The role of the private sector in improving health systems performance in lower to middle income countries is increasingly gaining more recognition. Public-private partnership (PPP) has been suggested as a tool, to assist governments fulfil their responsibilities in the efficient delivery of health services. In Tanzania, although the idea of PPP has existed for many years in the health sector, there has been limited coordination, especially at a district level - which has contributed to limited health gains or systems strengthening obviously seen as a result of PPP. In 2009 a formal PPP policy was introduced in Tanzania, which directs the appropriate allocation of resources, and describes risk and rewards that can be achieved by building on the expertise of each partner. The Health Sector Strategic Plan III (2009-2015) further emphasises the need for service level agreements (SLAs), which are seen as an important indicator of improved PPP. This case study that draws on the decision-space framework, was conducted in the Bagamoyo district of Tanzania, and employed in-depth interviews, document reviews, and observations methods. The study findings reveal several forms of informal partnerships between the local government and non-state actors. The lack of SLAs for facilities that receive subsides from the government is argued to contribute to inappropriate distribution of risk and reward leading to moral hazards. This is evidenced by non-state actors who pursue their own interests, diverting from public social goals. Furthermore, findings highlight weak capacity of governing bodies to exercise oversights and sanctions, which is acerbated by weak accountability linkages and power differences. Moreover, restricted flexibility in spending is seen to deter prompt actions to address evolving population needs, given limited local fiscal space. It is concluded that effective PPP policy implementation at a local level depends on the capacity of local government officials to make choices that would embrace relational elements dynamics in strategic plans. Disempowered Council Health Services Board in relation to engaging non-state actors is shown to impede PPP initiatives that are conceptualized at local and national levels. This study highlights a need to consider initiatives that would foster new social contracts with non-state actors at the local level and in return build a people-centred district health system. This study is intended to improve knowledge on health systems policy interventions, strengthen future policy implementation at the sub-national level, and strengthen the district health systems as a result of PPP in a country with similar contextual elements.

This thesis set out to examine how teachers understand, experience and respond to mandated curriculum reforms in English in years 11 and 12 at a Senior High School in Western Australia over the period 2004 – 2005. The time period is significant as it is a halfway point between the commencement of the new policy driving reform of senior secondary education and the partial settlement of the policy and curriculum reform. The research is conceptualised using labour process theory as a means of analysing how teachers are being separated from their intellectual work throughout this curriculum reform process. The methodology chosen to inform this research is a dual approach using critical ethnography of lived individual experiences and critical policy ethnography to analyse the changing landscape of education policy in Australia. This dual approach offers a system level of understanding of mandated curriculum reform with an emphasis on the individual experience of expert teachers implementing the contested curriculum reform. Several central themes emerged over the course of the research: growing deprofessionalisation of teachers’ work; intensification of workload and curriculum creation; technocratisation of teacher roles; diminishing autonomy, increased accountability and responsibility; and heightened external surveillance and control. Significantly, the data also captured and analysed in this research demonstrates how teachers are continually experiencing the processes of reprofessionalisation as a consequence of sustained critical reflective practice and the imposition of mandated curriculum reform. The data also relates the need for an authentic consultation between teachers and policy makers/government authorities in order for curriculum reform to be successfully established and taken up in secondary State schools. The processes of reprofessionalisation are a source of continued professional renewal and reinvigoration for the teachers involved.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-175).

The economic crisis in the European Union has raised numerous policy questions. It has also raised many important questions for scholars. One of these is the question of why we have witnessed such radically divergent reform speeds in different countries under Economic Adjustment Programmes. Closer examination of these Programmes clearly shows their high degree of uniformity, so that the answer cannot be found in the nature of policy input. This thesis instead takes a Varieties of Capitalism approach. Looking in depth at the cases of Greece and Ireland, which represent polar opposites of the spectrum of economic models within the EU, this thesis argues that success of Economic Adjustment Programmes crucially depends on a country’s pre-existing economic model. This insight challenges the current approach to crisis resolution, which endorses a ‘one size fits all’ approach to structural reforms. An adapted version of Bruno Amable’s Varieties of Capitalism (VOC) approach is conducive to detailed analysis, as it permits disaggregating the structural reform agenda according to five institutional areas. Thus, reform patterns can be compared between countries as well as between institutional areas. The hypothesis put forward in this dissertation is that the reforms promoted in Greece and Ireland can be accurately described as a reform trajectory intended to take both countries closer to a market based variety of capitalism. The analysis, based on textual analysis of the Economic Adjustment Programmes, as well as interviews with Greek, Irish and European policy-makers, suggests that VOC predicts reform trajectories largely accurately. The application of Amable’s approach also revealed its weaknesses, particularly in underestimating the role of political decision making in times of crisis through a rather mechanistic conceptualisation of the EAP implementation process. This is addressed through the inclusion of Streeck and Thelen’s mapping of political responses to external change, adding an important component to the VOC literature and making it suitable to the analysis of reform in crisis conditions.

The purpose of this research project is to analyse the opportunities and challenges that the foreign and security policy research institutes face in transnational cooperation across wider Europe. By specifically examining the capacities of non- and quasi-governmental actors to operate and cooperate at transnational level, the research informs the choices presented by the ongoing restructuring of the foreign and security policy sphere. The increasing deterritorialisation of foreign and security policy issues calls for transnational or multinational approaches to resolve them. As nation states fall short of the appropriate capacities, it is of interest to investigate how non- and quasi-governmental actors can contribute to transnational interaction. Therefore, their tools and capacities to operate and cooperate in the transnational sphere need to be established in the first place. In this context a broader geographical focus is chosen in order to study a more differentiated situation, instead of the already relatively integrated case of the European Union. The thesis first studies cooperation among research institutes in broader terms under consideration of their socio-political environment. It outlines differences in their organic development dependent on the geographic affiliation of the institutes, and identifies their tools as well as several defining characteristics. This is followed by an analysis of the fieldwork, discussing processes, opportunities and challenges in transnational cooperation as perceived by staff in research institutes. Subsequently, the thesis takes a more detailed look at applied cooperation among research institutes. Here it traces patterns and formats of interaction, and then delves into a case study on project- based cooperation that provides functional insights regarding research institutes cooperation across borders. In studying cooperation among research institutes from various perspectives, the research enables to investigate the integration among the different narratives. The study integrates a range of issues and concepts in an original manner, therefore it contributes to several significant debates. On the face of it, the thesis adds to the identification of a role for non- and quasi-governmental actors in an increasingly deterritorialised foreign and security policy sphere, using the example of research institutes. To address this aspect, the study considers both the broader implications of socio-political and economic interrelations for cooperation, as well as the detailed functional level of interaction. Moreover, based on the choice of geographical focus, the research project contributes to the literature on EU-Russia relations. Herein it adds to the extant literature by offering a perspective which acknowledges the implications of high politics but emphasises the role of non- and quasi-governmental actors. Beyond that, the thesis contributes to the theoretical debate on foreign and security policy in choosing a non-traditional approach to examine a non-traditional issue. Post-structuralism serves to facilitate a critical review of the construction of cooperation among Russian and EU-based public policy research institutes.

Thesis. 1975. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Bibliography: leaves 130-132. / by Jay William John Wollenberg. / M.C.P.

The free charge of admission fee has been adopted by many museums around the world. European countries such as The United Kingdom and France have even introduced the concept of free admission to the public that could serve larger areas and bigger audiences. Although the concept of free admission is already introduced to Taiwan, most of time the policy is not promoted by the central government or the local governments. Instead, they leave that for each individual museum to decide. In 2008, the New Taipei City Government started to promote the free admission policy in municipal museums, including Tamsui Historical Museum, Gold Museum, Yingge Ceramics Museum, Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology, The Lin Family Mansion and Garden, and Wulai Atayal Museum. These five museums and one garden are a larger scale case in Taiwan. This research has chosen four museums supervised by the Cultural Affairs Department of New Taipei City Government. They are similar in size and the amount of government subsidy, including Tamsui Historial Museum, Gold Museum, Yingge Ceramics Museum, and Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology. Through document analysis, interviews, and questionnaires, this research attempts to study the current situation and impact of the free admission policy of the municipal museums of New Taipei City and the audience response to it. Based on these results, this research also proposes suggestions for the policymaking and further studies. The research shows that after the implementation of the free admission policy, the number of museum visitors has increased significantly. Most of the visitors are female, half of them are married, and ages are 18 to 34. They are either students or employees in the industry, commerce, and services organizations that have university education, with monthly salary below NT$ 30,000. They live mostly in New Taipei City and second mostly in Taipei City. Because of the free admission policy, the number of domestic group visitors and foreign visitors has greatly increased. Most visitors are infrequent visitors. Their motivations to visit museums is to accompany friends and family members and to enhance their knowledge. The majority of visitors do not shop in the museums; they usually make purchases in the streets outside of the museums. Regarding to the admission policy, most visitors support the free admission policy. The amount of price that they are willing to pay for the admission is less than NT$ 50. Each museum differs in how it operates and what type of visitors it attracts. The reasonable suggests that each museum should develop different marketing strategies based on the features of the museum and its visitors. They can design activities that best suit the visitors¡¦ need, cooperate with transport companies and stores nearby to provide travel packages, and make good use of the volunteers to help the museum to operate effectively, so that the museum can provide the best service for the visitors and achieve a most cost-effective outcome.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the adaptation of Turkey to EU research and innovation policies in the light of developments in within their own dynamics, and within the framework of obligations of the accession period. A comparative analysis of Turkish and EU policies is made by pointing out the weaknesses of Turkey, which are supported by related indicators specifying the gap between EU in research and innovation capabilities. In accordance with the findings of the comparison of Turkey and EU, this study attempts to develop recommendations for the reassessment of existing policy tools, and to propose new policy instruments within organizational and institutional infrastructure, implementation and further integration with EU in research and innovation. The evaluations highlight that Turkey is experiencing problems in structuring and implementing its policy instruments, rather than developing policy formulations.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 16, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Joe Donaldson. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation uses laboratory economic experiments to test the incentive effects of regulatory policies and practices under asymmetric information conditions. Significant results and policy implications are obtained on the traditional use of rate-of-return regulation (RORR) to regulate natural monopolies, and on the practice of restricting such firms from entering ancillary markets. The objective of the first several chapters is to test the incentive effects of RORR on market performance. Results confirm long-standing theories of incentive malfunctions of RORR. One result shows that under voluntary compliance, RORR is completely ineffective for regulating single sellers when cost information is private to firms, allowing them to misrepresent costs and earn monopoly profits. When firm's do not know market demand, they capture less surplus, but still earn above RORR expected returns. When stochastic auditing is added varying penalty rates and audit probabilities, significant cost overestimates remain common. Theoretical analysis explains the potential source of this anomaly as being the use of historical cost information in rate setting when excess profits are used as the audit benchmark. Other results show that in perfect repeated static implementations of RORR, wasteful input use will occur manifested as rate base padding or Averch-Johnson type selection of inefficient input combinations. Another chapter addresses the consequences of deregulating RORR franchise firms allowing them to enter ancillary markets. A stylized model of the telecommunications industry is created and experimentally tested to determine if anti-competitive firm behavior results when entry restrictions are lifted. Results offer no support for the arguments that regulated firms will use monopoly market earnings to underwrite ancillary market operations ("deep pocket"), engage in predatory pricing, or unfair competition. Economic arguments for removing entry barriers to improve market performance (increased output and lower prices) are substantiated.