to allocate health funding to territorial health boards. • Paper 3 (Chapter 4) examines how regional labour markets in the UK responded to the 2008/9 recession and its aftermath, and considers which factors may have influenced regional resilience to the recession. • Paper 4 (Chapter 5) examines the factors that determine differential growth in regional income tax revenues, and considers the extent to which it is reasonable to hold devolved governments wholly to account for differential economic performance. • Chapter 6 concludes.

The emigration of the Scots from the 18th to the 20th century has produced a diaspora. The thesis outlines how many diasporas are involved in the nationalist projects of their homeland. However, over the chronology of this study and beyond, whilst there were active movements to amend or end the Union of 1707, it has been found that the Scots were not. The thesis then proposes some explanations for this. Chapters one and two introduce methods, research material and context; they describe the Union, the emigrations and diasporas. The study uses for comparison purposes the Irish and Norwegian diasporas. Lines of enquiry such as nationalism, the use of soft power and gatekeeping behaviour are presented, with a discussion of Scottish nationalism. The study examines the approach to involving the diaspora of five groups; both SHRAs, the International Scots Home Rule League, the National Convention and the NPS/SNP. The response of Scottish MPs in the diaspora in England to the many attempts to legislate for home rule is also examined. The approach to the diaspora was found to be badly executed and targeted. Few visits were made, and only to the US and Canada. Communication was unfocussed and spasmodic. The Scottish associational clubs were frequently used as a conduit. A small part of the whole diaspora, these acted as gatekeepers, selectively mobilising for themselves as an elite which had no need of nationalism as they could succeed without it. Comparing the Irish, whose diaspora successfully supported its nationalist causes at home, is instructive. The study concludes that the spasmodic and amateurish nature of contact, the nature of the Associations and that of the diaspora itself were the main culprits in this case of a diaspora indifferent to the fate of nationalism in its home land.

My diploma thesis is mainly concentrating on analyses of relationships between English (British) and Irish people from the time when the 'Great Famine' just past until the First World War. It aims to highlight the key events and analyses it is impact on both countries relationship to each other. Since 1801, when Ireland had become a part of Great Britain and the relations between the Brits (English) and Irish narrowed down by joining these countries. The famine in large scale has very negatively affected their relations and since then the Irish tried to gain more and more independence of the authorities in their country, and above all re-establish the Parliament of Ireland. Their actions were supported and represented by resistance organisation 'Home Rule', which Irish nationalists were tightening to with hope. Since seventies of 19th century Irish parliamentarians was urging demands in order to self- administrate on own parliament soil. The Home Rule Bill, which was also promoted by British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, was however two times disapproved by the parliament. Only in 1914, after restriction the right of veto of the House of Lords by Parliament Act 1911, the Irish Home Rule Bill passed. However, unfortunately for the Irish, the beginning of the First World War intercept it is...

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences