The dissertation conducts a comparative analysis of the roles of the Inspectors-General of Intelligence with specific reference to South Africa. The analysis assessed the roles, functions and structures of the office of the Inspectors-General in the following countries: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America, South Africa and equivalent institutions in the United Kingdom. The study was based on a review of existing literature and interviews and written responses with some of the members of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, the former Minister for Intelligence Services, LN Sisulu, the head of the intelligence division of the South African National Defence Force, the former deputy Director-General of the South African Secret Service, judge Gordon who is responsible for interception of communications and the current Inspector-General of Intelligence, Mr ZT Ngcakani. The performance of the office of the Inspector General of Intelligence since 1995 indicates that: (a) there were ambiguities in the legal framework for the office of the Inspector-General which led to various interpretations by stakeholders on the functioning of the office; (b) there is still a need to test the impact of the office of the Inspector General on the Services and the public; and (c) the Inspector-General's office requires other oversight mechanisms to complement its functions. / Dissertation (MSS)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

Torture has long been denounced by the international community; the need to protect citizens from abuse at the hands of the state is a principle enshrined in international law. One area where abuse is common is within the correctional system and as a result, there is a need for oversight in places of detention. The Optional Protocol to the UN’s Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) is an international human rights instrument that acts as a preventive measure to monitor all places of detention through regular visits. Supportive of the OPCAT since its adoption, Canada has considered signature/ratification since 2002 but has yet to commit. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that have led to a delay in Canada becoming State Party to the OPCAT despite adherence to the principles that this instrument embodies. A policy analysis framework was utilized to conduct stakeholder interviews and review government documents. The concept of agenda-setting received special attention and content analysis of media reports and a review of government legislative activity were conducted to provide insight into the prevalence of the issue on the public and political agendas. The author argues that while there are real challenges that policymakers must overcome, the absence of political leadership has resulted in stagnation in the decision-making process. As a result, the issue has disappeared from both the public and political agenda. In order for progress to be made, political will must be created and the impetus to act (‘re-setting the agenda’) must come from civil society in the absence of government engagement on this issue.

This thesis explores whether independent directors in the USA and Canada are effective in holding management accountable by: (1) analyzing how the policy of relying on independent directors developed and operates; (2) introducing the main theoretical critiques of independent directors’ monitoring effect; and (3) examining whether empirical studies in the field of management science and financial economics support the policy in both countries of relying on independent directors as corporate monitors. Empirical evidence shows that boards with a majority of independent directors, in some circumstances, were associated with better firm performance (in the post-SOX period) and fulfilled certain board tasks effectively in the United States. Canadian studies, however, have not shown a positive association with improved firm performance. Audit committees composed entirely of independent directors have been effective in ensuring the quality of financial reporting in the United States, but this effect has not been found in Canada. Compensation committees composed fully of independent directors neither constrained the level of executive compensation nor tied CEO pay to firm performance in either country. US firms with an audit committee member who had accounting expertise, rather than financial analysis or supervisory expertise, were associated with a higher quality of financial reporting, while Canadian firms with an audit committee member who has financial expertise, instead of financial literacy, were associated with a similar effect. Studies also showed that independent directors perform better in certain circumstances. Based on empirical evidence, US regulators should consider: (1) changing the current mandatory requirements for an independent board and a completely independent compensation committee to a comply-or-explain requirement; (2) narrowing the qualification of a financial expert to an individual who has accounting expertise; and (3) recruiting independent directors who have two or fewer outside directorships, hold more of the corporation’s shares, have lower cost of acquiring corporate information, and have no social connections with the CEO. In Canada, weak evidence of the monitoring effectiveness of independent directors supports the existing comply-or-explain approach. Canadian regulators may only need to require or recommend that at least one audit committee member has financial expertise, instead of only financial literacy.

The aim of this PhD thesis is to analyze the history and current situation of hedge funds and assess their potential to destabilize financial markets. The findings of the analysis are used to validate the assumptions underlying the major regulatory changes of hedge funds in the key global economic centres after the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. Since their inception early last century hedge funds have gone through a period of great expansion in the sixties, followed by a decline due to large losses sustained in the early seventies. The nineties meant a real breakthrough for hedge funds as a result of which they became prominent players in the alternative investment space. As of today, there is over ten thousand hedge funds that globally manage close to 3 trillion US dollars. Compared to mutual funds and other financial institutions the volume of assets under management is still relatively small, the rate of growth over the past fifteen years has however been very significant. What is emphasized with respect to the impact of hedge funds on financial markets is the contribution to increasing the liquidity and efficiency and their role on the financial derivatives market where hedge funds are actively involved in the transfer of risk. They are at the same time subject of criticism for their purported destabilizing effect on financial markets and contribution to fluctuations in the prices of investment instruments. Although the share of hedge funds in triggering major financial crises has not been conclusively established, these investment entities were one of the targets of the wide-ranging regulatory changes following the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. The dissertation first discusses the history and current situation of hedge funds and defines the term hedge fund. The following section describes the basic characteristics and principles of their functioning and reviews the regulation in the major domiciles. The final chapter is focused on the empirical analysis of the impact of hedge funds on financial markets. The inputs for this analysis include a global hedge fund index and representative market indices and data from the CFTC on positions in the 10 year US government treasury note futures. In the first step the descriptive statistics for the transformed time series are presented. The second part of the analysis focuses on lagged correlations between returns and volatility of the global hedge fund index and representative market indices. Granger causality tests are applied in the following section to determine the relationships between the returns and volatility of hedge fund and representative market indices. In the final step of the analysis Granger causality tests are used to analyze the link between the changes in positions in the 10-year US treasury note futures held by hedge funds and the change in settlement prices of these futures with the aim to assess whether hedge funds have the capacity to move the market. In conclusion, the results of this analysis are discussed in light of the recent regulatory changes and the potential for the future growth of hedge funds is assessed.

No description available.

The aim of this my diploma thesis is to analyze the justification for the establishment of the Institutionalization of the Office for Oversight of Financing of Political Parties and Movements in the Czech Republic. Here I will be particularly interested in the sources of incentives to establish of this Office. Next, I will present the internal settings of the Office itself in the sense of what real changes it has brought to the existing legislation that deals with the financing of political parties in the Czech Republic. In the context of the comparison of the current and formerly valid legal regulations, the fulfillment of the principles of the system of financing of political parties will be monitored. On the basis of empirical data from the Office, evaluate the effectiveness and the justification of the introduction of this Office into the legislation of the Czech Republic. Partial goals and their fulfillment form the basis for answering the research question of work. The research question is based on the aims of the thesis and is formulated in the following way: Can the establishment of the Office be justified in view of the previous legal status? It is safe to say that the Office is still building its position within the funding system. It is not possible to estimate in what direction it will...

This dissertation is a qualitative-based program evaluation that explored the existing charter school accountability measures, processes, and oversight systems of the California Department of Education (CDE) in relation to State Board of Education (SBE)-authorized charter schools. This dissertation further explored the potential program improvements that could be implemented to improve the charter school oversight functions of the SBE and CDE. After a charter school receives authorization and approval to operate, the degrees of accountably and oversight vary dependent upon the charter authorizer and the oversite entity. This dissertation study aimed to discover how charter schools authorized by the SBE are held accountable as the SBE delegates its oversight authority to the CDE. Data were collected from the CDE by way of interviews, artifact analysis, and participatory research. Furthermore, this dissertation study aimed to delineate how accountability and oversight systems subsequently impact both charter schools and authorizers, as these two entities are currently governed by the outdated Charter School Act of 1992. Finally, this dissertation study aimed to provide recommendations which may potentially be used as a guide to influence future legislation and or improve the CDE’s charter schools oversight processes. The findings of this study included six recommendations for future practice and three recommendations for future research.

Undersökningens syfte var att identifiera om plan- eller miljöparadigmet haft företräde vid behandling av överprövning av detaljplaner enligt 11 kap. 10 § i plan- och bygglagen och att identifiera om det fanns skillnader mellan länsstyrelserna vid dessa prövningar. Avgränsning gjordes till tidperioden 2012-2015 och länsstyrelserna i Blekinge, Kalmar, Kronoberg och Skåne län. Metoden som använts var en textanalys baserad på dekonstruktion. Det empiriska materialet har huvudsakligen utgjorts av länsstyrelsernas beslut. Resultatet visade att planparadigmet haft företräde i beslut av Länsstyrelsen i Kalmar län, miljöparadigmet haft företräde i beslut av Länsstyrelsen i Skåne län. I beslut av Länsstyrelsen i Kronobergs län växlade företrädet mellan paradigmen. För beslut av Länsstyrelsen i Blekinge län gick inget företrädande paradigm att hitta. Skillnader mellan länsstyrelserna hittades. Den huvudsakliga skillnaden som identifierades var en ovilja att överpröva kommunernas beslut från Länsstyrelsen i Kalmar län och en vilja att styra kommunerna genom en hög skyddsambition hos Länsstyrelsen i Skåne län. / This study was aimed to identify whether the planning or environmental paradigm had precedence in the treatment of appeals of zoning under Chapter 11. § 10 of the Swedish Planning and Building Act and to identify whether there were differences between the county administrative boards in these trials. Delimitation was made to the time period 2012-2015, and the counties of Blekinge, Kalmar, Kronoberg and Skåne. The method used was a text analysis based on deconstruction. The empirical material has mainly consisted of the county administrative boards' decisions.The results showed that planning paradigm had primacy in the decisions of the Administrative Board in Kalmar County, environmental paradigm had primacy in the decisions of the Administrative Board of Skåne. In the decision made by the Administrative Board of Kronoberg changing priority between the paradigms were found. In the decisions made by the County Administrative Board of Blekinge were no predominant paradigm found. Differences between the county administrative boards were found. The main difference identified were a reluctance to challenge the municipalitys decisions from the County Administrative Board in Kalmar County and a high protective aim of the County Administrative Board of Skåne.

Despite growing scrutiny of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Canada and worldwide, the follow-up and monitoring component remains under practiced, leaving EIA decision-makers and practitioners with little understanding of the accuracy of impact predictions made and the effectiveness of mitigation measures developed during the EIA project-planning phase. The Minister’s Expert Panel further highlighted the importance of enhancing follow-up and monitoring during the recent review of EIA processes in Canada. The research identifies six leading edge practices for next generation EIA follow-up and monitoring: public and Indigenous participation, continuous learning, clear roles and responsibilities, independent oversight, adaptive management and traditional knowledge. Approaches to implement those practices in a Canadian context are explored and supported by guidance that captures the learning potential of EIA follow-up and monitoring. The six practices are intended as a package and are presented with practical guidance for proponents, regulators, consultants and others involved in EIA. / May 2017

Magister Legum - LLM