Thesis (Ph. D.)--American University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 288-312).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed May 10, 2006). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 378-398).

Recent scholarship from political science, urban studies, and sociology conceptualizes the city as a space of decentralized democracy – a view emphasizing localization, participation, difference, and anti-hierarchical organizational form. Instead of conceiving the city as a place of atomized individuals and a locale for market exchange, this alternative framework recognizes the city‘s role as ―civitas‖ – a ―space of active democratic citizenship‖ and ―full human realization‖ based on open and free encounter and exchange with difference. The current research emerges from and fills a need within this perspective by examining how local urban contexts undergird and bolster new movement organizations (NMOs). Theory elaborates how urban density, land-use mix, housing age diversity, and connectivity generate and enable interaction with the social diversity fundamental to decentralized and anti-hierarchical NMOs. In addition, theory also examines how urban walking mediates the relationships between these urban contextual traits and NMOs. Linear regression is used to assess the direct effects of density, connectivity, land-use mix, and urban walking on NMO activity (measured as human rights, environmental, and social advocacy groups), and the Sobel test is employed to assess mediation. Data to measure the NMO dependent variable come from the 2007 ZIP Code Business Patterns, while urban contextual independent variables and socio-economic and demographic measures are drawn primarily from the 2000 U.S. Census. Regressions at the ZCTA level show that NMO activity is positively predicted by density, connectivity, and housing age diversity. Furthermore, Sobel tests indicate that walking mediates the relationships that NMOs have with density, connectivity, and land-use-mix. Several additional analyses are also performed. First, Guidestar Form 990 data are employed to validate the NMO dependent variable. Second, inclusion of an ideology measure in the regression estimations shows that the relationships of interest are not confounded by ―liberalism‖. Third, cross-lagged regressions are employed to investigate ―self-selection‖ effects. Finally, counterfactual cases are explored by estimating regressions with several alternative dependent variables. While coefficients on the independent variables of interest are typically larger and more often in the predicted direction when NMOs are employed as the dependent variable, results for several of the alternative dependent variables shed light on the main results by showing that urban contexts are conducive to specific kinds of activity.

<p> Throughout history there have been taxes. As Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said in 1904, &ldquo;Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.&rdquo; From the recorded writings of the earliest civilizations to the front page of today&rsquo;s newspapers, taxes have been core to human existence. Governments require revenue. In the earliest civilizations governments raised revenue to fight wars and defend their citizens. Taxes were used to build roads, ports, and fortresses. As the world economy expanded, taxes were used to promote economic development, build factories, and encourage commerce. As social needs evolved over the last two decades, taxes have been used to provide for the poor and the needy, for education, and to improve the quality of life for a nation&rsquo;s citizenry. </p><p> Regardless of the spending agenda, governments all need revenue. From the first civilizations to today&rsquo;s modern government, the history of taxation has followed similar patterns and governments throughout history have faced similar challenges. What to tax? Should taxes be levied on property, income, or consumption? How to measure and determine the amount of tax to be paid? How to administer and collect tax? Should tax be direct to the citizen or indirect and collected at the source? How to find a balance in the fairness of tax? And how to deal with the inevitable strategies citizens develop to avoid tax? Should citizens self-report their tax liabilities with government systems to audit those reports? Or should government invest in the infrastructure required to collect taxes at the point of source? </p><p> This thesis will explore taxes: the history, the newest ideas, the abuses, and the reasons why tax policy today has become so cumbersome and legalistic that it takes thousands of pages to explain all the complexities of our tax system. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)</p>

<p> Abstract not available.</p>

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The development of solar photovoltaic (PV) is increasing,with declining module prices and with a strongenvironmental profile. Policies are developed around theworld to achieve the targets set for renewable energy.In Helsingborg, the local power company Öresundskraft isworking with solar PV to achieve the goals of the city.With their vision: - Energy for a Better World and Powerfor the Region, their work with developing the local solarPV market is continuing and the next step is to create asolar PV policy. Today their offer is 1 SEK/kWh for theexcess electricity delivered to the grid.It turns out that compensating the customer is a vitalpolicy and it has to be dynamic to follow the decisions ofpolitics. The same survey shows indeed, thatenvironmental and technical part is of interest. Solar PVwill be supported locally to act on environmentalsustainability and locally produced electricity and withthis Öresundskrafts vision will be achieved.

Despite the UK’s abundance of renewable energy sources and the imperative for renewable energy to make a significant contribution to addressing the problems of climate change and fossil-fuel dependency, renewable energy capacity in the UK has developed slowly compared with some other EU states. The UK has introduced a succession of policies to promote renewable energy, but so far these have failed to meet national and EU targets. This signals the need for detailed examination of the reasons for these ‘failures’ and, in particular, the extent, nature and constraints on ‘policy learning’ within UK renewable energy policy. Policy learning has emerged in recent years as an innovative way of exploring the roles of knowledge acquisition and use in policy change. This study examines the contribution of policy learning to the development of UK renewable energy policy. It is argued that interpreting UK renewable energy policy development through the lens of policy learning yields fresh perspectives on why policies develop in certain directions and not others. In so doing, it critically examines problems caused by failings in policy learning and identifies options for the further promotion of renewable energies in the UK. The study distinguishes four different forms of policy learning: technical, conceptual, social and political. Little research has been conducted on the characteristics of these different learning types, the conditions under which they occur, the psychological, institutional and cultural factors that stimulate or constrain learning, and how they interact to shape policy change. The study utilises a qualitative methodology to analyse and explain changes in UK renewable energy policy over the past 20 years. The main methods employed are content analysis of policy documents (including legislative acts and instruments, consultations and select committee reports); and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders from government, industry, NGOs, academia and the media. It is argued in the thesis that UK energy policy has tended to become ‘locked’ into low-level forms of technical learning because current government learning mechanisms do not challenge the parameters of existing policy and, thus, fail to stimulate broader processes of conceptual and social learning that might encourage more radical policy change. These forms of policy learning are particularly constrained by hierarchical institutional structures that hinder communication and learning between policy areas. Furthermore, the current style of policy making for renewable energy in the UK privileges the interests of incumbent energy companies, giving them the ability to filter or block new ideas that do not align with their commercial interests. Political learning was shown to operate alongside other types of policy learning and to take multiple forms but focused predominantly on political risk management rather than political innovation: thus, it tended to narrow rather than extend the parameters of debate. These findings were used to develop a model of policy learning in UK renewable energy policy. This was used to conceptualise relationships between different learning types, highlight specific barriers to policy learning, and illustrate dynamics of policy learning and change that might be extended to other policy areas and countries. Finally, it is argued that many of the barriers identified might be overcome by fostering more evidence-based policy making and learning mechanisms that engage with a broader range of stakeholders to stimulate more pluralistic government processes.