L.LM. (Corporate Law) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Performance and accrual-based financial management systems as envisaged in the 1990 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act, the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), the 1996 Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA) and related legislation have been in place since prior to the turn of the millennium. Nevertheless, although performance has been measured and financial accountability improved in U.S. federal government agencies, there remains a gap in reporting on operational efficiency and effectiveness. This dissertation extends research into performance management to determine the extent to which performance measurement systems report on operational efficiency and effectiveness and thereby further facilitate performance management. It examines outputs as the unit-of-analysis within the input-output-outcome framework of performance measurement and reporting systems and their integration with accrual-based financial management systems in assessing government operations. It challenges the predominantly outcomes-focused reporting system as insufficient to the objective of improved operational efficiency and effectiveness. The research methodology employs qualitative analysis of selected agency performance reports, interviews of selected agency senior managers and oversight officials, analysis of previous research on performance reporting, and analysis of GAO survey data. The research examines an increased focus on output reporting as a means to improve operational efficiency and the linkage of outputs to outcomes as an effectiveness measure. The research leads to the conclusion that very little output efficiency or effectiveness measurement and reporting is occurring. The failure to measure performance in this manner is to the considerable detriment of operational efficiency, effectiveness and cost reduction in the federal government. / Ph. D.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation explores the battle to democratize the national security state, 1970-1978. It examines the neo-progressive movement to institutionalize a new domestic policy regime, in an attempt to force government transparency, protect individual privacy from state intrusion, and create new judicial and legislative checks on domestic security operations. It proceeds chronologically, first outlining the state's overwhelming response to the domestic unrest of the 1960s. During this period, the Department of Justice developed new capacities to better predict urban unrest, growing a computerized databank that contained millions of dossiers on dissenting Americans and the Department of Defense greatly expanded existing capacities, applying cold war counterinsurgency and counterintelligence techniques developed abroad to the problems of protests and riots at home. The remainder of the dissertation examines how the state's secret response to unrest and disorder became public in the early 1970s. It traces the development of a loose coalition of reformers who challenged domestic security policy and coordinated legislative and litigative strategies to check executive power. / History

Modernt slaveri är ett samlingsbegrepp innefattande människohandel, tvångsarbete och slavliknande metoder och utgör ett globalt problem av mycket allvarlig karaktär. Även i industriländer såsom Sverige och Storbritannien förekommer offer för modernt slaveri. Förekomsten av modernt slaveri är dock som störst i utvecklingsländer, framförallt i Asien, där många multinationella företag har sina leverantörer. I oktober år 2015 trädde brittiska Modern Slavery Act 2015 i kraft, som omfattar företag verksamma i Storbritannien med en omsättning över 36 miljoner pund. Det medför att även stora svenska företag såsom H & M, Sandvik, IKEA och Saab omfattas av lagen. Lagen innebär att berörda företag måste publicera ett uttalande för varje räkenskapsår avseende de faktiska steg företaget tagit för att säkerställa att modernt slaveri varken förekommer inom den egna organisationen eller i dess leverantörskedjor. Har inga sådana aktiviteter företagits, måste företaget likväl enligt lagen publicera ett uttalande som i sådant fall redovisar just detta. Det ställer krav på företagen och deras hållbarhetsarbete, både ur aspekten att det blir enklare för konsumenter att jämföra företag sinsemellan men också genom en ökad press på företagen att kunna redovisa faktiska åtgärder. I uppsatsen undersöks hur två stora svenska företag, IKEA och Saab, arbetar med socialt hållbarhetsarbete idag, i syfte att analysera de troliga konsekvenserna för berörda svenska företag av Modern Slavery Act 2015. Vidare besvaras i uppsatsens analys frågan om Sverige bör införa motsvarande lagstiftning i syfte att utvidga svenska företags sociala ansvarstagande. Slutsatsen är att Modern Slavery Act 2015 kommer innebära att berörda svenska företag är tvungna att se över sitt hållbarhetsarbete. Hur stora konsekvenserna blir beror på vilken bransch företaget verkar i, vilken förväntan samhället har på företaget sedan tidigare samt hur omfattande företagets befintliga hållbarhetsarbete är. Det torde vara en fördel för Sverige att införa liknande lagstiftning, framförallt ur aspekten att problemet med modernt slaveri konkretiseras, uppmärksammas och uppmuntrar företagen till att vidta faktiska åtgärder.

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Li Yang / This study investigates and compares politeness strategies of Turkish learners of English (TLE) and American English speakers (AE) when they produce the speech act of refusal in English. A total of 24 participants took part in this study and each of them completed a background survey, an open role play and a semi-structured interview. The role-play asked all of the participants to refuse a party invitation offered by a classmate/colleague and was audio-recorded. The refusal interactions were coded according to the classification proposed by Beebe et al. (1990), and the sequence of the refusal interactions (i.e., head act, pre- and post-refusals) was also examined. The results showed that providing excuse/reason/explanation was the most preferred strategy by both groups overall, but closer examination of the strategy revealed that the TLE group was more specific in their explanations compared to the AE group. In addition, when the conductor of the role play insisted on the invitation, the AE group continued to refuse without giving specific reasons, whereas the TLE group chose to provide elaborate reasons upon insistence. During the interview session after the role play, the TLE group commented on cultural factors that influenced their choice of refusal strategies. Based on the findings, this study also proposed implications of the teaching of pragmatics in the English as a second language (ESL) context.

Thesis (LLM (Public Law))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: All agricultural subdivisions in the Republic of South Africa are regulated by the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act 70 of 1970. The declared purpose of the Act is to prevent the creation of uneconomic farming units and this purpose is achieved through the requirement that the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (“Minister of Agriculture”) must consent to the proposed subdivision. The Act was promulgated in the 1970s when the South African landscape was racially divided. The government of the time used law to provide benefits for the white minority. At this time the rights of non-whites were restricted. This is the social and political background of the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act. The Act formed part of a legislative scheme that provided benefits for white farmers. More than a decade after democratisation and the end of apartheid the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act is still in operation. The post-apartheid legislature drafted and enacted the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act Repeal Act 64 of 1998, but it has not yet been brought into operation. During 2003 the legislature tabled the Draft Sustainable Utilisation of Agricultural Resources Bill which contains subdivision provisions that are identical to the provisions contained in the Subdivision Act. These legislative actions have created some uncertainty about the state of agricultural subdivisions. In 2008 the Constitutional Court decided that the Act continues to apply to all agricultural subdivisions and that this would be the position until the legislature chooses a definitive course of action. This constitutional analysis of the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act examines the effect of the Act beyond the pre-constitutional legislative intention and framework under which it was enacted. If the Act cannot be saved from its apartheid context, the Repeal Act should become operational. This thesis concludes that the necessary and legitimate purpose of the Act, namely the regulation of subdivision of agricultural land, can be removed from its pre-constitutional setting in the apartheid era and may continue to justify the legitimate regulation of subdivision of land. Comparative sources, namely the United States of America, specifically the states of Oregon and Hawaii, Western Australia and the province of British Columbia, Canada indicate that the regulation of agricultural subdivisions is a valid means of protecting agricultural land. If the Act can continue to exist without its legacy of apartheid and still serves a legitimate and necessary purpose it will have to be constitutionally compliant. The purpose of the Act and the means used to realise it were tested against the Bill of Rights. The effect that the regulation has particularly on ownership entitlements was examined against section 25(1) of the 1996 Constitution. Similarly, the consequences of the regulation with regard to other rights in the Bill of Rights were investigated. The conclusion was that where the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act is used for its purpose of preventing the uneconomic subdivision of agricultural land, in the national interest, it is a legitimate land-use regulation that can continue to justifiably operate in a constitutional dispensation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Alle onderverdelings van landbougrond in die Republiek van Suid-Afrika word gereguleer deur die Wet op die Onderverdeling van Landbougrond 70 van 1970. Die verklaarde doel van die Wet is om die totstandkoming van onekonomiese landboueenhede te voorkom, en hierdie doel word bereik deurdat die Minister van Landbou, Bosbou en Visserye (“Minister van Landbou”) toestemming moet verleen vir die voorgestelde onderverdeling van landbougrond. Die Wet is in die 1970s gepromulgeer toe grond in Suid-Afrika in terme van ras verdeel was. Die destydse apartheidsregering het die regstelsel gebruik om voordele vir die blanke minderheidsgroep te bewerkstellig, terwyl die regte van nie-blankes ingeperk was. Dit is die sosiale en politieke agtergrond waarteen die Wet op die Onderverdeling van Landbougrond tot stand gekom het. Die Wet was deel van ‘n wetgewende raamwerk waarbinne voordele vir blanke boere geskep is. Meer as ‘n dekade na apartheid en die totstandkoming van ‘n demokratiese Suid-Afrika is die Wet op die Onderverdeling van Landbougrond steeds in werking. Die post-apartheid wetgewer het die Wet op die Herroepping van die Wet op die Onderverdeling van Landbougrond 64 van 1998 gepromulgeer, maar nog nie in werking gestel nie. Gedurende 2003 het die wetgewer die “Draft Sustainable Utilisation of Agricultural Resources Bill”, wat onderafdelings soortgelyk aan die bepalings in die Wet op die Onderverdeling van Landbougrond bevat, gepromulgeer. Bogenoemde stappe het onsekerheid geskep ten opsigte van die stand van onderverdeling van landbougrond. In 2008 het die Konstitusionele Hof beslis dat die Wet op die Onderverdeling van Landbougrond sal voortgaan om die onderverdeling van landbougrond te reguleer totdat die wetgewer uitsluitsel oor die aangeleentheid verskaf. Die doel van die tesis is om die uitwerking van die Wet op die Onderverdeling van Landbougrond te analiseer as deel van die huidige grondwetlike bedeling, aangesien dit geskep is tydens die apartheidsera. Indien die Wet nie van sy apartheidskonteks geskei of gered kan word nie sal die Herroepping Wet in werking gestel moet word. Die tesis kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die doel van die Wet, naamlik die regulering van die onderverdeling van landbougrond, van die voor-konstitusionele agtergrond in die apartheidsera geskei kan word en dat dit kan voortgaan om die wettige regulering van onderverdeling van landbougrond te regverdig. Regsvergelykende bronne, naamlik die Verenigde State van Amerika, veral die state van Oregon en Hawaii, Wes Australië en Brits-Columbië, ‘n provinsie van Kanada, dui aan dat die regulasie van die onderverdeling van landbougrond ‘n regsgeldige metode is om landbougrond te beskerm. Die doel van die Wet en die metodes wat gebruik word om hierdie doel te laat realiseer is getoets teen die Handves van Menseregte. Die uitwerking van die regulasie op die inhoudsbevoegdhede van die eienaar is spesifiek geëvalueer teen artikel 25(1) van die 1996 Grondwet, maar die gevolge van die regulasie is ook getoets teen ander regte in die Handves van Menseregte. Die gevolgtrekking was dat waar die Wet op die Onderverdeling van Landbougrond gebruik word met die doel om onekonomiese onderverdeling van landbougrond te verhoed in die nasionale belang, dit ‘n legitieme regulasie van grondgebruik is waarvan die gebruik steeds regverdigbaar is in ‘n grondwetlike bedeling.

The subject of this work is the concern for the public enjoyment of the open countryside in England and Wales which grew up between 1919 and 1939. I have attempted to analyse its constituent parts, assess their influence and judge their longer-term significance. Its scope has been limited to the political and social sphere and is primarily an examination of the inter-play between public opinion and various interest groups on the one hand and the process of parliamentary and governmental decision-making on the other. In broad terms the study falls into two parts. One is the campaign for the establishment of National Parks between 1925 and 1939 and the other the campaign for the enactment of the Access to Mountains Bill which can be traced through the whole twenty-year period, and indeed from much earlier. Within the first part attention is concentrated on the work of the Addison Committee on National Parks (1929-1931), subsequent parliamentary and public interest in its recommendations and upon the work of the Standing Committee on National Parks, which was set up in 1935. The Access campaign is first considered in general terms by looking at the development of walking as a popular open-air pastime and the struggle for public access to the moorlands in the Peak District, and then a more detailed scrutiny is made of the events leading up to the passing of the Access to Mountains Act of 1939. As little material has yet been published on this subject the source material used has in large part come from parliamentary papers, official reports, departmental files, comment in newspapers and journals, minutes of meetings and conferences, memoranda, correspondence and from the recollections of some of those people involved who are still alive.