Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Historically, the cooperatives are configured as collective arrangements with direct action on the needs of their associates. The cooperative system is expressive in both economic and social aspects, however, it is noticeable that the sector is undergoing a restructuring, given the downward trend in the number of enterprises, and especially in Rio Grande do Sul, where it has decreased of 31% from 2010 to 2013. This reduction in agricultural sector accounted for 14% in the same time period, which reinforces a need for readjustment of the management and governance system in agricultural cooperatives. Whether in literature or in the cooperative sector, it is a recurring approach that the opportunism and the lack of loyalty of members are the central problems faced by cooperatives. These organizations, without the loyalty of members, while they lose the sense of their existence, they also lose the operational and scale efficiency which puts the enterprise in disadvantage in its operating segment. For this thesis context and according to Williamson s approach, the governance is shaped by means of norms, rules, contracts, monitoring and incentives, to guarantee the continuity of a transaction in which potential conflicts threaten the achievement of cooperation. The loyalty of associates to the cooperative is understood as being the main characteristic of the cooperation. Thus, this thesis debates the relationship between the governance adopted by the cooperatives and the loyalty of members. Therefore, it was aimed to analyze gaps in governance of agricultural cooperatives in Rio Grande do Sul and their relationship on the loyalty of associates. This thesis was based upon the New Institutional Economics (NIE) approach: Property Rights, Agency Theory and Transaction Cost Economics. To perform this research, qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The qualitative phase consisted of in-depth interviews with experts in cooperatives. The information was categorized and examined through the technique of content analysis. The quantitative phase was characterized by a questionnaire sent to the agricultural cooperatives of Rio Grande do Sul. Descriptive and multivariate statistics were used. In the multivariate statistics case a factor analysis was performed, so that the sets of factors that influence the loyalty of members could be identified. Afterwards, regression analysis allowed to verify the direction and the intensity of the impact of these factors on loyalty. The main results pointed out that the governance adopted by the cooperatives is not the most efficient, i.e., governance and the offered incentives do not minimize transaction costs in order to maintain (and increase) the loyalty of members with the cooperative. Thus, a conceptual model was proposed for the gaps in governance. The model embraces six dimensions: Contractual Gaps; Operational Gaps; Communication Gaps; Management Gaps; Audit Gaps and Immediate Benefits Offer Gaps. The quantitative analysis indicated that the higher the Audit Committee Effectiveness it tends to be higher the loyalty of members, with about 17% of loyalty explained by the effectiveness of the audit board. / Historicamente, as cooperativas se configuraram como arranjos coletivos com atuação direta nas necessidades de seus associados. O sistema cooperativo é expressivo tanto nos aspectos econômicos como sociais, no entanto, percebe-se que o setor vem passando por uma reestruturação, haja vista a tendência de redução no número de empreendimentos, especialmente no Rio Grande do Sul, onde se teve um decréscimo de 31% de 2010 para 2013. No ramo agropecuário essa redução representou 14% no mesmo período, o que reforça uma necessidade de readequação do sistema de gestão e da governança nas cooperativas agropecuárias. Recorrente é a abordagem, seja na literatura ou no setor cooperativista, de que as ações oportunísticas e a falta de fidelidade dos associados são problemas centrais que as cooperativas enfrentam. Sem a fidelidade do cooperado, estas organizações, ao mesmo tempo em que perdem o sentido da sua existência, perdem em eficiência operacional e de escala, o que coloca o empreendimento em desvantagem no segmento de atuação. Para o contexto dessa tese, e a partir da abordagem de Williamson, a governança é a forma de, por meio de normas, regras, contratos, monitoramentos e incentivos, se garantir a continuidade de uma transação, na qual conflitos potenciais ameaçam a realização da cooperação. A fidelidade dos associados para com a cooperativa é entendida como sendo a principal característica da cooperação. Assim, esta tese versa sobre a relação da governança adotada pelas cooperativas com a fidelização dos cooperados. Dessa forma, objetivou-se analisar as falhas de governança de cooperativas agropecuárias do Rio Grande do Sul e suas relações com a fidelidade dos cooperados. Como fundamentação, foram utilizadas as abordagens teóricas da Nova Economia Institucional (NEI): Direitos de Propriedade, Teoria da Agência e Economia dos Custos de Transação. Para a operacionalização da pesquisa, foram utilizados métodos quantitativos e qualitativos. A fase qualitativa consistiu na realização de entrevistas em profundidade com experts em cooperativismo. As informações foram categorizadas e trabalhadas por meio da técnica de análise de conteúdo. A fase quantitativa caracterizou-se pelo envio de questionário para as cooperativas agropecuárias do Rio Grande do Sul. Foram utilizadas estatísticas descritivas e multivariadas. No caso das multivariadas, realizou-se a análise fatorial, para que se pudesse identificar os conjuntos de fatores que influenciam na fidelidade dos cooperados. Posteriormente, a análise de regressão permitiu verificar o sentido e a intensidade do impacto dos fatores na fidelidade. Os principais resultados apontaram que a governança adotada pelas cooperativas não é a mais eficiente, ou seja, a governança e os incentivos oferecidos não minimizam os custos de transação, de forma a se manter (e aumentar) a fidelidade dos sócios com a cooperativa. Assim, propôs-se um modelo conceitual para as falhas de governança. O modelo abrange seis dimensões: Falhas Contratuais; Falhas Operacionais; Falhas de Comunicação; Falhas de Gestão; Falhas de Fiscalização e Falhas na Oferta de Benefícios Imediatos. A análise quantitativa indicou que quanto maior a Efetividade do Conselho Fiscal , maior tende a ser a fidelidade dos cooperados, sendo que cerca de 17% da fidelidade é explicada pela efetividade do conselho fiscal.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In this thesis I examine and explore whether and if Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) inspired water reforms respond to- and address the diverse realities of women and men in informal (and formal) rural economies of Sekororo, South Africa and Ward 17 in Gwanda, Zimbabwe which are both in the Limpopo basin. South Africa and Zimbabwe, like other southern African countries, embarked on IWRM inspired water reforms, culminating in the promulgation of the National Water Acts in 1998, four years after the attainment of South Africa's democracy in 1994 and 18 years after Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980. I argue that the adoption of IWRM, which emphasises second generation water issues such as demand management, water quality, environmental flow requirements etc, and not the development of water infrastructure, begs the question whether such reforms can make a meaningful contribution to the development agenda in countries where, during apartheid and colonialism, the water rights (among other rights) of millions of blacks were compromised because of unjust legislation and skewed underinvestment in water infrastructure. / South Africa

This thesis aims to look at the agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) with specific reference to their impact on South Africa's ability to combat HIV and AIDS. It begins by looking at the history of patents and intellectual property rights and illustrates why and how the TRIPS Agreement came into existence. The TRIPS Agreement exemplifies the disparities between developed and developing countries and this can clearly be seen with regard to the provision of anti-HIV and AIDS drugs. The developing world deals with the bulk of the HIV and AIDS epidemic whilst the developed world holds most of the patents on the medication needed to treat those living with HIV and AIDS. This situation lends itself to a rift between patient rights on the one hand, and patent rights on the other. Traditionally the state has been the provider of rights such as health, but TRIPS alters this to include strong patent protection that is in line with neo liberal doctrine. The thesis examines these tensions with specific reference to South Africa's ability successfully to implement programmes to combat HIV and AIDS.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de découvrir si l’environnement institutionnel affecte la performance agricole dans le cas du Cambodge et comment le premier influe sur la dernière. Pour répondre à cet objectif, trois hypothèses sont formulées : (1) l’environnement institutionnel joue un rôle important dans la protection des droits de propriété foncière ; (2) les droits de propriété foncière sécurisés augmentent la productivité agricole par la stimulation des incitations d’investissement des agriculteurs ; (3) les droits de propriété foncière sécurisés accroissent la productivité agricole par la facilitation de l’accès au crédit formel. Méthodologiquement, la recherche est basée sur les différentes théories de la Nouvelle Economie Institutionnelle, qui expliquent que les institutions déterminent la structure des incitations des acteurs économiques dans une société. Spécifiquement, les institutions politiques déterminent les institutions économiques, c’est-à-dire les droits de propriété, qui à leur tour affectent la performance économique en général et la performance agricole en particulier. La recherche est également basée sur les données venant de diverses sources, telles que des agences gouvernementales, des instituts de recherche locaux, des organisations non-gouvernementales et des organisations internationales, qui sont susceptibles de servir de base pour des analyses empiriques. En outre, le cas de l’Afrique subsaharienne est également étudié à titre de comparaison. Le résultat de la thèse confirme fortement les deux premières hypothèses, mais peu la dernière. Le résultat indique que l’impact de l’environnement institutionnel sur la productivité agricole via la protection des droits de propriété foncière est lié au contexte particulier parce qu’il devrait être complété par un environnement économique favorable, tel que l’infrastructure physique et la technologie agricole améliorées et les institutions du marché développées. De plus, on apprend que les résultats désirés ne sont pas obtenus si les institutions formelles (c’est-à-dire, l’enregistrement formel des terres) sont imposées via l’approche top-down dans les régions où les institutions informelles existantes sont fortement encastrées. / The purpose of this dissertation is to find out if the institutional environment affects agricultural performance in the case of Cambodia and how the former exerts an influence on the latter. To respond to this purpose, three hypotheses are formulated: (1) the institutional environment plays an important role in protecting property rights in land; (2) secure property rights in land increase agricultural productivity through the stimulation of farmers’ investment incentives; (3) secure property rights in land raise agricultural productivity through the facilitation of access to formal credit. Methodologically, the research is based on different theories of New Institutional Economics, which explain that institutions determine the incentive structure of economic actors in society. Specifically, political institutions shape economic institutions, i.e. property rights, which in turn affect economic performance in general and agricultural performance in particular. The research is also based on the data from various sources, such as government agencies, local research institutes, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations, which can serve as a basis for empirical analyses. In addition, the case of Sub-Saharan Africa is also studied for comparison. The result of the dissertation confirms strongly the first two hypotheses but slightly the last one. The result indicates that the impact of institutional environment on agricultural productivity through the protection of property rights in land is context-specific because it should be complemented by a favorable economic environment, such as improved physical infrastructure and agricultural technology and developed market institutions. Furthermore, it is learned that, in developing countries, the desired outcomes will not be obtained if formal institutions (i.e., formal land registration) are imposed through a top-down approach in areas where the existing informal institutions are strongly embedded.

Le droit de propriété est un pilier sur lequel s’appuie le droit fiscal et autour duquel s’articule la fiscalité patrimoniale. Il apparaît que l’optimisation fiscale n’est que l’amélioration des conséquences fiscales d’une opération juridique se fondant sur l’instrumentalisation du droit de propriété. Les techniques juridiques utilisées pour façonner le droit de propriété influent donc sur le traitement fiscal.Cette instrumentalisation du droit de propriété à des fins fiscales répond-elle cependant à une règle générale ? Cette règle générale permet -elle de classer les éléments d’instrumentalisation fiscale du droit de propriété ? Il apparaît que ces éléments ne constituent que des mécanismes juridiques consistant , soit en une déconstruction du droit lui-même ou de sa valeur, soit en une affectation juridique ou spatio-temporelle du droit de propriété. / Legal ownership is one of the main pillars on which tax law is based and around which property taxation revolves. It appears that tax optimisation is merely about improving the tax consequences of a legal operation based on the manipulation of legal ownership. The means used to shape the property rights affect the legal and tax consequences. Is such manipulation of legal ownership for tax purposes subject to a fixed rule? Does this rule allow to draw a categorisation of all instruments used in order to exploit legal ownership for tax purposes? It appears that these instruments are but legal mechanisms. They consist either in a deconstruction of ownership itself or of its value, or in a specific ownership assignment in legal or spatiotemporal terms.

The diploma thesis deals with the issues and economic impacts of the system of Intellectual Property Rights protection in China. The work is divided into three main chapters. The theoretical framework of the system of Intellectual Property Rights is explained in the first part of the diploma thesis. It is focused on the detailed analysis of the most important types of Intellectual Property Rights, that can be found in People's Republic of China. Different ways how to protect our rights in this area are also covered in this section. The second part describes the current situation in China and compares it with some developed countries. The third part at the beginning try to find the connections between IPR system and economic growth. Then it describes the process of the implications of IPR system on the Growth of Chinese Economy and in conclusion explains the strategic importance of Intellectual Property Rights system in chinese economic growth.

This thesis deals with problems of brand piracy. The main objective is to evaluate the current situation in the various types of piracy, focusing on product piracy especially in the forms of counterfeiting and product imitation. The work consists of a theoretical and a practical part. The first chapter of this part concentrates on the general overview of brand policy. The important role and the value of the brands very much influence the purchasing behavior of consumers and support the presence of non-original products. The second theoretical part is further dedicated to the different types of piracy and legal protection of brands falling under the scope of intellectual property rights. To achieve a more comprehensive view, the practical part considers attitude, shopping behavior and opinions of Czech consumers on this issue.

"The thesis of this study is that the flexibility within the exceptions to patent rights protecton under the TRIPS Agreement has not sufficiently been exploited at the national level. The study conceptualises the regimes for the protection of the right to health and IPRs not as mutually exclusive but as potentially reinforcing. The contention is therefore that the obligations in respect to the right to health limit the manner in which states can exercise the flexibilty within the patent regime of the TRIPS Agreement. Eventually the study seeks to answer the question: Where does the guarantee for the right to health lie in light of the TRIPS regime? ... The study is divided into three chapters preceded by an introduction. The introduction lays the background for te discussion. Chapter one deals with the definition of important concepts and provides the context in which the study is set. The chapter also discusses the background to the creation of the TRIPS Agreement, with an emphatic discussion on the involvement or lack thereof of Africn and other least developed and developing countries in this process. Chapter two discusses the patent rights exceptions clause under the TRIPS Agreement. Against this background, compuslory licensing, government use and parallel importing as means of making accessibility to drugs a reality under the TRIPS Agreement will be discussed. Chapter three identifies other means of making drugs more accessible and identifying places where they have worked well. In this chapter, generic substitution, establishemnt of a pricing committee, therapeutic value pricing, pooled procurement, negotiated procurement and planned donations will be discussed. Finally a conclusion will be drawn from the discussion and recommendations will be advanced." -- Chapter 1. / Prepared under the supervision of Riekie Wandrag at the Community Law Centre, University of Western Cape, South Africa / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2002. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

El Derecho Ambiental en el Perú comprende una serie de prerrogativas de protección y prevención del medio ambiente en el marco de un desarrollo sostenible que permita el crecimiento económico y social del país, pero todo ello a manos del Estado como único gestor de los recursos naturales que yacen en su territorio. El presente trabajo de investigación comprende el estudio de las disposiciones constitucionales y legales que sustentan el derecho ambiental peruano, como la actuación de los entidades y funcionarios públicos competentes a lo largo del tiempo, en orden de identificar por qué no se han alcanzado los resultados esperados en materia ambiental y socioeconómica al 2020. Asimismo, se desarrolla la propuesta de la ecología de mercado, como aquella perspectiva que pretende solucionar los problemas identificados previamente, en virtud a la asignación del derecho de propiedad privada sobre los recursos naturales, de modo tal que asegura una protección efectiva del medio ambiente y de su riqueza, toda vez que, los agentes económicos negociaran entre estos sin restricciones para obtener la mejor combinación win-win en el marco del desarrollo de sus actividades económicas. Por consiguiente, el Estado se limitará a intervenir únicamente como ente promotor del cumplimiento de prácticas ecoeficientes, antes, durante y después de la explotación de recursos naturales. / Environmental law in Peru comprises a series of environmental protection and prevention prerogatives about sustainable development that enables the country's economic and social growth but all this at the hands of the State as the sole manager of the natural resources that lie in its territory This research work includes the study of the constitutional and legal provisions that underpin Peruvian environmental law, such as the actions of competent public bodies and officials over time, in order to identify why they are not achieving the expected environmental and socio-economic results by 2020. Furthermore, the proposal for free-market environmentalism is developed such as the perspective that aims to solve the problems previously identified, under the allocation of private property rights over natural resources, thus ensuring effective environmental protection and its wealth, inasmuch as economic operators will negotiate between them without restrictions to obtain the best win-win combination in the framework of development of its economic activities. Therefore, the State will simply intervene solely as a promoter of compliance with eco-efficient practices, before, during and after the exploitation of natural resources. / Trabajo de investigación

Die Studie erforscht institutionalle Arrangements, die auf eine Privatisierung des Agrarlands in der Republik Georgien abzielen, deren Formalisierung der Eigentumsrechte den letzten Schritt der Agrarreformen darstellen, und speziell, wie sich die Durchsetzung des Rechts auf Privateigentum entwickelt hat. Laut Schätzungen ist bisher nur ca. ein Drittel des Landes registriert. Das Ziel der Analyse dient dem Verständnis, wie sich politische Reformen, die eine Privatisierung des Agrarlands beabsichtigen, auf den Landbesitz allgemein und die Agrarproduktion im Besonderen auswirken. Anhand von zwei der führenden landwirtschaftlichen Exportprodukte – Haselnuss und Wein –, verfolgt die Studie methodologisch einen abduktiven Forschungsansatz, der von Triangulation geleitet ist. Die Ergebnisse basieren auf einer Umfrage, Fokusgruppen-Interviews mit Agrarproduzenten sowie Interviews mit Leitern verarbeitender Betriebe, Repräsentanten der Regierung sowie Experten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen einerseits, dass Nutzungs- und später Eigentumsrechte konstant kraft einer ‚property rule’ durchgesetzt wurden, und somit einen Status quo gesichert haben, der besonders die Mitglieder ehemaliger einflussreicher (lokaler) Regierungskreise begünstigt hat; demgegenüber haben die Reformen kontinuierlich Unsicherheit unter der Landbevölkerung erzeugt – indem die Durchsetzung privater Eigentumsrechte von einer ‚property rule’ hin zu einer ‚liability rule’ verändert worden ist –, während die erforderlichen Kosten zur (Wieder-)Erlangung der Besitzansprüche zunehmend den ehemaligen Rechtsinhabern aufgebürdet worden ist. Die Ergebnisse lassen eine potentielle Umverteilung in Form konzentrierten Landbesitzes vermuten, während die Mehrheit der Betriebe künftig auf die Durchsetzung von Landnutzungsrechten vertrauen darf, um ihre Subsistenzwirtschaft fortzuführen. / This study focuses on the institutional change of agricultural land privatization in the Republic of Georgia, where the formalization of private property rights forms the last step of the agrarian land reforms, and specifically how people’s entitle-ment to land has been protected over time. It is estimated that so far only about a third of the land has been registered. The aim of the analysis is to understand how political reforms targeting land privatization have affected land ownership, and to show the effects on agricultural production. By focussing on two leading export products of Georgian agriculture – hazelnut and wine – the study methodologi-cally follows an abductive research strategy led by the principles of triangulation. It is based on survey data, focus groups interviews with agrarian producers as well as interviews with processors, government representatives and experts. The results reveal, on the one hand, that by constantly enforcing use and then owner-ship rights according to a property rule maintained a status-quo which has mainly favored former influential (local) government circles; in contrast, the reforms have persistently generated insecurity to rural neighborhoods – by changing the enforcement of people’s private ownership rights from a property rule to a liabil-ity rule –, while the emerging costs to (re-)claim ownership were increasingly shifted to the former right holders who can hardly raise the required financial means. The results suggest a re-distribution of land in the form of a rising concen-tration of land ownership, while the majority of agricultural producers may rely on the granting of use-rights to proceed with their subsistence farming in the fu-ture.