The subject of this work is the strategic problems faced by the United States Navy in the Western Pacific following the acquisition of the Philippine Islands as a result of the Spanish-American War. Using primary materials from the National Archives, Naval War College, and Library of Congress Manuscript Division, some of which have only recently been declassified, the rarely publicized 'Works of the United States Navy in regards to strategic planning and national interests are detailed. Secondary accounts, along with contemporary periodical literature, supplement the previously classified documents.

As the resource related conflict in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria escalates at a furious pace, it is becoming clear that traditional means of dispute resolution (such as litigation and violence) are no longer applicable. Research has also shown that no method of dispute resolution can be efficient, equitable and administratively practicable without the collective effort of all parties involved; individuals, institutions and non-governmental organizations need to work together to develop a countrywide ability to design an effective conflict resolution system. While there is a perceived need for a viable dispute resolution process, to date, no concerted effort has been made to harness relevant experiences and build a network of practitioners skilled in the management of such conflicts. The emerging Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods (which do not involve litigation) may offer opportunities to resolve disputes in the Niger Delta region more effectively than litigation-based means. In view of this, this research assesses indigenous dispute resolution processes in terms of their potential applicability as alternative dispute resolution processes for the Niger Delta conflict. The review also provides insights into the criteria used to support decision making as it relates to choosing the most appropriate dispute resolution process. To do this, this research advocates a hybrid model (an integration of both customary indigenous process and westernised mediation process). The choice of a hybrid model is predicated on the assumption that the Niger Delta is a hub for investors, where both locals (indigenes) and outsiders (foreigners) interact and relate together in pursuit of a common goal. Experience at the grass roots level in one community may also provide guidance for conflict resolution at similar levels in other communities.

From early colonial times the Canadian economy, highly dependent on exports, has developed a pluralist economic system in a generally congenial international environment. Since 1970 however, the Canadian economy has been challenged, albeit at the margins, by unfamiliar impacts largely originating in the Pacific economy. The institutional reactions of relevant Canadian export interests - defined as the federal government, provincial governments and a small number of Canadian firms - have, on the whole, proved inadequate to these challenges. This inadequacy threatens Canadian domestic prosperity and constrains economic and political options internationally. This study hypothesizes that an adequate response to these new challenges depends on institutional adaptation within and among Canadian export interests. Six principles are advanced to promote this adaptation: 1. the priority of economic considerations; 2. the legitimate role of government; 3. full provincial participation; 4. coordination by the national government; 5. an authoritative voice for each interest; 6. better sharing and use of information. The six principles are applied in three case studies. The first concerns the international marketing challenge posed by the Japanese general trading company (soga shosha), and the Canadian government's initiative to create a Canadian trading corporation. The application of the six principles suggests an alternative proposal, the Canadian Commercial Centre, in which Canadian export interests develop and share information in a way which recognizes the appropriate role of each and the obligation of all to attain a greater coherence. The second case study concerns the recent Western Liquid Natural Gas (WLNG) project which featured a new form of investment (the minority interest joint venture coupled with a long-term supply contract) in which a consortium of Japanese buyers represented by a Japanese general trading company sought to reach agreement with an uncoordinated collection of Canadian firms and governments. The lack of coherence among these Canadian interests was at least a contributing factor in the loss of an opportunity to expand and diversify Canadian LNG markets. The application of the six principles to the WLNG case yields an alternative Canadian approach involving the early establishment of a committee of authoritative officials from the relevant Canadian interests, and a new coordinating role for a federal agency like the (now disbanded) Ministry of State for Economic and Regional Development and the Federal Economic Development Coordinator. The final case study concerns the challenge to trade and investment represented by the movement to a Pacific economic community, notably the Pacific Economic Community concept (PECC). The current reactions of such institutions as the Canadian committee of the Pacific Basin Economic Council and the federal Department of External Affairs are assessed, leading to the recommendation that the Canadian government should involve a wider constituency of current and potential Canadian export interests in an educational policy process which may bear on Canada's future prosperity and political resilience. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The principal aim of this thesis is to undertake a critical examination of the role of the international patent system in the transfer of technology to West Africa, particularly Ghana and Nigeria. It focuses mainly on the patent systans and technology regulatory regimes of the two countries. The study is intended to identify and evaluate the impact of the international patent system on the transfer and development of technology in this area. The first chapter provides a theoretical foundation to some of the more practical issues to be discussed in the subsequent chapters. The Paris Convention and the diplomatic revision exercise thereof, as well as other efforts and policies regarding patents and technology transfer at various levels are discussed in Chapter Two. Chapters Three to Eight consider the two case-studies undertaken in this thesis. Chapter Three begins with the historical development of the patent system in both Ghana and Nigeria, and the remaining chapters continue with a discussion of the present patent and technology regulatory regimes of both countries. Based on facts and figures the two case-studies examine critically the patent law and systems and technology transfer laws of these two countries including other related institutional measures highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. The study argues that if the patent systems of both countries are to play a meaningful role in the transfer and developnent of technology they nust be utilized as a tool of economic policy and also be related to the technology transfer regimes which nust necessarily be integrated into the national technology policy which should, in turn, be made an integral part of the entire national developnent plan. It is concluded that it is only in this way that the patent system can effectively contribute to the transfer of technology and the development of indigenous technological capabilities in the two countries.

The agrarian question is one of Zimbabwe's enduring colonial legacies. At independence the ensemble if issues comprising the agrarian question included an inequitable racial distribution of land, different tenure systems for blacks and white settlers, a discriminatory provision of agricultural support services, and repressive relations between the state and the peasantry. Peasant grievances over the agrarian question mobilised their support for the liberation struggle which culminated in independence in 1980. Contrary to the expectations of the majority of Zimbabweans, agrarian reforms introduced since independence have not transformed the colonial agrarian structure. The thesis investigates factors which account for the nature of agrarian reforms. Using a socio-historical analysis, it examines changes and continuities in agrarian policies and laws. In the main, the thesis argues that reform has been shaped by changes in power relations in society which are reflected in the exercise of state power. It shows that the manner in which independence was achieved and the character and ideologies of the social forces that inherited state power account for the changes and continuities in policies and laws. The thesis demonstrates that land reform was initially constrained by the constitutional provision which protected private property from compulsory acquisition. More important, it argues that reform has been determined by the failure to transform the inherited accumulation strategy, of which capitalist agriculture is an integral element. In addition, it demonstrates that the manner in which land has been redistributed reflects the continuation of colonial ideologies of modernisation. Furthermore, the thesis shows that communal tenure as constructed by the colonial state has been retained partly because of the ideology of nee-traditionalism and partly because it allows the state to intervene in peasant land use and production processes' as part of the process of modernisation. It also shows that the modernisation of peasant agriculture has been attempted through the extension of input, credit, price and marketing packages. Consequently, the thesis shows that the agrarian question is as relevant today as it was at independence, and that the limited and contradictory nature of the agrarian reforms reflects the limitations and contradictions inherent in the post-colonial democratisation process. Hence agrarian reform can only be adequately addressed as part of a comprehensive transformation of the accumulation process and societal democratisation.

Modern security studies have demonstrated that military insecurity or confrontation create crucial obstacles in trade relationships between states. Unlike this widely accepted conclusion, the trade relationship between the ROK and the DPRK from 2002 to 2006 showed a stable growth despite increasingly hostile political confrontation and military tension caused by the North Korean nuclear program. This study analyzes under what conditions the security instability did not undermine economic interdependence and which factors predominantly affected the actors' behavior by focusing on South Korean SMEs. It will conclude that substantial change of inter-Korean relations after the summit talks in 2000 enabled the SMEs to continue to engage with the DPRK under the nuclear crisis. In terms of what actually motivated SMEs in these transactions, it will argue that South Korean businessmen's desperate desire to took for lower-cost production provided a key driving force for them to risk the military instability. This study will substantiate this argument by providing a result of structured survey of South Korean entrepreneurs who actually were involved in the inter-Korea trade in this particular period. By analyzing how security agenda and economic interest relates each other, this study will overcome either security-dominated or economy-centered bias in capturing the changed essence of inter-Korean relations.

The Indian legal system has been dealing with the problem of domestic violence in the recent years especially since the advent of the new legislation the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, which was brought into effect from the 26th of August, 2006. The original contribution that this thesis makes to knowledge is that it identifies a potential category of users of this law- Women in Unconventional Relationships (WUR), and tests the support systems and the ease of access available to this category of women within two different domestic violence frameworks in India. This thesis locates the constructions of transgressive WUR identities in history, society and theoretical discourse and investigates whether these constructions adversely affect their legal subjectivity under the domestic violence law in India. It locates WUR within the domestic violence framework in Delhi, named the Victim Model for the purposes of this research, and within the Survivor Model in Mumbai. It privileges the voices of ten WUR who articulate their experiences of survival, domestic violence and the law. The research uses a combination of inter-subjective reflexive research and a feminist analysis of the domestic violence framework. The constructions of identities and the levels of transgression that take place and its effects on survivor/victim legal agency are investigated. The thesis identifies the best domestic violence framework suited for WUR which encourages their rights-bearing capacity as full-fledged citizens of the Indian state.

This study analyses the discursive construction of part-time employment and the workers in it in the employmentand legal contexts in Britain and Japan, applying an analytical framework of the law developed from a post-structuralist feminist viewpoint. In doing this, this study contributes to knowledge in the field of legal studies by providing an account of the active role of the law in the area of employment,through the operation of discourse, in shaping and reshaping structural inequality which part-time women employees face in contemporary British and Japanese society. Evidence for this study is collected from statistical data, questionnaires and interviews with managers, interviews with a group of ex-part-time women workers pursuing a legal case and the close reading of legal materials in the two countries. From the examination of these data, two discourses are identified,which circulate in employment and legal institutions in both countries and which help to produce the differentiation between full-time and part-time employees. One discourse emphasises differencesin labour-related factors, such as working hours, job content and commitment, while the other emphasises differences in the gendered characteristics and domestic positions of men and women. I show that the two discourses operate within and across these institutions, constructing part-time employment as different from and inferior to full-time employment on both labour related and gender-related grounds, and legitimisingthe disadvantaged position of part-time employees. This discursive construction has brought about a gendered hierarchy within the law in which the inferior working pattern of part-time employment is gendered as women's, while the superior pattern of full-time employmentis gendered as men's. On the basis of this analysis, I argue that the law is one of the most influential discursive mechanisms which bring about and help to sustain the hierarchical gendering of society, contributing to the production and reproduction of unequal power relations between the sexes and between employers and part-time women employees.

Post-independent Cameroon has grappled with the problem of systemic violation of civil and political rights (CPR) despite a transition from single party dictatorship to multiparty democracy in the 1990s. Various legislative measures including the adoption of a supposedly ‘rights friendly’ constitution in 1996 have done little to ameliorate that problem. This thesis adopts a concept of constitutionalism, based on contemporary international standards, to analyse the problem of CPR violations from the perspective of the constitutional arrangements in Cameroon. It examines the system of separation of powers, the method of securing judicial independence and the mechanisms for judicial review. The argument is made that the problem can be attributed in part to the predominant influence of the French civil law system in Cameroon’s bijural legal system. Although for historical reasons, Cameroon operates both the English common law and the French civil law, constitutional developments have continued to be influenced by the latter which lends itself to practices that are not sufficiently supportive of constitutionalism as defined herein. The thesis, however, goes further to explore how the constitutional system could be reinforced to provide a more conducive framework for the protection and enhancement of CPR. Drawing on two strands of arguments, one highlighting features of the common law system that can be more supportive of constitutionalism and the other which highlights the value of indigenous antecedents of constitutionalism, the thesis proposes the development of a contextual model which is more reflective of Cameroon’s peculiar legal and socio-political circumstances. It proposes what is described as an Optimal Integrative Approach (OIA) as a framework for developing a contextual model, more conducive for the protection and enhancement of CPR in Cameroon.

This thesis investigates how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has tactically managed and defused major crises between 2002 and 2008 which put its credibility and legitimacy to the test. Contrary to conventional wisdom that major crises are likely to challenge and threaten regime stability in authoritarian systems or even undermine their viability, this thesis argues that the CCP has managed to sustain its political hegemony to date through the manipulation of these major crises and through the maximum tinkering with the current political system it reigns over. In order to explain why manipulation is the key in the CCP’s successful crisis management, this thesis first develops a critical reassessment of the conception of crisis and elaborates on crisis’s tripartite political utilities. These are (a) shift the dominating paradigm, (b) centralise political power and (c) (re) gain popularity and legitimacy. These altogether form an analytical framework for crisis, which is followed by a chapter that sets the backdrop against which our case studies unfold and explains why the Chinese context is particularly favourable for crisis manipulation. The thesis then proceeds with three case studies: the 2003 SARS epidemic, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the Sanlu milk scandal occurred in the same year. The thesis suggests that although the CCP’s responses were not flawless, and not always timely, it managed to manipulate all three crises in its favour via the aforementioned political utilities and subsequently defused these crises. At the same time, its Leninist structure was able to unleash formidable mobilisation capacity to help the regime rapidly bring situations under control. Overall, the CCP’s crisis management efficacy was satisfactory in the short term. Nevertheless, the thesis concludes that despite the short term usefulness of crisis manipulation, in the long term the efficacy of the same strategy as well as the political utility of crisis are decaying, as illustrated in reference to more recent crises that stretched the CCP’s credibility. Therefore, the CCP is in need of embarking on substantive political reform in order to develop an alternative crisis displacement mechanism. This thesis makes an original contribution to the existing literature in the field. It complements the public administration and public management literature by bringing politics back in. It also updates the empirical knowledge base of past studies as well as offering a comparison of crisis responses. This is a timely contribution to the study of Chinese crisis management and to the study of the nature of Chinese politics.