This thesis analyses the devolution process in Great Britain and pays a special emphasis on the position of Scotland. The first part of the thesis focuses on the theoretical introduction and the historical background of the British-Scottish relations, that explain the current political events. Further, the work provides an analysis of the Scottish political system and its relation towards the British government. The main part of the text focuses on the possible impacts of the independence referendum in September 2014. It characterises the current and future relations of Scotland with the most important international organizations, especially with the European Union and NATO. A complex study of the advantages and disadvantages of the potential independence within the current international context forms a key part of the thesis.

As a result of the profound influence of theories of collective action such as The Tragedy of the Commons, The Prisonerâ s Dilemma Game, and The Logic of Collective Action, policy analysts have recommended external management, either by government control or market participation, as the most efficient option to govern common pool resources. However, due to the repeated failure of the external intervention, a new alternative has been considered, the common property rights. Due to their long term interaction with the resources, local users have developed mechanisms, rules, and institutions that can be used to favor the sustainable management of the resources. Recognizing these benefits in places where the government has nationalized the resources, it has started a process of decentralization of property rights of natural resources to local users. The purpose of this paper is twofold, to analyze the potential benefits that a common property right regime has in the management of the environmental resources, and to evaluate which are the key factors for this arrangement to succeed. In this endeavor, the case of the Irrigation systems in Philippines is presented. / Master of Public and International Affairs

The thesis is focused on the analysis of national party organizational adaptation to political decentralization, specifically of internal change in the Labour Party. The main aim of this case study is to find the degree to which the devolution influence Labour party internal organization and strengthen the role of Welsh Labour. The thesis assumes a certain shift in the position of the Welsh Labour Party within the party structures, this change is placed in context of decentralization reform in Great Britain. Based on the defined factors, which are set out in the introduction, the thesis examines the changes in the party internal structure and the transfer of powers towards its regional branch - the Welsh Labour. The aim of the thesis is not only to find whether the decentralization reform had an impact on the internal party organization, but also to present other possible factors of this change and outline further possible research.

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The passage of PRWORA in 1996 gave states the opportunity to engage in secondorder devolution (SOD), which allows local governments to exercise more discretionary power in the implementation of welfare policies. Currently 14 states have engaged in significant SOD, with a number of other states practicing SOD to a lesser degree. Given this trend in TANF administration, it is important to explore if and how SOD affects the implementation of TANF work sanctions and work-related policies. Opponents of welfare decentralization insist SOD may lead to a ‘race to the bottom’ in welfare generosity to avoid the immigration of the poor, the loss of business revenue, and financial burden due to fiscal relationship, while proponents of welfare decentralization insist that local governments better understand the needs of the poor and are therefore better able to provide more appropriate services to their welfare clients, thus improving program performance. Existing scholarship on SOD under TANF has focused on the increase in discretion to local government, and how this may enhance variation in policy outcomes or contribute to policy success or stringency across local jurisdictions (Cho et al. 2005 ; Fording, Soss and Schram 2007). However, these studies are limited by the fact that they examine a single state. To date there has been no systematic analysis of the impact of administrative structure on the implementation of welfare policy which compares centralized states with SOD states. In this dissertation, I conduct an analysis of the effects of SOD across the states by exploring how differences in administrative structure due to SOD affect different implementation outcomes. First, I examine the impact of SOD on the implementation of TANF work sanctions, using individual-level administrative data combined with county level data. Second, I examine the impact of SOD on TANF work sanctions, caseload decline, and several work-related TANF outcomes with state-level data. Multilevel analysis and OLS with panel corrected errors are applied for the analyses. Specifically, I test the conventional wisdom that success and punitiveness in policy implementation is enhanced in second-order devolution states, compared to centralized states, due to increased discretion granted to local governments in SOD states.

The creation of devolved institutions in Scotland and Wales in 1999 provided nationalist parties in both the opportunity to act within an institution solely within their nation’s territorial boundaries. In 2007, they entered government for the first time. In so doing, the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru embarked upon public engagement strategies in office which were designed to build support for their constitutional ambitions – namely, independence for Scotland and (in the short-term) full legislative powers for the National Assembly for Wales, as outlined in the Government of Wales Act 2006. This thesis explores the public engagement strategy of both parties, focusing on the respective consultations of the parties in government – A National Conversation and the All Wales Convention¬ – and the following campaign for (in Scotland) and at (in Wales) a referendum intended to deliver their preferred outcome. The aim of this thesis is to consider why public engagement strategies were considered the best vehicle to take forward the respective parties’ constitutional goals and to evaluate the success each party achieved in relation to these objectives. This thesis argues that, while both the SNP and Plaid Cymru have achieved some success with regard to their constitutional objectives, this success can be measured differently depending whether short-term or long-term goals are the defining standard. In Wales, Plaid Cymru’s constitutional consultation found limited engagement with the wider Welsh population, and though the referendum succeeded in securing legislative powers for the National Assembly for Wales, public engagement with the constitutional debate in Wales continues to lack enthusiasm. By contrast, the SNP’s National Conversation saw more enthusiastic engagement, but without a referendum at the end of the process, a clear lack of a tangible short-term outcome. However, the SNP in government did succeed in moving the constitutional debate firmly onto the political agenda, and engagement in this debate is now widespread in Scottish society, particularly in the wake of an agreement to hold an independence referendum in autumn 2014.

Dans cette thèse en didactique des mathématiques, nous étudions une possible transposition à la classe de pratiques de chercheurs utilisant la modélisation mathématique en nous intéressant à la dévolution aux élèves du secondaire (11 ans à 18 ans) du travail de mathématisation horizontale nécessaire pour envisager un traitement mathématique d’une situation ancrée dans le réel. Nous inscrivons notre travail dans la méthodologie de l'ingénierie didactique, en y intégrant, en outre, des problématiques liées aux pratiques enseignantes, présentant, en cela, certaines similitudes avec la démarche de l’ingénierie didactique de deuxième génération.Nous avons conduit une étude d’épistémologie contemporaine visant à identifier des éléments invariants dans les pratiques de chercheurs relevant de la mathématisation horizontale, en sciences du vivant. En appui sur ces résultats, nous avons caractérisé un énoncé de type fiction réaliste relevant d’une adaptation d’une problématique professionnelle de modélisation et avons élaboré un tel énoncé pour la classe autour de la prévision de la croissance dans un arbre. Nous avons mené des expérimentations dans des classes du secondaire, au sein d'un dispositif de formation continue de résolution collaborative de problèmes comportant une phase initiale de questions-réponses. Nous soutenons l’hypothèse que, les caractéristiques d’une fiction réaliste conçue comme une adaptation d’une problématique professionnelle de modélisation, et sa mise en œuvre dans les classes avec une phase de questions-réponses entre pairs pour débuter sa résolution, favorisent la dévolution de la mathématisation horizontale aux élèves. Les analyses didactiques des données recueillies ont été conduites en appui sur les résultats issus de l’étude épistémologique. Elles ont mis en évidence la dévolution aux élèves de la mathématisation horizontale et des traces de transposition des pratiques invariantes identifiées dans l'étude épistémologique. En appui sur le choix du cadre de la double approche didactique et ergonomique et sur une étude des obstacles à l’enseignement de la modélisation mathématique à travers la littérature en éducation mathématique, nous avons émis des hypothèses de travail sur les obstacles et les conditions à propos des pratiques enseignantes relevant de l’enseignement de la mathématisation horizontale. Nous avons utilisé l'effet de loupe potentiel offert par le dispositif de formation continue pour émettre et mettre à l’épreuve des hypothèses portant sur des leviers potentiels internes à la logique de ce dispositif, répondant, dans une certaine mesure, aux hypothèses concernant les obstacles et les conditions. L'étude de la portée générale de nos résultats à propos des pratiques ordinaires reste à faire. / In this thesis in didactics of mathematics, we study a possible transposition to the classroom of practices of researchers using mathematical modelling. We are focusing on the devolution to secondary pupils (11 years to 18 years) of the work of horizontal mathematization necessary to make a situation rooted in reality accessible to a mathematical treatment.We frame our work in the methodology of didactic engineering. We also include issues related to teaching practices and also we have some similarities with the approach of second-generation didactic engineering.Our epistemological analyses allowed us to identify invariant practices of researchers in life sciences concerning horizontal mathematization. We then relied on these analyses to characterize, develop and analyse a realistic fiction designed as an adaptation of a professional problem of modelling on the prediction of growth of a tree. We conducted our experiments in a training device of collaborative problem solving with an initial phase of questions and answers. We support the hypothesis that the characteristics of a realistic fiction designed as an adaptation of a professional problem of modelling with an initial phase of questions-answers between peers are likely to favour the devolution of horizontal mathematization to pupils.The didactic analyses of the collected data were conducted based on the results of the epistemological study. They highlighted the devolution to students of horizontal mathematization. In addition, some traces of transposition of the invariant practices identified in the epistemological study were attested. Relying on the framework of the didactic and ergonomic double approach and on a study of literature in mathematics education on possible obstacles to the teaching of mathematical modelling, we have made hypotheses on the obstacles and conditions about teaching practices related to the teaching of horizontal mathematization. We used the potential magnifying effect offered by the in-service teachers’ training device to emit and test hypotheses about potential internal levers within this device, in respect to a certain extent, to possible obstacles and conditions. The study of the general scope of our results concerning ordinary teaching practices is still to be done.

Security sector reform has in the recent past been a critical component of peace agreements in countries emerging from armed conflicts or political crisis. In Kenya, the Commission of Inquiry into the 2007/08 Post-Election Violence (CIPEV) established that Kenya’s security sector, particularly the police, bore the greatest responsibility for the violence. Subsequently, the police emerged as one of the major institutions for reforms. ‘How have security sector reforms, particularly police reforms, in Kenya developed since 2007 and how, and to what extent, have they been shaped by Kenya’s wider political transitions and SSR process during this period?’ The research aimed at investigating how the police reform process in Kenya has developed since 2007, and how the process has been shaped by Kenya’s wider political transitions and security sector reform processes in general. Using mixed methods research, we found that despite some progress, there is wider public perception that the reforms are yet to address reform priorities at the national level and still fall short of expectations of ordinary Kenyans. We argue that political power-sharing after the 2007 post-election violence facilitated police reform, while at the same time frustrated its implementation especially in instances where reform seemed to dis-empower political elites.

<p>By presenting case studies from the village of Mahenye in Zimbabwe and the five villages of the Okavango Community Trust in Botswana, the study looks beyond the objectives, discourse and contests of policy and undertakes an investigation of what actions rural people are undertaking inside the institutions established by policy makers, and of governance outcomes at the local level. These case studies reveal that unfettered devolution can lead to elite capture and the perpetuation of poverty / that rural communities themselves have agency and the ability to exercise it / and that there is limited and shrinking political space in both countries which is reducing opportunities for rural communities to engage with political processes. The Botswana case studies demonstrates that an imported and imposed devolutionary initiative which lacks links to higher levels of governance can reduce political space at local levels. The Zimbabwe case study demonstrates that political space may be more effectively created through decentralisation. The lesson drawn from these case studies is that institutional arrangements and roles should be determined by context specific issues and circumstances and move beyond the structural determinism that has characterized much of the CBNRM debate to date. The study concludes with policy recommendations. These include the need for recognition of the synergy between CBNRM and democratisation as mutually reinforcing processes and the need to be context-specific...</p>

Based around the concepts of landscape and identity, this thesis examines several contemporary debates in the Shetland Islands with a view to finding out more about where people in this group of islands currently ‘are’ in terms of their geographical and cultural location, from both a local and non-local perspective. Drawing on a multi-method approach, including textual analysis, participant observation and semi-structured interviews, the study points to the often complex and contentious relationship between power structures and notions of local versus national interests, particularly in the areas of landscape management and nature conservation. The image of Shetland is also discussed in some detail, revealing the importance of how this island group is perceived both outside the islands and among people living in Shetland. It becomes evident, in this context, that ideas associated with ‘northness’ and ‘remoteness’ can be understood as something quite problematic while, at the same time, such ideas can also be used as an asset with which to brand the islands to external markets. The study is set against a backdrop of devolved power structures, nation building and the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence. From a broader perspective, the thesis ties in with a more general discourse in which local and place specific studies are gaining increasing importance in what is frequently referred to as a rapidly globalizing world.