This is a study of subjectivity investigating Taiwanese officials�� patterns of attitudes toward fiscal decentralization. This research attempts to understand the process and issues of fiscal decentralization in Taiwan through the eyes of officials participating in this study. It is hoped to examine the national-local dichotomy based on revealed patterns of officials�� attitudes and to formulate policy recommendations based on policy consensuses revealed from the study. Five theories of fiscal decentralization are identified. It is confirmed that national-local dichotomy exists. Authoritative fiscal decentralization is a centralized theory emphasizing national control and monitoring. In contrast, unrestrained fiscal decentralization is a decentralized theory maximizing local administrative and financial freedom. This research further shows that multiple theories of fiscal decentralization coexist in addition to the dichotomy. Cooperative fiscal decentralization is a moderate centralized theory highlighting the importance of trusting and empowering local governments. Democratic fiscal decentralization, on the other hand, is a decentralized theory advocating democratic local participation. Finally, conflicted fiscal decentralization is a moderate decentralization theory asking for more local financial resources and autonomy while ignoring the problem of dysfunctional local politics. Three short-term policy recommendations were developed: (1) developing indicators of fiscal efforts with local officials�� participation; (2) encouraging local governments to apply the General Law on Local Taxation; and (3) increasing the size of national shared tax and eliminating the use of general grants. In addition, three long-term policy recommendations were proposed: (1) sharing power of policymaking with local officials; (2) allowing people to vote on local fiscal policies; and (3) controlling only the minimum level of local tax revenue. It is hoped that these recommendations would be adopted to improve the local fiscal system in Taiwan. What also matters, however, is the process through which policy decisions are made. As suggested, policy learning of fiscal decentralization has to occur, and an incremental approach should be adopted for future reforms of fiscal decentralization. Only after a culture of learning, deliberation, and collaboration is developed among stakeholders involving in the policy process, can the local fiscal system in Taiwan begin to evolve and gradually to improve.

Human rights-based approaches (RBA) have become an important factor in international development policy, endorsed and adopted by leading non-governmental organizations working in development (development NGOs), bilateral development agencies, and UN agencies such as UNICEF, UNDP, and WHO. This research assesses the significance of the RBA trend by examining the reasons for RBA adoption, NGOs interpretation of the RBA, organizational changes after adoption, and implementation. The RBA is a conceptual framework with potentially radical and powerful implications for development practice. But this radical concept is found to lose much of its power as the new paradigm is transformed in practice through the interpretation of the RBA, organizational changes, and implementation. The full potential of RBA is diminished because NGOs interpret the RBA in ways that fit their organizational backgrounds and expertise. Three variants of the RBA are identified: popular, equity, and classical, emphasizing grassroots organizing, global advocacy, and international human rights standards, respectively. Organizational dynamics further limit the RBAs impact, as NGOs adopting the RBA have tended to manage change by modifying existing methods, rather than organizational transformation. Finally, the RBA is compromised in implementation at the country level. NGOs are found to have difficulty implementing strategies that change power relations, strengthen accountability, promote non-discrimination, and strengthen partnerships among NGOs. Six factors are found to affect the likelihood that an NGO will adopt a RBA: the percentage of annual revenue from governments, the number of NGO members in an international federation or family, the NGOs host country, the NGOs association with other organizations, its working methods, and the issue areas in which it works. Leadership also plays important roles in adoption. The study is based on statistical analysis of the factors affecting RBA adoption in the thirty largest international development NGOs; analysis of NGOs interpretation of the RBA and organizational change in three cases, ActionAid UK, Oxfam GB, and Save the Children Sweden; and a case study of implementation by the same three NGOs in Vietnam.

This dissertation examined evidence for disparate and anomalous drug sentencing outcomes arising from an overemphasis on drug quantity in the federal sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimums. Data from the 1997 Survey of Inmates in Federal Correctional Facilities were used to investigate the appropriateness of drug quantity as a measure of offense seriousness, the determinants of sentence length, mandatory minimum sentencing outcomes, and the application of firearm sentence enhancements in drug cases. The multivariate analyses employed a range of sentencing predictors, including measures of drug offense seriousness (e.g., drug type and quantity, role in the offense, firearm use), criminal history, case processing factors (e.g., guilty plea, charge bargaining), and sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., race, gender, citizenship). Methods employed to reduce bias and improve the efficiency of the model estimates included imputation of missing values to deal with item nonresponse, design-based estimation to account for the surveys complex sampling design, and truncated-censored regression to handle limited response on the dependent variable. The main findings revealed that (1) drug quantityas a measure of harmis a poor surrogate for culpability- and dangerousness-based offense factors, (2) the overemphasis on quantity results in excessive uniformity in sentencing and creates pressures for guideline evasion, (3) the current 100-to-1 quantity ratio between crack and powder cocaine fosters anomalous and disparate sentencing outcomes by targeting the least culpable crack cocaine offenders with the harshest sanctions, (4) quantity-driven mandatory minimums interact with the guidelines to create sentencing anomalies that fail to differentiate adequately between offenders of varying culpability and dangerousness, and (5) circumvention of firearm sentence enhancements appears to be driven by equity concerns over already severe drug sentences and case pressures to avoid trial. The clearest and most far-reaching implication of this research is that drug quantity is simply too blunt an instrument to meet the demands of principled sentencing. The major policy implication is that the central, organizing role of drug quantity in federal drug sentencing needs to be replaced with a more balanced approach that more equitably focuses on factors of harm, culpability, and dangerousness in assessing sentencing liability.

This study investigates the networking behavior of innovative firms in two regions in Turkey: Ankara and Istanbul. Specifically, it compares the geographical extent and characteristics of innovation networks between the two regions when firms carry out innovation, i.e. developing new or improved products or processes. Ego-centric networks of 89 firms were studied to investigate the geographical extent and the nature of innovation network ties. Based on these two regional case studies, three conclusions were made: (1) when firms in developing countries introduce technological innovation of products and/or processes, they engage in mixed networks, i.e. local and non-local (interregional and international) networks, (2) while local networks are important, non-local networks are used to access capabilities that are not present locally; these networks are not substitutes for each other but complementary, and (3) innovative firms in both types of regions (new vs. established) engage in mixed networks. However, the characteristics of these networks differ based on the regions development level. It, therefore, makes sense, analytically as well as politically, to distinguish between different types of networks, so that a much broader array of policy implications can be made for building innovative capability from this wider perspective in developing countries.

This paper aimed to analyze the effectiveness of state R&D tax credit programs in the context of R&D-relevant policies and regional economic development policies. Although there were extensive theoretical recommendations for promoting private R&D, and state R&D tax credit programs have been one of the most popular regional economic development programs, only few evaluations of state R&D tax credit programs have been conducted. Inspired by this lack of previous study, this study provided an empirical finding for the effectiveness of these programs by applying a quasi-experimental approach, which means conducting experiments without randomness, for comparing states with tax credits and states with no credits. For dealing with the embedded non-randomness, plausible other explanations that weaken the causal relationship between the programs and the effects were examined and ruled out as much as possible. Rival hypotheses were selected using different tax and government policies, overall business and R&D-specific environments, and firm characteristics. They were eliminated by constructing valid control groups, using the difference-in-differences and matching methods, selecting covariates and matching variables as observable variables, and absorbing year-specific fixed effects and cross-sectional-fixed effects as unobservable variables. The decision was made based on multiple estimates and multiple datasets. The research analyzed two sets of industries: the all industry group and high-technology industy. The major findings are : 1) state R&D tax credits positively affect the increase in R&D spending and increase in employment; 2) positive effects on R&D spending are widespread across the all industry group while positive effects on employment are limited to high-technology industry overall; 3) positive effects on R&D spending are also spread out to different sized firms in both the all industry group and high-technology industry; and 4) positive effects on employment are found mainly in large firms in both the all industry group and high-technology industry. The above findings support the utilization of state R&D tax credits. As an indirect intervention, state R&D tax credit programs can increase productivity and encourage innovation by generating additional private R&D activities. State R&D tax credit programs can also make a positive contribution to regional economic growth through the growth of R&D-relevant and high-technology industries.

This research analyzes and assesses the major issues regarding coordinated response operations in destructive earthquakes. The research examines the decision making process in the context of seismic risk to exemplify how public managers can utilize the information and communication systems in order to create collaborative actions in managing an extreme event. Based on the theoretical framework from Complex Adaptive Systems and Socio-technical Systems, this study is an exploratory case study that explores the factors that hinder or facilitate coordinated response operations. This research applies the theoretical framework to the two earthquake response systems, the Marmara and Duzce that occurred in Turkey in August and November of 1999, respectively. This study investigated initial conditions of existing information infrastructure during the 1999 Marmara and Duzce response operations and compared the two response systems to discover whether the utilization of information and communication technologies significantly affected the performance of the Turkish disaster system. The findings of the study revealed that improving communication functions increased coordination activities thus eventually improved search and rescue operations from the Marmara to the Duzce earthquake. This research conducts qualitative, quantitative and network analysis using data from content analysis of a national newspapers, Cumhuriyet, semi-structured interviews, archival records, professional reports, and official websites of disaster organizations. By using the data, the research also focuses on the period of review and redesign of emergency management policies and practices following the Marmara and Duzce earthquakes. It analyzes the changes introduced into the information infrastructure and organizational structure to evaluate to what extent the Turkish disaster management system possesses the characteristics of a socio-technical disaster system. Although the findings of the analyses showed that the initiations after the Marmara and Duzce earthquake, to some extent, improved the technical and organizational capacity of the Turkish disaster management system, the system still needs to be improved particularly at the local level to cope with a future destructive earthquake.

Recent occurrences of natural disasters and severe manmade hazards have increased awareness of the need for effective mitigation and response to extreme events. States of emergency require multiple agencies to perform multiple tasks simultaneously to return the situation to normal. This study proposes an inter-organizational model supported by the efficient use of information and communication technologies to assist multiple agencies in coordinating their actions more effectively during states of emergency. The model will assist participating agencies to develop the capacity to adapt to emergency conditions as well as the ability to replace other functions that fail in order to maintain the continuity of basic operations for the community until the state of emergency is cleared. Three recent cases of emergency operations in Thailand are examined to assess whether coordination among response agencies can be improved by using appropriately designed interagency operations. The complex environment of emergency response operations offers an extraordinary opportunity to investigate methods that may be used to understand and identify factors that build strength or lead to weakness in practice. The interdependence of sequential failures from sudden impacts such as the collapse of electrical transmission lines or a communication system provides a practical challenge for assessing the use of information and communication technologies in managing emergencies. Insights gained from this project may assist public agencies to work together more effectively. This research is conducted as an exploratory study with a nested case design. It employs both qualitative and quantitative methods of observation, interviews, social network analysis, document review and structured surveys to identify complementary characteristics rather than advocating a single style of research. Units of analysis are the emergency response organizations at national, provincial and local levels while units of observation are emergency response personnel in each organization. In addition, units of observation are stratified into top, middle, and operational levels of management in order to obtain information that may vary by levels of authority. Information obtained from multiple sources is analyzed to understand better the existing emergency response operations and how to improve the system effectively and efficiently. An alternative approach based on lessons learned from this study is to build systematic and adaptive collaboration among agencies, national, provincial and local levels, in emergency management of Thailand. The primary actors, Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA), Civil Emergency Relief Department (CERD), and District Offices (DO) can play effective roles in emergency response network under different scales of emergency. Insufficient information support and communication channels increase the difficulties of activating the action plan in wider response in states of emergency. Information technology and communication systems allow multiple agencies to share their knowledge and information they need in making informed decisions. Communication is a significant means to enable participating agencies to coordinate their operations simultaneously. These functions of information technology and communication help connect the entire emergency operation into a well-organized direction.

This dissertation examines influence and decision-making within the transatlantic security regime, focusing on the four major member states of NATO. Two cases of post-Cold War transatlantic military intervention are examined in which regime member states sought to develop and adopt a single, collective policy on the use of military force outside of NATOs traditional (i.e. collective defense) area of operations: Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. These cases illustrate the puzzle that the dissertation attempts to solve: why did the transatlantic security regime adopt a common military intervention policy relatively quickly in one case (Kosovo) but much more slowly in other the other case (Bosnia) despite the fact that deep policy differences were initially present in both cases? The dependent variable in the dissertation is thus the likelihood of the transatlantic security regime adopting and successfully implementing a common policy regarding the use of military force in a given case. Relative distribution of power among regime members has no effect on collective policy congruence whatsoever. Collective risk analysis and ideological compatibility, however, strongly influenced regime policy cohesion (or lack thereof) in both case studies. This seems to indicate that regime policy cohesion is a function of actor rationality and yet also through rather socially constructed ideological compatibility. These variables are mutually supportive. That is, strong correlation in each is necessary to precipitate collective regime policy cohesion. Thus, both a similar view among the major regime states of the costs and benefits of military intervention and a significant level of ideological compatibility among their national leaders is necessary to create and maintain regime policy cohesion. The active presence and involvement of an international institution had moderate effect in both cases. However, while the active engagement of NATO may not, in itself, be a causal factor in regime policy cohesion, the institution may help to more rapidly facilitate policy cohesion as long as the influence of variables four and five is present. This variable is thus rather interesting; however, additional case studies are necessary to explore its role and function in this issue-area. Finally, collective threat perception and collective domestic pressures have mixed results, with domestic pressures being the stronger of the two. Again, this seems to indicate that notions of collective state cooperative behavior based primarily (or even solely) upon perceived external threat is not accurate. Like the institutional variable, collective domestic pressures plays an uncertain and yet interesting role. It is also certainly not a causal factor in itself but may play a much stronger role dependent upon the strength of the other variables.

The Practice of Coercive Diplomacy in the Post-9/11 Period The model of coercive diplomacy has been used as a framework for analyzing various cases of confrontation between two or more states. Coercive diplomacy is the use by a state of the threat of force to achieve its demands. Formulated by Alexander L. George, this model has been applied on a diverse group of case studies, such as the initial stages of the Vietnam conflict, the Laos conflict, as well as the Cuban missile crisis. This dissertation studies four cases from the post-9/11 period and analyzes them through the components of coercive diplomacy. These cases are (a) Operation Parakram 2001-2002 India-Pakistan crisis, (b) U.S. coercion on the Taliban September-October 2001, (c) U.S. coercive diplomacy against Saddams Iraq prior to the March 2003 invasion, and (d) Coercive diplomacy and the North Korean nuclear crisis, 2002-2006.

From 1992 until 1995, Morocco and the European Union (EU) were in negotiations for an Association Agreement as part of a regional initiative, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (or "Barcelona process"). The free trade provisions of the agreement seemed unfavorable for Morocco: they largely excluded agriculture, and, therefore, many products in which Morocco could have made significant gains, they opened the Moroccan market to competition from EU non-agricultural products (Morocco had achieved equivalent access to EU markets decades earlier), and EU funding for Moroccan company upgrading fell far short of expectations. This research sought to determine how the respective political systems of Morocco and the European Union led to the EU proposing, and Morocco accepting, a sub-optimal agreement. These issues were explored through recorded and transcribed interviews with key Moroccan and EU players, and through document analysis, and the resulting data were analyzed primarily in terms of Putnam's two-level game model of international negotiation. The principal findings are that Morocco may have achieved a better free trade deal had it been an open and democratic system during the period of negotiations. The closed and elitist nature of the Moroccan negotiation and ratification process meant that the official negotiating position did not account for the full range of interests affected by trade liberalization, and that the hand of the Moroccan negotiators in advocating even that less demanding position could not be strengthened by the threat of ratification failure — the prospect that dissident groups might reject the final agreement in Parliament, in a referendum, or in the streets. The European Union negotiation and ratification process, although open and democratic, was skewed by the lack of significant participation by most member States. Only France, Spain and Italy participated intensively, a situation that ensured the protection of powerful national lobbies (primarily Spanish farmers and fishermen) at the expense of Morocco and of EU economic development objectives for North Africa. The convergence of minimal participation in Morocco and significant but wholly inadequate participation in the European Union led to an agreement favoring narrow European sectoral interests at the expense of the broader vision of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership.