In this project a theory of adaptive differential insurgency growth by the mechanism of repression driven contagion is put forth to explain variation in the membership and spatial expansion of insurgencies from 1981 to 1999. As an alternative to the dominant structural approaches in the civil war literature, Part 1 of the study proposes an interactive model of insurgency growth based on Most and Starr's opportunity and willingness framework. The findings suggest that state capacity, via its impact on state repressive behavior, plays an important gatekeeping function in selecting which minor insurgencies can grow into civil war, but contributes little to insurgency growth directly. In Part 2 of the study, I directly examine variation in insurgency membership and geographical expansion as a function of repression driven contagion. I find that repression increases the overall magnitude of insurgency activity within states, while at the same time reducing the density of insurgency activity in any one place. Despite an abundance of low intensity armed struggles against a highly diverse group of regimes around the world, I find an extremely strong and robust regularity: where repression is low - insurgencies don't grow.

O presente estudo tem por objeto a possibilidade de reconhecimento do vínculo laboral para o trabalho da prostituta, sendo sufragada a tese de que o objeto contratual, na prestação de serviços sexuais, é lícito e, por conseguinte, há a possibilidade, se presentes a onerosidade, permanência, pessoalidade e subordinação, de reconhecimento do vínculo empregatício para o trabalho da prostituta. A tese, portanto, é de que a prostituta faz jus ao pagamento de todas as verbas trabalhistas previstas na legislação laboral, tais como décimo terceiro salário, férias acrescidas de um terço, horas extraordinárias, adicional noturno, Fundo de Garantia por Tempo de Serviço, dentre tantos outros direitos, como qualquer outro trabalhador subordinado. Além disto, será ainda destinatária de políticas públicas que visem assegurar um meio ambiente de trabalho hígido e seguro, devendo ser observadas as Normas Regulamentadoras expedidas pelo Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego, bem como outras normas de medicina, saúde e segurança do trabalho que vierem a ser editadas. Conquanto o presente trabalho se refira em inúmeras oportunidades apenas às prostitutas, utilizando o substantivo no feminino, em verdade são abrangidos os exercentes da atividade de ambos os sexos, sem qualquer distinção, desde que exerçam a profissão voluntariamente e sejam maiores de dezoito anos. As metodologias utilizadas, precipuamente, foram a pesquisa bibliográfica e a pesquisa documental. A pesquisa bibliográfica envolveu a busca de livros, monografias, teses, dissertações, artigos pulicados em revistas especializadas, jornais e revistas, e teve a precaução de incluir os fundamentos das vertentes contrárias, em busca dos alicerces para firmar o novo entendimento sobre o tema, especialmente quanto à possibilidade de reconhecimento do vínculo empregatício para o trabalho da prostituta. / This research is about the possibility of recognizing the employment bond for prostitutes labor, after covering the theory that defends the contractual object, on provision of sexual services, is lawful and if exists burden, permanence, personality and subordination, the employment bond of prostitutes can be recognized. This theory says that prostitute is entitled to be paid for all the payroll amounts provided on labor legislation as extra month salary, holiday plus a third, overtime, additional nightly working time, Time of Service Guarantee Fund (FGTS), between other rights that any other subordinate employee has. Furthermore, public policies aimed at ensuring a working environment healthy and with insurance (Regulatory Standards issued by the Ministry of Labor and Employment should be observed, as well as other rules of medicine, health and safety that may be published) will be addressed to this employment bond. Although this work refers the word prostitute in a female way, in fact it refers both sexes without distinction, as far as they are engaged in that occupation voluntarily and are over 18 (eighteen) years. The methodologies used on this paper are literature and documentary research. The literature review involved a search of books, monographs, theses, dissertations, articles published in professional journals, newspapers and magazines. This work has been made with care and including the fundamentals of contrary theories, looking for the foundations to start a new view of the subject, especially regarding recognition of the mentioned employment bond of prostitutes.

Thesis advisor: M. Brinton Lykes / Most recent figures indicate that approximately one in five children in the United States is poor (Children’s Defense Fund, 2010; Moore et al., 2009). Thus, the United States ranks considerably below other Northern Hemisphere nations in indices of both child poverty and child well-being (Rainwater & Smeeding, 2003; UNICEF, 2007). Moreover, while the United States has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), this treaty has been central in reframing policy and practices towards reducing child poverty in some other Northern Hemisphere nations. Many authors and activists have suggested that US nonratification of this Convention is based on “American exceptionalism.” This paper examines these claims – and counterclaims – and explores, through comparisons with several other Northern Hemisphere nations, how the Convention on the Rights of the Child, if ratified and implemented through US policy and practice, could play a significant part in tackling child poverty in this nation. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies Honors Program. / Discipline: International Studies.

Thesis advisor: James M. O'Toole / In the 1960s and 1970s American Catholics invoked conscience inordinately. They claimed to possess “sacred rights of conscience.” Catholics produced a thick psychological literature on the “formation of conscience.” They also made clear that conscience could never be handed over to an authority figure, whether in the church or state. The term conscience then became a keyword in the rights discourse of late twentieth century America. This dissertation seeks to explain why Catholics invoked conscience so frequently in the 1960s and 1970s, and it aims to chart how conscience became important to the rights vernacular of the late twentieth century. Catholics invoked conscience frequently in an effort to remain in and expand tradition. The theology of conscience had roots in the thirteenth century work of Thomas Aquinas -- a tradition American Catholics studied in the 1940s and 1950s. This study also shows how the human rights advocates of Amnesty International and a community of mainline Protestants appropriated the Catholic theology of conscience and used it for their own purposes. The 1960s and 1970s, rather than witnessing the end of tradition, facilitated its growth.

Child sexual abuse is a heinous crime. It consists of a variety of pernicious practices which include, but are not limited to, online child pornography, rape and incest. Globally, an estimated 15 million female adolescents have been coerced into sex during their lifetime, whilst the figure for boys is unknown.1 In many instances, this crime is perpetrated by those who are closest to the victims. Child victims may be severely traumatised and as a result become dysfunctional members of society. Child sexual abuse harms the very fabric of society and society thus pays a heavy price for continuing to tolerate this crime. As such, as this crime predominantly takes place behind closed doors and victims only very rarely report cases,2 a comprehensive legislative and policy approach must be adopted in order to effectively combat child sexual abuse. Legislators around the world as well as the international community must therefore make combating child sexual abuse a priority. However, the question arises whether there exist difficulties and weaknesses within international law which contribute to the persistent problem of child sexual abuse. Accordingly, this research probes whether international law accords adequate protection to the rights of the children and, if not, whether it fails to adequately protect children from sexual abuse. For this purpose, a detailed examination of relevant UAE laws is undertaken in the form of a case study. It is argued that international law has failed to clearly establish norms and also lacks enforcement mechanisms. The main international instrument, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, fails to determine the age of the child. Instead, it empowers domestic law to do this. Other shortcomings also limit the effectiveness of international law, particularly implementation issues. In the context of the UAE, the fundamental problem is that cultural values entrenched in Islamic criminal and family law have not shown an understanding of the child sexual abuse paradigm. Instead, the honour ideology has been reinforced.

This thesis assesses the usefulness of the five phase spiral model as an explanation of the changes in the Chinese government's human rights practices from the time of the "antirightist" campaign in 1957-58 to the end of 2003. Thomas Risse, Stephen Ropp and Kathryn Sikkink's spiral model focuses on the constitutive relationship between a target state and international human rights norms by exploring the influence of a transnational network promoting these norms on the human rights practices of the target state. The thesis concludes that the spiral model has provided a valid explanation for many of the changes in the Chinese government's human rights practices, and its responses to its internal and external critics, from 1957 to 2003. Many of the responses of the transnational human rights network and the Chinese government by the end of this period indicate that the latter had progressed to phase three of the model. Some aspects of the Chinese government's practices and relationships with its more powerful state critics can be better explained by the alternative explanations examined here, neorealism and modernisation theories. However, constructivist approaches, and in particular the spiral model, are more effective in explaining the developing pattern of communication about the validity of human rights norms. This thesis also concludes that the spiral model only conceptualises part of the constitutive relationship between the target state and international human rights norms - the influence of these norms on the identities, interests and behaviours of a target state. / It does not conceptualise the influence of a target state on international human rights norms or the transnational human rights network. Therefore, the spiral model cannot explain why the Chinese government has had such a significant influence over the enforcement mechanisms of these norms. An explanation for this is found instead by combining elements of neorealism and constructivism.

This thesis is a history of moral rights in Australian law. It traces the historical discourse about moral rights in Australian law and demonstrates how that discourse has shaped the meaning moral rights have come to assume in their current form under the current regime contained in the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rijghts) Act 2000. This history examines the reception and later production of a moral rights discourse in Australian law, and reveals that the historical discourse about Australian moral rights was dominated by the three themes; foreignness, international obligation and economic impact. I contend these three themes fundamentally shaped moral rights as they now appear in the moral rights regime. As the history unfolds, it will become clear that the moral rights regime was organised around a specific repertoire of arguments and imaginings, and it is this discourse that informs this thesis. My argument is pursued in three stages. Section One of the thesis provides the historical detail of the moral rights trajectory in Australian jurisprudence, and reveals, within that history, the emergence of three dominant themes, which are pursued in subsequent detail. In addition to the history, this section also provides detailed discussion of the legislative provisions in order to illustrate moral rights as a product of the history, and it highlights some of the shortcomings of the regime and provides some background for the case study in Section Two. Section Two of the thesis interrogates the structure of the moral rights regime by applying the Act's provisions to the case study of indigenous creators, thus providing a contemporary example of how these rights may work in practice, as the result of the historical discourse. Thus this section sets the scene for final part of the thesis, which delves further into the historical discourse. Section Part Three follows the themes of the moral rights debate as they emerged historically. Reconceptualizing the moral rights discourse in this way helps to explain why the debates about moral rights took a particular course and produced the outcomes it did. The starting point for these discussions is a detailed examination of the themes of foreignness, international obligation and economic impact, and follows these themes as they evolved chronologically. In particular, the discussion reveals that the debates about moral rights effectively fall into two eras. The first era (1928-1988) centred around the question of whether Australia should introduce moral rights and the debates about the appropriateness of the reception. At the commencement of the second era (1988-2000) the question shifted to what form moral rights should take. This then provides a backdrop with which to understand why specific discussions about moral rights were sidelined during the years of debates leading up to the legislation; in particular, the subject and the object; which form the fulcrum of a moral rights action. This is an essential part of the history because it explains why the subject and the object came to be imagined and constructed in such a narrow and limited way and clarifies why the moral rights provisions appear manifestly ineffective, particularly for indigenous creators and their communities. This thesis contributes to legal history in three important ways. First, it provides a detailed account of a discourse about moral rights in Australian law, and in doing so challenges the long held assumptions about their reception and production. Second, it highlights the importance of history to legal discourse. Just as regulatory regimes, institutions, and rules are integral to the law, so too are the informal practices, discourses and contexts on which they were based. Third, it reminds the reader that history is a signpost, and this history of moral rights demonstrates that the way this law was derived, imagined and constructed has significance for the social, cultural and legal context in which that process takes place.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Ethics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

<p>The aim of this research is to ask questions as to why child right laws for the protection of child soldiers have failed to protect children in the Darfur region of Sudan despite the<br /> fact that Sudan is a member to many of these children&rsquo / s rights instruments. Can conflict transformation therefore be of any help? This is research seeks to address the question posed above.</p>

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States of America, there has been a shift in the policies of many countries to combat terrorism. Terrorism has had a devastating effect on many citizens of the world. These include „the enjoyment of the right to life, liberty and physical integrity of victims. In addition to these individual costs, terrorism can destabilise Governments, undermine civil society, jeopardise peace and security, and threaten social and economic development.‟1 All of these also had a real impact on the enjoyment of human rights. Therefore the fight to curb further terrorist attacks is paramount. States are charged with the responsibility of curbing terrorism by their citizens. But with responsibility comes obligations to the citizenry.2 States should therefore not engage in policies or actions that further deprive others of their enjoyment of human rights. This is well put by Hoffman when he says „history shows that when societies trade human rights for security, most often they get neither.