The thesis investigated the application and implementation of marketing practices in public library services in the UK and Republic of Ireland, using local authority leisure services as a comparator. The empirical research included both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to assess marketing strategy development in public libraries, using a comparison with local authority leisure services to provide a contextual framework. The research covered the period 1991-1999, using a triangulation approach of national questionnaire surveys, case study interviews and document analysis, as well as extensive reference to the relevant literature. The research was conducted during a period of increasing economic, political and social pressure to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public sector services. The growth of consumerism in the 1980s and 90s had increased pressures on public libraries to provide an even wider range of quality services at a time of financial restraint. The hypotheses for the research were: that marketing principles, which have been modified to meet the needs of not-for-profit services, are essential for the delivery of effective public library services; the successful implementation of such relevant marketing principles and practice in public library services is dependent on a range of organizational, environmental and cultural constraints. The research found the hypotheses to be valid; there were a number of significant constraints on public library marketing, including government legislation, budget reductions, local government reorganization, and a lack of marketing awareness and customer orientation. Recommendations included the fundamental reorientation of library service delivery from a product orientated organization to a customer focused service; further research to investigate the linkages between marketing tools and the principles of total quality management; and research into the marketing training and continuing education needs of senior managers, the marketing awareness of elected members, and the in-house training of all library staff in marketing theory and techniques.

This exploratory qualitative case study provides a description of the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation’s practice in addressing deep-rooted conflict, from the Republic of Ireland. This research grew out of practical problems from the field of conflict resolution in Canada, in particular interest-based mediation, in addressing deep-rooted conflict. Using an extended epistemology, data is harvested from praxis to create naturalistic generalizations: guidelines for addressing deep-rooted conflict. The research findings are the result of a synthesis of three data sources: interviews with facilitators from Glencree, textual data, and nearly five months of onsite observation. The main themes derived from the research include: Glencree’s Diverse Practice; Glencree’s Approach to Conflict; Glencree’s Identity; Glencree’s Approach to Deep-Rooted Conflict; and Implementing Glencree’s Approach. This study is intended as a snapshot in time of a set of dynamic and emergent ideas addressing conflict in practice. Through an inductive research design, findings from praxis are related to theory from the field of conflict resolution. In addition, implications for addressing deep-rooted conflict are identified, including Glencree’s emphasis on the need for flexibility as a characteristic for conflict work, and an underlying worldview incorporating aspects of dynamic systems theory and chaos theory.

This exploratory qualitative case study provides a description of the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation’s practice in addressing deep-rooted conflict, from the Republic of Ireland. This research grew out of practical problems from the field of conflict resolution in Canada, in particular interest-based mediation, in addressing deep-rooted conflict. Using an extended epistemology, data is harvested from praxis to create naturalistic generalizations: guidelines for addressing deep-rooted conflict. The research findings are the result of a synthesis of three data sources: interviews with facilitators from Glencree, textual data, and nearly five months of onsite observation. The main themes derived from the research include: Glencree’s Diverse Practice; Glencree’s Approach to Conflict; Glencree’s Identity; Glencree’s Approach to Deep-Rooted Conflict; and Implementing Glencree’s Approach. This study is intended as a snapshot in time of a set of dynamic and emergent ideas addressing conflict in practice. Through an inductive research design, findings from praxis are related to theory from the field of conflict resolution. In addition, implications for addressing deep-rooted conflict are identified, including Glencree’s emphasis on the need for flexibility as a characteristic for conflict work, and an underlying worldview incorporating aspects of dynamic systems theory and chaos theory.

Introduction: Accessible abortion services is a fundamental human right and in March 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated their recommendations for best abortion services practice covering the components Abortion regulation, Services across the continuum of care, Pre abortion care, Abortion care, Post abortion care and Service-delivery options and Self-management approaches. England, Scotland and Wales, the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland have different abortion laws, both currently and historically, but they have strong historical ties to each other, offering a good comparison on how regional difference can impact abortion services. Aim: The aim of this literature review is to investigate the three regions’ abortion service provision using the WHO guidelines as a framework. Methods: A literature review in which 20 articles describing abortion services in the three regions were thematically analyzed using a deductive approach. Results: Access to abortion in all regions is currently safe. However, non-legal barriers, such as lack of trained medical practitioners and conscientious objection, hinder accessibility of care, especially in the Irish regions. Moreover, the accessibility of abortions decreases with higher gestational ages in all regions and women describe a narrative of shame maintained by media and medical staff. The telemedical models introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic has been evaluated as safe, effective and accepted among care recipients Conclusion: Other factors than legal barriers impact the provision of abortion services. These barriers need to be considered when developing abortion service systems. The WHO guidelines serve as a useful tool to evaluate and improve abortion services. / Introduktion: Säker och tillgänglig abortvård klassas som en grundläggande mänsklig rättighet och en viktig tillgång för att främja jämställdhet mellan könen. I mars 2022 publicerade Världshälsoorganisationen en uppdaterad version av sina rekommendationer för högkvalitativ abortvård bestående av komponenterna abortlagstiftning, vård före abort, abortvård, eftervård och tjänsteleveransalternativ och självförvaltningsmetoder. England, Skottland och Wales; Republiken Irland och Nordirland utgör tre olika regioner som verkar under separata abortlagar såväl historiskt som nu. Syfte: Att beskriva de tre regionernas leverans av abortvård med världshälsoorganisationens riktlinjer som utgångspunkt. Metod: En litteraturstudie i vilken 20 artiklar om abortvård i de olika regionerna har analyserats genom en tematisk analys med deduktiv ansats. Resultat: Abortvård bedöms säker i samtliga av de tre regionerna. Icke-rättsliga faktorer, såsom bristande kunskap bland vårdpersonal och samvetsvägran, skapar emellertid hinder för effektiv tillgänglighet av vård, särskilt i Irland och Nordirland. Vidare minskar tillgången till abortvård med stigande gestationsålder och kvinnor från alla regioner vittnar om att abort framställs som något skamligt både i media och inom vården. Telemedicinsk abortvård, som varit tillgängligt under COVID-19 pandemin, har bedömts som säker, effektiv och accepterad bland vårdtagare. Slutsats: Fler faktorer än rättsliga påverkar ett lands tillgång till abortvård och dessa måste tas till hänsyn vid utvecklandet av abortvård. Världshälsoorganisationens riktlinjer utgör ett användbart verktyg för att utvärdera och föreslå förbättringsmöjligheter inom abortvård.

This thesis examines the ideological nexus of nationalism and heritage under the social conditions of neoliberalism. The investigation aims to demonstrate how neoliberal economics stimulate the irrationalism manifest in nationalist idealisation of the past. The institutionalisation of national heritage was originally a rational function of the modern state, symbolic of its political and cultural authority. With neoliberal erosion of the productive economy and public institutions, heritage and nostalgia proliferate today in all areas of social life. It is argued that this represents a social pathology linked to the neoliberal state's inability to construct a future-orientated national project. These conditions enhance the appeal of irrational nationalist and regionalist ideologies idealising the past as a source of cultural purity. Unable to achieve social cohesion, the neoliberal state promotes multiculturalism, encouraging minorities to embrace essentialist identity politics that parallel the nativism of right-wing nationalists and regionalists. This phenomenon is contextualised within the general crisis of progressive modernisation in Western societies that has accompanied neoliberalisation and globalisation. A new theory of activist heritage is advanced to describe autonomous, politicised heritage that appropriates forms and practices from the state heritage sector. Using this concept, the politics of irrational nationalism and regionalism are explored through fieldwork, including participant observation, interviews and photography. The interaction of state and activist heritage is considered at the Wewelsburg 1933-1945 Memorial Museum in Germany wherein neofascists have re-signified Nazi material culture, reactivating it within contemporary political narratives. The activist heritage of Israeli Zionism, Irish Republicanism and Ulster Loyalism is analysed through studies of museums, heritage centres, archaeological sites, exhibitions, monuments and historical re-enactments. These illustrate how activist heritage represents a political strategy within irrational ideologies that interpret the past as the ethical model for the future. This work contends that irrational nationalism fundamentally challenges the Enlightenment's assertion of reason over faith, and culture over nature, by superimposing pre-modern ideas upon the structure of modernity. An ideological product of the Enlightenment, the nation state remains the only political unit within which a rational command of time and space is possible, and thus the only viable basis for progressive modernity.