The successful transition for students with disabilities into adult roles and activities post high-school, including employment, participation in postsecondary educational opportunities, and inclusion in social activities, continues to be a challenge for these individuals. Research has established that the development of certain skills earlier on can support students with disabilities in making a successful transition into these adult roles. The development of self-determination skills is one such practice. There is a need in the field of education to further research in programs that are available for teachers in providing instruction in self-determination skills. This study sought to establish research on one such program titled the My Transition Portfolio. The cost of this program included the purchase of individual student workbooks and a copy of the teacher’s manual for each participating teacher. This cost was covered by the student researcher. The results of this study did establish the potential of the program to assist teachers in providing instruction in self-determination skills and that future research on the program would be advantageous to the field.

Poverty and underdevelopment plague millions of people in the world today. Interestingly, the 800 million people that are currently living on less than a dollar a day correlate very closely with the 750 million people who were under colonial subjugation in 1945. In an effort to understand how the disparities in development came about, the theory of self-determination will be defined and historically assessed. Through qualitative evaluation of the principle and history of self-determination and case studies on three key regions that have never known genuine self-rule, it will become clear that the doctrine of self-determination only ever existed in rhetoric. Resource trap theory will be applied to those who have been plagued by outside rule and a general assessment of the state of self-determination in the world will be given. Lastly, an argument for what right transcendently will be given based on the current state of affairs and on Kantian ethics.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore self-determination in daily life and external programs for youth with visual impairments. To achieve this, the researcher explored three areas that contribute to the development of self-determination based on Wehmeyer’s Functional Theory of Self-determination: capacity, opportunities, and support. All participants in this study participated in Cane Quest, an external program specifically designed for youth with visual impairments. Cane Quest is a long cane competition for youth with visual impairments. These youth independently complete on a route using their orientation and mobility skills while navigating through complex environments such as residential areas, commercial areas, stores, buses, and a college campus. Data were collected through individual interviews, focus group sessions, and document collection. The phenomenological approach was used to analyze the data. Results suggest that youth with visual impairments are facing barriers to capacity, opportunities, and appropriate support in their daily lives. The finding also identified that external programs, like Cane Quest, can provide opportunities and appropriate support for youth with visual impairments to practice and develop self-determination skills. External programs, such as Cane Quest, can be beneficial for youth with visual impairments by filling in some of the gaps that may be occurring in their daily lives.

No description available.

Political scientists concentrate on the concept of political activity as social cooperation motivated to meet two goals: biological survival and accumulation of extrinsic rewards such as power, wealth, or territory. Self-determination research in the field of human motivation reveals a different motivator in the form of innate psychological needs. This literature review and theoretical analysis offers an alternative cause for political activity in light of recent empirical work completed by psychologists in the study of Self-Determination Theory. The findings suggest that humans act politically to secure satisfaction of their psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence. / Master of Arts

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka effekter möteskulturen i traditionell projektmiljö har på motivation hos mötesdeltagarna. Möteskultur i traditionella projekt kan vara ostrukturerad eftersom det är upp till varje enskild projektledare att sätta upp riktlinjer för hur möten ska genomföras. Den empiriska undersökningen i form av kvalitativa intervjuer utfördes på Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut, FOI, och deltagarnas upplevda motivation analyserades utifrån Self Determination Theory. Intervjuresultat visade på en demotiverande upplevelse i flera situationer, både kring möteskulturen och i hur mötesinnehållet hanteras. Författarna fann att motivationen påverkades av agenda och syftet med mötet, närvaro, mötestider, mötesformen samt feedback. Resultatet visade att den undersökta möteskulturen var ostrukturerad vilket ledde till en uppkomst av en submöteskultur med fler mindre informella möten som i sin tur leder till en upplevelse av att arbetsflödet bryts och de intervjuade kände sig mer stressade och mindre produktiva. Eftersom agil projektledningsmetodik brukar framhållas motiverande ur flera aspekter för författarna en diskussion om hur införandet av agila möten kan vara främjande för motivationen i traditionella projektmiljöer. / The purpose of this study was to examine the effects the meeting culture in traditional projects has on the participants’ motivation. The meeting culture in traditional projects can differ in effectiveness since it is dependant on the project manager to arrange, hold and follow up the meeting. The empiric study was conducted in the form of qualitative interviews at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, FOI, and the motivation experienced by participants' was analysed by Self Determination Theory. The results from the interviews showed a demotivating experience in several situations, both regarding the meeting culture and how the meeting content was handled. The authors found that the motivation was affected by the agenda and purpose of the meeting, the attendence, time and form of the meeting and feedback. The results revealed that the examined meeting culture was unstructured which led to an emerging sub-meeting culture of an increasing number of smaller informal meetings. This in turn led to an experience of the work flow being disturbed and the interviewees feeling more stressed and less productive. Since agile project methodology is often regarded as motivating from several aspects, the authors conducted a discussion on how the implementation of agile meetings can be conducive to motivation in traditional project environments.

Research conducted in this thesis revolves around the issue of state sovereignty. More precisely, this thesis aims at examining the foreign policy of the United States of America and its impact on sovereignty of Georgia and Serbia. Different attitude towards the recognition of unilateral declarations of independence of South Ossetia and Kosovo, breakaway regions of Georgia and Serbia, by the US officials represents the starting point of this study. Following state-centric approach this thesis presents an assessment of bilateral relations between the USA and case study countries Georgia and Serbia. The purpose of this study is to enable better understanding of different approaches by the US officials towards the issue of respecting state sovereignty.

The dissertation studies the relationship between Québécois and Indigenous peoples with regards to two different approaches to self-determination. It offers a critique of sovereignty-based self-determination in the form of the nation-state – a hegemonic model throughout the world and within Québécois political imagination – by shining light on the co-constitutive relationship between vulnerability and sovereignty, tracing the origins of their conceptual association in the work of Hobbes. The dissertation argues that, comparatively, by asserting the priority of relationality over individuality, the work of Marcel Mauss contributes to a relational theory of self-determination. By positing togetherness, relationality, reciprocity, and difference as forming the most basic reality of politics, Maussian gifting offers new perspectives on the question of vulnerability in the context of intercultural relations. Finally, through a study of the ethos of Indigenous treaty philosophy, the dissertation argues for re-envisioning Québécois self-determination through the role of treaty partner and honouring the gift of hospitality contained in the early treaties and alliances of peace and friendship with Indigenous peoples. / Graduate / 2020-04-18

Do the Palestinians deserve a state? To answer this question, one must first provide an account of collective self-determination (CSD) and when a group is entitled to it. This starts with looking at the origins of CSD, both to see if it truly is a right and, if so, what its nature is. I will argue that there is such a thing as a right to CSD, but due to its nature, it is not a universal right of all groups. Whether a group has a right to CSD depends on the conditions in which the group lives, and in this paper, I will tease out what these conditions are. The result of such an analysis will be a set of criteria by which one can judge whether or not a group is entitled to CSD, given the conditions in which the group lives. With this criteria, I will look at the Palestinian case in particular and determine whether or not the Palestinians have a right to CSD. If so, they have a right to an independent state, since any group that exercises true CSD can determine whether or not they choose to live in such a state.

Darbo tema – laisvo tautų apsisprendimo principas tarptautinėje teisėje ir jo įgyvendinimo ribos. Darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti ir įvertinti esminius laisvo tautų apsisprendimo principo reglamentavimo tarptautinėje teisėje bei realizavimo teorinius ir praktinius aspektus. Pirmoje darbo dalyje nagrinėjame šio principo evoliuciją tarptautinėje teisėje. Laisvo tautų apsisprendimo principo kilmė siejama su Amerikos ir Prancūzijos revoliucijomis ir idėja, kad valdžia remiasi tautos valia. Po Pirmojo pasaulinio karo jis tapo JAV prezidento Woodrow Wilson idealu, perbraižant Europos žemėlapį, tačiau nebuvo taikomas nuosekliai. Kadangi Europos imperijų suskaldymas ir naujų tautinių valstybių sukūrimas buvo įtakojamas ekonominių interesų, istorinių pretenzijų ir strateginių išskaičiavimų, laisvo tautų apsisprendimo principą iki Antrojo Pasaulinio karo pabaigos galime vertinti tik kaip politinę deklaraciją. Laisvo tautų apsisprendimo principas teisės statusą įgijo Jungtinių Tautų režime dekolonizacijos kontekste. Nors Jungtinių Tautų chartijoje įtvinta tik labai abstrakti šio principo formuluotė, jo ribas apibrėžia vėlesnės Generalinės Asamblėjos rezoliucijos. Šaltojo karo pabaiga privertė persvarstyti analizuojamo principo turinį. Tapo akivaizdu, kad apsisprendimo teisė peržengė dekolonizacijos ribas, tačiau iškilo naujų klausimų dėl to, kam priklauso šis principas bei, ar jis apima teisę atsiskirti. Antroje darbo dalyje analizuojame laisvo tautų apsisprendimo principo apimtį... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The topic of the paper is the principle of self-determination of peoples in international law and the limits of its implementation. The aim of the paper is to analyze and evaluate theoretical and practical aspects of regulation and implementation of the principle of self-determination of peoples. In the first part of the paper we examine the evolution of the principle in international law. The origin of the principle of self-determination of peoples is connected with the American and French revolutions in late XVIII century and the idea that government derives from the will of people. After the First World War the principle became the ideal of USA president Woodrow Wilson and it was used in redrawing the map of Europe, its practical application was inconsistent though. Since the dismemberment of European empires and the creation of the new national states were based on economic interests, historical claims and strategic calculations we can think of the principle of self-determination of peoples till the Second World War as the political declaration only. The principle of self-determination of peoples got the status of the right of international law under the regime of United Nations in the context of decolonization. Though the formulation of the principle in the Charter of United Nations is abstract, its content is clarified by the resolutions of the General Assembly. The scope of the principle was revised after the Cold War. It became obviously that the right of... [to full text]