Thesis M.M. Finance and Investment, Faculty of Commerce, Law And Management (WBS), 2016 / This study seeks to identify and deepen the understanding of the root causes of infrastructure deficit with emphasis on the West African region. Amongst its objectives, the study explores tailored-approaches to infrastructure financing. The study takes direction from literature and similar work in the recent past and employs both conceptual and empirical - trend as well as cross correlation analysis - techniques in addressing its objectives. Literature points to Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) as the most suitable model for infrastructure finance provisioning which this study adopts. The study tests the significance of PPP and in so doing makes recommendations to policy-makers on key factors or barriers such as political stability and the absence of violence, rule of law, regulatory quality, etc. that require attention to enable the efficient use of PPP to mitigate the infrastructure gap within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the resulting consequences. / XL2018

Regulation of the nonprofit sector is a subject of significant debate in the academic and professional literature. The debate raises questions about how to regulate the sector in a manner that addresses accountability while preserving the sector’s unique role in society. Central to the debate is the role of self-regulation. The nonprofit sector is recognized and defended as a distinct third sector in society. Cultural norms and values differentiate the purpose of the sector from the governmental and commercial realms. The legal regime secures rights, establishes organizational structures, and provides tax benefits that enable, reinforce, and protect participation in nonprofit activities. Nevertheless, government regulation is thought to be antithetical to sector autonomy, as well as an obstacle to flexibility and innovation. Selfregulation protects the sector’s political independence and its distinctiveness through the cultivation of shared norms, standards, and processes for ethical practices. Although self regulation is considered to be consistent with the autonomous nature of the sector, it is also criticized as a weaker form of regulation. The ability to address regulatory issues expressed in the broader debate is limited by how we frame nonprofit regulation. The problem with advancing our understanding of self-regulation has to do with how we conceptualize nonprofit regulation. Government and self-regulation are conceptualized and studied as distinct options for regulating the sector. Missing in the nonprofit scholarship is a theoretical framework capable of reframing nonprofit regulation as a system of governance that depends on self-regulation. This represents a glaring gap in the research. Neglecting the institutional context that explains the structure and functioning of the nonprofit sector has led to an oversimplification of nonprofit governance. To study the effects of self-regulation on the functioning of the sector, I argue that we must first frame what is relevant about how the nonprofit sector is governed. The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework outlines a systematic approach for analyzing institutions that govern collective endeavors. The objective of this dissertation is to introduce the IAD as an approach for examining self-regulation not as an alternative to government regulation but as an important part of nonprofit governance. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Public-private partnerships in emergency management are widely encouraged in the academic literature, yet the government of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) tends to view collaboration from the private sector as an impediment to good policy. This occurs in spite of the island nation's geography that makes it susceptible to natural and human caused disasters. The purpose of this correlational study was to use public choice theory to explore, from the perspective of potential private sector collaborators, whether sufficient support exists in the private sector to support the USVI government in emergency management efforts. A modified version of the Mulhearn Sustainability and Community Collaboration Survey was distributed to business owners (n = 156). These data were used to determine whether a statistically significant relationship between USVI preparedness and collaborative governance exists. The results of the linear regression were significant, (p < .001) and suggest private sector company owners believe that collaborative governance can increase USVI preparedness. The recommendation is that the USVI government and the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency involve the private sector in the planning, operations, and logistics of emergency management to prepare for any emergency such as natural disaster or terrorist action. The positive social change implication is based on the recommendation to the USVI government that the private sector be more involved in the planning, operations, and logistics of emergency management, thereby potentially improving emergency response in the event of a catastrophic event.

This research study is about partnership working in the human services using community mental health as a context. The purpose of this type of research has relevance today as governments at all levels in Australia are adopting partnerships as social policy tools to address social problems. The rationale for these policies appears to be based on recognition that large social problems require holistic responses through the working together of multiple agencies. However despite the volumes of material about the programmatic means for enacting partnerships I found little which attended to the micro practices of partnership. The lack of guidelines on how to engage in partnership becomes problematic as partnerships in social service contexts have complexities and can be difficult to enact. Moreover actors may feel undermined when it is taken for granted that they have the necessary knowledge and skills to enact partnerships. A case study is conducted on how partnerships are enacted within Bethany Outreach Services, a pseudonym used to represent a psychosocial support service in the Perth metropolitan area. Semi-structured in-depth interviews are conducted with seven participants engaged in a partnership within community mental health. The literature is analysed for its contribution to the critical question of how to “do” partnership. Case examples are utilised to contextualise key principles of partnership. Key elements of theoretical perspectives are applied as a way to better understand how partnerships might work better. Narratives from the literature and the experiences of people as seen through this case study are examined to arrive at some key elements of partnership. Despite their complexities partnerships provide an opportunity for actors to engage their humanity and build relationships based on human qualities such as respect, communication and the sharing of resources. These qualities build social capital, which can be developed in new partnership contexts to address new problem domains. It is through these qualities that partnerships might give meaning to the 'Human' in Human Services.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Collaboration between academic and corporate entities has increased in recent years. On many occasions Government actors (e.g. federal laboratories) will participate in these collaborations, especially when advanced technologies are involved. The following inquiry considers the degree to which the federal entities add (scientific) value to University-Industry partnerships and how this value is spatially mediated. Quantifying degrees of the value that Government actors induce across the spectrum of University-Industry collaborative arrangements is useful for identifying scales at which intervention by federal agents is more effective and/or justified. It is anticipated that the value-added by federal agents in University-Industry collaboration is not spatially uniform but will exhibit greater profitability across specific scales of interaction. Comparing these against actual scales of interaction provides room for discussion on whether Government actors engage Universities and Industry at scales that optimize the value they introduce to these partnerships.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2004. / "A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Western Sydney, Sydney, January 2004." Includes bibliography : leaves 359 - 369.

Thesis (M.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2005. / Title from title screen (viewed Apr. 16, 2008). Cites June 2003 GAO report GAO-03-695, "Contractors provide vital services to deployed forces but are not adequately addressed in DoD plans." "June 2005." The original document contains color images. "ADA435597"--URL. Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-96). Also issued in paper format.

Sverige har gått från att ha varit ett homogent land till ett multikulturellt land på ett par decennier. Arbetsmarknaden har haft stor efterfrågan på arbetskraft där företagare har anställt arbetskraft från andra länder och fått en hög mångfald på sina arbetsplatser. Ekonomisk nedgång i samhället har påverkat arbetsmarknaden med hög arbetslöshet speciellt för invandrare.Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka hur mångfald diskursivt konstrueras av chefer och HR-ansvariga på arbetsplatsen. Frågeställningar i vår studie har varit att undersöka hur chefer och HR-specialister samarbetar kring mångfaldsplanen och om de ser för- och nackdelar med mångfald på sina arbetsplatser. Offentliga myndigheter har enligt lag skyldighet att upprätta en mångfaldsplan vart tredje år och aktivt arbeta för att främja mångfald medan den privata sektorn inte har sådana krav. En tredje frågeställning i vår studie är att jämföra om det finns skillnader mellan dessa två företag och hur de eventuellt ser ut. För att få svar på våra forskningsfrågor har vi använt oss av en kvalitativ studie med semistrukturerade frågor. Vi har intervjuat tre respondenter inom vardera offentlig och privat sektor, två chefer, två HR-specialister och två fackliga ombud. Resultat som framkommer är att de anställda ska ha rätt yrkeskompetens och att chefer inte fokuserar på den arbetssökandes etnicitet eller kulturella bakgrund. Viktigt är att de personer som söker arbete passar in i arbetslaget och har värderingar som stämmer överens med verksamheten. Samarbete mellan chefer och HR-specialister ser lite olika ut mellan företagen i vår studie, eventuellt beroende på skillnaden i storlek. Vår studie visar att mångfald som begrepp kan vara svårdefinierbart då det inte bara handlar om etnicitet och annan kulturell bakgrund. Alla respondenterna ser positivt på mångfald på arbetsplatsen och tycker att de positiva effekterna väger tyngre än de negativa. / Sweden has gone from being a homogenous country to being a multi-cultural country in a couple of decades. The labor market has had great demand for labor and entrepreneurs have hired labor from other countries. Today there is a higher level of diversity in workplaces. Economic decline in society has affected labor market with an impact of high unemployment, especially for immigrants.The purpose of our study is to examine how diversity is discursively constructed by managers and HR managers in the workplace using a norm-critical perspective.Question formulation in our study were to examine how managers and HR specialists collaborate on the diversity plan and if they see advantages and disadvantages of diversity in their workplaces. Public authorities have a statutory duty to establish a diversity plan every three years and work actively to promote diversity while the private sector does not have such requirements. A third question formulation in our study is to compare whether there are differences between these two companies and what they might look like. To get answers to our research questions, we used a qualitative study using semi-structured questions. We interviewed three respondents from public and three from private sectors, two managers, two HR specialists and two union representatives. A result that emerges is that employees should have the right professional skills and that managers do not focus on the job applicant's ethnicity or cultural background. Important is that the people who are looking for work blend in with the team and have values that match the business. Cooperation between managers and HR specialists are slightly different between the companies in our study, possibly due to the difference in size. Our study shows that diversity as a concept can be difficult to define because it is not just about ethnicity and cultural background. All respondents welcome diversity in the workplace and think that the positive effects outweigh the negative.

Esta dissertação dedica-se ao estudo das consequências da aplicabilidade da pena privativa de liberdade e das condições de possibilidade de legitimá-la, através de propósitos ressocializadores. Parte-se do princípio de que a pena carcerária é um mal que ainda se apresenta necessário, e para tanto não merece total extinção, mas sim significativas reformas. Toma-se como base dessa hipótese a desvinculação dos crimes que atingem bens jurídicos de maior relevância e propostas alternativas de encarceramento. Como fundamento, analisa-se os reflexos do encarceramento e suas diferentes propostas, enquanto medida indutora à reincidência, pretendendo sugerir propostas de modificação dos caminhos que provocam o sempre crescente índice de reincidência, embasando-se na participação da sociedade nos processos de reconstrução da dignidade profissional do apenado e do egresso. Nesse contexto, sugere-se que as parcerias entre o poder público e a iniciativa privada haveriam por emprestar ferramentas hábeis a esse desiderato, sugerindo o estudo e a implementação de estratégias que minimizem os efeitos perniciosos da pena convencional. O propósito último é estabelecer processos interativos que liguem a sociedade ao infrator com vista à inclusão desse último à vida social / The broad aim of this dissertation is critically develop a social and legal analysis of the actual, situation of the political system of imprisonment in the penitentiaries of Brazil. Specifically, the focus of the research is directed toward those people who were condemned to imprisonment through long length sentences, due to have been accused and convicted of serious crimes against individuals, the social order and its security. The hypothesis raised here based upon careful empirical observations is that the State, alone, is weak and unprepared to cope with programs of re-socialization of these people; there is no serious academic and educational strategies directed to help them to reach dignity and professional and social respectability; nor have been introduced effective policies toward a professional training, or re-training, in order to integrate them in industrial or commercial activities. By contrast, what has happened is that prisons have frequently be transformed in a web of delinquence, tying, inside and outside the prisons, criminal leaders and their gangs. So, once they leave prison, (when and if they do) they are again engaged in different types of criminal actions. Objectively, this research tries to conceive a new and revolutionary project, on the basis of establishing agreements between state partners and private ones, concentrating both money, social services, and technologies, able to provide educational and professional means and efforts, not only in order to low the level of criminality, but mainly to create new and more effective alternatives to the prisoners to reach moral, social and professional reintegration within the community, as well as regain their citizenship