This thesis examines the efficacy of markets, using both quantitative and qualitative methods in a complementary way. Specifically, it starts (in Part II) by using the results from a quantitative analysis of initial public offering (IPO) underpricing as a barometer for corporate governance failure. This quantitative work identified Russia, China and India as extreme outliers. The data set used for this work was the cross-section sample of 45 countries developed by Loughran, Ritter & Rydqvist (2008). More broadly (in Part III), the thesis takes the lead of the quantitative evidence to examine, in a qualitative framework, possible sources of corporate governance failure in China, India and Russia. This was done categorically, under the headings of Globalisation, Corporate Governance, Institutional Structure and Competitive Strategy. Data were gathered by eldwork in China, India and Russia, and these findings were then benchmarked against findings from further fieldwork in the United Kingdom. This created a unique 56,000 word database, which was used for both cross-site and within-site analysis. This indicates how both unique attributes (e.g. rule of law, transparency, regulation, etc.), and common attributes (e.g. transition from a socialist/Marxist regime, market immaturity, asymmetric information etc.), combine to explain the different morphologies of corporate governance in these three countries. The quantitative analysis (Part II) consists of exploratory data analysis (EDA) and econometric work. The exploratory data analysis establishes, through graphical means and regression techniques, a negative correlation between IPO underpricing and globalisation (as measured by the KOF index, see Dreher, 2006). Building on this, the subsequent econometric modelling suggests that economic, demographic and institutional factors are all significant determinants of IPO underpricing. The qualitative analysis carried out in Part III of the thesis, builds on and extends the quantitative analysis of Part II. This is consistent with the multiple method approach, which combines both quantitative and qualitative analysis to achieve a synthesis of findings. The qualitative analysis uses evidence from semi-structured interviews with finance professionals and opinion makers, as well as evidence from additional primary and secondary sources, which was also made available through fieldwork contacts. This analysis emphasises the especial importance of board composition, information flows, the judicial system, the stock exchanges, and financial regulators for forms of corporate governance.

Construction activity is known to have a major impact on the environment and is a major consumer of a wide range of naturally occurring and synthesized resources. Despite the recognition that environmental issues are important to the survival of the construction industry, the industry continues to degrade the environment, exploiting resources and generating waste, and is slow to change its conventional practices to incorporate environmental matters as part of its decision making process. With increased awareness and knowledge of these impacts, efforts are being made to avoid these adverse effects and to work towards impact mitigation. Among these is sustainable building material selection. Building material selection is an important issue in building design and construction decision-making and environmental issues need to be incorporated into the evaluation process. The research reported in this thesis was initiated to address these issues in the UK, towards developing an assessment model for incorporating sustainability into building material selection process. A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the level of awareness, knowledge and implementation of sustainable practices among architects and designers and how this impacts on their design decisions. To facilitate the implementation of sustainable practices into building material selection, a set of sustainable assessment criteria (SAC) for modeling and evaluating sustainability performance of building materials was developed. Building material can be assessed using an index system that combines the principal criteria of sustainable development. The derived criteria were assessed and aggregated into a composite sustainability index using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique which has been praised for its ability to incorporate both objective and subjective considerations in the decision process. The development of a sustainability index is a way of supporting decision makers faced with making numerous and sometimes conflicting evaluation as with building material selection. The methodology adopted in undertaking this research was the mixed method approach involving a detailed review of the relevant literature, followed by an industry-wide survey of UK architects and designers. Following this, case study was conducted to collect data for sustainability criteria used in the assessment model. The data collected were analyzed, with the aid of SPSS, Excel and expert choice software using a variety of statistical methods including descriptive statistics analysis, relative index analysis, Kendall’s concordance and factor analysis. The key finding was the existing gap between awareness and implementation of sustainable construction practices, which has led to failure of realizing the benefits of a sustainable approach to construction. The study showed a discrepancy between what architects and designers claim to be convinced about, and knowledgeable in, and their commitment and practices; they seem to be unable to translate their environmental awareness and knowledge into appropriate design decisions and are in need of a decision support system that can aid the incorporation of sustainability into building design. The model developed satisfy this gap and was validated by application to a roof covering material selection decision process for a case study building project by means of experts’ review via a survey and the findings obtained suggest that the model is valuable and suitable for use in practice. Finally, areas for further research were identified.

Electronic procurement (e-procurement) has been widely adopted across the private sector, and as such various aspects of its adoption has been researched. The adoption of e-procurement in the public sector is not as widespread, especially in relation the UK Central and Local Government sectors, and accordingly there has been limited research into the factors affecting the adoption of e-procurement technologies, within this context. Consequently, this study, which has been undertaken with five case study organisations spread across the UK Central and Local Government sectors, aims to add to current published literature, and in particular provide an understanding of the relationship between the factors identified which have affected adoption, and the extent of adoption of e-procurement solutions. This research provides a number of significant contributions to current published literature including a comprehensive definition and conceptualisation of e-procurement and a holistic research framework which facilitates understanding the relationships between the level of adoption by the case study organisations and the factors affecting their decisions. Additionally, this study demonstrates that there is a high degree of commonality between the case study organisations in terms of their levels of adoption, and the factors that have affected such adoption. Of these factors, there are four that are particularly important, as they haven't previously attracted much attention in the literature. More specifically, this research highlights the importance of understanding an organisation's procurement landscape, the impact (both negative and positive) of public policy on adoption, the impact of enhanced organisational standing and the need for vision and leadership from senior stakeholders.

Honour killings are considered by the perpetrators the only path to maintain theirs and their family honour, preventing other's to follow behaviours that move away from traditional patriarchal values. With the aim of exploring how honour killings are characterised, a qualitative study within three European newspapers, in three different languages, was conducted. The findings showed that often the victims are characterised as young women and girls that want to live independently from their birth cultures or that acted in a way considered to be a dishonour to their family culture. Perpetrators are often described as family members, mostly males to whom honour is worth more than life. However, some of the news articles launch the debate of the thin line that divides honour crimes and domestic violence making this not a cultural problem but a widespread cross-cultural reality.

This thesis challenges the conventional wisdom that the W.S.P.U.'s strategy choices were unimportant in regard to winning women's suffrage. It confirms the hypothesis that the long-range strategy of the W.S.P.U. was to escalate coercion until the Government exhausted its powers of opposition and conceded, but to interrupt this strategy whenever favorable bargaining opportunities with the Government and third parties developed. In addition to filling an apparent research gap by systematically analyzing these choices, this thesis synthesizes and tests several piecemeal theories of social movements within the general framework of the natural history approach. The analysis utilizes data drawn from movement leaders' autobiographies, documentary accounts of the militant movement, and the standard histories of the entire British women's suffrage movement. Additionally, extensive use is made of contemporary periodicals and miscellaneous works on related movements.

Chenopodium album is considered one of the most important weeds adversely affecting agricultural production due to its highly competitive influence on field crops. Chemical herbicides have increased the efficiency of farming, but recently problems of herbicideresistant weed populations and herbicide residues in soil, water, food products and effects on non-target organisms have increased, consequently, other methods of control of weeds by using specific fungi as herbicides have been suggested. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the biological control of the weed Chenopodium album by the fungus Ascochyta caulina. Some of the factors which control dormancy and germination of Chenopodium album seeds have been investigated to understand better the weed population dynamics. The results showed that seeds from two populations (UK and Libya) differ in their response to factors such as light, chilling, and burying in soil. This could have implications for effective control of the weed in different regions. Two formulations of mycoherbicides (Tween 80 and Gelatine based applications) were tested in the laboratory, and showed promise in reducing growth of the weed, especially the formula of Tween 80. There was extensive shoot fresh and dry weight reduction of inoculated Chenopodium album, as well as reduced root growth. Highest disease severity rates were observed on plants in the first three week of life. A field trial revealed similar results but less disease severity was observed, possibly because of dry weather. However, it was concluded that the fungus Ascochyta caulina is a potentially useful biological control agent but many factors still can be modified in relation to application of the mycoherbicide to increase its efficacy.

The recent collapse of the Dublin system, a system meant to distribute responsibility towards asylum-seekers and refugees between EU Member States (MSs), has marked a new phase of the so-called European Refugee “Crisis”, where the inability of EU MS governments to address the situation in a unified and coherent manner ultimately harms those most in need of protection. Public discontent with EU and MS government responses to the crisis has led to strong citizen mobilisation in the form of civil society. This study focuses on the case of the UK and examines the role played by policy advocacy Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). The concept of Political Responsibility is used to establish the emergence of a Governance Gap in the UK's response to the crisis, where the government finds itself unable to bridge a growing distance between its representation and responsible governance functions. Policy advocacy CSOs are found to be now minding this gap. Critical Discourse Analysis is used to study how CSOs react to the UK government's response in terms of practice and discourse, and to highlight the consequences which language use can have on how we perceive and treat refugees and asylum-seekers in this context.

La France possède une industrie qui en couvre les principales branches, dimensionnée pour faire face aux besoins de la consommation, mais partie avec retard dans la révolution industrielle, elle n’est pas apte à soutenir la concurrence de nations rivales plus avancées; le gouvernement est contraint d’appliquer des mesures protectionnistes pour sauvegarder l’emploi; de nombreuses institutions ont pour but de favoriser le développement du commerce et de l’industrie; mais les Français ont un esprit d’entreprise peu développé; la prudente circonspection des négociants français s’oppose au caractère hardi et aventureux des Anglo-saxons. La Grande-Bretagne s’est dotée, surtout dans le textile, d’un outil de production industrielle innovant et performant, dimensionné pour dépasser largement les besoins du marché intérieur; ses négociants et ses fabricants possèdent un esprit qui les tourne vers le commerce extérieur dans leur recherche de profit; enfin le pays possède des institutions financières solides et une flotte de commerce à laquelle le Navigation Act pris sous Cromwell a permis de donner un grand développement; mais une détresse profonde qui sévit dans les classes laborieuses vient sérieusement ternir ce tableau flatteur. Entre 1822 et 1850 la France voit la production de son industrie manufacturière plus que doubler, son commerce extérieur tripler; elle double la part de marché qu’elle possède dans les exportations de produits naturels et manufacturés au Brésil; cela constitue pour la France une réussite, mais n’aurait elle pas pu mieux faire? La thèse tente d’apporter des éclairages sur les responsabilités relatives de la politique suivie par le gouvernement et du comportement des acteurs privés. / The French industry covers the main branches of which it is composed, and is designed to cope with the consumption of the country; but having started tardily it cannot withstand the competition of more advanced rival nations; the government has to promote protectionist measures to safeguard employment; numerous institutions exist to boost the development of trade and industry; but French people lack the spirit of enterprise; the prudent circumspection of French merchants is opposed to the bold and adventurous character of Anglo-Saxons. Great Britain has developed, mainly in their textile industry, an innovating and performing tool for industrial production, designed to exceed considerably the needs of domestic market; the merchants and manufacturers have a spirit oriented toward international trade to make a profit; and the country has solid financial institutions and a merchant shipping to which the Navigation Act promulgated by Cromwell gave a big advantage; but a big distress which exists in the working classes tarnishes this flattering landscape. Between 1822 and 1850 the production of French industry more than doubled, the foreign trade tripled; and its market share for exports of natural and manufactured products to Brazil doubled; this was a success for France, but could she have done better? The thesis tries to throw some light on the comparative responsibilities of the governmental policies and the behaviour of the private sector.

Cette thèse se donne pour objet l’étude du fonctionnement de ce que l’on appelle « langue de bois » dans le discours politique contemporain au Royaume-Uni. Cet hyperonyme désigne un ensemble de stratégies déployées en langue, selon des modes divers, à des fins manipulatoires. Ce travail distingue ainsi, au sein de ce discours « codé », des procédés linguistiques qui relèvent de ce que nous appelons parler politique contemporain qui, insidieusement, diffuse une idéologie dominante. Bien qu’aucun procédé, linguistique ou rhétorique, ne soit intrinsèquement manipulatoire, ce parler remplit différentes fonctions selon le contexte (linguistique, générique, situationnel). L’exploration d’un corpus de general election manifestos comparé à un corpus d’éditoriaux britanniques vise à mettre au jour le fonctionnement sémiolinguistique de ce parler, manifestation d’une activité de construction de valeurs idéologiques et/ou de manipulation langagière. Notre étude linguistique s’appuie sur la Théorie des Opérations Prédicatives et Énonciatives d’A. Culioli, complétée par le recours à d’autres théories (Analyse du/des Discours et sémiotique). Les phénomènes linguistiques sont contextualisés au moyen d’autres disciplines (sociologie et sciences politiques). Partant du principe que le sens idéologique et les valeurs destinées à être reconnues, reconstruites et interprétées, sont construits dans et par l’énonciation, nous montrons, au moyen de l’analyse de marqueurs (WILL, SHALL, WOULD, les pronoms personnels YOU, WE, I) et de notions (/change/ et /be green/), que la co-énonciation est une clé essentielle pour la compréhension des stratégies manipulatoires mises en œuvre au sein de ce parler. Les opérations fondamentales de « représentation », « référenciation », « régulation » (Culioli) et les stratégies de naturalisation et/ou d’oubli (Barthes/Pécheux) déployées au sein des textes se présentent sous différentes formes, parmi lesquelles on peut citer l’ajustement anticipatif paratextuel, et le brouillage des frontières entre différents niveaux de spécification du paramètre S de la situation d’énonciation ou entre les différentes valeurs construites par les auxiliaires de modalité/les notions. / The purpose of this thesis is to study the workings of what is usually called “langue de bois” in French (Newspeak or Doublespeak) in the field of politics in the United Kingdom. The collocation refers to a set of strategies implemented within political discourse, according to various modes, for manipulative purposes. We propose to differentiate between Newspeak-like strategies and linguistic processes belonging to the realm of contemporary political speech (CPS) which circulates a dominant ideology insidiously. Although no process, be it linguistic or rhetorical, is inherently manipulative, CPS fulfils various functions depending on the context (linguistic, generic, situational). The study of a corpus of general election manifestos compared to a corpus of editorials aims at uncovering the semiolinguistic workings of CPS, the expression of how ideological values and/or linguistic manipulation are constructed. Our linguistic study is conducted through the lens of the Theory of Predicative and Enunciative Operations (A. Culioli), supported by comparisons with other linguistic theories (Discourse Analysis and semiotics). The linguistic phenomena are contextualized by means of other disciplines (sociology and political sciences). Considering the fact that ideological meaning and values designed to be recognized, reconstructed and interpreted, are constructed through and by uttering, we show, through the analysis of markers (WILL, SHALL, WOULD, and the pronouns YOU, WE, I) and of notions (/change/ and /be green/), that co-enunciation is essential to the understanding of manipulative strategies that are implemented within CPS. The fundamental operations of “representation”, “referencing”, “regulation” (Culioli) and naturalisation/forgetting processes (Barthes/Pécheux) that are implemented within the texts arise in various forms. Among these forms, markers of anticipatory paratextual adjustment, and the scrambling of boundaries between the levels of specification of the subjective parameter of the situation of uttering or between the various values constructed by modal auxiliaries/notions can be mentioned.

Ao longo dos últimos trinta anos, entre meados das décadas de 1980 e 2010, os sistemas de saúde da Alemanha, França e Reino Unido foram reformados, gerando uma crescente mercantilização no financiamento e na prestação de serviços. O trabalho analisa as raízes dessas mudanças, assim como identifica que a mercantilização não ocorreu nem mediante os mesmos mecanismos e nem com a mesma profundidade, havendo importante inércia institucional. As diferenças observadas atestam as especificidades de cada país, em termos de seu contexto econômico, de seus arranjos políticos, das características institucionais de cada sistema e das formas que assumiram os conflitos sociais (extra e intra sistema de saúde). Os sistemas de saúde alemão, francês e britânico, enquanto sistemas públicos de ampla cobertura e integralidade, são frutos do período após a Segunda Guerra Mundial. Um conjunto de fatores contribuiu para aquele momento histórico: os próprios impactos do conflito, que forjaram a ampliação na solidariedade nacional e a maior pressão por parte dos trabalhadores; a ascensão socialista na União Soviética; o maior apoio à ação e ao planejamento estatal; o forte crescimento econômico, fruto da emersão de um regime de acumulação fordista, pautado na expansão da produtividade. A acomodação do conflito capital-trabalho, neste contexto, ocorreu mediante a expansão dos salários reais e ao desenvolvimento do Estado de bem-estar social, ou seja, de políticas públicas voltadas à criação e/ou ampliação de uma rede de proteção social. No entanto, a crise econômica da década de 1970 corroeu a base de financiamento e gerou questionamentos sobre sua eficiência, em meio à transformação do regime de acumulação de fordista para financeirizado, levando à adoção de reformas constantes ao longo das décadas seguintes. Além disso, as transformações específicas do setor saúde complexificaram a situação, tendo em vista o crescente envelhecimento populacional, a demanda por cuidados mais amplos e complexos e, principalmente, os custos derivados da incorporação tecnológica. Este cenário impulsionou a implementação de uma série de alterações nesses sistemas de saúde, com destaque para a incorporação de mecanismos de mercado (como a precificação dos serviços prestados, a indução à concorrência entre prestadores de serviços), o crescimento da responsabilidade dos usuários pelo financiamento do sistema (como o aumento nos co-pagamentos e a redução na cobertura pública) e a ampliação da participação direta do setor privado na prestação dos serviços de saúde (realizando os serviços auxiliares, a gestão de hospitais públicos, comprando instituições estatais). No entanto, de forma simultânea, as reformas ampliaram o acesso e a regulamentação estatal, além da modificação na base de financiamento, principalmente na França. Isto significa que a mercantilização não foi o único direcionamento das reformas, em decorrência de dois fatores principais: a própria crise econômica expulsou parcela da população dos mecanismos pós-guerra de proteção à saúde, demandando reação estatal, e diferentes agentes sociais influenciaram nas mudanças, bloqueando ou ao menos limitando um direcionamento mercantil único. / Over the last thirty years, between mid-1980 and 2010 decades, Germany, France and the United Kingdom healthcare systems have been renovated, creating a growing marketisation in the financing and provision of services. This Thesis analyzes the roots of these changes, and identifies that marketisation did not take place or by the same mechanisms nor with the same depth, with important institutional inertia. The observed differences attest to the specificities of each country in terms of its economic context, their political arrangements, the institutional characteristics of each system and the different social conflicts (intra and extra healthcare system). The German, French and British health systems, while public systems of broad coverage and completeness, are the result of the period after the II World War. A number of factors have contributed to that historic moment: the very impact of the conflict, which forged the expansion on national solidarity and greater pressure from workers; the rise of socialism in the Soviet Union; a bigger support for action and state planning; strong economic growth, thanks to the emergence of a Fordist accumulation regime, based on the productivity expansion. The accommodation of the capital-labor conflict in this context occurred through the real wages expansion and the development of the Welfare State, ie public policies for the creation and / or expansion of a social safety net. However, the 1970s economic crisis eroded the funding base and raised questions about its effectiveness amid the transformation of Fordist accumulation regime in a finance-led one, leading to adoption of constant reforms over the next several decades. In addition, specific health sector transformation complicate the situation, given the growing population aging, the demand for broader and more complex care, and especially the costs derived from technological resources. This scenario boosted the implementation of a number of changes in the three systems, with emphasis on the incorporation of market mechanisms (such as the pricing of services, the induction of competition between service providers), the growth of the responsibility of users for funding the system (such as the increase in co-payments and the reduction in public coverage) and the expansion of the direct participation of the private sector in the provision of health services (performing ancillary services, public hospitals management, purchasing state institutions). However, simultaneously, the reforms expanded access and state regulation in addition to the change in funding base, mainly in France. This means that marketisation was not the only direction of the reforms, due to two main reasons: the very economic crisis drove portion of the population of postwar health protection mechanisms, requiring state reaction, and different actors influenced the changes, blocking or at least limiting a single market direction.