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Loss of biodiversity : problems of its legal control in EthiopiaDamtie, Mellese January 2014 (has links)
This thesis is conducted on the premise that the existing legal, policy and governance frameworks are insufficient to protect biodiversity from the alarming loss it is facing now. It argues that these frameworks are crafted to conform to the dominant paradigm of anthropocentrism; a paradigm which believes that humans are the pinnacle of creation and everything on Earth, including the Earth itself destined to satisfy only the interests of humanity without having their own purpose. By showing how anthropocentric worldview conceived, developed and spread, and how this worldview managed to influence societal collective consciousness to govern the relationship established between humans and the nonhuman nature, the thesis argues that loss of biodiversity not a problem in itself. Rather it is a symptom of the underlying problem rooted in human thinking, guided by anthropocentric worldview. Anthropocentrism has become a powerful paradigm that succeeded in permeating into dominant religions, knowledge base and legal systems of countries of the world, including Ethiopia. The thesis contends that law, as mirror of dominant paradigms and perceptions, reflects the values of these paradigms, at international as well as national levels putting protection of biodiversity within the interpretations of these paradigms. It argues that the human treatment of the natural environment is on a scale of violence which puts the survival of humans and that of the environment at a precarious condition. Based on evidence from the review of evolutionary science and the Holy Scriptures, the thesis argues that humans are deeply connected to and dependent on the Earth systems and are responsible to maintain these systems which are functioning in a holistic manner to support all life on Earth. Promoting the proposition of Thomas Berry that the Earth is a community of subjects not a collection of objects, it contends that biodiversity has intrinsic value in addition to instrumental value, deserving ethical extension. Drawing on these concepts, the thesis suggests, by adopting a reformist approach, a shift from the reductionist notion of anthropocentrism to ecocentrism via the new philosophy called Earth jurisprudence. Earth jurisprudence is believed to correct and heal the conflicting relationship that humans established with the nonhuman nature, with the view to reconciling the present legal, policy and governance systems which have been dominated by anthropocentric perspectives. Through the vehicle of Earth jurisprudence, it is hoped that humans assume a stewardship responsibility for the mutual benefits of humans and nonhuman nature. The thesis finally deals with a case study conducted in Sheka zone in the Southwest Ethiopia. The case study is done with the purpose of exploring the TEG systems of indigenous/local communities which are believed to conform to the tenets of the Earth jurisprudence, the philosophy of law which is chosen by this work to guide the protection of biodiversity. The case study came out with findings that the Sheka TEG systems are good examples of customary practices that provide better protection for biodiversity. Exemplary lessons can be drawn from the Sheka TEG systems to amend the dominant legal, policy and governance regimes.
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The challenges of land law reform, smallholder agricultural productivity and poverty in EthiopiaLemma, Solomon Fikre January 2015 (has links)
Ethiopia has experimented with land law reforms linked to agriculture-led national development strategies that Emperor Haile Sellassie I, Derg, and EPRDF introduced since Emperor Menelik II enacted modern Ethiopia’s first reform intended for development in 1908. Nonetheless, the country’s smallholder productivity averaged 1.0 ton/hectare and its poverty ranked 174th in the UNDP Human Development Index in 2011. This thesis examines whether and how land law reform can be used to help raise smallholder productivity and tackle poverty in Ethiopia notwithstanding the challenges of legal pluralism. By drawing upon evidence from law and development research and experience and analysing it in the Ethiopian context, the thesis argues that reform can help raise smallholder productivity, but only by recognising legal pluralism and changing the land tenure system’s formal state or non-formal customary land policies, laws, and institutions which constrain the provision and implementation of productivity-raising smallholder land rights that enhance tenure security, facilitate the transfer of rights over land, and authorise the collateralisation of land rights; and tackle poverty by thereby increasing food supplies, raising incomes, and improving health, education, and other necessities for the country’s predominantly rural population. Specifically, the thesis explores the possibility of using reform to adopt a hybrid state-private-customary land policy that combines the advantages of state land ownership policy that the government enforces, private ownership that critics favour, and non-formal arrangements that society uses. It then highlights how within the framework of this hybrid policy reform may help issue land laws boosting the provision of land rights that enhance tenure security by specifying definition of state, private, and communal landholdings, certification of lifelong usufructuary landholding, stricter eviction and confiscation procedures, and clearer expropriation and compensation mechanisms; that facilitate transfer by easing lease, donation, and succession restrictions; and that authorise collateralisation conditionally. Finally, it demonstrates how reform may help establish land institutions that improve implementation by incorporating non-formal arrangements, establishing a federal executive institution, clarifying the mandates of regional institutions, and assigning the judiciary greater dispute resolution role.
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State policy and law in relation to land alienation in EthiopiaSrur, Muradu A. January 2014 (has links)
The thesis examines the nature and mechanisms of land alienation in the context of Ethiopia's history of land relations and the role of national and global actors. In consideration of these themes, the study has adopted a contextual analysis of law and policy. Data from fieldwork has informed the core themes. It has also involved a combination of doctrinal legal research and documentary policy research augmented by quantitative data. The research considers issues of land alienation in the situation where the main relevant perspectives argue for the abolition of the people's ownership of land approach embodied in the country's 1995 Constitution and its replacement by private ownership of land (privatization perspective) or for its modification to allow alienation of land use rights (revisionist perspective) or for its change into village ownership of land with a possibility of market transfer of land use rights (associative ownership perspective). In addition to their promotion of one or another form of land alienation, the above three perspectives focus on consideration of ways to break the bureaucratic power of the State over land. This study contends that a focus on these issues has prevented the perspectives from fully identifying and thus explaining features of the ongoing land alienation in Ethiopia including the position of international institutions. This thesis therefore claims that there is an underlying shift towards marketable property in land in favor of actors who are assumed to be 'better land improvers. This is happening in a dual context of significant land poverty and economic growth.' Land alienation is being manifested in rural land expropriation laws, administrative and judicial endorsement of kontract, absence of recognition of communal lands and transfer by the State of the communal rural lands to large-scale farmers through the deployment of discourses such as 'empty land' and the 'tragedy of the commons.' This gravitation clashes with the people's ownership of land approach that provides for agricultural land for peasants and pastoralists, security of their landholdings and a ban on land alienation. The tilt has resulted in another tension between federal and regional governments where the Centre claims that efficiency demands that it handle land transfers to developers whereas the regions assert their constitutional power over land. Similarly, global institutions are involved in a contradiction because they prescribe land rights to the poor as a strategy to reduce poverty in Ethiopia and at the same time they encourage large-scale land grants in accordance with `principles of responsible agricultural investment.' The thesis proposes an affirmation of the constitutional principles concerning land with a proper form of constitutionality.
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Introducing plea bargaining in Ethiopia : concerns and prospectsMeheretu, Alemu January 2014 (has links)
The thesis is about a contextual and prospective analysis of the Ethiopian variant of plea bargaining focusing on the major components of legal culture, legal structure and principles of criminal law and procedure. To this end, it makes use of a thorough analysis of policy and reform documents, laws, as well as comparative literature, interviews and questionnaires. The thesis argues that the Ethiopian variant of plea bargaining is less desirable and feasible. It hardly fits into the Ethiopian legal system for it is constrained by inherent due process concerns in an exacerbated fashion as well as structural/institutional and cultural limitations. Here three subarguments emerge: First, plea bargaining which inherently relates less to evidence and circumvents fundamental principles of criminal law and procedure, aimed at ensuring the integrity of the process, is likely to yield , inter alia, inaccurate outcomes- the innocence problem. With a less developed legal structure (weak defence in particular) and weak legal culture/rule of law, the problem would be exceptionally formidable in Ethiopia. Second, huge structural and functional limitations of legal institutions- the police, the prosecution, the judiciary, and the defence/legal aid, mean plea bargaining would not fare well. Third, plea bargaining tends to be incompatible with the prevailing legal culture. In America and Western Europe, it is often characterized by problems of fairness and outcome inaccuracy. On the face of weak legal culture/rule of law, it remains to be more so in Ethiopia. While plea bargaining may solve problems of delay and enhance efficiency in many jurisdictions, it is not a universal prescription, though. With jurisdictions like Ethiopia whose legal institutions and legal culture are less developed; whose trial appears to be simple, inexpensive, less utilized and correlates very loosely as an underlying cause of delay, plea bargaining is less likely to offer the desired efficiency gains even at all costs. Conversely, it would be more of a liability than an asset at least in three senses: it is likely to yield inaccurate outcomes- wrongful convictions in an aggravated fashion; put defendant`s rights at greater risk, and leave a room for abuses and corruptions.
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State law and the (post)colony : a critical analysis through group conflicts in TurkanaBaraza, Masha January 2014 (has links)
In documented incidents alone, between January 2006 and December 2009, 900 people were killed in 534 incidents of group conflict in Turkana. On the basis of this apparent lawlessness, the central research question queries whether the apparent inability of the state law and its institutions to manage group conflicts in Turkana districts denotes a crisis of application or a crisis of substance. Is the problem merely the extension of structures of state law such as courts, prosecutors, security agents, prisons and advocates to Turkana or does the crisis speak to a more fundamental challenge. The research argues the latter, that the relationship between state law and group conflicts in Turkana demands an interrogation of the conceptual and institutional dimensions of modern state law. The thesis interrogates how state law is incorporated; an apparatus of power through which certain regulative rationalities come to reframe the terrain upon which people in Turkana live and define their lives. In order to move state law in a radically improving direction, the research argues for a reorientation of rationalities and legality. The reorientation is advanced through two corresponding techniques that allude to the structural and perspectival elements of state law. Fashioned from amongst the unfinished representations of modernity and the initial task of conceiving a (post)colonial tension between regulation and emancipation, the first task involves building on those progressive aspects of state law that enhance its political legitimacy. The second requires the adoption of a transgressive mode of thinking described as 'knowledge-as-emancipation'. On the basis of these two prescriptions, state law can develop a more purposeful and emancipatory purpose within the conflict context of Turkana in particular, and Kenya in general.
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The discourse and practice of sovereignty in the People's Republic of China : principles and pragmatism in the management of Hong Kong and Taiwan affairsTok, Sow Keat January 2011 (has links)
This dissertation has two objectives: one, to dispel the “myth” and assumption that China holds on to an “absolute” view of sovereignty, and has arguably acted in accordance to this view; and two, to forward an alternative view of sovereignty as seen through Beijing’s eyes. This dissertation argues that China’s sovereignty is one which flexibly accommodates, at times voluntarily concedes, different mix of de facto rights according to each respective context and issue. This is attributed to China’s historical experiences with the concept, as well as its discourses. When “sovereignty” was introduced into Chinese thinking, the result is a “view” of sovereignty which juxtaposed Chinese previous understanding of “supreme authority” with an interpretation of the Western concept of sovereignty. “Sovereignty,” in this view, is essentially a de jure construct as its de facto component (or “right of governance”) is purposely and effectively detached from the concept to serve the political needs of the regime. It thus approximates one grounded on graded rings of sovereignty, where authority emanates from the core, but each “level of sovereignty” is entrusted to exercise different “right of governance.” As long as no overt challenge is posed to the idea that a single, de jure sovereignty— more specifically understood as a nominal “supreme authority”—resides in Beijing, this Chinese view of sovereignty is upheld. A “light” constructivist approach which explores the relationship between norms, ideational structures, agency and “discursive formations” is applied to the case studies of Hong Kong (and Macao) and Taiwan to support the arguments in this dissertation. Chinese discourses on “sovereignty” were examined in details through analysing a large sample size of Chinese academic writings from 1980 till 2008, in addition to policy documents and announced official positions of the Chinese leadership. This is further augmented by analyses of Beijing’s policy behaviours towards, in particular, Hong Kong’s autonomy and Taiwan’s international space.
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Japan's persistent engagement policy toward Myanmar in the post-Cold War era : a case of Japan's 'problem-driven pragmatism'Morii, Kazunari January 2011 (has links)
This thesis engages in the debates on Japan’s foreign policy objectives and direction in the post-Cold War era by examining the case of Japan’s Myanmar policy with a particular focus on the question as to why Japan maintained its engagement policy line, although shifting to a more critical one, toward the Myanmar military government which was established in 1988. This thesis employs the analytical framework of neoclassical realism, recognizing international structure as the primary determinant of a state’s foreign policy while at the same time shedding light on domestic level factors, namely policy-makers’ perceptions, the government’s resource mobilization and the domestic policy-making system as intervening variables that incorporate international structural incentives into a state’s actual conduct of foreign policy. In conclusion, the empirical study reveals that Japan adhered to an engagement policy primarily because of Japanese policy-makers’ perceptions that it was the most practical and effective policy to promote Myanmar’s political and economic development, which would eventually contribute to regional stability and progress. This indicates a persistent feature of Japan’s foreign policy which can be described as ‘problem-driven pragmatism’, or Japan’s behavioural pattern of taking actions in response to concrete problems and pursuing practical problem-solving for bringing about incremental and pragmatic improvements in the problems by making necessary compromises with structural pressures and existing systems. This thesis makes a distinctive contribution from three aspects: providing new empirical evidence which fills the gap in conventional debates on Japan’s Myanmar policy objectives; proposing ‘problem-driven pragmatism’ as a new model of Japan’s foreign policy which addresses the shortcomings of existing arguments; and, affirming the applicability and efficacy of neoclassical realism for foreign policy analysis with the implication that it is necessary to examine multiple foreign policy agendas and multi-dimensional international structure in comprehending the critical tradeoffs that a state often faces.
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In pursuit of a competitive position in global private banking in the Asia Pacific regionVon Eldik, Deborah Sijlmans. January 1988 (has links)
published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration
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Telecommunications law and regulation in Nigeria : a study of universal service provisionOpata, Chukwudiebube Bede Abraham January 2010 (has links)
This thesis undertakes an analysis of the law pertaining to the regulation of telecommunications in Nigeria generally and more specifically with regards to the extension of access to telecommunications services to unserved and underserved persons and areas in Nigeria. The study is situated in the context of privatisation and liberalisation reform of the Nigerian telecommunications sector. It addresses the question of how to extend access to telecommunications services in Nigeria to unserved and underserved persons and areas. This question is researched by focusing on the sector regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission and analysing the mechanisms, ranging from licensing to interconnection to universal service provision and the National Rural Telecommunication Programme, that have been deployed in the past to achieve this objective to ascertain how these may be improved to ensure that as many persons and areas as possible have access to telecommunications services. The issue of securing the accountability of the regulator responsible for the deployment of these access extension mechanisms is also addressed. The research identifies the main international influences on the development of the Nigerian regulatory framework and shows the country’s ability to borrow from a number of sources while adapting and refining the borrowed rules to solve Nigerian problems. The thesis makes a contribution to knowledge in at least three material ways. It is, to the best of my knowledge, the first work on the legal framework for the regulation of telecommunications in Nigeria after the enactment of the Communications Act 2003. Secondly, it is also the first work that I am aware of which analyses issues of access to telecommunications services using a variety of regulatory mechanism as opposed to focusing on universal access and universal service alone. Finally it presents a positive illustration of a successful outcome of globalisation of rules, specifically the transposition or transplantation of specific legal rules in the economic context of a developing African country.
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E-governance in the new democracies : the case of TaiwanLee, Ming-Ying January 2006 (has links)
It is expected that the ICTs can maximise the benefits for improved governance and electronic democracy in the information age. This study explores the impact of e-government upon citizens and demonstrates how this kind of electronic medium affects the quality of democracy in the context of the new democracies. Taiwan's peculiar characteristics, which combine a Confucian context, a new democracy and a leading performance in e-government, offers an interesting example of the conceptual diversity of e-government in itself, especially in relation to the level of democracy. Thus, this study uses the Taiwanese experience of developing, using and understanding e-government to identify the effect of e-governance in the new democracies. It integrates larger theoretical and empirical evidence, drawing upon several disciplines, including political science and public administration, communications studies, education and the sociology of technology. The research methods deployed are: documentary analysis, secondary analysis, content analysis and interview. The data are cross-referred and the analysis is presented in different sections. In this study, four themes are discussed: civil education, the policy initiatives, the public use and the public understanding of e-government. I first indicate that civic education in Taiwan has gradually paid more attention to the mode of participation, but the values supporting democracy have not yet been fully instilled. Secondly, the Taiwanese government has been more inclined to use e-government to reorganise itself than to incorporate more of the public in its operation. Thirdly, democratic participation has not yet extended in the public use of e-government in Taiwan. Fourthly, e-government in Taiwan has a modem format, but lacks political efficacy, since it lacks the mechanisms through which people can affect public policy. I conclude that e-government has been used as a modem means to rework authoritarianism. People suffer from a 'democratic deficit' in their understanding and use of e-government. The effects of e-governance have been constrained by the legacy of authoritarianism and the public's democratic deficit. Therefore, in the new democracies, the prospects of electronic democracy should not be overestimated. E-government may be over-rated as a weapon for consolidating democracy.
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