How has the Vietnam War affected America's response to international conflicts? Have American Presidents been less likely to sanction a US military response to international conflicts in the post-Vietnam era? Has their ability to deploy US forces been weakened in any way by the Vietnam experience? This study seeks answers to these questions by examining how American Presidents responded to some of the major international conflicts of the post-Vietnam era, between 1982 and 1995. It looks at how they sought to lead America's responses to these conflicts and how far they were able to enact, and publicly 'sell', their chosen deployment decisions in the face of opposition from within the American public-political arena, especially from Congress.

This thesis investigates global fight against terrorism in North West Pakistan and Afghanistan from a 21st century perspective in 2018. It focuses on local attitudes towards the War on Terror and their interplay with geo-strategic, regional, international and Pakistan’s domestic landscapes. In doing so, it questions the efficacy of existing academic and policy approaches towards achieving sustainable peace in North West Pakistan in particular and South Asia in general. It also evaluates the impact of regional rivalries especially in between Pakistan and India on the achievement of US foreign policy interests. Part-1 reviews existing literature on terrorism especially in post 9/11 setting. It examines the international discord of agreeing on a single definition of terrorism and its ramifications. It sequentially focuses on character of security in North West Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan since colonial times. It also identifies various traditional, religious and societal angles of Pashtun tribes; which always inspired them to fight against external powers. Part-2 combines academic investigations with empirical evidence. The results are correlated with current discussions on modern terrorism, geopolitical pulls and regional rivalries to create a holistic picture. It identifies local attitudes and regional rivalries as major impediments towards achievement of sustainable peace. Research findings indicated that predominant Western academic debates on the conflict were foreign policy inspired with little local and veteran input. By adapting a pragmatic approach the terrorism challenge can be addressed and the region can contribute towards the continuation of ‘Rules Based Order’ within the current phase of Great Power Rivalry.

There is a shortage of clergy, at least in the Roman Catholic Church (cf Schoenherr&Sorenson 1982:23; Heilbronner 1998:11; Tentler 1998:348; Carroll 2001:1; Fernandez 2001:ix-x; see Seidler 1979:764; Berger 1987; Hoge et al 1988:264, 280). The Protestant Church in general is experiencing more of a distribution problem than a shortage (cf Chaves 2001:36; see Jud et al 1970:59). The two greatest hindrances to addressing this clergy distribution problem among Protestant churches is a lack of adequate compensation for clergy and the undesirable location, as perceived by clergy, of the church (Chaves 2001:36; see Jud et al 1970:59). Challenges such as secularization, duality of vocation, time management, change in type of ministry, family issues, congregational and denominational conflict, burnout, sexual misconduct, divorce or marital problems, and suicide, affect clergy. Studies on the shortage of clergy have been conducted mostly in the USA and Europe and not in South Africa. This study seeks to address this research gap by means of a practical theological grounded theory exploration of the exodus of clergy. Grounded theory methodology is used to identify the reasons why clergy trained at a Bible College of a Protestant Charismatic mega church leave full-time pastoral ministry. Findings correspond to previous studies with two reasons appearing more frequently than others: responding to a call and leadership related issues. Firstly, respondents differed in their replies with respect to reconciling their leaving full-time pastoral ministry to their call with responses of: not being called, a dual call, or called but left anyway. Secondly, respondents indicated that leadership influence was mostly negative with regard to affirming their call. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Background: Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world and often is a chronic long term disease. This calls for an expanded workforce to include non-traditional health care providers. Objective: To determine effectiveness of a cancer information training project with clergy from selected rural Appalachian areas to improve comfort and willingness to work as part of the cancer health care team. Methods: Clergy were trained in the consumer health database of the National Library of Medicine MedlinePlus.gov. Exercises were required that were done using an iPad tablet with an online curriculum. They were also taught how to do a population health assessment of their particular area and develop a health ministry for their church. Results: Three key elements were confirmed that would enable replication of the pilot: access to medlineplus, programmed learning modules using mobile technology such as iPads, and staff support including librarians and medical staff. With these key elements, the cancer project is potentially replicable with other groups beyond clergy. Conclusion: about population health, built on new awareness and topical health knowledge, and using new skills to identify relevant information and library resources, could open minds and enhance community support for preventive and medical interventions.

Environmental justice, a new but rapidly developing concept in international environmental law, arose in the United States of America during the Environmental Justice Movement of the late 1970s and 1980s. It starkly highlighted injustices faced by people of colour and low-income communities as regards racially skewed environmental legal protection and allocation of environmental risks. The movement radically changed the meaning of ‘environment’ from its conventional green overtones to include issues of social justice at the core of environmental thinking. I critically examine the concept of environmental justice in the Kenyan context by highlighting the injustices, and the formulation and application of laws and policies that significantly impact on environmental regulation and equitable distribution of social services. / Private Law / LL. M.

The thesis deals with transnational islamist terrorism and with the policy of the European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S.) in countering the threat. It is assumed that it is the EU's policy that is more relevant given the recent evolution of the threat. The assumption is subsequently tested throughout the paper. In the opening part, the focus is on the international, or transnational, islamist terrorism, in particular its root causes, ideological background and organizational forms. Second chapter is devoted to the EU's counterterrorism policy, first from the institutional point of view, as that has obvious implications for the formulation and implementation of policy. Then, the prevailing perceptions of terrorism, basic tenets of strategy and some concrete measures are analyzed. The chapter dealing with the U.S. policy is structured analogously, even if the institutional aspects are omitted due to the obvious absence of EU-specific problems. Chapter four provides a comparison of both actors' policies, followed up by the fifth, final, chapter, with some concluding remarks. Most importantly, the initial assumption is assessed as valid, i.e., the European Union counterterrorism policy is found to be more relevant than that of the United States.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / By the mid 1980s the Nationalist Party had sought to salvage almost four decades of apartheid policies that were based on white supremacy. In this regard it engaged in dual strategies of repression and reform. The state's strategies were challenged by organisations and movements within civil society. In this regard a number of community-based organisation mushroomed both nationally and regionally. These organisations were co-ordinated by adult political activists most of whom were perceived to lack the necessary skills to manage organisation more effectively. In this conjuncture, the Adult Education Departments at five South African universities developed certificate-level programmes to address this gap. This study focuses on three such programmes, the Community Adult Education Programme, based at the University of Cape Town, the Certificate for Educators of Adults at the University of the Western Cape, and the Community Adult Educators Training Course based at the University of Natal- Pietermaritzburg. This study investigates the social and political conditions that gave rise to the three certificate programmes. It also investigates the relationship between the external social and political conditions and the internal curriculum practices of the certificates. In this process it analyses the nature of the relationship and identifies shifts in the programmes and the curriculum practices between 1986 and 1996. The study uses a qualitative approach and draws on elements of critical theory and social constructionism to understand the data gleaned from interviews and documents. This study argues that all three certificate programmes have directly been tied into the social political context in South Africa between 1986 and 1996. In this decade the study argues, there are three distinct political periods, namely repression/reform, negotiations and fragile democracy. It argues that distinct features from each period have shaped the certificates in different ways. Along with the national political conditions as manifest at the level of the state, the private sector and civil society there are local and institutional dynamics that contribute to the different forms assumed by these certificates. The study further argues that the external social - political conditions from each period have demarcated and fixed the boundaries for the certificates as a social practice. In this process the curriculum practices for each period permitted certain words and practices in preference to others. Consequently, it argues that the external and internal social and political dimensions together construct the certificates as a discourse. This study is based on a belief that the role of a certificate practitioner is to creatively locate the day to day practices within different theoretical frameworks in order to advance studies into sites of adult education practices. This study represents a step in such a direction.

The quest towards resolving concerns about transportation energy consumption and emissions across nations has created more interests to investigate factors responsible for households’ car ownership. While literature holds an extensive body of investigation usually compartmentalised in individual different disciplines, limited efforts have been made to promote inter-linkages of this strand of research across different disciplines. To fill this gap, this study developed an integrating Multinomial logit (MNL) model to examine the impact of some rarely-investigated and conventional explanatory variables, including: ethnicity, accommodation tenure, settlement nature, mental belief, environmental concern, geographical regions, household structure, driving licence, number of household income earners and household income, on car ownership. Analysis based on rich data sets of British Household Survey and US Consumer Expenditure Survey found not only the conventional explanatory variables to be significantly linked to the number of cars in the US and UK households, but also the rarely-investigated psychological variables were found to be significantly linked as well. As Socio-demography, Geography and Psychology impact on how people and households process information and assess market offers (e.g., products and services), this study presents findings which have beneficial implications for policymakers and transportations planners, including those who would like to alter people’s behaviour from private car ownership to public transportation use, car sellers in terms of how to identify and reach potential customers, provision of alternative forecasting approaches to car ownership scholars as well as possible consideration for general car ownership decision making. Caution should be taken when interpreting the relationship between psychological factors and car ownership since the psychological factors adopted are measure representatives from databases used with limitations in the factor structure for a representative sample of the countries’ population.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to provide a comprehensive picture of Czech and American cultures, not only in their interaction. This picture will be the basis for learning and understanding of both cultures and their mutual differences. A detection of cultural specificities, their clarification and explanation of their causes is a fundamental concern of this thesis. The main issue of the research is to uncover cultural differences and related cultural clashes. The second aim of the diploma thesis is building a list of potential cultural clashes and final recommendations for the Czechs to know how to prevent these conflicts.