Drastic changes have taken place in UK electricity policy over recent years as government has sought to address the challenges associated with energy security, affordability and commitments to reduce carbon emissions. This study investigates the underlying policy changes between the year 2000 and 2012, particularly the Electricity Market Reform, as the most fundamental transformation in the British power market since liberalisation, almost three decades ago. It illustrates that although this policy had revised the long legacy of market-based and technology neutral electricity policymaking, it was yet to be claimed as a wholesale paradigmatic shift, because, as of 2012, it still suffered from a form of paradigm ambivalence and socio-technical lock-in. Furthermore, this research identifies an accumulative process of policy change explaining how a complex set of dynamics transformed the UK electricity policy mix. The thesis relies empirically on conducting 53 semi-structured interviews as well as scrutinising policy documents and relevant secondary studies. The thesis draws relevant approaches within policy studies that attend to address continuity and change in policy frameworks, in particular the Advocacy Coalition Framework (Sabatier 1999) and Policy Paradigm (Hall 1993) perspectives. The study contributes to this literature in three distinctive ways. First, it questions the adequacy of existing frameworks for conceptualising policy change in ‘large-technical’ and ‘techno-centric’ subsystems, such as electricity policy. In return, it introduces technology preference, as a policy component capturing the socio-technical elements of electricity policymaking. Second, to explain why and how such significant changes had been undergone, it forms a bridge between the characteristics of policy change and the extent that existing policies are perceived as irreconcilable policy failures. By this, it, albeit, moves beyond the conventional typology of change drivers in policy literature. Third, this research extends the emerging concept of negotiated agreement and policy compromise as a pathway to evolutionary changes (Sabatier & Weible 2007). Inspired by Institutional Change theory (Mahoney & Thelen 2010), it proposes that compromised policies are often at the risk of policy reversibility and retrenchment, subject to any shift in the contextual conditions they have originated in. Overall, the thesis provides an understanding of one of the very complex and contemporary cases for studying policy change theories.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / With the absence of a bipolar international system and the rise of globalization, there are two tracks of foreign diplomatic and economic policy that nation-states can pursue. These can be competing or complementary. The first is global integration. The other course is to concentrate on regional integration. The European Union is the best example of this today. Latin America also faces a choice in its future. MERCOSUR, the "Common Market of the South" is an economic initiative that offers promise of economic development. Begun in 1991 as an economic agreement between four nations in the Southern Cone, MERCOSUR made large gains in regional trade during its initial years. As the global economy began lagging at the turn of the century, proponents for MERCOSUR have had a more difficult time arguing its benefits. Should MERCOSUR survive this test, it could emerge stronger and continue to expand along the same lines politically and militarily as the European Union. This thesis will open by examining the evolution of MERCOSUR compared to the model of the European Union. The next chapter will focus on the problems the Common Market has faced since its inception and how the actors have dealt with them. It will offer the corrective steps necessary for the project to succeed. The final chapter will focus on economic nationalism. What is it and will it derail Mercosur? The answer may be startling to some. The conclusion will summarize the arguments made and make a prediction on the future of MERCOSUR, the "Common Market of the South." / Major, United States Marine Corps

[No Abstract]

My research investigates the making of new farmers in Chinese risk society. I argue that the socialist peasants are in the transformation into neoliberal new farmers. I define the "new farmers" as a dispositive agricultural population that embodies neoliberal ideologies and practices. The purpose of making the new farmers is to counterbalance the instabilities and risks in post-socialist China and to distribute and redistribute power, wealth and risks via new channels such as new farmers' organizations and enterprises. The new farmers are in the making by different forces to address a variety of risks fermented in post-socialist China. The new farmers are recognized by their education, knowledge of agriculture and social responsibilities; they are categorized by their participation in new farmers' organizations and enterprises; they are promoted and cultivated by the Chinese government; and they are identified and represented via mass media. The individualization of the new farmers serves as a governing tool that turns systemically produced risks into individual risks. It also serves as a normalization strategy that the new farmers build their lives in a do-it-yourself way. Their individualized decisions and choices result in their normalization or marginalization in the making of new farmers in Chinese risk society.

Unemployment in Austria has been considerably low in the past decades compared to other European countries. Nevertheless, recent increases in the past five years started a controversial discussion about the generous unemployment insurance system in place. The current government, therefore, argues to change the insurance system similar to the German HARTZ IV reform, although the effects on unemployment have proven to be ambiguous in Germany. I introduce a discrete time life-cycle model with endogenous job-search effort to inquire the potential effects of such a reform on long- and short-term unemployment, as well as individuals' job-search incentives. Individuals are ex-ante heterogeneous in their labour income possibilities and are subject to exogenous layoffs throughout their life. The model suggests that the proposed reform would reduce long-term unemployment substantially, however, to the cost of a larger amount of short-term unemployment spells and decreased overall welfare. Job-search effort over the whole life-cycle appears to increase, with the largest differences at the end of the life-cycle.

South Korea established a non-competitive natural gas market in order to have a stable and economical supply of natural gas. The allegation has been raised about the inefficiency of this non-competitive market structure, but reform attempts have failed because of protests. Proponents of this incumbent system argue that gas needs to be supplied by the public sector in a monopolized structure so as to have a stable supply of this essential good, natural gas, and to prevent market failures like exorbitant gas prices and a deficit in supply due to a natural monopoly. They also argue that the unified gas purchase endows purchasing power. However, the gas industry does not exactly meet the categorical characteristics of an essential good or a natural monopoly and the concept of purchasing power is hardly accepted. Moreover, according to agent theory and property theory, the current market and firms are likely to be inefficient; several events are proving this inefficiency to be true. However, people remain unsure about the necessity of gas market reform. Ironically, South Korea has a different policy and market approach to the oil market despite the similarity of these two fuels. The oil market in South Korea constitutes an effective competitive market via a liberalized market, and is supplying the fuel stably and economically, contrary to people’s expectations. This thesis contrasts different approaches in South Korea toward similar hydrocarbon fuels, oil and gas. The competitiveness of the oil market is examined through statistics, Lerner index, analyzing of the profit trend in the market, and price comparison by countries. Results support the validity of South Korean gas market reform if the oil market is effectively competitive through liberalization. / text

Why do some authoritarian states have competitive elections? This study shows that whenever there is a balance of power between candidates, competitiveness will ensue. Electoral fraud is often widespread in autocratic states, but if no single candidate or party is in a position to monopolize electoral support the result will be competitive. The contribution here is to analyze the relative strength of all the actors involved in a parliamentary election and to show that electoral returns reflect the district level balance of power, even in autocracies. Three main sources of candidate-level electoral power are identified: state, market, and society. State affiliated candidates in authoritarian states perform well due to favorable treatment by state institutions. Market actors perform well due to financial resources. These actors arise when market reforms create a class of entrepreneurs that defend their interests by running for public office, often challenging state sanctioned candidates. The strength of candidates using social cleavages, here mainly ‘clan’ and ethnic, is found to be exaggerated in the literature. The study also confirms that competitiveness did not result from an active civil society. Competitive  elections matter because they can severely destabilize the regime, as was the case in Kyrgyzstan in 2005. However, electoral competitiveness that is the result of an intra-elite balance of power should not be confused with democracy. This form of self-interested competitiveness where clientelism is pervasive and accountability mechanisms are weak is an affront to the democratic ideal. For those of us who advocate democracy and genuine political participation competitive authoritarian regimes can be used as an informative cautionary tale. Power matters, and especially so in authoritarian states. Understanding the logic behind competitive authoritarianism helps us revise strategies for lasting democratic reforms.

The economic crisis faced by Spain, forced the Spanish government to conduct several reforms in labor legislation in order to address the high rates of unemployment, which led greater flexibility about worker protection, reflected more intensively about dismissal labor. Thus, this article will develop the most important edges of this new legal regime of dismissal according to Spanish labor regulations. / La crisis económica que afrontó España, obligo al Gobierno Español a realizar una serie de reformas en la legislación laboral a fin de afrontar las altas tasas de desempleo conllevando a la flexibilización de la protección del trabajador, la cual se manifestó con mayor intensidad en la institución jurídica del despido laboral. En razón a ello, es que el presente artículo desarrollará las aristas más importantes de este nuevo régimen jurídico del despido de acuerdo a la normativa laboral española.

Criado pelo Banco Mundial, no bojo das políticas neoliberais de ajuste estrutural, e adotado pelo Estado brasileiro na década de 1990, o modelo de reforma agrária de mercado representa uma tentativa de contensão das tensões sociais no campo por meio da desmobilização dos movimentos sociais de luta pela terra. No entanto, os desdobramentos nocivos dessas ações políticas vão além. A implementação desse modelo, dito de reforma agrária, representa ainda: a expansão do capital financeiro no campo; o aquecimento do mercado de terras e da especulação; inaugura uma nova modalidade de recriação do campesinato, protagonizada pelo mercado; e cria um conflito entre a lógica capitalista de propriedade privada da terra e a concepção de terra de trabalho, na visão camponesa. A presente pesquisa visa analisar a inserção do modelo de reforma agrária de mercado nos municípios de Londrina e Tamarana, localizados na região Norte do estado do Paraná, por meio da análise da produção do espaço agrário dos referidos municípios que favoreceu a penetração do modelo; da avaliação das políticas de desenvolvimento rural propostas pelo Banco Mundial e adotadas pelo Estado brasileiro; e, por meio da análise de elementos, como: sujeição da renda camponesa da terra ao capital, reprodução social e material das famílias assentadas e conflitos existentes no interior das diferentes formas de sociabilidade dos camponeses, verificamos a inviabilidade dos assentamentos rurais criados a partir dos programas de reforma agrária de mercado, pautados na ótica neoliberal de desenvolvimento rural do Banco Mundial. / Created by the World Bank, in the midst of the neoliberal policies of structural adjustment, and adopted by the Brazilian state in the 1990s, the model of market agrarian reform represents an attempt at containment of social tensions in rural areas through the demobilization of social movements fighting the land. However, the harmful consequences of these actions go beyond policies. The implementation of this model, called the \"land reform\", is still: the expansion of financial capital in the field, the \"warming\" of the land market and speculation, inaugurates a new mode of recreation of the peasantry, led by the market and creates a conflict between the logic of capitalist private ownership of land and the design of earth work, vision peasant. This research aims to analyze the inclusion of the model of agrarian market reform in the municipalities of Londrina and Tamarana, located in northern Paraná state, through the analysis of agricultural production space of those counties that favored the penetration of the model; of evaluation of rural development policies proposed by the World Bank and adopted by the Brazilian State, and, through the analysis of elements, such as subjecting the income of peasant land to capital, material and social reproduction of families settled and conflicts within the various forms of sociability of the peasants, we see the inevitability of rural settlements created from the agrarian reform programs in the market, lined the neoliberal perspective on rural development under the World Bank.

This thesis takes an interest in how values attain a specific meaning in market reforms of welfare provision. The study builds on exploring how values are enacted rather than treating them as universal and stable. The aim of the thesis is to contribute conceptually to the understanding of how market-making activities in the welfare state bureaucracy handle the values at play in welfare reform. The empirical case is the governance of a so-called care choice system in a Swedish county council. The methodology for the study is “shadowing” of public officials working to formulate a so-called rulebook for care centres. The analysis describes how these officials handle a variety of values when designing the rulebook. How they choose to organize their work – the methods used to collect data about care centre performance, what governance tools they employ, how they arrange their work roles, and how they construct the rulebook – leads to value shifts and determines the meaning of values in practice. The officials’ work practice is political in the sense that it actively shapes the values enacted in the care choice reform. Therefore, it is of great importance to spur a broader debate about the organization of such governance practices, while there is a need to problematize simplistic images of what market reforms of welfare entails in practice. The thesis proposes that an “ecological” – i.e. a situated, reflexive, and malleable – approach to handling of contending values may contribute to such debates. / Avhandlingen intresserar sig för hur värden får sin praktiska innebörd i marknadsreformer av välfärdstjänster. Studien bygger på att undersöka hur värden blir lokalt iscensatta snarare än att behandla dem som universella och stabila. Syftet med studien är att utveckla begrepp för att förstå hur marknadsskapande styrning av välfärd hanterar de motstridiga värden som står på spel i välfärdsreform. Det empiriska fallet utgörs av styrningen av det s.k. vårdvalet i ett svenskt landsting. Metoden är ”skuggning” av tjänstemän som jobbar med att formulera en s.k. regelbok för vårdcentraler. Analysen beskriver hur dessa tjänstemän arbetar med att hantera olika typer av värden när de konstruerar regelboken. Hur de väljer att organisera sitt arbete – vilka metoder de använder för att samla in data om vårdcentralernas prestationer, vilka verktyg de använder för styrning, hur de ordnar sina arbetsroller, samt hur de konstruerar regelboken – leder till värdeförskjutningar och styr vilka uttryck de olika värdena får i praktiken. Tjänstemännens arbete är politiskt såtillvida att det aktivt formar de värden som får utrymme i vårdvalsreformen. Därför är det av stor vikt att skapa en bredare debatt kring organisering av sådan styrning, samtidigt som det kräver att man problematiserar förenklade bilder av vad marknadsreformer i välfärden betyder i praktiken. Avhandlingen föreslår att ett ”ekologiskt” – dvs. ett situerat, reflexivt och föränderligt – perspektiv på hanteringen av motstridiga värden i marknadsreformer kan bidra till en sådan debatt.