This study Is concerned with the Federal National Council (FNC) in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) under the 1971 Constitution. In selecting the U.A.E. as a case study, a historical and socioeconomic perspective is adopted. The thesis analyses the U.A.E. traditional society and the effect of external factor namely its relation with Britain, and internal factor, viz, the advent of oil wealth, on the power structure in the emirates. Both factors increased the concentration of central power and decreased popular participation. The study provides a theoretical appraisal of the role and functions of the legislature in developing countries. It examines the constitutional functions namely legislative, political and financial. The study suggests new roles that the legislatures performs in Third World countries. The thesis examines the historical development of the U.A.E. constitutional system. Such development ended In 1971 when the emirates adopted a "Provisional Constitution" to the requirements of the rulers. The study explores the 1971 constitution with particular emphasis on the role of the National Council. It analyses the composition, functions, role and constitutional arrangements of the National Council In the U.A.E. The study provides an analysis of the major political and constitutional cases, In which the FNC was a part, in order to examine the practical working of the constitutional provisions in reality. Finally, the thesis attempts to explain the limitations, Imposed on the National Council, present in the existing constitutional framework and suggests some improvements to the status quo. The coimnon ground throughout the thesis is that a constitution with a democratic tendency does not necessarily establish democratic institutions and that it would be more acceptable in a developing country to introduce evolutionary rather than radical changes to its constitutional system. However, the study clarifies the difficulties of concentration of central power in developing countries.

The link between economic development and urbanisation has placed urban sustainability on national and city agendas. Designing sustainable city centre regeneration projects remains a crucial challenge, particularly in understanding the ways physical planning and social issues interact. Urban regeneration has been criticised for creating issues related to gentrification, displacement, social segregation, lack of coherent spatial planning, rising living costs, poor quality of life, etc. An optimum balance of state/market/civil society forces throughout the decision-making process is crucial to delivering sustainable cities, with policy, politics, governance and resources influencing the dynamics and types of (re)development. This thesis investigates the strategies and processes of urban regeneration in the Malaysian context by exploring the connections between social sustainability and physical planning/urban design. Malaysian urban development is examined in the context of an aspiring world city, Kuala Lumpur, where models of regeneration operate at the intersection of developed and developing country models. Three case studies were selected within Kuala Lumpur to explore how these governance processes and design interventions have impacted on local communities and the urban environment.

This thesis considers the reputedly constitutive effects of violence and (intergenerational) loss on youth political subjectivities and agencies, with specific regard for young Tibetans of the refugee-diaspora of Northern India. While the effects of violence on socialisation and agency are currently a significant concern, prevailing clinical, cultural, and even radical psychoanalytical explanations tend – in universalising the traumatic event – to advance underdetermined accounts of experience, subjectivity and agency, leading to depoliticisation of the young or overstatement of their agency. In contrast, this study draws on the Foucauldian concept of political subjectification to reflect on the displaced wider overdeterminative material-discursive field through which young subjects, their subjectivities, and agencies are constituted. Through an ethnographically-informed genealogical method I attempt to trace the signification and affective-internalisation of a specific masternarrative of (national) loss, and the displacements the advent of this account has caused –with specific regard for the displacement of classed, gendered and generational experiences of loss. Finally, drawing on Foucault’s parrhesia as a heuristic for decentred agency, I consider how far young people in exile are able to resist patrifilial hegemony through indexing alternative forms of loss.

This thesis investigates the effect of monetary policy on financial stability and part of the real side of the Jordanian economy over the time period 1976-2009. It uses a number of empirical methodologies including: a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) to investigate the relationship between monetary policy and financial stability in Jordan; A Logit model and Markov switching model to study the currency crisis in Jordan; and an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) to estimate an investment function for the Jordanian economy. Findings of the VAR models confirmed the relationship between monetary policy and financial stability in Jordan. However, a number of indictors were found to have a significant effect on the currency crisis in Jordan. These indictors included the real exchange rate, money supply-reserves ratio, and growth rate of domestic credit. On the other hand, a stable long-run investment function exists. Real income and real credit were found to have a positive impact on real investment. However, the user cost of capital has had a negative impact on real investment.

As the resource related conflict in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria escalates at a furious pace, it is becoming clear that traditional means of dispute resolution (such as litigation and violence) are no longer applicable. Research has also shown that no method of dispute resolution can be efficient, equitable and administratively practicable without the collective effort of all parties involved; individuals, institutions and non-governmental organizations need to work together to develop a countrywide ability to design an effective conflict resolution system. While there is a perceived need for a viable dispute resolution process, to date, no concerted effort has been made to harness relevant experiences and build a network of practitioners skilled in the management of such conflicts. The emerging Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods (which do not involve litigation) may offer opportunities to resolve disputes in the Niger Delta region more effectively than litigation-based means. In view of this, this research assesses indigenous dispute resolution processes in terms of their potential applicability as alternative dispute resolution processes for the Niger Delta conflict. The review also provides insights into the criteria used to support decision making as it relates to choosing the most appropriate dispute resolution process. To do this, this research advocates a hybrid model (an integration of both customary indigenous process and westernised mediation process). The choice of a hybrid model is predicated on the assumption that the Niger Delta is a hub for investors, where both locals (indigenes) and outsiders (foreigners) interact and relate together in pursuit of a common goal. Experience at the grass roots level in one community may also provide guidance for conflict resolution at similar levels in other communities.

This thesis investigates the understanding and practices of contemporary Mongolian management since the 1990s. In particular, it focusses on the shared experiences of local managing practitioners in Mongolia by exploring the conceptions of a manager, management, and managerial roles from the participants’ perspective and the contextual influencing factors on their understanding. Since the 1990s Mongolia has undergone a series of cultural and institutional changes in relation to its political, economic and societal development. The country has fluctuated between having the fastest growing economy and the world’s worst performing currency. Mongolia itself has become the land of opportunity for many by attracting foreign direct investment, however, the knowledge of local management practice is as yet little understood as there have been no academic or empirical studies conducted in English before. Therefore, this research aims to build an understanding of the concept of management in Mongolia by examining the narratives of thirty five local managers in relation to their experiences during and after the socialist period. Moreover, it investigates the contextual influencing factors from practitioners’ perspectives with an ethnographic approach. This qualitative study draws on interviews with three groups of local managers in Mongolia, who are described as socialist-era, transitional-era and non-native managing practitioners. There are some similarities and differences amongst these identified groups, but each was distinguishable by their formal training, work ethic and management approach. Furthermore, this research found that the intertwining contextual factors of a nomadic cultural heritage, socialist legacy, and the pressures of the current economic and societal changes and political interference influence management thinking in equal measure in contemporary Mongolia. The importance of this study lies in its theoretical and empirical contributions. By evaluating the relationship between classical management literature and indigenous management concepts with a focus on the varieties of contextual factors, this study attempts to provide an original insight into non-Western management practices. It aims to extend the current theories of crossvergence, indigenous management studies, and understand the nature of managerial work in a cross-cultural context. By carrying out the first academic study to examine Mongolian management perspectives in English, it contributes empirically to global management knowledge, and to the local business community.