Public sector corruption is a major problem in Monrovia. Successive national governments have instituted anticorruption measures in the 1970s and 2000s, and anticorruption agencies were established to eradicate corruption. However, there appears to be a significant lack of resources and political willpower to prosecute corrupt government officials. A failure to curb political corruption indicates that current policies are not working. Government works when there is a perception that it delivers results and that the needs and safety of the citizenry are protected. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study was to gain a deeper understanding of public sector corruption at high levels of government in Monrovia. The conceptual framework for this study was based on the sociological theory of collaboration, within which governance is seen as a component of interpersonal relationships and a way to build trust and social interactions. Data were collected from open-ended semistructured interviews with former and present government officials (N = 8). The results were coded using descriptive coding to take an inventory of the contents, and to classify the coding into themes and subthemes. Results indicated that distrust among stakeholders and various governing institutions has hindered cooperation. Civic engagement and participation, patriotism, decentralization of the central government, job creation, safety and security, law and order, education and healthcare, and diluting the powers of the presidency, etc., were some of the issues raised by the participants. This dissertation may support positive social change in a meaningful way by providing policymakers with the information to make the country safe and governable, increase the standard of living and bring needed relief to the citizenry.

In placing Joy Harjo and Natasha Trethewey in conversation with each other, my dissertation analyzes - alongside their poetry and prose - monuments, paintings, television, film, photographs, and performance as connected to understanding the impact of historical legacies on lived experiences within the empire of U.S. America. Toni Morrison's concept of recovering the "unwritten interior life" of the slave experience - a life hidden within slave narratives - assists in understanding the historical poetics of Joy Harjo and Natasha Trethewey as artists engaged in similar projects of reclamation. For Harjo this entails shedding a light on the weight of Native American histories for the descendants of survivors while contesting the myths that abound within popular culture regarding Native peoples. Trethewey's work intervenes within the public memory of the nation by centering on the inner-lives of African Americans as well as other people of color, stressing their various gendered and racialized experiences. The gaps within the records that each poet illuminates do not constitute a failure of history, per se, but rather emphasize limitations concerning traditional methodologies of history-writing. In order to further expand on this argument, throughout my work I rely upon certain ideas from 20th century ethical philosopher Emmanuel Levinas regarding our obligations to the past of the Other as well as the potential violence inherent within Western philosophical rhetoric regarding the Other. "Tending to the Past" argues that due to the gaps within the archival records we need multiple ways of approaching our history. The absence within the archives of the "emotional truths" or "interior lives" of historical subjects proves to emphasize the necessity for the poetic interventions of Joy Harjo and Natasha Trethewey.

黎巴嫩孱弱的社會體質在無力消　於發展過程中所迸發的一連串危機下， 終在一九七五年釀成全面的內戰，其混沌險惡之勢全面肢解國家機器，生 民賤如螻蟻；也為飽受歷史巨擔磨難的中東地區，再上一層重枷，成為關 切中東事務者的研究課題。本研究論文即透過黎巴嫩的社會層面，地區關 係及國際關係的三大主軸去構築內戰的圖像。 @有鑑於政治情勢的變化乃 為導引社會興衰的主流，而歷史又為政治之母；所以本文擷取黎巴嫩史上 對其今日社會性格塑造有決定性影響的諸變點及所推演的事件作一說明來 作為本研究的基點。歷史遺續沉澱堆積在各個社會權力中心，其運作生態 已無法自外於非理性教派情結及偏狹地域家族、意識的感染，七０年代巴 勒斯坦問題在上述情境下被激化，其殺傷力足以割斷維繫社會體系的紐帶 。 黎國內戰不單純是本土化的戰爭，更是區域性、國際化的內戰。敘 利亞、以色列、伊朗以及伊拉克等地區強權的涉入，將內戰推向地區權力 鬥爭的深淵；美國為推動中東政策，儘管在行政部門仍有爭議下，也出兵 黎國。探討各外來行為者的涉入動因、參與過程、施展外交工具的手段及 與黎國民兵派系的互動都是本論文寫作的核心。唯有如此，才能真實體察 戰事的脈動，釐清錯綜複雜的表象，並有助對於如何重建黎巴嫩社會及推 展中東和平的議題上，提供一條全方位思考途徑。 @ 在結論中，將根 據整個研究心得，對黎巴嫩社會提出一兼具階段性 及跟本長久之計的方 案，以廓清內戰的亂源，重塑和平。

The period of English history between the second Civil War and the Restoration opened up seemingly unlimited possibilities for shaping the country�s future. The period likewise witnessed an unprecedented surge of political imagination, a development which is particularly visible in Interregnum utopianism. More than ever before, utopianism orientates itself to a hopeful and expectant reality. It is no longer fictional or contemplative. Its ambitions and fulfilment are political; there is a drive towards active political participation. Utopianism reshapes its former boundaries and reinvents itself as reality utopianism. Considering this new reality-orientated identity, the utopias of the 1650s are especially useful in providing an insight into the political imagination of this period. This thesis studies three reality utopias of the 1650s: Winstanley�s The Law of Freedom, Harrington�s Oceana and Hobbes�s Leviathan. Each work represents a uniquely different utopian vision: Winstanley imagines an agrarian communism, Harrington revives classical republicanism, and Hobbes stresses absolute sovereignty. These three different utopian visions not only illustrate the range of the political imagination; they provide an opportunity to examine different ways to deal with the existing political and social concerns of the Interregnum and different perspectives for ideal solutions. Interregnum utopianism is shaped by the expectations and violence of the English Revolution and accordingly it is characterised by the heightened hopes and fears of its time. Despite substantial differences in the three utopias, the elemental hopes and fears expressed in these works remain similar. The hope for change and a better future is negotiated textually with a fear of anarchy and violence. In the end a compromise between opportunity and security has to be found. It is this compromise that shapes the face of Interregnum utopianism and reflects a major aspect of the post-revolutionary political imagination in England.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Social Anthropology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 233-250). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss&rft%5Fval%5Ffmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss:MQ99313

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 378-398).

This thesis explores and provides analysis on several areas of study related to the history of the Confederate States Marine Corps that have long been neglected. It examines the military and political processes that were instrumental in both creating and employing a Southern Marine Corps. It also investigates relationships between the U.S. and Confederate Marine Corps, particularly in light of how the experiences of former U.S. Marines shaped the growth of the Southern Corps. In particular, the thesis asserts that, despite shared origins, the CSMC seized on opportunities presented by the Civil War and became expert in new mission areas through the efforts of a core group of determined and experienced leaders. In the process, the CSMC came to eclipse its Northern cousin, becoming a valued and vital element of the Confederate Navy. The CSMC is examined in light of its national service, thereby affording fresh perspectives on the patterns formed by its actions as part of the Southern war effort. This new research framework supports a better understanding of the roles and missions expected by Southern leaders from their Corps, and more clearly illuminates the CSMC’s differences. In particular, this approach highlights the inherent strengths of the CSMC’s unique structure that lent itself to a more efficient concept of employment. Finally, this thesis asserts that the CSMC became, for its abbreviated history, the agile, innovative, and versatile fighting unit that, man-for-man, the U.S. Marine Corps would not achieve until some time late in the nineteenth century. However, the lessons of its service were not realized, in part because of its relative historical obscurity.

Die Debatte um die Verschwundenen des Spanischen Bürgerkriegs ist lange nicht beendet. Auch nach der Transition des Landes bleiben etliche Fragen offen und der Staat trägt wenig zu ihrer Aufklärung bei. Die Autorin befasst sich intensiv mit der lokalen Erinnerungskultur Spaniens. Sie analysiert dabei deren Bezug auf internationale Normen und Aufarbeitungserfahrungen in Lateinamerika.

Previous research has not specified the circumstances under which foreign aid may increase the probability of armed conflict. The purpose of this dissertation is to address this gap by employing a theoretical framework in which foreign aid produces incentives for a rent-seeking scramble among elites. A set of conditions affecting the likelihood of armed conflict are identified and tested on global data in a series of statistical analyses. Paper I argues and finds that foreign aid increases the probability of armed conflict in states where there are few constraints on executive power, allowing for a scramble for rents. Paper II proposes and finds a threshold effect of aid, such that the likelihood of armed conflict increases only when aid has reached a certain level. Paper III suggests and demonstrates that sudden negative changes in aid flows enhance the risk of armed conflict as well as coup attempts, as aid shortfalls accelerate distributional conflict over aid rents. Paper IV claims and shows that civil wars are less likely to be terminated by settlement in the form of elections when conflict parties are dependent on rents. In sum, this dissertation contributes by theoretically specifying and empirically identifying conditions under which foreign aid increases the probability of armed conflict.

Franco’s dictatorship remains a divisive issue within Spain. The contemporary debate rages on: mass graves are still being discovered and Spaniards continue to fight for and against historical memory laws that promote “forgetting” as a means of coping with the tumultuous past. This thesis is centered on oral history collected in the major city of Seville and the comparatively insignificant beach town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. While only an hour apart by car, these Andalusian municipalities experienced the Spanish Civil War and the postwar period quite differently. The voices of a few express the reality of many in this thesis which combines oral history, archival research, and the intriguing world of scholarship on Franco’s Spain. The rural nature and ignored classes that largely made up Sanlúcar in contrast with the urban Seville indicate the drastically different, and in many cases, harsher experience of agricultural Andalusia.