Thesis (doctoral)--Groningen, 1947. / "Theses": 4 p. inserted. Includes index.

Thesis (doctoral)--Groningen, 1947. / "Theses": 4 p. inserted. Includes index.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-208).

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the degree to which the Parliament of Canada was able to control the defence policy, administration and expenditures of the Canadian government in the 1945-1962 period. Because of the distribution of power between the two houses of Parliament, the thesis is primarily concerned with the House of Commons. In the second last chapter, however, the role of the Senate is analyzed. The House of Commons has four principal (although not mutually exclusive) techniques through which it attempts to exercise control. These include critical debate, control of finances, select committees and the question period. The use of each of these techniques is analyzed separately. Also, each of the four is analyzed with reference to the party in opposition. Hence for each technique, the 1945-1957 and the 1957-1962 periods were dealt with separately. The analysis of the defence debates and question period indicated striking differences in the pattern of opposition between the two periods. In the 1957-1962 period the Liberal opposition was concerned primarily with destroying the prospects of the government for the ensuing election. Hence the Liberals strove to discredit the defence programme of the government. Policy and politics were the major issues. Both in the debates and the question period the opposition dealt harshly and exhaustively with the defence policy of the government. The Liberal opposition virtually ignored, however, the administration of the defence departments. In contrast, the Progressive Conservative opposition of the 1945-1957 period devoted most of its energies, during question time and the debates, to the implementation of policy and administration of defence. Their efforts were culminated by their success in obstructing the 1955 amendment to the Defence Production Act. On the other hand, the Progressive Conservatives did not debate critically the major steps taken in the development of Canadian defence policy. Indeed, they never questioned the broad defence road that the government chose to follow. House of Commons control of defence expenditures was a myth. No direct control over the estimates was exercised. Nor did the debates in Supply serve, even indirectly, to indicate that the House of Commons still retained control of the purse. Moreover, statutory controls were less effective for defence than the other functions of government. In the 1945 to 1957 period, select committees were appointed with post-audit functions only. In five of these years the Public Accounts Committee dealt with irregularities in defence expenditures as a result of its examination of the annual Report of the Auditor General. Because of its broad duties, circumscribed powers and partisan atmosphere, however, this Committee was not especially effective. In 1951, however, after completing its examination of the Auditor General's Report, the Public Accounts Committee dealt specifically with defence expenditures and served usefully to inform members of current developments in the defence establishment. The work of the 1951 Public Accounts Committee was continued by the Special Committee on Defence Expenditures that met between 1951 and 1953. This Committee, despite the lack of permanent staff, received an enormous amount of evidence on the administration of defence. Its usefulness was cut down, however, by the partisan atmosphere which prevented the Committee from making constructive reports to the House. After dealing with the Currie Report in 1953, the Committee was not re-appointed. Thus, the only effective and continuous post-audit scrutiny was carried out by the Defence Branch of the Office of the Auditor General. Its efficacy was hampered too, however, by the failure of the House to develop a technique for dealing regularly with Report; for the House proper never debated the Auditor General’s Report and the Public Accounts Committee did not meet regularly during these years. Since 1957, the Public Accounts Committee has met annually and reported to the House without partisan interference, examples of ineffective administration and waste. Constructive recommendations have often been included. The Committee thus has not only strengthened its own usefulness as an effective organ of post-audit control. It has also increased the effectiveness of the Auditor General by guaranteeing more publicity for his annual report than it had been receiving in earlier years. These years also marked the initial ventures in pre-audit control through select committee. In 1958 and 1960 the defence estimates were dealt with through these committees. Although the work of these committees, especially the 1958 committee, was an improvement over the performances of Committee of Supply, they appeared to have no inherent advantages over what a better informed Committee of Supply could reasonably be expected to accomplish. Moreover, there was evidence that these select committees might be used as the focal point for interest group pressures. Finally, the defence policy discussions which accompanied the review of the estimates clearly would have been more effective had they been held in the House of Commons. Thus, since the Senate played no significant role, the record of Parliament in controlling defence was very poor. There was no effective pre-audit control of expenditure and post-audit control was at no time comprehensive. Defence debates in the 1945-1957 period seldom probed into the implications of policy decisions. In more recent years, although the debates have been more comprehensive, they have not been at a very high level of sophistication. Both these shortcomings, it might be noted, were closely related to the dearth of information available on defence. It is suggested that a select standing committee of the House might possibly help to strengthen parliamentary control. Such a committee, if left to investigate problems of administration, technology and weaponry, as well as past expenditures (all matters of fact) might serve two purposes. First, it might accumulate sufficient relevant information to permit more sophisticated policy debates and more informative discussion of the estimates. Second, it would permit better control of past expenditure through detailed and comprehensive investigation of defence. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

During June 15-18, 1864, the Federal Army of the Potomac launched a series of attacks against the vital Confederate rail center of Petersburg, Virginia. Union leaders believed that capturing Petersburg would force the abandonment of the Rebel capital at Richmond. The assaults failed, however, and the opposing armies settled into a ten-month siege.This study investigated the opening battles for Petersburg on three levels. First, the strategic dispositions and movements of the Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia are discussed prior to and during the battles. Secondly, the study looks carefully at the tactical situation on each of the four days of fighting. Thirdly, the paper reveals the personal side of combat through the use of soldiers' diaries, letters, and regimental histories. The thesis concludes that Federal failure occurred because of poor Union leadership and staff work, a strong Confederate defense, and extreme exhaustion throughout the Northern army. / Master of Arts

La poliorcétique romaine connut apogée et suprématie sous le Haut Empire, dans un monde antique urbanisé où les guerres ne cessèrent jamais. Elle est bien davantage que le simple art de faire le siège d’une ville ou d’une place forte. Elle comprend tous les modes d’action, violents ou non. La guerre de siège et la défense en font également partie. Pragmatique, le général romain cherchait la conquête au moindre coût et n’utilisait la violence qu’en dernier lieu. L’assaut dans la foulée, très pratiqué, était d’une efficacité redoutable. Il évitait les désagréments d’un siège incertain, techniquement complexe, demandant une logistique considérable, dévoreur d’hommes, de temps et d’argent. Pour toutes ces raisons, le siège en règle était finalement assez peu fréquent. Une fois entrepris, il pouvait requérir, mais sans doute moins souvent qu’on ne le pense, des travaux lourds et complexes, exigeant de l’armée une division du travail poussée. Au combat, la complémentarité et l’efficacité du couple légion/auxiliaires n’a pas été assez soulignée, de même que l’importance du combat interarmes, incluant l’utilisation systématique des appuis, artillerie, archers et parfois frondeurs. L’assaut final semble avoir été assez rare et les dénouements alternatifs fréquents. Le traitement des vaincus dépendait de leur opiniâtreté. Sans pitié pour ceux qui leur résistaient, les Romains étaient assez pragmatiques pour les autres, en fonction des buts recherchés. Enfin, la prise d’une ville, était génératrice de richesses. Elle renforçait la légitimité impériale et le butin, matériel et humain, était un complément non négligeable pour le chef et le soldat. / Roman siege warfare achieved its upmost efficiency and supremacy under the Early Empire in an antique world in which wars were permanent. Siege warfare is far more than the simple art of besieging cities or fortresses. It includes violent and non-violent courses of action. Siege wars and defense are part of it. Pragmatic, the roman general was eager to capture cities at low cost and use of violence came last. Storming assault was frequently employed and very effective. It avoided dangers of an uncertain siege, characterized by technical complexity, an important logistics, potentially high losses, time consuming and requiring huge financial resources. For all those reasons, methodical siege was not a very usual course of action. It sometimes meant, less frequently than expected, heavy siege works, requiring a demanding division of labor. During the battle, the complementarity and efficiency offered by the couple legion/auxiliaries hasn’t been stressed enough. Such is the importance of combined warfare, which systematically included the use of fire support, artillery, archeries and sometimes slingers. Regarding the capture, final assaults appear to have been rare. Alternative conclusions were most of the time the rule. Pitiless with resistant forces, Romans were rather pragmatic with others, depending on the final desired end state on the ground. When overrun, the city was generally a wealth provider. It concurred to strengthen the imperial legitimacy and, bounty, material and humans as well, was an important financial contribution for the general and the soldier.

Student Number : 8534741 - PhD thesis - School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies - Faculty of Science / During the 19th century the present Makapan Valley World Heritage site was a place of repeated refuge from the conflicts arising from shifting authority, acquisition and loss of power, and competition over the control of resources in the northern regions of Republic of South Africa. During 1854 growing resistance amongst the northern AmaNdebele against the frontier of colonial expansion erupted in the murder of a number of trekboers who were encroaching on their territory. Historic Cave, one of the caves in the Valley, became written into the Afrikaner Nationalist narratives of the 20th century as the place where the Boers avenged the treacherous murder of their fellow trekkers, by suppressing the savage forces of chief Mugombane and his Kekana chiefdom. The events surrounding the siege and the scale of the massacre became blurred in the playing out of these political agendas, while the Kekana oral histories remained silent on the matter. The excavation of Historic Cave, prompted by the contradictions in the historical narrative and the silence in the oral record, provided a means to detect the boundary between what happened and what was said to have happened. This thesis presents the results of a survey of the Valley, the excavation of Historic Cave and the analysis of the remains of the siege of 1854. The archaeological survey and excavation indicates that a number of scurmishes took place in the valley, but that Historic Cave was occupied only on one occasion for any length of time, during the siege of 1854. The lime enriched deposits and dry conditions within the cave have allowed for the exceptional preservation of plant, animal and human remains. This enduring evidence chronicled the activities and steps taken by the Kekana to survive. The spatial layout of the cave together with cultural remains echo the structure and hierarchy of the society trapped within it, which like many African societies of this time comprised a heterogeneous ‘royal’ core and other ‘foreign’ subordinate groups. Evidence for divination reflects the final attempts to divine the cause of misfortune and protect the group against maleficent forces. However, it is argued that the social and religious forces that operated to keep the chiefdom together may have begun to loosen under the pressure of the siege, especially as the polluting forces of death became stronger and the group began to succumb. The remains of young and old people, and the desiccated bodies of a child and a young woman speak of untold suffering and provide a glimpse of the horror within the cave. From this it is reasoned that following the devastation of the siege the core of the chiefdom was challenged; the chief was ‘dealt with’ and the political power base shifted. The real reason for the ‘silence’ then lies at the point of rupture, at the stage when the surviving statesmen contrived a suitable account of ensuing events to give the new chief legitimacy and the lineage continuity.

Esta pesquisa procura entender a ação sindical brasileira diante dos impactos do regime de acumulação flexível sobre o país. O setor escolhido foi o bancário, justamente porque ele está no centro do capitalismo financeiro. Nos bancos brasileiros, inúmeras mudanças aconteceram na gestão do trabalho, mas a principal foi a transformação do bancário em um vendedor de produtos. Com isso se desenvolveram técnicas de controle do trabalho como o sistema de metas de produtividade. Este, por sua vez, gerou uma pressão demasiada sobre os trabalhadores e instrumentalizou o assédio moral como instrumento de gestão. Tal fato provocou o adoecimento da classe trabalhadora constituindo um novo elo entre os dirigentes sindicais e os trabalhadores. Os sindicatos, que em 1990 atravessaram uma profunda crise no país, agora, devido ao sofrimento dos trabalhadores com a pressão para o cumprimento de metas, conseguiram se reaproximar de sua base de representação. O sindicalismo não chegou ao fim, nem mesmo saiu do espaço político de lutas. Por meio das políticas de denúncia ao assédio moral nos locais de trabalho e de combate às metas abusivas, restabeleceu seu papel de movimento, tornando-se novamente atuante na contraposição às empresas e na defesa dos trabalhadores. / This research aims to understand the trade union setion facing the impacts of the flexible accumulation regime on the country. The hanking sector was exactly chosen because it is in the center of the finacial capitalism. In Brazilian banks several changes happened in work management but the main change was the transformation of the bank clerk into a salesman. Consequently, the techniques of work control were develp, such as the system or productivity targets. In turn, this system caused excessive pressure on workers and exploited the moral siege as a management instrument. Such fact caused diseases in workers. Trade unions that had suffered a deep crisis in 1990 in Brazil because of the work class sufferings caused by the pressure to meet targets have succeded in reconneting to their basis of representation. The trade unionism did not come to an end and did not even leave the political struggle scene. Through the denunciation policy of psychological harassment at work and the fight against abusive targets, trade unions restored their identity as a movementle of movement acting again in a counterpoint to companies and in the defense of the working class.

Esta pesquisa procura entender a ação sindical brasileira diante dos impactos do regime de acumulação flexível sobre o país. O setor escolhido foi o bancário, justamente porque ele está no centro do capitalismo financeiro. Nos bancos brasileiros, inúmeras mudanças aconteceram na gestão do trabalho, mas a principal foi a transformação do bancário em um vendedor de produtos. Com isso se desenvolveram técnicas de controle do trabalho como o sistema de metas de produtividade. Este, por sua vez, gerou uma pressão demasiada sobre os trabalhadores e instrumentalizou o assédio moral como instrumento de gestão. Tal fato provocou o adoecimento da classe trabalhadora constituindo um novo elo entre os dirigentes sindicais e os trabalhadores. Os sindicatos, que em 1990 atravessaram uma profunda crise no país, agora, devido ao sofrimento dos trabalhadores com a pressão para o cumprimento de metas, conseguiram se reaproximar de sua base de representação. O sindicalismo não chegou ao fim, nem mesmo saiu do espaço político de lutas. Por meio das políticas de denúncia ao assédio moral nos locais de trabalho e de combate às metas abusivas, restabeleceu seu papel de movimento, tornando-se novamente atuante na contraposição às empresas e na defesa dos trabalhadores. / This research aims to understand the trade union setion facing the impacts of the flexible accumulation regime on the country. The hanking sector was exactly chosen because it is in the center of the finacial capitalism. In Brazilian banks several changes happened in work management but the main change was the transformation of the bank clerk into a salesman. Consequently, the techniques of work control were develp, such as the system or productivity targets. In turn, this system caused excessive pressure on workers and exploited the moral siege as a management instrument. Such fact caused diseases in workers. Trade unions that had suffered a deep crisis in 1990 in Brazil because of the work class sufferings caused by the pressure to meet targets have succeded in reconneting to their basis of representation. The trade unionism did not come to an end and did not even leave the political struggle scene. Through the denunciation policy of psychological harassment at work and the fight against abusive targets, trade unions restored their identity as a movementle of movement acting again in a counterpoint to companies and in the defense of the working class.