In British Columbia, teachers and school trustees have been permitted to negotiate and arbitrate teachers’ salaries since 1919. Amendments to the school law in 1933 and 1937 introduced demandable adjudication of tenure disputes and demandable arbitration of salaries. Since 1958, conciliation and arbitration have been compulsory. The provincial government has consistently held that school boards are teachers' employers, and maintenance of local board autonomy has been the expressed desire of government, teachers, and trustees. The investigation, which depended chiefly upon articles in periodicals, supplemented by interviews, Inquired into the effects of arbitration upon some of the parties involved in public education in B.C. Emphasis was placed on examining changes in teachers’ economic status and in the organization and methods of operation of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation. Consideration was also given to related changes in the British Columbia School Trustees' Association and to changes in government policy. Arbitration of salary disputes with trustees was the choice of B.C. teachers in preference to striking when negotiated settlements could not be reached. However, teachers have been narrowly limited by the bargaining and arbitration provisions of the Public Schools Acts when compared with the scope permitted employees under B.C.'s labour laws. The evidence was not available by which to discriminate accurately between the effects of arbitration and collective bargaining in raising teachers' salaries. During the period 1931-61, teachers raised their income level in relation to the average incomes paid for professional employment both in the province and in the nation as a whole. Salary anomalies within the B.C. sector of the profession have been virtually eliminated, but a new anomaly was created by the rapid rise in teachers’ salaries after the Second World War. In some school districts, the salaries of senior principals exceeded those paid to district superintendents of schools, who were employees of the provincial government. The rising level of teachers' salaries, combined with increasing school construction costs, have been used as arguments for expanded provincial school grants to municipalities. The school law, as it existed in 1911, delegated considerable authority to school boards and gave them a preponderance of power in relation to their employees. The amendment of 1919, which permitted negotiation and arbitration of salaries, did nothing to disturb the relationship. To counterbalance trustees' power, teachers organized — initially as a federation of local teacher associations. Even when arbitration became demandable, school trustees refused to arbitrate more issues than required by law and generally would not negotiate school board policies that affected teachers' working conditions. Teachers therefore took steps to increase their unity and strength, which increased the efficiency of the B.C.T.F. as a bargaining unit. When attempts to negotiate issues with their employers failed, teachers adopted alternative methods to gain their ends. They appealed to the public for support, engaged in alliances with various organizations to pursue specific objectives, used the professional boycott, and negotiated directly with the provincial government for redress of grievances with their employers. The government responded to these appeals by severely limiting trustees’ administrative discretion, and by legislating upon teachers' pensions and other employment benefits. Teachers’professional aspirations to share, with trustees and provincial government, the power to determine educational policy have generally been unsuccessful, but they have gained influence in some policy areas. Major negotiations between teachers and trustees have tended to shift from the local to provincial level and, since 1956, trustees have made changes in their provincial organization to increase its effectiveness. Extensive use of conciliation, arbitration, and adjudication, has been coupled with expressed dissatisfaction at the results. This combination of events suggests that further research is required especially in development of more satisfactory criteria for negotiating occupational income levels and for measuring teaching efficiency. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

The voluntary association is a characteristic manifestation of social life in North America, and has always been regarded as a force for the preservation of democracy. The leadership of the voluntary association appears to be a crucial element in the survival of this form of organization, yet previous studies suggest that the voluntary association may no longer have the same significance for contemporary society as it did in the early history of the continent. This study is an exploration of the leadership of one voluntary organization in British Columbia, the British Columbia Parent-Teacher Federation. These leaders were asked how they perceived the goals and purposes of the organization, to which they give their time and energy. Thirteen members of the Board of Directors were interviewed to obtain information concerning the extent of their participation; why they joined the organization; their family constellations; where they live; and their perception of the contributions they make to the organization. Interviews were arranged with members of the Board selected on an arbitrary basis, with the permission and the cooperation of the President and the Board of Directors. The information that was obtained was used as the background material of the study. The limitations of the case study method are noted and the reader cautioned to examine the data critically. The findings of this study support the conclusions of other empirical investigations: with changes in other sectors of society and increased specialization of function, the role of the voluntary association in contemporary life appears to be blurred and requiring examination. Some of the possible reasons for these developments are outlined, and the relationship of the leaders to the voluntary association is explored. Finally the thesis suggests some questions for consideration and indicates some areas which might be investigated in future studies. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The B.C.-CCF was formed in late 1932 shortly after the formation of the national CCF party. In November of the following year the B.C. party ran in its first election and secured sufficient support to become the official opposition. The party's executive, spurred by the prospects and hopes of its eventual election as government and in response to its need for a moderate image, selected a retired Anglican minister as House leader. The choice of Robert Connell as House leader was not, however, unanimous. Die hard socialists with different interpretations of society and the role the party should play in achieving social change, fought Connell*s leadership and received sufficient support to mount an intensive intraparty campaign of harassment and criticism. Connell's critics were successful, as a result, in making his leadership intolerable and the subsequent weight of circumstances led him to imprudently reject party convention decisions because they favoured his left wing opponents. This action both isolated him from the rank and file and gave his critics, then in control of the party's executive, an excuse to expel him for his treachery and apostasy. His leadership ended less than three years after it had begun and he became one of three B.C. party leaders dethroned during this period by his party. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Finland's postwar relations with the Soviet Union from six different perspectives (systemic, strategic, domestic political, personality, economic and cultural) in order to (1) achieve a better general understanding of this unique situation in international relations, and (2) make a systematic analysis of the variables which are most salient in describing and explaining this relationship. The study is approached mainly from the Finnish point of view, although Soviet factors and perspectives must obviously be included, especially in discussing systemic and strategic variables. It is hypothesized that the critical phase in postwar Finnish-Soviet relations was the 1944-48 period. Once Finland's status as a sovereign and independent buffer-state was established, the development of her relations with the Soviet Union can be characterized by (1) her constant striving to widen her maneuverability in international relations, and (2) the Soviet Union's increasingly lenient attitude towards Finland as the international situation improved and as the Russians became more certain of Finland's intention to maintain friendly relations and a credible neutrality. These developments are discussed in the context of each of the six perspectives. The thesis concludes with an assessment of the relative importance of the perspectives in analyzing Finnish-Soviet relations and a discussion of the relevance of the Finnish model in studying small power-great power relationships and neutral buffer-state policies. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

In Czech history there always were the significant trade and political partners of Great Britain and Soviet Union or later Russia. Taking into account situation of Czech Republic on the border of two "different" Europes and historical transformation from socialistic past of CSSR in RVHP to entrance and active participation in European Union we can conclude that for Czech export oriented entrepreneurs the knowledge of these two different environments, trade traditions and cultural specifics is important.

This thesis writes about Russian Federal Budget situation from 2000 to 2007. Objektive of the thesis is description of budgetary procedure and responsibility for its budget adhering, analysis of revenues and expenses structure in particular years, trend in balance revenues and expenses from 2000 to 2007 and their influence on GDP and unemployment. There are used positivist and normative methodologies in the thesis - positivist metodology in first chapter about theory of budget procedure and normative metodology in second and third chapters about expenses and revenues and their dependence on macro-economic quantities. There is used deduction method from federal acts and budget codex in first chapter and in both second and third chapters there is used analysis method, especially analysis of causes and classificatory analysis.

Russian foreign policy is particularly associated with the application of hard power resources. The aim of the thesis is to examine, whether is the Russian Federation trying to create soft power, as J. Nye defines it. The text is divided into 3 chapters. The first chapter describes the theoretical concept of soft power and public diplomacy. The second chapter addresses the foreign policy development in the Russian Federation; the main part of this chapter defines Russia's soft power resources, split into the culture, political values and foreign policy. The last chapter is dedicated to application of the use of soft power in the post-soviet region focusing on a specific case of Georgia. In the end there should be clear, whether Russia has soft power resources, what instruments uses and whether its new strategy is successful in Georgia.

Russian Federation is one of the biggest economies in the world. The main reason why this state has big influence on the world's economy is that it has great sites of energy resources-oil and gas. From the political point of view Russia can be described as a great military power that has nuclear weapons and also has a significant influence on the situation in the post-Soviet region. Russia is also the largest country in the world and is on the ninth position regarding the population. Already due to the above mentioned factors, the Russian Federation is certainly an interesting phenomenon.

Master's thesis is dedicated to one of the most effective international treaties, which attends to facilitating and liberalization of international handling with goods, functioning for almost 40 years. This paper mainly describes the situation, which appeared in 2013, when the barriers for its application emerged. It tells about the crisis of TIR Carnet on the Russian territory, caused by some intern factors as well as factors on the international level. Affairs and changes, arisen in the beginning of the 21st century (expanding of the EU, new goods transportation methods, Customs Union, etc.) drove to the loss of TIR treaty's significance, and to the necessity of creating new international cooperation principles. Situation then changed due to the civil war in Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and Russian response. That is why the ground, reasons and consequences of TIR Carnet crisis on the Russian territory were in detail described in the master's thesis. Main conclusion is that this crisis only predicts the beginning of serious changes in international transport of goods, which can be faced in the nearest future.

The present study has several purposes in mind. First, the increasing teacher militancy from January, 1940, to July, 1968, will be delineated. Second, possible causes of increasing militancy since World War II will be evaluated. Special emphasis will be given to the current period of teacher strikes. Third, the historical roles of the NEA and AFT, with emphasis on their respective positions with respect to the improvement of teacher welfare, will be surveyed. Fourth, the impact of increasing teacher militancy on the NEA and AFT, will be investigated.