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Structure - Agency and International Conflict: Capabilities, Identities, Risk, and DecisionCobb, Joel 08 1900 (has links)
<p>[missing page:85]</p> / <p>This thesis suggests that the ongoing structure-agency debate in the international relations literature contains relevant insights that should be imported into the literature on international conflict, and, more concretely, that concerns with ideational structures should be incorporated into t he more materialist concerns of conflict theorists. The theoretical sections of the thesis suggest that it is possible to develop new approaches to thinking about conflict theory without making either agents or structures ontologically primitive. Using modified formulations of power cycle theory, identity theory, and prospect theory, a synthetic argument incorporating elements of each is developed within a framework of structure and agency. The final chapter of the thesis examines t he Falkland/Malvinas War and applies the theoretical argument to "test " the strengths and weaknesses of t he theory. The thesis concludes by pointing out some areas of difficulty and possible paths for further research.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)
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An Examination of Some Modern Liberal ThinkersFulop, Marta 05 1900 (has links)
<p>[missing pages:92,123]</p> / <p>Liberalism appears to have two meanings; one having an ethical component, which strives to allow individuals to fulfil their capabilities and be full members of society; the other, simply being a market-like relation between consumers. In this thesis I argue that there is a meaning left to liberalism other than enforcing the minimal rules of the competitive arena and that liberalism must encompass the new problems of growing unemployment and poverty in liberal democratic societies.</p> <p>This thesis considers modern liberal thinkers who address the meaning of liberalism and the contemporary crises faced in Western democratic nations. These thinkers, Guy Debord, John Kenneth Galbraith, Norberto Bobbio, and Ralf Dahrendorf, provide a convenient overall perspective on the problem of liberalism.</p> <p>Guy Debord views liberal societies as just a spectacle of mindless consumption which has gone beyond the grasp of thoughtful citizenship. However, while his arguments do have some valid points and remarks to make about our society, because Debord chooses to ignore the plight of the increasing numbers of those who do not fit into the general parameters of society, his argument that liberalism necessarily excludes ethical principles is flawed.</p> <p>John Kenneth Galbraith addresses the issue of the growing number of poor and unemployed which raises the issue as to whether liberalism can address the needs of society as it changes.</p> <p>Norberto Bobbio attempts to find a system which would solve the present shortcomings of our liberal democratic system. However, he offers a utopian vision which would not solve contemporary problems.</p> <p>Finally, Ralf Dahrendorf addresses problems faced in contemporary liberal democracies and believes ethical liberalism has a future. While he recognizes the conflict between the market side and the ethical side of liberalism, he believes that this conflict, given the will, can and must be worked out to benefit every human being.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)
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The Gender Based Development of ThailandLufer, Julie 06 1900 (has links)
<p>[missing page 29]</p> / <p>This thesis explores the direct and causal link between the exploitation of women as a source of unpaid or cheap labour, and the rapid economic growth of the economies we consider newly industrialized. Thailand has been chosen as the case study because it serves to exemplify the kinds of effects gender based development has upon women. The hypothesis that was tested is that the exploitation of women - for example as unpaid labour in the home or the agricultural sector, or as a source of cheap waged labour in hotels or factories - is a necessary condition for the accelerated economic growth of Thailand.</p> <p>The first chapter deals with feminist theory concerning patriarchal-capitalist relations. With heavy emphasis on the structuralist argument of such feminist theorists as Mies, Lim, Enloe, Hartman, Harstock and Lewenhak, the connections between capitalist economic arrangements and the underlying, hidden overtones of patriarchy are explored at length. The current condition of women in western as well as Thai society is related to the structure of capitalistpatriarchy and the process of housewifization.</p> <p>In the second section of the first chapter, the historical aspects of women's work is related to the current economic context. It is demonstrated that clear linkages exist between the type of work women do in the home and the pay they receive in the capitalist workplace. It is hypothesized that because women's work was traditionally relegated to the private sphere that it has been undervalued, and thus, considered less economically viable.</p> <p>Chapter two examines the historical development of Thailand. This section is divided into several phases beginning with the 1950s and proceeding into the contemporary stage. It is established that Thai development was, and currently is, significantly oriented towards production for export. These include the manufacturing sector, such as electronics, textiles and agricultural production. By nature, economies that have such heavy orientation on export are reliant on the cheap labour of its populace. In the case of Thailand, this includes predominantly women.</p> <p>The third chapter explores specifically the sex selective migration patterns of Thailand and its relation to women's employment in the agrricultural sector. It was found that it is primarily young, unmarried women, ages 15-25 that are leaving rural areas of Thailand for Bangkok in order to earn a living. The kinds of changes that are occurring in agricultural production - for example, the mechanization of earn a living. The kinds of changes that are occurring in agricultural production - for example, the mechanization of farming - are seen as having a direct effect on young women's abilities to find employment in rural areas. It is demonstrated that with the advance of technology in the rural areas of Thailand, the social status of women has been affected in both positively and negatively. On the one hand, women's status in terms of decisions making patterns has improved. On the other hand, the traditionally high value ascribed to women vis a vis their reproductive abilities has diminished significantly. For instance, women are no longer viewed as the reproducers of the next generation of labour power. As such, men are not required to live in the matrimonial house since the religious conventions surrounding marriage and family have been relaxed.</p> <p>Chapter four deals extensively with gender and Thailand's industrial sector, primarily the electronics, garment, and textile industries. It is established that Thailand's ability to attract offshore multinational investment is highly contingent upon it being able to provide semi-skilled, cheap labour. Thai women represent just such source of cheap labour. Most of the multinationals operating in Thailand are from either Japan, other South Asian countries, or the United States. Women's employment statistics in these industries are staggering. They comprise ln the electronics industry. The link between gender and development is probably no more evident than it is in these two economic sectors.</p> <p>The second aspect of chapter four conceritrates on the informal sector of the Thai economy. This sector, unlike any other, is reliant upon the exploitation of women, especially young, uneducated women. The links between the tourism industry in Thailand and prostitution as a form of income generating activity are made very obvious. There are over 2 000 000 prostitutes in all of Thailand, 800 000 of whom are young women under the age of sixteen. The relationship between Thailand's needs for foreign currency and the high rate of prostitution associated with tourism are further illuminated.</p> <p>It is concluded that indeed Thailand's development is highly contingent on the exploitation of women as a source of unpaid or cheap-waged labour. The most profitable sectors of the Thai economy tend to rely significantly on the labour of women. Women are, thus, indisputably the cornerstone of Thailand's economic growth. Yet, Thai women are disadvantaged in almost every aspect of their lives. They receive less education, have higher rates of illiteracy, receive lower wages, lack access to many occupations and are virtually invisible in Thai political life. Thai women have, as it was initially hypothesized, been profoundly affected by the gender based development of their country.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)
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The Choice of Policy Instruments: The Case of Automobile Insurance in OntarioNigol, Alexander Robert January 1985 (has links)
<p>According to the public choice approach to public policy, the objective of any political party is to garner enough votes to form or maintain a government. The ancillary hypothesis of poli-tical rationality dictates that governing parties choose policy instruments which best serve this purpose. In essence, this means choosing policy instruments which a plurality of voters find favourable. In this paper, the hypothesis of political rationality is first examined from a theoretical perspective. This analysis .points out certain shortcomings in the hypothesis, particularly the notion. that voters are the focus of instrument choice. In view of this, the case of automobile insurance in Ontario is presented. In particular, the events leading up to the government of Ontario's enactment of compulsory automobile insurance in 1980 are examined. In the end, the hypothesis of political rationality is rejected, and in its stead the framework of a new hypothesis of instrument choice based on interest groups and bureaucracy is laid.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)
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The Role and Function of the Ontario OmbudsmanSirskyj, Borys 08 1900 (has links)
<p>The purpose of this thesis will be to examine and evaluate the office of the Ombudsman in the province of Ontario since it was created in May, 1975. We suggest that this is a unique mechanism of administrative control over bureaucracy. The significance of the Ombudsman's office is twofold. First the Ombudsman bridges the gap between government and the people by providing the citizens of Ontario with an office where they can lodge their complaints against unfair administrative decisions and through which they can get their grievance redressed.</p> <p>Secondly, the Ombudsman's office promotes the general efficiency of administration whereby the Ombudsman's recommendations and admonitions correct administrative -malpractices and prevent their recurrence by acting as a set of guidelines for government officials. In this manner, through the improvement of government administration and thereby preventing the recurrence of administrative injustice, the Ombudsman provides both direct and indirect protection a gainst unfoun ded and unjust administrative decisions.</p> <p>Hence, as the range of such democratic institutions widens, the need for an understanding of its aims and principles becomes more pressing. It is with the hope of making some contribution to the understanding of the Ombudsman's office, particularly in the province of Ontario, that this thesis is being written.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)
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Development and Underdevelopment in the Third World: Theoretical ApproachesReece, Allan Edward 08 1900 (has links)
<p>The aim of this thesis is to show that dependency theory, put forward by its proponents as a theoretical framework adequate to the problem of examining the dynamic of the process of development in the countries of the third world, while an advance on bourgeois formulations that preceeded it, remains problematical on the most fundamental of levels.</p> <p>The thesis argues, in fact, that dependency theory must be rejected as an analytical framework for the reason that it locates the crucial determinant of uneven levels of development in the realms of circulation and of exchange, and not at the level of production.</p> <p>It is my submission that dependency theory has been superceeded with the development of a perspective that has come to be known as the modes of production approach. Unlike dependency, the modes of production approach situates the problem of uneven development at the level of production, and not in the realm of circulation.</p> <p>The modes of production approach, the thesis argues, which theorizes the questions of deveiopment and underdevelopment, not in terms of the 'development of underdevelopment', a la dependency, but rather in terms of the articulation of the capitalist mode of production with non-, and primitive capitalist modes of production, thus remains an adequate theoretical perspective with which to address the question of the uneven levels of development which prevail on a world scale.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)
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Towards a Perspective on the Perpetuation of the Canadian Federal System: Federal-Ontario Relations in University Education , 1945-1970Cody, Hugh Howard 05 1900 (has links)
<p>The literatures on federalism, integration, and political development all tend to present the progressive centralization of popular allegiance and political power over time as the normal and expected pattern of the historical experience of federations and other states. Canada is an ongoing federation which does not conform to this model. Canada's internal fragmentations seem at least as compelling as ever, even after more than a century of federal union. Yet the federation has managed to endure while maintaining its divisions. In recent years certain Canadian provinces have become increasingly assertive and persuasive advocates of full autonomy in fields of provincial jurisdiction. They have also sought the fiscal capacity to implement this authority. For a number of reasons some provices have induced the federal government to abandon its practice of unilaterally making policy in fields of provincial jurisdiction. Because the federal government retains an interest in these services (which include health, welfare, and education), and because some other fields of mutual concern (notably natural resources) are under joint supervision, direct negotiation between executives of federal and provincial governments has become a familiar characteristic of the federal system since the middle 1960's. This new development in federal-provincial relations is often called executive federalism.</p> <p>The study comprises a case study analysis of the evolution of the federal-provincial relationship in one jurisdiction, between the federal government and one province, over a specified time period. Federal and Ontario government files, and interviews with civil servants, supply most of the research material. The immediate objective is a preliminary assessment of how and how well the two sets of government executives have accommodated their conflicting interests in the university field. Ultimately, such a finding suggests some generalizations about how the Canadian federal system is evolving and is being perpetuated in a period when disagreement between federal and provincial governments is the most intense in Canada's history. A set of terms is introduced as analytic tools to assist in a discussion of the dynamic social environment in which federal systems operate. Such as exercise facilitates the attainment of a new perspective on the relative status of the two levels of government in Canada at this time, and helps to promote an appreciation of the proper strategy for managing intergovernmental conflict. These tools may prove useful in future comparative studies of intergovernmental public policy making in federal states.</p> <p>It is concluded that executive federalism is inevitable and workable in the present federal-provincial climate. In any case, no practical alternative now exists or is likely to appear soon. Although both federal and provincial governments have sacrificed their interests to some degree in executive federalism, only the federal government had surrendered fiscal and jurisdictional manoeuvrability. It is suggested that the federal government consider bringing the provinces into the making of policy in federal fields of provincial concern. Such as alteration of executive federalism might weaken provincial government resistance to continued federal involvement in provincial jurisdictions, and thereby lessen conflict in federal-provincial relations and safeguard the federal government's remaining leverage in provincial fields.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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Social Change and Political Stability in Ontario: Electoral Forces 1867-1977White, Graham 03 1900 (has links)
<p>In the years since Confederation, Ontario seems to have undergone profound social change, yet it seems also to have experienced relatively little political change. This apparent paradox is the starting point of this thesis. The initial terms of reference thus centre on change processes, but considerable attention is devoted to continuity and to stability in both the social and political arenas.</p> <p>Reduced to the simplest terms, the aim of this work is to determine what the relationship has been between social change and political change in Ontario over the past century. Although it is recognized that a good deal more is involved, elctions and electoral forces are chosen as gauges of the interplay of social and political change. The empirical analysis consists of detailed examination of election returns and of cencus data, employing techniques both elementary and moderately sophisticated. In addition to the specific findings, the data set generated for these purposes represent in itself a significant contribution to knowledge of Ontario politics.</p> <p>As a complement to the statistical an analysis, a wide-ranging review was conducted of Ontario history. Based on secondary sources, this review of social and political developments in the province not only provides a context for the statistical analysis, but also brings into consideration aspects of social, political and electoral continuity and change which do not lend themselves to statistical enquiry. A key element here is the province's enduring "progressive conservatism" which is examined and related to change processes.</p> <p>The findings of this study may be arrayed along four dimensions. First, no startling or grand new interpretations of Ontario politics emerge. Secondly, a host of new facts and insights on particular aspects of Ontario politics and society. Thirdly, ina a number of instances, the conventional wisdom of Ontario electoral history proves an either incomplete or inaccurate guide; this is particularly so with respect to commonly accepted interpretations of politics in the Nineteenth Century. Finally, a number of middle range hypotheses relating social and political change are tested in the context of Ontario history. The initially appearing notion of critical realignment, for example, is found to have at best limited applicability to Ontario. Some evidence is adduced in support of John Wilson's theory of political development, but important shortcomings emerge as well.</p> <p>In the end, the rather simple-minded paradox posited at the outset is largely dispelled by a more thorough understanding of the complexities of the social change-political change relationship in Ontario. The following are the key elements of this fuller view of the relationship: no significant social change has failed to effect lasting, substantial political and electoral changes. Conversely, no important, enduring political or electoral changes have come about save in response to social change. This transformation of social change into change in the electoral and political realms has been uneven and at less pronounces levels of change, uncertain-for a host of reasons: somd of the changes in Ontario society have been more apparent than real, while others have lacked political; not all political changes have been manifested electorally; the parties and their leaders perform a crucial transmission role, yet they also exert an important independent influence; the province's diversity and its constituent communities have also had a telling effect, as has its social and political converatism.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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Partners and Competitors: Intergovernmental Relations and the Governance of Transboundary Common PoolsHeinmiller, Timothy B. January 2004 (has links)
<p>Transboundary common pools include many natural resources that flow or roam across such vast areas that they encompass the territory of multiple sovereign jurisdictions. This creates a considerable degree of resource management interdependency for the governments of these jurisdictions, and there are many types of intergovernmental institutions that have been created to address this interdependency, ranging from governmental unilateralism to binding intergovernmental decision-making. This study investigates the impact that various intergovernmental institutions have on policy design and policy learning in transboundary common pool management by analyzing and comparing the development of water management policies in the Great Lakes Basin of North America and the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia. The empirical findings from this comparison suggest that the involvement of non-governmental actors as third party brokers and monitors in intergovernmental interactions can have a very beneficial impact on both short-term policy design and long-term policy learning in the management of transboundary common pools. Effective intergovernmental policy interactions are even further facilitated by intergovernmental structures featuring both a political level council and an administrative level commission, each with defined tasks but linked in sequential decision-making.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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The Determinants of Canada's South African Policy (1968 to 1984)Platt, Elizabeth R. 05 1900 (has links)
<p>An examination of the Trudeau government's rhetoric, United Nations activity, and economic relations with South Africa reveals that the government's South African policy was twofold in nature. From 1968 to 1984, the Canadian government consistently condemned South Africa's apartheid system. Nonetheless, it was unwilling to enact policies that would aid in the destruction of that system.</p> <p>How can we account for the government's unwillingness to bring rhetoric in line with reality? In other words, what determinants influenced the government's South African policy? The hypothesis of this thesis is that while Canada's economic interests in South Africa were not unimportant, they were not the overriding determinant in the formulation of Canada's South African policy. Consequently, it will be demonstrated that South Africa's strategic and economic importance to the West was the most significant determining factor in shaping Canada's policy toward that country. Because of the obligations of the NATO alliance and the array of socio-economic, cultural and traditional links between Canada and its Western allies, notably the United States and Britain. the Trudeau government was not willing to undertake unilateral policies that would have impinged on the interests of its allies. By adopting this approach. the government avoided possible economic or political repercussions that might have resulted if the Canadian government adopted concrete unilateral initiatives. In order to circumvent these parameters. the government preferred to act in multilateral forums. Within these bodies the government could comfortably initiate policies knowing that it was not acting alone and thereby avoided the potential anger of those countries with more substantive interests in South Africa.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)
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