Information technology almost became the savior for Hong Kong in the process of recovering from the Asian financial crisis immediately after the Handover. The claims to establish and further the development of information technology were made against a certain perception of Hong Kong, in which the place in past decades had indulged in the wrong direction of labour-intensive, cut-throat production in the manufacturing industries and bubble-like speculation in the real-estate sector, and against a certain vision of the future, with more and more competition in the age of globalization, neo-liberal economies, and so on. This thesis demonstrates, firstly, how the governance of Hong Kong can be seen from the perspective of contingent articulations of dissimilar elements rather than any step-by-step progression along any necessary, objective historical path. Secondly through analyses of the governmental discourses and the business trajectory of Pacific-Century CyberWorks, the flagship group for Hong Kong’s “new-economy”, the thesis depicts the complexity and nexus of knowledge, governance, bureaucratic and financial considerations of and within the project of information technology in Hong Kong, and the mechanism by which this particular discourse is produced and circulated. Finally, comparing the discourse of Hong Kong’s early industralisation in the early 1950s, the thesis identifies the desire-creating workings of ideology in this particular discourse of information technology in Hong Kong. Also, through theoretical prisms, the thesis provides examples of how the government’s trumpeted notions of (and, probably, people’s faith in) laissez-faire, positive non-intervention are able to coexist in apparent harmony with the highly active participation of the Hong Kong SAR government in society and industry.

This paper examines and ultimately objects to a version of political Conservatism as described in Geoffrey Brennan and Alan Hamlin’s paper “Analytic Conservatism.” Brennan and Hamlin’s argument makes several claims about economic forecasting and societal risk-aversion that ultimately uphold the status quo within society. This paper examines these claims and refutes them, while also considering counter-arguments Brennan and Hamlin could use to defend their theory. In conclusion, this paper supports the analytic dimension of Brennan and Hamlin’s theory while criticizing the trivial and arbitrary nature of valuing the status quo.

This project addresses how residential segregation have stymied home ownership and wealth in the black community; inhibiting true housing equity. This thesis project will attempt to use design as a means to help address past and continuing discrimination. Accessibility, affordability and accountability are central to this goal, which will be addressed in the project. The site chosen for this project is the St. Luke’s Building located in Richmond, VA. This building was home to the Independent Order of St. Luke, a fraternal and cooperative insurance society for blacks. It also housed the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank which was founded in 1903 by Maggie Walker. Walker was the first woman to charter a bank in the United States.

I will examine how immigration into the United Kingdom has changed due to globalization, the strength of immigrant transnational networks, and rising hostile nativism. Changing immigrant experiences in the United Kingdom are contextualized by Britain’s “leave” Brexit vote and devolution of integration systems. I will argue that economic and local political integration are the most important contributors to improving immigrant outcomes and reducing tensions between minority and majority groups in the United Kingdom. Using policies from Denmark and Germany, I will compare how different integration regimes across Europe include immigrants as stakeholders in social and economic processes and how transnational networks interact with policy. I will recommend a set of policies at the national and local level to combat rising tensions between minority and majority groups. I will conclude by forecasting the likely and ideal scenarios for the future of minority-majority relations and integration regimes in the United Kingdom.

Failing public high schools are a perpetual limitation to community sustainability. Conversely, economically disadvantaged communities more often produce schools with reduced academic performance. Unfortunately, comprehensive community-based remedies are generally outside the scope of a school district's control. Social disorganization theory attributes variations in crime and delinquency to a breakdown in communal structure and relationships. Applied in a similar manner, social disorganization has also been associated with lower student achievement. This research examined how social disorganization is associated with Florida public high school academic performance in a two phase analysis at the community and school district levels. In addition, the research tested a potential moderating effect of receiving the Five Star School Award, recognizing family and community involvement, and Florida public high school academic performance with social disorganization factors simultaneously considered. In the first phase, the study used a cross-sectional, non-experimental design analyzing secondary data by structural equation modeling (SEM) at the community-level. For the second phase, the study used a cross-sectional, non-experimental design analyzing aggregated secondary data in multiple linear regressions assessing statistically significant associations between social disorganization predictors and school academic performance variables at the school district-level. SEM analysis found a statistically significant and large negative association between the social disorganization factors residential mobility, single-parent households, socio-economic status and percentage of divorced or separated persons, and Florida public high school academic performance at the community-level. Also at the community-level, results showed that receiving the Five Star School award for satisfying family and community involvement criteria had a statistically significant but small positive association with Florida public high school performance when social disorganization factors were simultaneously considered. At the district or county level, multiple regression analyses found relevant negative associations between social disorganization predictors low median income and ethnic heterogeneity and school district average FCAT scores and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) percentages. The study results reinforce existing neighborhood deprivation and social disorganization literature and articulate the need for a community-based approach to improve high school academic performance. Finally, the research suggests prominent education policy reforms may exacerbate social disorganization in communities and proposes alternative policy implementations.

No description available.

No description available.

President Clinton created Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on September 17, 1996. The Antiquities Act of 1906 gives the president power to establish national monuments on public lands through presidential proclamation. The Act has been used to create national monuments in places such as Muir Woods, Grand Canyon, Mount Olympus, Jackson Hole, and the 1978 Alaskan d-2 lands. Its use has also produced negative public response, manifested as demonstrations, lawsuits, and congressional bills. In spite of significant legal and legislative challenges, the Antiquities Act and most of the monuments established through its use remain. The negative public response to the Act and the monuments has not been able to dissuade presidents from using executive authority. In each of the controversial cases the scope of the Antiquities Act was expanded in regards to the values being protected, monument size, or land use. The public had little influence in reversing that expansion. The Antiquities Act was designed as a tool to provide protection to threatened lands. It has protected federal lands, and in many cases the national interest. The historic and scientific values of once controversial monuments such as the Grand Canyon, Muir Woods Mount Olympus, Jackson Hole, and the d-2 lands, are now indisputable. These monuments have evolved to represent part of our natural national heritage. Only time will tell if the same can be said for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Water is the most important resource on the planet for sustaining life, and many consider access to water as a fundamental human right. However, in light of its necessity, the distribution and allocation of water has become a highly politicized issue. Economic and political conditions have been shown to be influential in shaping a country’s water policy, more so then recognition of water as a basic human right. The reason for this is that many agree that there needs to be a value assigned to water to encourage its conservation and efficient use, and different methods of addressing that issue have led to varying degrees of privatization of water. Whether through the private or public sector, there is an expectation that water be delivered to the people by the government, and it is often the influence of public and private actors within the government that direct the policy for water distribution. Using three cases in Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay it will be demonstrated how water policy has correlated with the political and economic changes within each country.

Why has the United States, given its status as the sole remaining superpower following its Cold War victory, been unable to translate its preponderance of power into the outcomes it desires? The system established by the United States over the course of the Cold War does not effectively translate its power into influence in the post-Cold War world. In fact, the way US-Soviet competition shaped global affairs created systemic problems, weak and failing states, terrorism, autocracy and human rights abuse, that cannot be solved by the mechanisms of influence the US relied upon to win the Cold War. However, precisely these issues now dominate the American foreign policy agenda as its strategic objective shifted from defeating communism to maintaining the stability of the liberal world order that resulted from communism’s defeat. The United States, reliant on Cold War era mechanisms of influence, lacks the tools to accomplish these new objectives because these mechanisms were designed to exploit or accept the problems of statehood that now plague the liberal world order. Therefore, for the United States to make effective use of its abundance of power, it must either change its tools or its objectives.