At a glance, this study is a critique of local development policies with specific reference to the Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipalities in the Eastern Cape. The researcher enters the debate by posing a primary research question: Do the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) ventures that constitute anti-poverty strategies succeed in addressing the issues of poverty, and achieving more equitable development at the municipal level in the Eastern Cape? This research proposes a problem statement: The local development policies of PPP and BBBEE that are being applied through Local Economic Development strategies are not in the interests of the majority of people living in the Eastern Cape. At a methodological level this research employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches to answer the central question and to verify the problem statement of this study. This triangulation approach is employed to utilize the strengths of both quantitative and qualitative methods. More specifically, the researcher uses a number of different research instruments to collect the data including four hundred questionnaires, four focus groups and elite interviews in both municipalities. The findings of this study indicate that local development policies in both municipalities do not improve the lives of the people. This line of thinking is indicated by both the empirical study conducted by the researcher and is supported by a number of scholarly materials. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in Political Economy and Development Studies including other disciplines in Social and Economic Sciences. The central argument of this thesis is that both BBBEE and PPPs are inspired by neo-liberalism (BBBEE is not neo-liberal per se though it may be heavily influenced by it) and neo-liberalism in practice is contradictory in nature as it involves the allocation of state resources to politically influential individuals, rather than promoting economic development for the majority. The evidence of this research further shows that the local business and political elites through the BBBEE, PPPs and outsourcing of services are using their strong networks (associated political, social and capital resources) in their efforts for personal accumulation. The researcher in this study examines the local development policies from a particular standpoint which is a political economy approach. The business and political elites according to political economic perspective use state resources to enrich themselves.

This study was aimed at investigating the attitudes of nurse managers towards quality improvement programmes in the East London Hospital Complex. The research design comprised a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approach. A purposive sample of 10 nurse managers participated in the study. The data were collected through interviews, using a semi-structured interview guide. Interviews were recorded using audiotape. Data were analysed manually and by using the computer software Atlas ti. Positive and negative themes were identified and ethical consideration was ensured by means of privacy, confidentiality and anonymity. The findings revealed that nurse managers in the East London Hospital Complex had overall positive attitudes towards quality improvement programmes. A few negative attitudes and their contributory factors were also identified. The limitations of the study and recommendations based on the findings of the study are presented

Bakgrund: År 2016 röstade Storbritannien för ett utträde ur Europeiska unionen. Detta skapade en osäkerhet kring många olika frågor, inte minst hos företagen. Eftersom London är ett av de största finansiella centrumen i världen finns frågor hur de finansiella företagen kommer påverkas av Brexit, däribland företag inom FinTech-branschen.  Hur kommer de påverkas när Storbritannien nu har röstat för ett utträde ur Europeiska unionen? Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att belysa Brexits konsekvenser för internationella svenska företag och framtida förutsättningarna för svenska FinTech-företag i Storbritannien. Vidare syftar studien till att utreda vilka implikationer eller möjligheter Brexit har på svenska företag och FinTech i Stockholm. Metod: En kvalitativ metod har använts där flera intervjuer har genomförts. Vidare har fallstudie genomförts med en induktiv ansats för att kunna dra slutsatser utifrån de intervjuer som har genomförts.  Slutsats: Det finns risk att svenska FinTech-företag flyttar från Storbritannien till andra länder efter Brexit, dock kommer de flesta företag troligtvis att stanna kvar i Storbritannien. En av de viktigaste faktorerna som kan avgöra ifall företagen flyttar är osäkerhet samt hur avtal utformas mellan Storbritannien och EU. Om FinTech-företagen väljer att flytta är alternativen finansiella marknader inom EU, men också utanför EU där bland annat USA, Hong Kong och Singapore är alternativ. Tillslut är Stockholm inte den mest attraktiva marknaden för svenska FinTech-företag efter Brexit. Andra städer inom Europa är mer attraktiva för företagen där Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris samt till viss del Dublin och Berlin är bättre alternativ för dessa företag. / Background: The year 2016 Great Britain voted to exit the European Union. This caused uncertainty around many questions, which also included the companies. Moreover, since London is one of the biggest financial centres in the world there are questions about how the financial companies will be affected by Brexit, including FinTech companies. How will they be affected now when Great Britain voted for a Brexit?  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to highlight the consequences of Brexit for international Swedish companies and future prerequisites for Swedish FinTech companies in Great Britain. Furthermore, this study aims to investigate which implications or opportunities Brexit has on Swedish companies and FinTech in Stockholm.  Method: This is a qualitative case study where several interviews have been conducted with both organisations and companies. Furthermore, the study is inductive to be able to draw conclusions from the interviews. Conclusion: There is a risk that Swedish companies move from Great Britain to other countries because of Brexit, however, most companies will probably stay in Great Britain. One of the most important factors that can decide whether the companies move is uncertainty and how deals between Great Britain and European Union unfold. The alternatives if FinTech companies decide to move are financial markets within the EU, but also outside EU where USA, Hong Kong and Singapore are some alternatives. Finally, Stockholm is not the most attractive market for Swedish FinTech companies after Brexit. There are other cities within EU that are more attractive where Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and to some extent Dublin and Berlin are better alternatives for these companies.

"Down and Out in Paris and London" is typically perceived as non-political. Orwell's first book, it examines his life with the poor in two cities. Although on the surface "Down and Out" seems not to be about politics, Orwell covertly conveys a political message. This is contrary to popular critical opinion. What most critics fail to acknowledge is that Orwell wrote for a middle- and upper-class audience, showing a previously unseen view of the poor. In this he suggests change to the policy makers who are able to bring about improvements for the impoverished. "Down and Out" is often ignored by both critics and readers of Orwell. With an examination of Orwell's politicizing background, and of the way he chooses to present himself and his poor characters in "Down and Out," I argue that the book is both political and characteristic of Orwell's later work.

This diploma thesis is focused on the Great Fire of London in the year 1666 and on the course of events that started it. Based on historical sources, the author will try to explain how did the city leaders confront this tragedy and how was the Great Fire seen by the public. The author will also present some possible plans for the reconstruction of the city of London as well as the final plan which gave the city its current shape. This thesis is divided into three sections, first of which introduces the historical context of 17th century in England. The second part is focused on the fire itself - its cause, its development and its aftermath. The last section will introduce reconstruction plans made by five important people of the time as well as the progress of the reconstruction. Last but not least, the memorials of the Great Fire will also be mentioned in this thesis.

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Corresponding to the rising threat of terrorism and heightened security concerns throughout Europe, potential parallel communities have come under increased scrutiny and pressure to engage and integrate in the politics and society of the country of settlement. Meanwhile, immigrants and the descendants of immigrants have lived in the countries of Western Europe for up to three and four generations. In this discussion, the tools of intercultural dialogue and citizenship have been proposed to bridge the ‘gap’ between ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ communities, permeating state practices from the national to the local level. This dissertation proposes to contribute to the field of International Relations by examining an often excluded space, that is, the local arena. Moreover, it expands the field in terms of giving attention to the role that youth play in international politics. Using a levels-of-analysis approach and a comparative case study method, comments from students, teachers, and parents in Berlin and London were analysed in keeping with a critical constructivist methodology. I found that, in spite of their different histories and immigration experiences, the perceptions of citizenship and intercultural dialogue have more in common than not. The main contributing factors to their experience appeared to be notions of belonging ingrained in the respective national imaginary in the context of globalization. In each case, the overlapping, intersecting experiences of minority youth cross-cut political and juridical boundaries. Far from being confined to a city district, the ramifications of these intersections are global in scale. From local participation to media culture, minority youth participate in an ongoing navigation of international issues in their day-to-day lives.

This thesis investigates the cultural politics of a small group of women through their writing and other activities in 1880s London. Focussed on Olive Schreiner, Eleanor Marx and Amy Levy and the connections they had to one another and to other women, such as Henrietta Frances Lord, Clementina Black and Henrietta Müller, it explores key events in their everyday lives, the writings and texts they produced. It analyses a wide selection of textual sources, re-reading these for small details, intertextual connections and points of disjuncture, to allow for different ways of understanding the mechanics of feminist cultural politics as produced and performed by these interconnected women. Small things in texts can be revealing about such women’s everyday lives and connectedly the cultural politics which underpinned their actions, thus contributing to knowledge about how writing was used strategically and imaginatively to challenge, side-step and overcome oppression and inequality, in these years in London and after. Using the term ‘writing’ in a broad sense to include letters and diaries and other archival sources such as newspaper articles, reviews and manuscript drafts, as well as some selected published work and biographies, the thesis is anchored around four event-driven investigations: Olive Schreiner being accosted by a policeman; the first public performance of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House; the writing of a letter mentioning Eleanor Marx; and, the death of Amy Levy. Relatedly, there are discussions concerning working with historical documents, documenting and archiving the past, researching and representing the past in the present. These investigations allow for the operationalization of a research approach framed by ideas concerning micro, small-scale, everyday life and its qualitative aspects, which together contribute to a re-conceptualisation of a ‘sociology of small things.’ Specifically, it is argued that close and small-scale studies of women’s writing, whether undertaken alone or connected to others, sheds light on the importance of relationship dynamics in connection with writing output, on what writing was produced and what role each text played in larger scale political agendas. Concepts such as palimpsest, liminality and bricolage are interrogated with respect to researching and representing the spatial and temporal interconnectedness of the selected authors and textual sources. And contributions are made to contemporary thinking about epistolarity and social networks, focussing on reciprocity, gift-giving and receiving and notions of ‘letterness,’ along with the defining of boundaries, and the value of determining the nature of ties between women. The thesis also argues that the relationships between intimacy and distance, interiority and exteriority, public and private, are frayed with complicated overlaps.

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