The US-Cuba relations have been problematic for half a century; however, in December 2014, both countries announced the restoration of their bilateral ties. Over the decades, these relations have also had reciprocal effects on other countries like Russia, Canada and the Vatican. First of all, the thesis provides a brief historical background of the US-Cuba relations from 1898 to 1959 to understand their context before the Cuban Revolution. It then examines the main happenings of the US-Cuba relationship and its reciprocal effects on Moscow, Ottawa and the Holy See during three distinct time periods: the early sixties, the nineties and from 2008 to the present. In order to do this, the study is divided in three case studies, one for each interval, and analyses through the help of the realist, defensive realist and liberal theories the actions taken by these five countries to face the developments of the US-Cuba relations. It finds that Havana’s foreign policy has always been driven by the same wish for the survival of its revolution, the US still aims at changing the Cuban government although it is gradually reducing the sanctions against it, while Russia, Canada and the Vatican have basically kept unchanged their approach toward Cuba throughout the decades. Finally, the recent US-Cuba thaw is not completed yet because these two countries still have to tackle some crucial issues.

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / This thesis explores the intelligence cooperation exhibited between South Africa and Israel during the time periods of apartheid (1948-1994) and post-apartheid (1994-2015). Regime type is explored as a factor impacting on the intelligence relationship in both periods. Pertinent to the case study is the fact that South Africa and Israel’s regime type shared commonalities during the first period, but not the second. The thesis examines how these commonalities facilitated intelligence cooperation during apartheid, then turns to the question how the change in South Africa’s regime type after 1994 (whilst Israel’s remained the same) impacted on intelligence cooperation. In order to understand the significance of South Africa’s regime change on the intelligence relationship between the two states, a comprehensive theoretical framework is proposed in order to analyse how and why the internal policies of the two states redirected their intelligence relationship. Within this thesis, the concept of regime type is not used in a conventional way, it is framed through a constructivist notion that includes a focus on identity and how this shapes the two states’ intelligence bureaucratic behaviour. This constructivist framing is in turn juxtaposed to two other International Relations (IR) theories, namely: realism and liberalism. This thesis therefore explores how the system of apartheid in South Africa and a system that has been compared to apartheid in Israel brought the two states together on a national interest level. But, what constituted the perceived alignment of national interests and filtered down into a bureaucratic level is better understood through the constructivist notion of culture and identity that actually solidified the relationship. Culture and identity formed the basis of what made the relationship between the two states strong, and as per the focus of this thesis, manifested in intelligence cooperation between the two states that goes over and beyond what Realists would predict. Although liberalism can explain the apartheid relationship better, it cannot explain why the relationship was not severed after apartheid. Since the end of apartheid, the intelligence relationship has been deteriorating, but this has been a gradual process. This study investigates how regime type impact on intelligence cooperation. It applies the three main IR theories in order to explain and understand the post-apartheid South Africa-Israel relationship. It finds that although Realism and Liberalism are useful, interpreting regime type in a constructivist way adds significantly to explanations of the role regime type plays.

The United Nation has declared a number of articles that protect human rights and with those articles imposing special obligations on the state to enforce these requirements. With this in mind it's not too hard to understand the democratic triumph over other regimes. The democratic regime has great theoretical and empirical support for its ability to bring higher levels of human development to citizens. This could be one of the reasons why democracy has spread over the world since the 19th century. But in recent years the importance of democracy has been questioned. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine the connection of various democratic principles to human development. We are particularly interested in analyzing 1) if dissimilar democratic principle have any relation to human development and 2) if there are any democratic principles that tends to have a distinguishable relation to human development over recent decades. In this paper we use correlation- and regression analysis to analyze this relationship. The democratic principles are measured with the democratic components created by the V-Dem institute while human development is measured with the Human Development Index. Our findings give support to the existence of a relation between all measured democratic principles and human development. According to our findings, the democratic principle of equality has a distinguishable relationship to human development that runs over recent decades. This paper concludes the several shapes of relationships that occur between democratic principles and human development.

Democracy and state governed by law: harmony or conflict? Abstract The aim of this thesis is to define the concept of the state governed by law and the concept of democracy and to describe the relationship between them. The author of the thesis first reviewed literature defining the state governed by law and democracy and then compared different authors' concepts. These concepts are fundamentally different, therefore they cannot be included in a single definition. With regard to it, both concepts, democracy and the state governed by law, are divided into several subcategories: procedural and substantive democracy, legalistic, formal and material state governed by law. Conccurently, the author of this thesis considers the material state governed by law to be so distinctive that it is inappropriate to call it state governed by law. He chose the term constitutional liberalism for it. The relationship between democracy and the state governed by law is determined by concepts of democracy and concepts of the state governed by law, therefore this part of the thesis is also divided into chapters dealing with the relationship between the state governed by law and democracy, depending on how they are understood. The method is similar as in the first part of the thesis, so the author first researched literature and...

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.

Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) has emerged as the premier policy instrument to redress the socio-economic inequalities created by the apartheid system in South Africa. BEE has evolved from a rudimentary concept that was casually coined outside government in the 1990s to being the policy instrument du jour of the post 1994 democratic dispensation. BEE has received critical attention culminating in its institutionalization through a BEE Council, an Act of Parliament, and a policy framework to facilitate its implementation. The institutionalization of this concept across government policy and practice settings, including, in particular, the government’s drive to restructure its enterprises, has accentuated BEE’s important role in the government’s reconstruction and development agenda. However, the evolution of BEE has not been a smooth journey. Its capacity and direction to respond to dire socio-economic demands has raised a deluge of questions and remarks, often negative, from many fronts. The purpose of this study is to critically examine the extent to which BEE produces the targeted results through its implementation via the restructuring of state owned enterprises (SOEs). What is also of significance is that the restructuring of SOEs and the implementation of BEE is occurring against a backdrop of a conspicuous neo-liberal drive. Whilst setting the scene with a theoretical background to the South African economy before and after 1994, the practical focus of this study is limited to the implementation of BEE using Eskom, an SOE, as a case study. Just as this study indicates a successful implementation of BEE through Eskom, questions remain as to how much widespread the benefits have been amongst the targeted previously marginalized black majority.

The aim of the study is to analyse the role of democratic school governing bodies in promoting school improvement in four High Schools in Pimville and Klipspruit locations in Soweto. The study presents two arguments, one is theoretical and the other is methodological. Theoretically, there is no clear-cut relationship between democratic SGBs and school improvement. Methodologically, the relationship between SGBs and school improvement can best be understood based on a critical analysis that specifies the context within which democratic SGBs promote school improvement. Such an analysis reveals the complex nature of the school dynamics within which SGBs have to promote school improvement. The role of SGBs is mediated by various local and global socio-economic and political factors. This study articulates these factors as inputs, context, complexity and mediation. Consequently, understanding the nature of the role of SGBs in promoting school improvement requires an elaboration of the specific articulation of these factors. Input factors important for school improvement include the school infrastructure, learning and teaching material, financial resources, quality of teachers and standards of teaching methodology as well as parental participation. The context and complexity factors indicate that school improvement efforts must appreciate the conceptual and historical contexts that shape the conception and practice of school improvement. SGBs emerge out of a particular historical moment. SGBs have features of both apartheid school boards and committees and the people‘s education‘s PTSA‘s. These features render the role of SGBs precarious because it is framed within contradictory ideological discourses. Other context factors are relationships within the school, leadership and socio-economic factors. Finally, the role of SGBs is mediated by how school improvement is understood in these schools, by legislation and the complex nature of school dynamics. The study concludes that schools do not operate outside of a history of unequal provision of resources and SGBs do not exist independently of the incessant conflict among social forces. Schools operate within a social context. When narrowly focused within the school and in isolation from the historical legacy, school improvement initiatives reproduce and perfect the features that define their context.

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. / This thesis is an analysis of narratives of private game farming in Groot Marico. Through this case study, it argues that the material and symbolic processes of game farming and hunting depict a ‘colonial present’ in their constitution. Part of that ‘colonial present’ stems from ‘white privilege’, a legacy of South African history. A major part comes from the gate-keeping function of in-group beneficiaries represented by associations and networks. Race, class, language and capital are used to maintain the status quo. The situation has been aided by a state whose neo liberal policies support commercialisation more than social justice redress. The thesis traces the historical antecedents and the contemporary socio-economic and political factors that have led to white farmers’ conversion into game farming from domestic livestock production. Continuities of practices, from farm ownership to hunting have been processes that maintain the status quo. Yet white farmers have argued that these continuities are ‘tradition’, whether in hunting or game farming, while being silent on the lack of transformation of the industry. Despite the visibility of a few high-profile black personalities, the industry remains overwhelmingly white. I argue that the game farming community has created a ‘structure’ to which high-profile black figures can belong, not only as examples of transformation but primarily to protect vested interests by their token inclusion. Economic and political status has been the criteria upon which the few black figures have been ‘allowed’ into the group. In spite of the racial demographics, game farming is not homogenous as the Groot Marico case studies reveal. There are cleavages around the position of game farmers within the hierarchy of game farming, and these are informed by class. Trophy-hunters, meat producers, and small, marginal farmers all occupy different spheres within the game farming sector. The trophy hunter and game breeder are at the top of the hierarchy as opposed to the small one man game farmer surviving at the margins. The meat producer deals with the economics of supplying a niche market at a different level from the trophy game farmer and the small one man game farmer. Yet these three are bound together in an increasingly besieged farming community where land reform is a constant reminder of what can be lost. Other bonds of solidarity derive from a shared discourse of conservation that ties it to the maxim ‘if it pays it stays’. This economic tenet, describes the game farming community’s approach to wildlife conservation.

The main purpose of this study is to examine two political parties, the Social Democrats and the Center Party, to see if an ideological convergence have occurred between them during the time period 1990 through 2013. Furthermore, given that ideological convergence has occurred, this study intends to investigate the possible democratic problems that convergence between traditional opposition parties tends to bring about. The main research questions are: - To what extent has ideological convergence occurred between the parliamentary parties the Social Democrats and the Center Party during the period of 1990-2013? - Given that party convergence has occurred, what possible problems can this entail from a democratic perspective? The methodological approach of this study is based on a qualitative comparative text analysis of ideological character. The material that has been studied is the party´s respective idea programs from 1990, 2001 and 2013. This is done in order to investigate whether an ideological convergence has occurred between the parties. The main ideologies that have been analyzed are liberalism, neoliberalism, socialism and democratic socialism. Together with convergence, these constitute the theoretical framework. The study concludes that ideological convergence seems to have occurred between the parties. The study also argues that party convergence between traditional competing parties can lead to a democratic problem, especially in representative democracies such as Sweden. If parties that, from a historical perspective, are seen as opponents to each other converge, this can lead to confusion for the voters and the trust in the political parties risks being damaged.

A democracia é, atualmente, o modelo preeminente de organização e de exercício da autoridade política. No entanto, os regimes políticos democráticos existentes ao redor do mundo nem sempre satisfazem critérios de justiça substantiva. Isto é, a democracia política pode existir, e perdurar ao longo do tempo, mesmo que se verifiquem violações claras de exigências normalmente associadas à justiça política e social. A partir dessa constatação, a questão substantiva desta dissertação é o exame da maneira pela qual considerações de justiça política e social são tratadas pela literatura da teoria democrática. O ponto de partida é o exame da teoria democrática minimalista. A despeito da acurácia e parcimônia analítica dessa teoria, as respostas que ela oferece à questão substantiva aqui examinada podem não ser satisfatórias. Portanto, são analisadas as formas de lidar com a nossa questão substantiva também no campo da teoria política normativa. Nesta análise, a principal alternativa teórica examinada é o liberalismo político de John Rawls, com o objetivo de desvendar em que medida o conteúdo normativo dessa teoria é menos ou mais compatível com as dimensões que são enfatizadas pela teoria democrática minimalista e que a tornam atraente. / Democracy currently is the most prominent model of organization and of exercising political power. However, democratic political regimes existing around the world do not always satisfy criteria of substantive justice. In other words, political democracy may exist and endure for long periods, even alongside with clear violations of requirements normally associated with political and social justice. In the face of this fact, the substantive question of this dissertation is the examination of the way how the literature on democratic theory deals with considerations of political and social justice. The starting point is the examination of the minimalist democratic theory. In spite of the accuracy and analytic parsimony of this theory, its answers to the substantive question, here examined, may not be satisfactory. Therefore, the ways in which the normative political theory deals with our substantive question are also analyzed. In the present analysis, John Rawls political liberalism is the main theoretical alternative examined, according to the objective of discovering in to what extent the normative content of Rawls theory is less or more compatible with the dimensions emphasized by the minimalist democratic theory, and that make it attractive.