This thesis asks whether the internet can at all re-configure political participation into a more inclusive experience for disabled users, enhancing their stakes in citizenship. This issue assumes particular relevance at a time in which, amidst the worst economic crisis in decades, the rights of those traditionally excluded from civic life are at risk of being compromised even further. In an effort to transcend the restrictive access/accessibility framework applied so far in disability and new media research, this project focused on the “digitalisation” of disability activism in the wake of the radical welfare reform introduced by the UK government between 2010 and 2012. A combination of emerging digital methods and established social science techniques were employed to map and analyse the groups involved in opposing proposed changes to disability welfare online. These included: hyperlink network analysis; an “inventory” of online media; content analysis of Facebook conversations; and semi-structured interviews with key figures from a variety of campaigning groups. Overall, this work exposed an evolution in the ecology of British disability activism involving both changes in the way in which existing organisations operate as well as the emergence of new, online-based players. In particular, three main group types were identified. These included: formal disability organisations (both “professionalised” charities and member-led groups); experienced disabled activists who experimented with e-campaigning for the first time; and a network of young disabled bloggers-turned-activists who operated exclusively online and rapidly gained visibility on both the internet and traditional mass media (i.e. print and broadcast). Each of these phenomena was explored in detail through the analysis of three emblematic case studies (The Hardest Hit; Disabled People Against Cuts; The Broken of Britain). Several findings emerged that invited reflections on both the changing nature of disability activism in the digital age and the significance of the internet as a civic resource for disadvantaged groups more broadly. To assess the influence of contextual factors on these trends, the online experience of British formal disability organisations was compared to that of their American counterparts, which in the same period were opposing proposals for drastic cuts to federal Medicaid funding. In Britain, established players were found to be blending traditional repertoires with participatory online tools in a bid to “survive” the pressure of changing user-expectations and the fast pace of contemporary politics. Meanwhile, a new generation of self-appointed disabled “leaders” used online media to construct a radically different form of disability activism. This was focused more on issues than ideology, aspiring to redesigning protest in a less contentious and arguably more effective fashion. Nevertheless, the high centralisation and rigid leadership style adopted by these very same campaigners also cast doubts on their ability to promote a more inclusive campaigning experience for online supporters, whose involvement ultimately constituted a form of “peer-mediated” citizenship rather than direct empowerment. At the same time, the comparative part of this study captured a counter-intuitive picture for which British formal disability organisations were ahead of their American counterparts in terms of online innovation. This generated some important reflections on the very nature of “context” in online politics with particular reference to the relationship between systemic and circumstantial factors, as well as the importance of acute crisis moments as triggers of progress in e-activism.

This thesis seeks to challenge the entrenched academic consensus that there are no opportunities for welfare state expansion in liberal welfare regimes in the face of neo-liberal economic ideology and new public management reforms to decision-making. It does so though an examination of social policy expansion in early years education and care (EYEC) in England and Canada/Ontario; two liberal welfare states. This thesis contends that EYEC policy, often neglected in comparative welfare literature, is an important social dimension of the welfare state which can potentially alter the relationship between the state, parents and children. Utilising a multi-level discursive institutionalist framework the thesis examines the processes underlying EYEC policy innovations in the two cases. Its first major contribution is an innovative framework of six competing and contrasting discursive EYEC frames and the evidence and expertise pivotal to them. Though this lens, the thesis identifies common institutional reforms that have altered practices of policy making; presenting openings in the bureaucratic structure to new forms of expertise and particular EYEC frames. It also extends the analysis above the national context to examine the influence of the OECD as a form of ideational pressure and the extent of ideational circulation between the two cases. In so doing this thesis captures complex rather than linear trajectories of development and moments of convergence and divergence between the two cases. This thesis finds that in both cases a multiplicity of competing frames and ‘evidence-based’ forms of policy innovation have led to strategic incoherence and an unstable basis for the concrete implementation EYEC policy.

This thesis presents an interpretivist analysis of institutional development in the English regional assemblies. It presents a history of institutional development in the regions, arriving at a conceptualization of this tier as a site of ‘institutional ambiguity.’ Exploring the theoretical bases of institutions and conducting a thorough critique of the schools of institutionalism, this thesis takes forward the theory of ‘constructivist institutionalism.’ A theoretical framework focussed on the processes of institutional design and change is built from constructivist institutionalism, as is a complementary and coherent methodological package to explore the empirical sites of the West Midlands and North West regional assemblies. The concepts of ‘frames’ and ‘stories’ are set out as interpretivist tools through which the primary interview data is analysed, to capture the development of the democratic institution of representation as it relates to the local government and stakeholder actors involved in these two regional assemblies. This thesis finds actors engaged in interplay between structure and agency while contributing to the processes of institutional design and change. Actors draw together their ideas with the pre-existing institutional context, relating them together in discursive constructions (frames, stories) that underpin their strategic-relational action, which in turn underpins the institutions of the assemblies. Regional representation transpires to mimic local governmental norms due to the dominant influence of the pre-existing context.

This study seeks to understand the relationship between decentralisation and human resource management in Botswana and South Africa. The study is situated within the context of the New Public Management (NPM) that has influenced the Human Resource Management reforms that the two countries aspire to adopt. This study’s main finding is that although strategic human resource management (SHRM) and decentralisation are frequently assumed to go together and are both advocated by the BrettonWoods institutions, in the cases researched SHRM reforms have been accompanied by a tendency towards centralisation. This implies a trade-off between SHRM and decentralisation in Botswana and South Africa. The study used a mixed methods approach consisting of both qualitative and quantitative research methods, applied to a sample of local authorities in Botswana and the neighbouring North West province of South Africa. In both countries the implementation of HRM reforms in local government has been slow due to other considerations – political factors in the case of South Africa and professional bureaucratic issues in Botswana, reflecting the different path dependencies of the two countries. This study argues that from the cases studied even though developing countries may implement similar reforms based on similar policy advice or prescription, a combination of factors such as social and organisational culture that are not transferable between countries account for the difference in outcomes.

This is a study of class and gender in everyday life on a housing estate in the Midlands. Based on extensive ethnographic research in a pub on the estate, it looks at how identities are constructed in the negotiation of work, relationships, children, and local ‘officials’. It considers how social and cultural capital is formed against the odds and against a widespread pathologising of those struggling to get by. It presents a detailed and contextual understanding of (white) working class identities in the context of neo-liberalism. In doing so, it questions standard sociological accounts of class as well as the official discourse of public policy which represents disadvantage in terms of ‘responsibility’ and ‘aspirations’, while ignoring structural disadvantage.

In January 1912, the Bolsheviks became a separate Party, as opposed to being merely a faction of the RSDLP. Lenin's initial problem was to convince both the leaders of the Second International and his own middle echelon leaders inside Russia that Bolshevism was distinct from Menshevism. This proved difficult before August 1914. The War made the distinction clearer, but also gave rise to an international tendency, with support inside the Bolshevik Party, to the Left even of Lenin. Inside Russia too, joint work with SR Maximalists fostered a kind of Left Populist Bolshevism among some of the Party rank and file. After the February Revolution, the Right Bolsheviks were pushing for a reunification with the Mensheviks, the Left Populist Bolsheviks began to organise nationally and, as the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee lacked authority, the Party was on the verge of a split. Lenin was urgently recalled from abroad. His intervention in the faction fight marked the end of one period of Party history and the beginning of the next. For the first time, the Party leadership was on the spot, and this contact with the rank and file enabled Lenin to clarify and develop ideas he had been formulating in his disputes abroad. The result was a new policy for the Party, quite unmistakeably distinct from Menshevism.

The thesis set out to investigate the politics of Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) engaging the Government in Tanzania. The aim of the study is to get an understanding of the context, ways and means in which NGOs in Tanzania engage (with) the government to influence its policies and decisions. The thesis also analyses the implications and role of NGOs in bringing about social change in Tanzania. The thesis shows the relationship of subordination that is constituted through the operation of NGOs within the social, economic and political institutions of Tanzanian civil society. It offers an insight into the neo-liberal views that informs the distribution of aid to developing nations, and the affect this has had on state-civil society relationships within the Tanzanian nation state. Theoretically, the thesis uses Gramsci’s notion of hegemony which applies both at national level and international level. The counter hegemony which Gramsci expounds in terms of war of manoeuvre and war of position has been highlighted in relations to works of NGOs and civil society development. The thesis examines the engagement of Tanzanian NGOs to influence the process of NGO Policy and Act making; and monitoring the poverty strategies through the Campaign Against Poverty-Tanzania (GCAP-T). The thesis posit the future of NGOs on how they could side and work with people to create a society based on people needs, vision and aspiration.

This thesis examines the rise in bilateral aid disbursements over multilateral aid between 2000 and 2010. It would be simply stated that such a trend would be due donor nations focusing on strategic self-interests. I argue, using a combination of principal-agent theory, foreign policy analysis and the effect of institutions, that new political actors in donor nations found a window of opportunity to alter the level foreign disbursements and in several cases, increase the overall level of foreign aid. Bilateral aid eventually rose due to both the worldviews of these new decision makers as well as how their policies were influenced and shaped by local institutions. In this thesis, I focus on the US, the UK and Japan as donor nations and the World Bank’s International Development Association. In the US case, political and cultural institutions along with the worldviews Bush Administration officials shifted US bilateral aid upwards. In the UK, local institutions along with the perspectives of New Labour officials result in higher British bilateral aid disbursements. Japan’s political actors initially focused on the country’s economy but later actors, with their worldviews and shaped by historical norms, increased Japan’s bilateral aid vis-à-vis its contributions to IOs.

This thesis seeks to develop a conception of the British Political Tradition as an idea of democracy and apply it to explain the constitutional development of the House of Lords. The British Parliament is one of the oldest Parliaments in the world and is characterised both by the stability of its governing institutions and its capacity to absorb change. Academic literature of the British Political Tradition offers a plethora of arguments aimed at explaining which idea(s) have underpinned governing institutions and sustained their longevity in the constitution. The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate how the stability of Britain’s governing institutions and its history of strong authoritative government emanate from a dominant though contested idea of democracy founded upon a limited liberal idea of representation and a conservative idea of responsibility. The House of Lords is examined from the 1688 Glorious Revolution through to the modern day House of Lords Reform process (2012). The aim is to demonstrate through empirical practice how the British Political Tradition has been the dominant idea shaping the development the constitution and defining the powers of the Crown and the Houses of Lords and Commons.

Using the various moments of ideological change in the law and development movement as an analytical framework, this thesis examines the indifference to corruption in international development in the period preceding the 1990s, and the attributes, challenges and prospects of the current global anticorruption agenda in sub- Saharan Africa. With Nigeria as a case study, the research finds that the approach to corruption has been overwhelmingly influenced by the respective predominant global development ideology during each moment, whilst ignoring local experiences and efforts to address corruption. Hence, despite the heightened attention to the issue in the last couple of decades, anticorruption reforms have failed to enhance pre-existing efforts to deal with corruption in countries. The thesis concludes that the currently evolving paradigm of a rights-based approach to anticorruption demonstrates a promising response to some of the shortcomings of this approach to corruption over the years. However, the nature of its conception and proposals for its implementation reaffirms the entrenched nature of these shortcomings and their inherence in the overall strategy of law and development reforms in countries in sub-Saharan Africa.