From 1992 to 2003 the emergence of the urban resident Minimum Livelihood Guarantee (MLG) system saw a major reconfiguration and expansion of social assistance in the People's Republic of China (PRC). There are currently two gaps in current studies of the MLG which this dissertation will address. First, detailed historical information on the MLG is lacking in the English language. Second, the focus of current studies on the effectiveness of the MLG has led to an implicitly rational explanation for the emergence and development of the policy. Such an explanation does not provide a satisfactory explanation for the MLG. Using Chinese language sources and interview data collected during two field trips to the PRC this dissertation uses four different periods in the MLG's development to argue that that explaining the programme requires a more complex approach. Drawing on insights provided by the China studies and wider political science literature I argue that the development of the MLG system has been a complex process which can be explained by using a synthesis of concepts. These are the role played by policy sponsors, a new concept developed in the dissertation, and policy entrepreneurs. Second, the continued importance of the structure of the Chinese state. Finally, the influence of feedback from previous policy decisions and outcomes. These three concepts are used to examine four significant stages of the MLG programme's development. First, the often overlooked emergence of the first MLG programme in Shanghai between 1992 and 1993 is examined. Second, the MLG's shift from a local innovation to a national policy from 1994 to 1997 is investigated. Third, the factors behind the significant expansion of the MLG between 1999 and 2003 are contrasted with more low key developments in the scope and delivery of social assistance. Finally, the concepts developed and applied to the MLG are taken and used to explain the emergence and spread of the Community Public Service Agencies in Dalian. I conclude that the synthesis of the policy sponsor and neo-institutionalist concepts provide a richer explanation of the MLG than that implicit in the existing literature.

The Libyan economy relies heavily on increasing oil revenues, which may deteriorate with a future oil price decline. The Libyan economy performed as well as resource poor countries over the past few decades. The oil booms of 1973 and 1979 brought unprecedented income to Libya but, despite the substantial oil revenues, much of the potential benefit of the windfall has been dissipated. Libya relies heavily on oil receipts, the price of which tends to fluctuate widely in the international market. Also, the Libyan economy is dominated by hydrocarbons and the public sector. Sizeable oil wealth has supported a decent living standard for Libya's population, and socio-economic development compares favourably with standards in other Middle Eastern and North African countries. Libya has the potential to raise oil production and revenues significantly in coming years, given its large reserve. The reliance of public finance on a single sector means that shocks threaten the economy's fiscal balance and stability. Libya has over-consumed in response to windfalls from surges in world prices. Libyan government spending has outstripped the gain in revenues. These sharp increases in government spending are difficult to reverse when the boom ends and often lead to large fiscal deficits rather than surplus. However, the main challenge for Libya is to promote growth of the non-oil sector and spur diversification of its economy. Non-hydrocarbon GDP growth has been weak and oil revenue volatility has been transmitted to non-hydrocarbon GDP. Weak non-oil GDP growth reflects both insufficient private investment and low productivity of capital importing efficiency. Productivity growth is a precondition for faster growth and greater investment effort. Strong productivity growth is also a prerequisite for competitive diversification out of hydrocarbon. Projected high oil revenue will provide the finance for growth but will not necessarily spur sustained growth in the non-oil sector. Overoptimistic predictions of future oil revenues are shown to have seriously adverse consequences, particularly if the non-oil economy adjusts to falling demand through underdevelopment and capital flight is provoked. Policy options for protecting the economy from volatility in oil revenues, without eliminating the benefits from rising prices include the formation of a stabilization fund and hedging strategies in the international markets. The stabilization fund would smooth consumption and reduce the costs associated with volatile spending. Libya needs sound economic management and to address the problems associated with oil windfalls. Market processes are required to help allocate public resources, and governments and others responsible must take account of risk and uncertainty when selecting projects, and formulating plans for development. Consequently, there is a macroeconomic need to diversify the economy to avoid the pitfalls which so often plague developing countries with vast natural resources. The decisions concerning public investment in a social economic infrastructure would be better if unconnected to the presence of hydrocarbon windfalls. To speed up non-oil growth and job creation, the oil windfalls should be used strategically, with the aim of facilitating the transition to a competitive, market-led economy. Over the long-term, the intermediation of hydrocarbon windfalls through the household and business sectors might produce superior long-term growth, but it should go in tandem with considerable strengthening of the investment climate. Enhancing the quality of Libya's human resources will also be essential to improve productivity and diversify out of oil - especially into services - and compete in the global economy. Improving the quality of governance deserves particular attention, because it underlies the development reform agenda. Libya would probably have seen a larger benefit from its windfalls had it saved a higher proportion abroad and limited domestic investment through applying market criteria more rigorously. Quite clearly, good fiscal control of periodic boom episodes enables the boom to temporarily accelerate the rate of economic development. In addition, such questions as the magnitude of the windfalls, how Libya has used them and their impact on non-oil a sector have been addressed in this research. The adoption of sound economic policies and the good management of oil windfall gains will allow Libya to continuously manage growth and become one of the greatest success stories of all developing countries.

This thesis analyses the formation of Japanese foreign policy through the case study of relations with India. The study concentrates on three streams of Japanese diplomacy; namely economic relations, nuclear policy and security issues through the theoretical framework of neoclassical realism (NCR). This approach, considered the ‘third generation’ of the mainstream paradigm, utilises neo-realism’s focus on structural factors and ultimately places primacy on systemic forces. Yet NCR seeks a more nuanced appraisal of foreign policy and incorporates internal structures into analysis. The dissertation argues that structural factors including India’s economic growth, the rise of China and facilitation provided by the US, initiated interest in India and continues to shape the development of policy. ‘China-hedging’ does not provide the only rationale. Furthermore, whilst structure is vital, with differing influential weight dependent on policy, it is unable alone to explain the exact nature and timing of policy decisions. In order to achieve this, the domestic ‘black box’ needs to be explored through analysis of unit-level variables such as policymakers’ perceptions, business interests, public opinion and norms. Elites in Japan have been particularly slow to appreciate India’s strategic worth despite favourable environmental conditions. The business community is noted as an important influence but whilst public opinion plays a minimal role overall, the prevalence of norms is able to dictate how policy is framed. The scope of the research project is confined to approximately the past two decades, though attention is given to historical relations to place contemporary analysis in context. Empirical data was sourced from academic, government and media outlets in addition to extensive interview fieldwork in Tokyo, Delhi, London and Washington DC. This thesis contributes to a nascent literature on an increasingly important area of not only Japan’s diplomacy but the regional dynamics of region no scholar of international relations can ignore.

This study contributes to critical information systems research understanding of the broader strategic context of information systems initiatives in developing countries. It investigates contextual influences with structural impacts that may lead to instabilities and discontinuities in the immediate project context using a critical realist paradigm. It was informed by literature on development as discourse, ICT4D policy and technology transfer, E-Government adoption, and information systems research paradigms and applications in developing countries. A disconnection was observed between ICT4D policy practice that favors positivist technology diffusion models and research findings that suggest interpretive and critical contextual approaches. A theoretical framework was developed to reconsider ICT4D from a postcolonial country perspective by integrating critiques of modernity from Critical realism and postcolonial theory. An empirical case study investigation of change in Kenya‘s transition to E-Governance was then conducted and analyzed using a critical realist research framework, the Morphogenetic approach, supplemented by Q-methodology to study subjectivity. Finally ICT change was interpreted using critical realist concepts for structure, culture, and agency, with an overriding direction towards greater freedom. The main research contribution is a new approach to ICT4D where change is conceived within a dialectical framework that assumes people are moral and ethical beings possessing values. Research findings have implications for understanding the strategic context of E-Governance and ICT4D, time and temporality in contextual integrative frameworks, and suggest an alternative approach to strategy analysis in situations of rapid political and institutional change. They highlight the importance of political leaders and development agencies as mediators and interpreters of the strategic context. Development was conceived as a dialectical process towards transformative praxis, which together with the suggested approach to the strategic context, may require us to rethink the meaning of IS project success or failure in postcolonial developing countries.

This thesis is an analysis of liberal ideology and its role in South African industrialisation during the period 1886-1948. It looks at the growth of a specifically South African "liberal tradition" out of nineteenth century Cape colonial origins and focuses on the development of liberal welfare and reform orientated organisations and agencies. Using the private papers and correspondence of the individuals involved in establishing this reform tradition, the thesis argues that South African liberals were only partially successful in the years before 1948 in emulating their western counterparts in institutionalising themselves as political mediators between the state apparatus and the burgeoning black working class. Lacking a sound political base in the narrow electoral franchise, liberals were forced increasingly onto the defensive as the old paternalist basis of Cape liberalism became eroded. Though for the period between Uni-on and the second world war able use was made of local level politics, the increase in democratic radicalism by the mid 1940s forced liberals towards reformulating their ideology into one of administrative reform from above on the basis of a model of ethnic pluralism. This theory has remained the basis of South African liberal ideology substantially up to the present.

Multipurpose telecentres are considered as a phenomenon in international development efforts and have been an integral part of e-governance strategies of most developing countries. Their significance arises from the ascribed multipurpose nature and their potential to act as outreach posts for a range of services to rural households. The notion of multipurpose nature is taken for granted and there is very little evidence of the realisation of the expectations. The research commences by reviewing the underlying governance reforms and e-governance agendas. Further discussions highlight how the vast complexities associated with different services are trivialised in the light of the powerful arguments of New Public Management, good governance, managerial notion of integrated services delivery and technologically determinitic position on telecentres. The theoretical lens of the study is built by drawing on key concepts from intitutionalism, bureaucracy, and functional simplification and closure. The analytical capabilities and methodological apparatus of actor-network theory are also employed for the study. The research conceptualises services as heterogeneous actor-networks that include institutional actors. The role of institutions is considered, particularly that of bureaucracy by reflecting on its social foundations, organisational configurations and diversity taks. Using the concept of functional simplification and closure, the research highlights the need for human intermediation in providing services and thereby questions the simplistic notion of the multipurpose nature of telecentres. The research also highlights the institutional implications such as trust on intermediation. The arguments are made using an interpretive case study of e-governance services delivered through Akshaya telecentres in Malappuram district, Kerala, India. Case studies on two other specialised e-governance projects (offering specific sets of services) from Kerala were also undertaken to get insights on the phenomenon. The findings recommend the adoption of a multimode approach to service delivery. The research indicates that ICT interventions are more directly helpful to domain intermediaries than to rural households. The study also critically discusses the governance implications associated with outsourcing of goverment services through telecentres.

Although academic literature predominantly discusses UN centrism as Japan’s foreign policy, this thesis stipulates it as a popular norm supported by the Japanese public. The thesis employs the constructivist approach in understanding UN centrism as a domestic norm. Following the analytical methods employed in existing studies on norm diffusion, it identifies UN centrism is Japan’s interpretation of the international UN norms seen through the lens of its post-war domestic pacifist norm. Building on existing literature on civil society and Japanese studies, it analyses how civil movements supporting UNESCO and UNICEF have worked their way through Japanese society, traditional social behaviours and customs to diffuse the norm. The success of the civil movements has not been in spite of Japan’s weak civil society but because its characteristics have worked in their favour. The UN centrism norm at its core urges individuals to construct peace and international cooperation through the UN. The norm continues to develop, and today it has become a norm which not only urges ordinary Japanese to think about creating and maintaining peace through the UN, but also to make personal financial contributions to support UN humanitarian activities and even dictates where they should visit for their next holiday.

This thesis conducts an in-depth empirical analysis of the way in which energy was constructed as a security issue in the United States and China between 2004 and 2012. The core argument is that energy security is contested: it means different things to different people in different contexts. State energy security discourse and practice in both states constructed energy largely as a national security issue, emphasising the need to secure the state in economic and/or strategic terms by providing secure energy supplies at stable prices. This is found to be problematic and ‘negative’, as encouraging competition over finite fuels perpetuates insecurity for states, and fails to secure human beings and the environment. Thus, it does not produce security. However, there are a number of competing marginalised energy security constructions, which forward a more ‘positive’ notion of energy security – emphasising sustainability and human welfare. By illustrating the contested nature of energy security, this thesis contributes the first in-depth critical empirical analysis of energy security constructions. It thus brings together insights from critical approaches to security with the empirical area of energy security to understand how energy security is constructed, while raising important theoretical questions about the importance of context for understanding the value of security and the potential for moving towards more ‘positive’ energy security discourse and practice.

This research investigated the relationship between organizational culture and public sector performance management. The research was based on a study of the promotion of good governance in the Thai public sector through the implementation of the performance agreement (PA) scheme, using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The scheme had faced numerous challenges, perceived to be influenced by organizational culture. It had been assumed that a transformational shift in the organizational culture of the civil service, in the direction of market-based or new public management (NPM) values, was required in order to secure improved performance. The research aimed to explore how organizational culture influences civil service performance and identify other organizational factors that may also influence civil service performance in the provincial administration of Thailand. The research used a mixed methods approach of questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews, based on the Competing Values Framework (CVF). Questionnaire surveys were carried out with 480 civil servants within 16 provinces. Semi-structured interviews – in-depth and focus group – were conducted within four provinces. A distinction was made between the low and high KPI scoring provinces. The findings of the research suggest that there was no dominant type of culture in the low and high KPI scoring provinces. Instead, a strong culture was found to be important in gaining high KPI scores, supported by participative leadership and appropriate management. Leadership style appeared to influence whether the public services performed to a high level, which seemed to be achieved through a balance between task focussed and people focussed. Therefore, a transformational cultural shift may not be required, but instead more effective leadership and management.

This thesis argues that the Chinese political economy is best understood as a hybrid form of governance in the context of a differentiated developmental state. This argument is developed through an analysis of China’s central state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and in particular the complex relationship between central SOEs and the ministerial institution created by the Chinese state to oversee them, the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). Central SOEs have experienced a significant rise and expansion under the SASAC’s leadership since 2003. However, the state’s role in the promotion of this institutionalisation process is rarely explored. This research starts with a theoretical investigation of the developmental state. It then explores principal-agent relations among the central SOEs, the SASAC and the market. After this, the research moves to an empirical analysis that provides a detailed examination of the SASAC, a competitive central SOE – the China National Building Material Group Corporation (CNBM) – and a monopolistic central SOE – the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Based on government policy papers, company annual reports, financial disclosures, and semi-structured interviews with more than 30 SASAC officials, SOE senior managers and government research staff, the conclusion reached is that the SASAC’s management of central SOEs follows a developmental state path, partially adopting market forces and market competition while rejecting neoliberal ideology. Ultimately, this research suggests that the Chinese central state’s practice of “governing through the market” is a strategy that benefits both the state and the central SOEs: the state can strengthen its principal’s control more effectively, whilst the enterprises can function as market actors to increase their competitiveness and profitability.