No abstract available. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / gm2014 / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

Thesis advisor: Sarah Babb / In the early 1990s, at the height of the Washington Consensus, its hegemonic model of neoliberal development was strongly challenged by Japan, the U.S.’s greatest ally. The key event characterizing this challenge occurred when Japan’s Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) began criticizing the World Bank’s famous Structural Adjustment Loans (SALs). This subsequently led to the publication of the “East Asian Miracle Report” by the World Bank financed by the Japanese government. This poses a great puzzle considering Japan’s historically submissive and politically deferential relationship with the U.S. since the end of World War II. I address two questions in my thesis to solve the above puzzle: (1) why did the Japanese state choose to oppose American ideological hegemony in the 1990s? (2) how did the ideas involved in this challenge develop within and beyond the institution of Japanese policy bureaucracy? The theory and methods used in this paper are inspired by the historical institutionalist tradition in sociology and political science. I argue that the shift in Japan’s foreign aid strategy in the late 1980s was driven by a mixture of economic, institutional and political factors. This along with the escalating influence of the Washington Consensus and its interference with Japanese aid policy, drove Japan to oppose American ideological hegemony in the 1990s. Furthermore, tracing the policy discourses of the OECF during this period revealed that not only economic and political factors, but also the developmentalist idea that valued the central role of the state in its economic development was essential in instigating Japan’s construction and promotion of its own development model. I conclude that Japan’s challenge was both a local and a global social construct, developed in the processes of transnational interaction with other states and their actors, and drawing on internationally available economic ideas. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

"In Africa non-state actors (NSAs) are causing an alarming concern with the destruction of the environment and indigenous communities in the name of development; such environmental degradation leaves indigenous or economically marginalized groups in an unsatisfactory environment to their health, standard of living and basic necessitites of life and the land for future development. In most instances, the host country does not get good value from the vast amount of resource extraction. In other words, this kind of investment does not benefit the affected people; rather, it transfers a country's resources outside. In the end the poor pays for the lust of the rich. In some cases, African governments are simply not interested in the impact of the activities of NSAs on the people as they personally benefit from their presence due to corruption. As a result, it is correct to note that 'the local partners (African governments)' are selling indigenous communities on for their personal gain. In spite of the fact that some of these African countries have strong environmental laws in operation, they are often unwilling to force NSAs to comply with environmental rights and labour standards since they badly need the investment and capital that NSAs bring into their economies. Some of these NSAs pressurise national governments and even threaten them with lawsuits to open their doors for them. Others completely close down and relocate in order to blackmail the governments to follow through on the permits after exploration had started. Globalisation and an increase in international trade have joined with the growth of the human rights movement. These dual trends have cast an increasing attention on the role that NSAs play in environmental rights violation throughout the Sub-Saharan African region. The criitical issue in this period of globalisation, and which is also a challenge to it, is the liability and social responsibility of NSAs in times of violation of enviornmental rights, since today they figure prominently within the human rights field. Most of their activities are not in accordance with national or international environmental standards. While NSAs enjoy sovereign immunity within local jurisdictions, primary responsibility lies with states, which in most cases, are held liable for wrongful acts committed by NSAs, since they are regarded as the ultimate guardian of the welfare of their populations. As state authority declines, NSAs play a direct and indirect role in a wide range of environmental human rights violations, and this has now led to a point where there is a need to attach more concrete obligations to them. The thesis provides a framework with which th NSAs can be held directly and indirectly accountable for their role in fuelling the instability in the Sub-Saharan African region. The purpose of the thesis is to determine the approaches or guidelines that can be followed in order to ensure that NSAs behave appropriately in host states in realisation of the right to development by preserving the harmonious environment that local communities are entitled to. The creation of a viable and sustainable environment for everyone is of paramount importance in today's society." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2003. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Discusses the human rights obligations of International Financial Institutions and suggests different human rights accountability mechanisms through the Right to Development paradigm / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2008. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Prof. Jaap de Visser, Faculty of Law, University of Western Cape, South Africa / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

No description available.

No description available.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / South Africa

The first chapter analizes conditional assistance programs. They generate conflicting relationships between international financial institutions (IFIs) and member countries. The experience of IFIs with conditionality in the 1990s led them to allow countries more latitude in the design of their reform programs. A reformist government does not need conditionality and it is useless if it does not want to reform. A government that faces opposition may use conditionality and the help of pro-reform lobbies as a lever to counteract anti-reform groups and succeed in implementing reforms. The second chapter analizes economies saddled with taxes and regulations. I consider an economy in which many taxes, subsidies, and other distortionary restrictions are in place simultaneously. If I start from an inefficient laissez-faire equilibrium because of some domestic distortion, a small trade tax or subsidy can yield a first-order welfare improvement, even if the instrument itself creates distortions of its own. This may result in "welfare paradoxes". The purpose of the chapter is to quantify the welfare effects of changes in tax rates in a small open economy. I conduct the simulation in the context of an intertemporal utility maximization framework. I apply numerical methods to the model developed by Karayalcin. I introduce changes in the tax rates and quantify both the impact on welfare, consumption and foreign assets, and the path to the new steady-state values. The third chapter studies the role of stock markets and adjustment costs in the international transmission of supply shocks. The analysis of the transmission of a positive supply shock that originates in one of the countries shows that on impact the shock leads to an inmediate stock market boom enjoying the technological advance, while the other country suffers from depress stock market prices as demand for its equity declines. A period of adjustment begins culminating in a steady state capital and output level that is identical to the one before the shock. The the capital stock of one country undergoes a non-monotonic adjustment. The model is tested with plausible values of the variables and the numeric results confirm the predictions of the theory.

Lorsque l’Etat décide de l’exploration ou de l’exploitation de ses réserves d’hydrocarbures, il n’est soumis à aucune règle internationale quant aux modalités de mise en œuvre de cette décision. Cette absence d’obligations n’a pas empêché les Etats développer, au niveau national, des règles réduisant leur liberté quant à la sélection des opérateurs. Aux négociations secrètes qui ont longtemps prévalu dans le secteur pétrolier, se sont alors substituées des procédures de mise en concurrence ouvertes s’appuyant sur des critères objectifs. Ayant pour but d’attirer l’investissement étranger et de faciliter la conclusion des contrats, elles se sont progressivement généralisées et standardisées, tant dans leur formalisme que dans leurs conditions. On constate alors un processus d’uniformisation globale des conditions d’accès aux réserves, auquel les institutions financières internationales ont directement ou indirectement pris part. L’un des aspects cruciaux des procédures d’attribution des droits a trait au rôle de l’entreprise pétrolière nationale. Celle-ci dispose souvent d’un traitement préférentiel. Dans de nombreux Etats, elle a en outre été traditionnellement chargée de l’octroi des contrats, combinant ainsi des fonctions qui lui ont permis de devenir un acteur incontournable du secteur. La standardisation de ses attributions a également fait l’objet d’un processus de convergence internationale, qui modifie le rapport entre l’Etat et l’investisseur étranger. / When the State decides to undertake the exploration or exploitation of its hydrocarbons reserves, it is not subject to any international obligation concerning the implementations of such decision. This lack of obligations has not prevented states from developing rules at the national level to reduce their freedom in the selection of operators. The secret negotiations that have long prevailed in the petroleum sector have been replaced by more transparent and open competition procedures, backed by objective criteria. With the objective of attracting foreign investment and facilitating the process of conclusion of contracts, those procedures have been progressively generalized and standardized, both in their formalism and in their terms. We consequently observe a global standardization process of the terms of access to reserves, in which international financial institutions have been directly or indirectly involved.One of the essential aspects of the procedure of rights allocation relates to the role of the national oil company. It enjoys preferential treatment, which has implications on the modalities of participation of foreign firms. Furthermore, in several states, the national oil company has been responsible for granting petroleum contracts, thereby combining functions that render it a key actor in the sector. The standardization of its attributions has also undergone a process of international convergence, which alters the relation between the State and the foreign investor.

L'objecte de la present tesi doctoral és l'estudi del Banc Europeu de Reconstrucció i Desenvolupament (BERD), institució financera internacional específicament dedicada a la cooperació a la transició política i econòmica dels estats d'Europa central i oriental. L'estudi és de caràcter essencialment jurídic i analitza la "funció d'adaptació" a la democràcia pluralista i l'economia de mercat dels esmentats estats que desenvolupa el Banc, i els problemes jurídics derivats d'aquesta activitat. La Tesi s'estructura, així, en quatre parts: en la primera s'analitzen els fonaments del marc de cooperació en el qual s'insereix la creació del BERD ; la segona descriu els diversos tipus d'operacions desenvolupades pel banc. La tercera incideix sobre l'estructura institucional del Banc i la quarta, i última, es refereix al règim jurídic del Banc i els mitjans de control polític i judicial de la seva activitat. / El objeto de la presente tesis doctoral es el estudio del Banco Europeo de Reconstrucción y Desarrollo (BERD), institución financiera internacional específicamente dedicada a la cooperación a la transición política y económica de los estados de Europa central y oriental. El estudio es de carácter esencialmente jurídico y analiza la "función de adaptación" a la democracia pluralista y la economía de mercado de dichos estados que desarrolla el Banco, y los problemas jurídicos derivados de dicha actividad. La Tesis se estructura, así, en cuatro partes: en la primera se analizan los fundamentos del marco de cooperación en el que se inserta la creación del BERD; la segunda describe los diversos tipos de operaciones desarrolladas por el Banco. La tercera incide sobre la estructura institucional del Banco y la cuarta, y última, se refiere al régimen jurídico del Banco y los medios de control político y judicial de su actividad. / The object of this Ph D thesis is the study of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), international financial institution specifically devoted to the cooperation to the political and economic transition in Central and Eastern Europe States. The study is from essentially juridical character and analyzes the function of adaptation of the aforementioned States to pluralistic democracy and market economy that develops the Bank , and the juridical problems derived from this activity. The Thesis is structured, thus, in four parts: in Part One, the foundations of the frame of cooperation in which the creation of the EBRD is inserted are analyzed; Part Two portrays the several types of operations developed by the Bank. Part Three falls upon the institutional structure of the Bank. Part Four refers to the juridical regime of the Bank and the means of political and judicial control of its activity.