Le contexte de privatisation a deux caractéristiques uniques. Premièrement, plusieurs études empiriques montrent que la majorité des transactions de privatisation sont partielles et le gouvernement reste un actionnaire dans la vaste majorité des firmes privatisées. Contrairement aux investisseurs privés, le gouvernent poursuit des objectifs politiques qui coincident rarement avec la maximisation des profits. Par conséquent, la privatisation nous offre un contexte unique qui nous permet d'investiguer les répercussions de l'intervention du gouvernement dans les firmes nouvellement privatisées sur leur qualité des bénéfices comptables et leur coût du capital-actions. Deuxièmement, le changement majeur dans la structure de propriété des firmes nouvellement privatisées qui est accompagné de problèmes d'asymétrie d'information sévères, nous offre aussi un cadre unique dans lequel nous pouvons investiguer les déterminants du cout du capital-actions et de la qualité des bénéfices. Dans le premier chapitre, nous examinons les déterminants politiques du cout de capital-actions. En utilisant un échantillon international de 126 entreprises en provenance de 25 pays et qui ont été privatisées durant la période 1987-2003, nous présentons des résultats suggérant que les firmes privatisées dans lesquelles le gouvernement maintient des droits de contrôle élevés enregistrent un cout du capital-actions élevé. Ce résultat a été trouvée après avoir contrôlé pour les déterminants au niveau de la firme et du pays du cout du capital-actions. Elle est cohérente avec l'hypothèse de l'interférence politique qui suggère que les actionnaires anticipent le risque d'intervention du gouvernement dans les opérations des firmes nouvellement privatisées et exigent une rémunération plus élevée pour investir dans les firmes privatisées où le risque d'expropriation par le gouvernement est élevé. Ce qui se traduit par une augmentation du cout du capital-actions. N ous trouvons aussi que le cout de capital-actions est significativement relié au système politique et à la stabilité du gouvernement. En particulier, nous trouvons que les firmes en provenance de pays plus démocratiques et de pays avec des gouvernements plus stables bénéficient d'un cout de capital-actions moins élevé. Globalement, notre étude montre que les droits de contrôle du gouvernement et ses caractéristiques politiques déterminent le cout du capital-actions des firmes nouvellement privatisées. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous examinons comment l'État, les investisseurs institutionnels locaux et les investisseurs étrangers peuvent influencer la qualité des bénéfices des firmes nouvellement privatisées. En utilisant un échantillon unique de 174 firmes en provenance de 29 pays et qui ont été privatisées durant la période 1980- 2003, nous trouvons une évidence forte et robuste qui suggère que la qualité des bénéfices est négativement reliée au contrôle et à la propriété du gouvernement. En particulier, nous trouvons plus de gestion des bénéfices et moins de prudence comptable dans les firmes privatisées où les droits de propriété du gouvernement sont élevés ou dans lesquelles le gouvernement conserve le contrôle. Ce résultat qui est cohérente avec l'hypothèse d'interférence politique suggère que le gouvernement a des fortes motivations à manipuler les bénéfices afin de cacher les bénéfices politiques du contrôle. Nous trouvons aussi un résultat qui suggère que la propriété des investisseurs institutionnels locaux est associée avec une meilleure qualité des bénéfices comptables. En effet, nous trouvons que la propriété des investisseurs institutionnels locaux est associée avec plus de prudence comptable. Ce résultat est cohérent avec le point de vue qui considère que les investisseurs institutionnels jouent un rôle actif dans la surveillance des gestionnaires. De plus, nous rapportons une certaine évidence suggérant que la propriété des investisseurs étranges est associée avec plus de prudence comptable i.e., une meilleure qualité des bénéfices. Globalement, notre étude suggère que la qualité de l'information comptable des firmes privatisées est reliée à l'identité de ses nouveaux investisseurs.

Boij, A. 2002: Jorden är mörk och svart. Vad som rör pastorer i Svenska Missionsförbundet när de ska predika om samhället. (The world is black and dark. What concerns pastors in the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden when they preach about society). Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Psychologia et Sociologia Religionum 16. 239 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 91-554-5488-7. The dissertation reflects a study of what pastors in the Mission Covenant Church in Sweden say in their sermons about society and social responsibility and represents an attempt at finding factors such as gender, education, age, values, and faith behind what has been said in the sermons. The results show that in general pastors have a negative picture of society irrespective of which of its aspects they are addressing. The pastors’ view of Christian responsibility for society is that it is primarily something for the individual to take, not for the congregation. Above all, Christian responsibility for society is about individual Christians' taking responsibility for her fellow human beings. For theoretical clarification the findings are discussed within the framework of the concept of secularisation, following Casanova (1994) sub-divided into differentiation, decline of religion and privatisation. In the study differentiation is identified when pastors do not relate theological reflection to their description and analysis of society. Thus they do not provide an integrated system of meaning for everyday life. As for privatisation, even when pastors are mainly speaking about public events, they are unable to place those events in a religiously interpreted context. According to the pastors social problems are to be met with private and individual solutions through Christians' actions to the benefit of their fellow men. The MCC is a part of what in Swedish can be called a popular movement, a kind of "social movement" or "voluntary organisation." The analysis shows that its pastors in their sermons do not embrace some of the central parts of the ideology that generally pertain to popular movements, namely concern with reforming society.

Our understanding of enterprise restructuring in a transition context is predominantly drawn from the ex-communist countries of Europe. Those countries have their own cultural values, social structures, were subject to the Soviet political and economic managemet styles and had their own political and economic reasons to move to the free market system. Without doubt, these factors had influenced their enterprise restructuring and its determinants. Given this influence, our understanding of enterprise restructuring and its determinants can be considered limited especially when one takes into consideration the fact that mnay developing countries with centrally planned economic systems had moved to the free market system almost at the same time as the ex-communist countries. Very important, the restructuring behaviour of their state and privatised enterprises and the determinants of their behaviour have been neglected by researchers. This neglect was, indeed, a stimulus to carry out a research study on enterprise restructuring and its determinants in Algeria. The aim of this research study was to develop an understanding of the kind of restructuring taking place in the state enterprises slated for privatisation in Algeria and the factors that stimulated or hindered their restructuring from 1990 to 2005. Algeria is a country that combines a mixture of historical backgrounds. It has a history of more than one hundred years of French colonial rule and has a deep rooted link with the Arab and Islamic cultures. It is also a country which had followed, after gaining independence from the colonial rule in 1962, its own style of socialism where the private sector,in light manufacturing and some service industries, was tolerated and workers of the state-owned enterprise were given the power to share the decision makings with management. More significantly, Algerial was and still is a country where almost 90 percent of its foreign revenues come from hydrocarbons export. Its move to the free market in 1989 came as a result of the sharp drop in the price of oil and therefore a sharp decrease in its foreign revenues. It was a move imposed by the IMF in return for the extension of its debts repayment and the provision of fresh loans. With these socio-cultural, political and economic characteristics of Algeria, it was expected that the restructuring behaviour of the enterprises under investigation and the determinants of this behaviour would exhibit some differences from those experienced in the transition countries of Europe. The investigation was carried out on three enterprises operating in different industries: Saidal in pharmaceuticals, the SNVI in heavy vehicles and Eriad Alger in wheat processing and manufacturing. The data was collected and analysed using qualitative and quantitative research strategies. Semi-structured and unstructured interviews were used to collect data on the restructuring actions and their determinants. They were carried out with senior managers at the head offices, divisions and functional departments of the enterprises; managers at the trade union (UGTA); managers at one state-owned consultancy organisation called CNAT; managers at the ministry of industry; two visiting managers at the trade union (UGTA); and a small number of workers of the three enterprises under investigation. A survey using a self-completion questionnaire was also used to investigate the characteristics of the top management teams of the three enterprises. Primary documents such as state, private company and media reports and secondary document such as journal articles and books were also used. The findings drawn from the study reveal that Saidal was the only enterprise that restructured effectively despite the strong competition in its market. This was possible through the determination of Saidal's president general manager and his top management team to restructure and through the enterprise partnership with many multinational firms. The findings also indicate that controllable and uncontrollable factors had significant impact on the restructuring behaviour of the three enterprises. The controllable factors were the corporatisation of the state enterprise and the underdevelopment of the institutional environment. Corporatisation was an important incentive that encouraged effective restructuring but this was possible only when the enterprise was financially healthy, as was the case with Saidal. The financial autonomy of Saidal reduced the intervention of the government administration in its internal affairs. Government intervention was strong when the enterprise was perceived by the government as strategically important, as was the case with the SNVI, or when the government intended to totally privatise the enterprise, as was the case with Eriad Alger. The underdevelopment of the institutional environment, especially corruption, the shortage of technical skills and the lack of adequate market information hampered competition and slowed down effective restructuring. The uncontrollable factors were the trend in the market and the cultural values. The growing market for pharmaceuticals in Algeria was a stimulus for attracting foreign investment in Saidal which consequently encouraged effective restructuring. As for the cultural values, the family and friendship ties, the social responsibility stemming from religious belief, the regional belonging and the legacy of French colonial rule in Algeria played a significant role in the selection and recruitment of managers and workers, in slowing down the progress of shedding workers surplus and in slowing down foreign participation in privatisation. Future research on enterprise restructuring and its determinants in Algeria should be carried out on a larger sample of enterprises with different ownership using quantitative and qualitative research strategies. Research should also explore enterprise restructuring and its determinants in other developing countries which moved to the free market system and in countries which share similar cultural and social structures with Algeria. It is time for researchers to move away from exploring effective and ineffective enterprise restructuring and concentrate more on exploring how partnership with foreign firms, the shortage of technicla skills, the lack of market information and the cultural values, be it religious beliefs, customs of the legacy of colonialism, affect the restructuring behaviour of state, privatised and private enterprises and the determinants of this behaviour.

This thesis is an historical study of the formation of Thatcherite economic thinking and policymaking with a particular focus upon investigating the part played by economic ideas and economists in Thatcherism. While some economists and economic ideas are closely associated with Thatcherism, Thatcherites were hostile to the bulk of Britain’s economists residing in universities and in the Government Economic Service and skeptical of the usefulness of economic theory in policymaking. Thatcherites thought that British academic and government economists supported a ‘Keynesian consensus’ which was purported to have been in operation since the Second World War and had allegedly retarded Britain’s growth from a quasi-mythical free-enterprise Victorian high-point. However, Thatcherites were keen to win the ‘battle of ideas’ and became eager ‘buyers’ of economic ideas – Keith Joseph particularly – in a ‘marketplace in economic ideas’ which developed over the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Yet, Thatcherites were not suddenly converted to neoliberal economic thinking by the marketplace in economic ideas. Instead, Thatcherites pragmatically sought out ideas which could be adopted and adapted in combination with long-standing ideological beliefs which were hostile to the size and role of the state and in favour of ‘sound money.’ Thatcherite economic thinking developed to include sometimes contradictory strands of supply-side economics, Austrian economics, monetarism/rational expectations and public choice economics but also contained, particularly for Margaret Thatcher, elements of ‘businessmen’s economics’ and ‘housewife economics.’ A case study of privatisation policy illustrates the point that pre-existing Thatcherite thinking, such as the desire to ‘roll back the state’, provided the core underlying rationale for economic policies. Yet, Thatcherites were also able to use a jumbled amalgam of economic ideas such as Austrian and neoclassical economics to promote secondary objectives such as introducing competition when conditions were judged as favourable by Thatcherites.

The main aim of the thesis is to give a complex overview of different types of financial sources, from which new federated states can take benefits, and to give an opinion on the created effectiveness. Additional aims are to sum up the situation of the East German economy after WW2 and also the progress in its reforming during the 90s. Different historical development of the both former divided parts of nowadays Germany is essential because of understanding the economic situation of East Germany in 1990 and the nowadays problems. The first chapter sums up the economic consequences of the post war period, the influence of reparations, demontages and their dimension. In the second chapter follows an evaluation of the main topics of the beginning in the 90s - monetary reform and privatization. The third chapter goes on with the topic of economic reforms in the 90s and defines basic financial programs which are a long-term support to new federated states. Fourth chapter compares main chosen macroeconomic indicators of Germany and EU-27 and then of the old and new federated states. First, economic level of the whole Germany is being analysed and then its regional disparities. The last, fifth, chapter monitors the situation of Germany and its new federated states in the point of structural funds of the European Union.

The rising number of disasters, both natural and man-made, has created a greater need for humanitarian interventions. Simultaneously, it has also created larger room for disaster capitalism, a phenomenon where certain actors use disasters to push economic interests. NGO:s are one of the main actors in post-disaster settings, which happens to be the very same sphere as the one where disaster capitalism occurs. Thus, this study will examine how NGO:s can work to counteract disaster capitalism. This is done by looking at how Swedish NGO:s implement their work and whether this is compatible with Loretta Pyles’ decolonising disaster social work framework (2017), which is deemed to contain measures which can hamper disaster capitalism. Furthermore, it also delves into NGO perception of privatisation of the humanitarian sector, which consociates with disaster capitalism, which is done by looking at how Swedish NGO:s experience the expansion of privatisations into the humanitarian sphere. The methodology is based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from a number of Swedish NGO:s active in the humanitarian sector, from which data has been qualitatively analysed. The results show, among other things, that disaster capitalism as a concept is fairly unknown among most of the NGO:s, however central aspects are recognised by many. It also shows that Swedish NGO:s are generally in line with Pyles’ framework. The dilemmas of the localisation agenda are examined, where the ambitions are high but institutional barriers hamper movement in its direction. Similarly, the pros and cons of international standards are discussed and whether these are a barrier to localisation. Resilience and the humanitarian-development nexus are highly contemporary matters and are also debated. The position towards private actors and privatisations of the humanitarian sector is contradictive, as there is a general opinion that being private and for-profit is not a problem, but also a general opinion that actors have to work on a principle-basis and not to make profit. It became clear that some scepticism is levelled at private actors from an NGO perspective. Finally, critical aspects of the humanitarian system and potential future risks are discussed, with the main concern regarding a phasing out of Western NGO:s in favour for less principle-based actors from other parts of the world.

L’emploi public administratif territorial regroupe l’ensemble des agents publics travaillant pour le compte d’un service public administratif relevant de la compétence d’une collectivité territoriale ou d’un de ses établissements publics. Cet emploi, initialement conçu afin d’être majoritairement pourvu par des fonctionnaires, est en réalité occupé au cinquième par des agents contractuels dont la présence constante et incompressible déstabilise profondément l’édifice statutaire. L’emploi du contrat y est en effet révélateur de l’inadaptation du statut de la fonction publique à l’ensemble des missions de l’emploi public administratif territorial. La multiplicité et la banalisation des cas de recrutements contractuels l’attestent. Une contractualisation de l’emploi public administratif territorial pourrait permettre d’en assurer la modernisation. Plusieurs possibilités seraient alors envisageables: une privatisation de l’emploi public administratif territorial ou, au contraire, une amélioration du régime juridique actuellement en vigueur par l’accroissement de ses composantes contractuelles. La logique de carrière, véhiculée par la construction statutaire de l’emploi public depuis désormais plus de trente ans, serait alors nécessairement remise en cause. La présente thèse, après avoir établi l'inadaptation du statut de la fonction publique à l'ensemble des missions de l'emploi public administratif territorial, discute la faisabilité des réformes conjecturées. / Administrative jobs of local authorities cover all public employees working on behalf of an administrative public service managed by a local authority or one of its subsidiary. Those jobs, originally conceived to be mainly occupied by civil servants, are in fact occupied by a fifth of contract agents. Contract agents demonstrate that civil servants alone are not able to fulfill every tasks of local authorities. Contractualization could be a way to ensure modernization of those jobs: either a global privatization or an increase of their contractual components could be solutions. The career logic, used for more than thirty years, would then necessarily be called into question. This thesis, after having established that civil servants alone are not able to fulfill every tasks of local authorities, discusses the proposed solutions.

Cette étude se propose d’analyser le système roumain de fonction publique à l’aune de l’exemple français, en partant non seulement des différences et des ressemblances qui caractérisent ces deux systèmes, mais aussi des principes traditionnels construits par les apports successifs des grands juristesdes deux États et de la jurisprudence administrative. Une analyse croisée, dont l’objectif vise non seulement à dégager les défis qui se posent à la modernisation de la jeune fonction publique roumaine postcommuniste, mais aussi à présenter certaines réflexions de nature à contribuer voire à éclaircir le positionnement des réformes de la fonction publique française, eu égard à son riche passé juridique etjurisprudentiel. En effet, la question qui se pose aujourd’hui comme hier, tant pour le système roumain que pour le système français, est de savoir si, au nom de cette modernisation qui est comprise souvent comme un rapprochement du droit du travail et des principes de New Public Management, il faut renoncer aux traditions statutaires. Il s’agirait par exemple de privilégier la contractualisation danstous les aspects du droit de la fonction publique (recrutement, déontologie, rémunération, formation ou carrière), ainsi que l’expérimentent des États comme l’Italie, l’Espagne, la Suisse ou la Suède. Le but est de contribuer à une réflexion générale sur le droit de la fonction publique qui aille au-delà du seulcas de la fonction publique roumaine, en faisant ressurgir du passé des questions scientifiques oubliées, qui semblent retrouver aujourd’hui tout leur intérêt. / This study analyses the Romanian civil service system as compared to the French system, focusing not only on their differences and similarities, but also on the traditional principles that have taken shape through case law and the continuing contributions of legal scholars from both countries. This crosscomparisonaims not only to identify the challenges faced in modernizing post-communist Romania’s relatively recent civil service system, but also to provide reflection capable of contributing to, and perhaps shedding light on, the status of the reforms of France’s civil service system, given its rich legal heritage and case law. Today, as in the past, the question remains that of whether, both in Franceand Romania, special statuses traditionally reserved for civil servants should be cast aside in order to bring this branch of the law into line with the principles of New Public Management and reconcile it with ordinary labor law. This would entail, for instance, establishing a contractual basis for every aspect of civil service law (hiring, ethics, pay, training, and career progression), in line withexperiments that have been undertaken in countries such as Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Sweden. The aim is to contribute to the overall reflection on civil service law, beyond the specific case of the Romanian civil service, by returning forgotten avenues of reflection in legal scholarship – which nowseem more relevant than ever before – to the fore.

Observers of neo-liberal persuasion claim that a financial system free of government regulation can lead to better allocation of resources and if the actual process of deregulation is done properly, the results can benefit society as a whole. Deregulation requires dismantling those state-based banking structures that are perceived as economically inefficient. This approach sets up a dichotomy between financial deregulation, which is portrayed as an intrinsic part of economic progress, and state regulation, which is seen as a force that interferes with entrepreneurial freedom and efficiency. This thesis argues that such a dichotomy can only be possible within the dominant neo-liberal discourses on the economy that have displaced Keynesian style economic management in core and peripheral areas of the world. Following Marxist structural approaches I also argue that financial deregulation is a class-based project that opens up profit sites and reflects the crisis in capitalist accumulation occurring in the latter part of the 20th century. Unlike neo-liberal followers I contend that the role of the state in maintaining and/or transforming capitalist structures in order to achieve certain outcomes (whatever they might be) is crucial in nation-building strategies in peripheral countries such as Costa Rica. As in many other countries, credit allocation was actively used in this country, for some thirty years in order to achieve high levels of investment, economic planning and re-distributive policies. However, the once fully nationalised banking system, as one of the few mechanisms available to the state to regulate savings and offer credit to different socio-economic groups, has gone through dramatic changes in the period from 1980-2000. Using a modified version of Hirschman's exit/voice framework for financial systems and available institutional data, I suggest that Costa Rica has moved from having a financial system that was predominantly owned by the state (public) and whose institutional arrangements were elite-led to one whose ownership is mixed but still led by elites. However if the trend persists I anticipate that it will become a predominantly privately owned system with an equal mixture of elite-voice and exit institutions.

This study is in response to globalisation, changing world values and the call in modern literature for leaders of good character. Servant-leadership is offered to fill this requirement because its effectiveness is said to be reliant on the good character of the leader. In the literature this type of leadership is said to represent a new paradigm. The work of servant-leadership's proponent, Robert Greenleaf, is thoroughly examined to explain how his understanding of trust as faith is linked to spirituality and this is the key to understanding the character of servant-leaders. Greenleaf's work is compared with the modern servant-leadership literature and identifies a gap in the literature explaining Greenleaf's spirituality.This is a qualitative analysis using classical Grounded Theory and uses the work of Anthony Giddens to give it a modern sociological grounding. Classical Grounded Theory uses typologies or