Discrimination based on health status is a serious problem in China, which influences the fundamental rights of millions of people. This thesis mainly discusses the nature, characteristics and reasons of discrimination based on health status in China. As a contextual and socio-legal study, this thesis employs doctrinal, empirical, historical, international & comparative law methods to provide a comprehensive and in-depth study on tackling discrimination based on health status in China. It is among the earliest researches that focus on the specific topic of discrimination based on health status in China. This thesis argues that various factors are responsible for continuing discrimination based on health status in China. Particularly, the fragmentary, incomplete, ambiguous and conflicting legislation, the ineffective, arbitrary and bureaucratic administration, the dependant and ineffective judiciary, the less active nongovernmental actors, and other relevant political, economic, medical and cultural factors, interact with one another to cause continuing discrimination. To pursue this argument, first, the thesis clarifies the necessity to prohibit discrimination based on health status by analysing relevant definitions and theories of such discrimination. Second, the thesis explores how discrimination based on health status has been tackled in international law and domestic law in various other jurisdictions, in order to reveal international responsibility China should bear and foreign lessons China can learn. Third, the thesis examines how discrimination based on health status has been tackled in Chinese history and reality to understand why such discrimination remains serious today. Fourth, the thesis discusses findings of the author’s fieldwork on tackling discrimination based on health status in China to investigate the effectiveness of the current anti-discrimination regime. Based on the above analyses, the thesis finally concludes the main reasons for continuing discrimination based on health status in China and proposes a more effective antidiscrimination regime in China to prohibit such discrimination.

Uganda is credited for carrying out extensive reforms in its tax system in the 1990s. The system of administration was overhauled together with a complete overhaul of tax legislation. The overriding objective was to increase tax revenues. Improvements were registered in the tax revenues but only temporarily. Since 2004, there has been stagnation in the tax revenue figures. The revenue from direct taxes only contributes about 20% to the total revenue well below the Sub-Saharan average of 40%. This has focused attention on the appropriateness of the reforms. The focus of the reforms on achieving efficiency did not sufficiently take into account the fundamental importance of equity within the system. As a result, the Income Tax Act 1997 embodies distortions and inequalities in the treatment of taxable income and taxpayers that have led to inefficiency in the system as a whole. The tax reforms also took a narrow technical view of the tax system. Taxation has an impact on state-building and is, therefore, affected by the state of governance. The reforms, even where they were well designed, have been affected by institutional weakness and the lack of accountability in the political process. The fact that institutional capacity affects effectiveness of the tax system is well documented yet it does not seem to have been taken into account in 1997 (UNDP, 1991:70). Taxpayer morale and revenues have been constrained by high levels of corruption within the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and arbitrariness in the award of tax waivers and other tax advantages. The purpose of the thesis is, therefore, to examine the distortions engendered by the tax system and their impact on taxpayer morale, tax revenue and investment. The thesis focuses on the direct taxation of profits from business activity in the formal and informal sector. An examination of the taxation of business profits provides an opportunity to highlight the distinctions in the tax system with regard to the treatment of the same type of income based on the legal status of the taxpayer and other considerations. The taxation of business profits in the corporate sector is compared with the taxation of business profits under the personal income tax system, taxation of partnerships and other unincorporated businesses. There is emphasis on the taxation of the informal sector which is presently less than satisfactory. However, the analysis is done in the context of the socio-political situation in Uganda. The weaknesses in governance and corruption have had an impact on the tax system by encouraging tax avoidance and evasion among political elites as well as on activities in the informal sector. The thesis also explores possibilities of broadening the tax base within the existing legislative framework as well as other possibilities for reform, for example, the call for the expansion of the tax base through taxation of land and agriculture by various experts and the URA itself (Private Sector Foundation- Uganda, 2009:122). Account must also be taken of Uganda’s membership of East African Community (EAC) and the constraints this puts on its exercise of fiscal sovereignty.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

This is a study of social and legal change among the Kuria people of Tanzania. It examines the transformation of the Kuria ideas and practices concerning marriage, children and property rights. The study covers a period following the colonial rule in Tanzania beginning about the turn of this century to the present. The aim of the study is to show the relationship between the integration of the Kuria economy into a world economic system and the transformation of extant social relations. Although we recognise that social change is an unceasing process in any society, this study argues that forces associated with capitalist penetration accelerated this process. Thus, for example, the authority and power of the elders who had for many generations dominated the Kuria society was undermined. There was radical transformation of kinship and property relations and elders were no longer influential in matters relating to production. There was progressive individualisation of property rights as sUbsistence production was transformed to serve the needs of the capitalist sector. The role of the law and state is also discussed. We argue that both the colonial and the post-colonial states were instrumental in this process of change even if some of their policies appear to have been aimed at conserving certain forms of traditional relations. Within this context of change the responses of the Kuria people to economic change is examined. The study argues that rather than being passive objects of capitalist penetration the Kuria tried to influence events even though their options were highly circumscribed. For the elders change represented an opportunity to utilise their traditional positions to secure resources from the non-traditional economic sector while for the younger generation and the women, change· opened up the means for them to extricate themselves from relations of subordination.

I report the findings of an original empirical study of population policy information needs and modes of information dissemination and use among policymakers in the Asia-Pacific region. Data were obtained through a survey of readers of a population journal. Respondents' information needs and uses are analyzed. The findings help answer broad questions about development-related social-scientific information needs and uses among policymakers. An assessment of the potential contribution of new telematic technologies to information dissemination and use in the 1990s, based upon the survey findings and a review of the literature on telematic applications, is presented.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306 / Center for Information and Communication Sciences

This research involved an investigation of the alignment between performance measurement and strategy in central government agencies. A review of the literature suggested that, although the topic is of great interest and importance, it has been underresearched. The context of the existing studies appears to be based primarily on for-profits/business rather than not-for-profit/public sector domain. Moreover, the existing research is mainly normative lacking supporting empirical evidence. The objectives of this research were to (1) develop greater understanding of performance measurement in the public sector, and (2) provide supporting empirical evidence in place of the normative arguments regarding the alignment between performance measurement and strategy. This research aimed to answer the question, ‘how, in central government agencies, is the alignment between performance measurement and strategy managed?’ This interpretive multiple-case research comprised of the studies of four central government agencies in Thailand. The primary data source was interview data supported by documentation. The interpretational analyses were conducted both at intra-case and inter-case levels. This research found that public officials often regarded, ‘strategy’ as equivalent to ‘policy’ and that these terms were used interchangeably. The research also found that the existing definitions of fundamental performance measurement/management terminologies did not fit comfortably with public sector management owing mainly to their lack of practical perspectives. This research proposed refined terminologies. Additionally, the research found eight advantages of stategy-misaligned performance measurement despite the absence of their recognition in the existing literature. As a result, misalignment could be preferable in some circumstances. However, public managers were under pressure to demonstrate alignment between performance measurement and strategy thus ‘alignment tensions’ occurred in practice. In order to deal with these tensions, three strategies were identified including (1) neglecting the tensions (as in ‘do-nothing strategy’), (2) attempting to realign performance measurement with strategy (as in ‘realigning strategy’), and (3) directing attention from the alignment issue (as in ‘distracting strategy’).

The thesis examines the political economy of trade policy reform in post-apartheid South Africa. It challenges mainstream accounts of contemporary trade policy in South Africa, which have advanced a solely economic rationale to explain the policy choices made by the ANC governments since 1994. The thesis argues that, far more than these accounts concede, international and domestic political economy considerations have also played a central part in the ANC governments' calculations to undertake trade reform to the degree it has. Trade reform in South Africa has been the linchpin of a global adjustment strategy pursued by the domestic political elites by which they have sought to fulfill South Africa's global, regional and domestic political and economic objectives. At the global level, the South African state has vigorously pursued trade liberalisation in order to shed its past image of international pariah and reintegrate itself into the global economy on the basis of outward-oriented growth. Restoring South Africa's international political respectability has been as important as reversing its economic marginalisation in the international division of labour. At the regional level, the South African state has used trade policy reform as a foreign economic policy tool not only to rebuild political and diplomatic relations with African countries strained during the apartheid era - but also to advance its hegemonic ambitions, particularly in Southern Africa, as well as reinforce the region's ability to engage with the forces of economic globalisation. The extent to which South Africa's regional hegemonic ambitions can be achieved, however, lies ultimately with how adeptly the country can reconcile these regional aspirations with its domestic pressures. At the domestic level, trade reform has been deployed by the decision-making elites not only to lock in the government's austere macroeconomic policy but also to curtail the power of domestic interests that have benefited from trade protectionism in the past. In return for their co-operation, the South African state has allowed these interests, notably business and labour, enhanced institutional representation in economic policymaking. In this sense trade policy has been employed to serve domestic as much as foreign political and economic policy ends.

This PhD thesis is a study of the changing social and industrial conditions under which sugar workers in Guyana have worked, and the responses of workers and unions to these changes since 1964. It makes extensive use of original trade union and employer archives, other public and private documentary evidence and interviews with workers and union and state officials. The narrative and analysis focuses on the experience of union rivalry and the impact of state interventions in wage settlements. The sugar industry has several different unions with differing political and ideological positions, and there have been numerous instances of union rivalry and workers' discontent over union representation. Inadequate wage offers have often led to disputes, involving antagonisms between workers and management but also between workers and their union. In practice the majority of wage settlements have resulted from the intervention of a Commission of Inquiry or Arbitration Tribunal. In the late 1970s the state's imposition of wage levels provoked numerous struggles, often of national proportions, and led to legal challenges by workers and one of their unions which resulted in the restoration of collective bargaining. Such developments have had major implications for the national labour movement. The thesis considers each of these facets of worker and union experience, and thus develops an analysis of the relationships between union rivalry, workers' resistance and wage settlements in the context of highly politicised trade unionism. In particular it discusses the implications of trade union affiliation to the major political parties and shows the extent to which political affiliation helped to destroy the collective bargaining process. It argues that while trade unions are involved in political struggles, they ought not to be affiliated to political parties, since this is likely to compromise the independence of the labour movement and weakens the collective bargaining process.

The overall purpose of this thesis is to examine problems concerning implementation of the concept of sustainable development in the area of water resources using Thailand as a case study of a developing country. The aims and objectives of the thesis are to provide an analysis of water case studies focusing on fieldwork undertaken in different regions in Thailand, an analysis of the legal system; and strategies for environmental protection; considered in the context of rapid economic expansion. The thesis begins with an examination of the foundation and background of Thailand's legal system, its economic development and its environment. Particular emphasis is given in the thesis to water resources. Water is a specific medium to judge pollution standards as a whole. Pollution for land and air often eventually makes it way into water system. Water regulation and pollution control is an example of environmental regulation as a whole. This is followed by an analysis and evaluation of the legal framework of environmental law. The aim is to examine the evolution of the legal protection of the environment in Thailand as well as to analyse the existing contradictions between the country's legal order and its actual environmental problems. The dynamics of the country's political process are then considered. Finally, the question of how the concept of sustainable development might assist in the application of environmental protection to water resources in Thailand is examined, using disputes over water allocation and water pollution. The case studies are drawn from different regions in Thailand. In Thailand there has certainly been more environmental awareness in recent years, but the implementation of sustainable development strategies remains at an early stage, despite, the Rio conference in 1992 and Rio II in 1997 emphasising the conservation of natural resources. The concept of sustainable development is also incorporated in the new Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality Act 1992 (the 1992 Act), despite to a limited extent, some principles for sustainable development such as the precautionary principle, the PPP, EIA, right of access to environmental information and public participation. In Thailand primary legislation is in place but water resources regulations are required. Thailand is on a slow learning curve in its strategies for protecting the environment. In the thesis, case studies at a local level have been undertaken and through these case studies, it is clear that sustainable development concept is not fully integrated and accepted as a way to solve water problems at a local level. This indicates a failure of western concepts and their adaptation in developing countries such as Thailand. However, traditional approaches may be used to improve and promote sustainable development concepts together with Agenda 21, western approaches and experiences, which is called "The Mixed Approach". Thailand is in the advantageous position of being able to learn from the mistakes and environmental failures of the developed countries with respect to water resources policy. At the very least, it must acknowledge that environmental problems cannot be fundamentally solved without addressing them at the time of economic development. Still further, Thailand must not adopt the model of western environmental protection laws without first ensuring that the new reforms are suitable for the needs of the Thai economy and people.

The core of my dissertation is devoted to a re-interpretation of the history of the liberation movement in South Africa in two critical periods of its development. The first I call in short 'the 1940s' but shall be referring more specifically to the years between 1939 and the rise of apartheid in 1948; the second I call 'the 1950s' but shall refer to the years between the emergence of apartheid and the defeat of the liberation movement in 1964. Both the 1940s and the 1950s were marked by fierce class struggles which brought with them hopes of a new democratic order in South Africa; both closed on the sombre note of defeat for democracy and triumph for the forces of reaction and racism. Motivated by a dissatisfaction with prevailing interpretations, I shall explore what went wrong in these years in order to deepen our understanding of the political culture and social base of the liberation movement. I have focussed on these two historical periods because I see the basic parameters of the contemporary liberation movement as set by the class struggles which occurred within them. My central hypothesis is that, although class relations do not on the whole manifest themselves directly on the surface of the liberation movement, they have nonetheless been the crucial determinants of its pattern of evolution. My introductory chapter will be devoted to a theoretical discussion of the relation between nationalism and socialism in the South Africa liberation movement. It was written after the historical research and its ideas reflect a considerable change of mind which resulted from the research; the ideas expressed within it provide a necessary foundation for understanding what I wish to say through the substantive history. My final section will be an attempt to outline the major lessons which I draw from the history of these class struggles; it focusses on what I see as the unresolved conflict between the two traditions of 'radical liberalism' and 'insurrectionism' which run through the history of the liberation struggle and on defining what I see as the 'absent centre' of this history: social democracy or more accurately the social democratic movement of the working class.