In 1990, the accounting profession and the British government worked together to establish a new regulatory framework for financial reporting in the United Kingdom (UK), the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and its two subsidiaries, the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) and the Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP). The FRRP enforces companies' compliance with the ASB's accounting standards and the accounting provisions of the UK Companies Act. Only one study, Brandt et al. (1997), has examined the activities and effectiveness of the FRRP. This dissertation attempts to extend Brandt et. al (1997) and add to understanding of the origins and regulatory actions of the FRRP.

Transition in the form of municipal government is always a complex and challenging task. The process involves serious risks of instability in a municipality's affairs, and this in turn may have adverse consequences for the community as a whole. But at the same time, changes in the form of government and in the personnel responsible for the management of public affairs may hold promise of improvements, which will benefit a city and its citizens. This thesis examines the experience of Denton, Texas, in making a transition from a mayor-commission to a council-manager form of government. T his major governmental change in Denton required several years. The period of transition examined in this study will be from 1955 to the end of 1961.

- Importance of United Nations Security Council and binding effect of resolutions in maintenance of international peace and security This paper depicts the history previous to creation and the creation itself of UN and the Security Council, followed by chapter devoted to the permanent and non- permanent members of the Council with subchapter about reform proposals in terms of its composition. Then there is detailed description of functions and powers of the Security Council, including also a topic relating to the Council's period of paralysis. In the chapter on voting procedure there is stressed the crucial issue of distinguishing procedural and non-procedural resolutions with talking about veto power as well. The final chapter is devoted to the decisions of the Security Council with focus on resolutions and their binding effect.

Le Conseil et le Bureau du commerce constituent l’instance principale de l’administration royale du commerce au XVIIIe siècle. Bien que le roi n’assiste jamais aux séances hebdomadaires, cette institution, créée en 1700 et dissoute en 1791, a contribué à modeler l’économie française de l’époque. Installé au sommet d’une pyramide institutionnelle, cet organe est étroitement associé à l’élaboration et à l’application du droit économique, exerçant un véritable pouvoir par procuration en matière d’édiction de la norme. Un de ses traits les plus originaux consiste en la présence, très influente, de Députés du commerce. Ces Députés du commerce, au minimum, constituent un tiers-intervenant susceptible de crédibiliser l’institution par rapport aux forces vives de l’économie. Par ailleurs, une intégration institutionnelle forte tend à solidariser presque organiquement les chambres de commerce, les corporations et les manufactures avec l’instance centrale. Contrairement à une vision quelque peu réductrice d’une économie « dirigiste », le Conseil/Bureau du commerce, durant la première moitié du siècle, opère une économie d’une nature profondément conventionnelle. Concrètement, cette institution forme le point de rencontre de toutes les entités intéressées au commerce et le rapport de force s’avère ambigu entre le pouvoir et les opérateurs privés. Durant la seconde moitié du siècle, le Bureau du commerce change radicalement de politique, voire de doctrine, pour mettre en oeuvre un libéralisme économique « premier ». Le langage employé et l’intériorisation de concepts économiques et idéologiques nouveaux montrent le degré de pénétration de ce libéralisme. / The Council and Bureau of commerce formed the major body of the royal administration of commerce in the XVIIIth century. Although the king never attended the weekly assemblies, this institution, created in 1700 and abolished in 1791, contributed to shape the French economy at the time. Placed at the top of an institutional pyramid, this organization is narrowly associated with the elaboration and enforcement of the economic right. One of its most prominent features is the very influential presence of Deputies of commerce. These Deputies, at least, constituted a third party liable to give credit to the institution in relation to the forces of the economy. In addition, a strong institutional integration tended to bring together almost organically the Chambres de commerce, the corporations and the manufactures with the central body. Contrary to a somewhat shortview vision of “dirigisme”, the Council/Bureau of commerce operated a deeply conventional economy throughout the first half of the century. This institution allows for the meeting of all the entities interested in commerce, and shapes the relationship between central power and private operators, which was seemingly ambiguous. During the second half of the century, the Bureau of commerce dramatically switches its politics, in order to build a “first” economic liberalism. The language and the appropriation of new economic and ideological concepts demonstrate the high degree of influence this liberalism enjoys.

A thesis submitted to the School of Education, Faculty of the Humanities, of the University of the Witwatersrand in the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education JOHANNESBURG NOVEMBER 2015 / This study provides an analysis of the role of university councils in Historically Disadvantaged Institutions (HDIs) in bringing about effective governance. It adopts a case study approach of a single institution which became a comprehensive university following the Higher Education post-1994 transformation agenda in South Africa. The study explores the role of systems, structures and cultures of university councils in promoting effective university governance. It arises from widespread concern about poor university governance which has resulted in no less 10 institutions being placed under administration in the post-1994 democratic era. This study used a range of theoretical and methodological approaches. The theoretical approaches involved the use of the following concepts as an organizing framework: “structures of university councils”, “systems of university councils”, “cultures of university councils” and “empowered individuals” or “groups of individuals”. The methodological approaches involved data collection within a sequential-exploratory mixed methods research interpretive paradigm and the positivist research paradigms. The process of data collection involved; the use of institutional documents, interviews with 19 different members of the university council and study surveys with available 17 university teaching staff, 48 university non-teaching staff and 255 university students. The process of data analysis involved the use of content analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of this study show that the institutional structures of the university council are business oriented in organization although strongly characterised by institutional stakeholder relationships. This has led to effective governance practices being tied around forms of stakeholder propositions such as increased sectoral deployment of constituency cadres to champion particular stakeholder interest at the university council. The results of this study indicate this has led to conditions and instances where the systemic due processes of the university council are prone to stakeholder control. This is due to instances of unpreparedness for general council and committee meetings an outcome of sectoral deployment of individuals who have little if not no idea of the due processes at the systems level of the university council and reliance on informal stakeholder constituent networks as a mode of trust governance. This has led to less sovereignty for critical autonomy to check on strong stakeholder configurations at the university council leading to reproduction of dormant stakeholder interests. At the cultural level of the university council the results of this study show that to respond to these conditions the university council has become stakeholder managerial driven. The university council cultural governance actions as governance role practices are strongly stakeholder enthused. The implication of governance stance has caused contestations between the less empowered institutional stakeholders represented at the university council and the university council over practices that are seen as perpetuating marginalisation of the less empowered institutional stakeholders represented at the university council. As a result it has led to adoption of partisan modes of stakeholder institutional governance practices like caucuses, stakeholder deployment, protest, and unionisation. This thesis as a recommendation makes a case through an emerging model of university governance known as the structural-systemic-cultural university governance model. This model suggests that for the university council to be able to provide effective university governance in such comprehensive institutional contexts, it should take in consideration the following: At the structural level, governance should be characterised by practices that recognise the place of the university council in decision-making process in the university institution, governance capacity-building, networked committee regimes, effective representation and utilisation of delegated institutional governance spaces. At the systemic level, governance should be characterised by practices that value stakeholder contribution, support well-informed of committees of council, well informed constituents, accountability and compliance engagement as part of the core due processes of the university council. At the cultural level, governance should be characterised by practices that appreciate accessible governance spaces, accommodativeness, negotiated positions and shared accountabilities as part of the primary bases that characterise institutional culture of the university governing council. Key words: university council, structures, systems, cultures, effective university governance, comprehensive university

Thesis advisor: Christopher R. Matthews / Thesis advisor: Thomas D. Stegman / The overall narrative in the Acts of the Apostles displays a noticeable dual-emphasis of the author: emphasis on the mission to the Gentiles despite the obstructions of the Jews and emphasis on the Jewish roots of the Gentile mission, which results in an ambivalent attitude toward the Jews and Judaism. These seemingly contradictory emphases easily push careless readers to an unbalanced interpretation and reading of Acts, and the Holocaust is the ultimate horrible consequence of the anti-Semitic interpretation of Acts. This thesis argues that the two emphases, rather than being contradictory, are mutually intertwined: Jewish roots help illuminate the origin and meaning of the mission to the Gentiles, and the mission to the Gentiles fulfills the promise God made to Israel. A good example of this is the Apostolic Letter composed at the Jerusalem Council, which was held to address and solve the problem of the conditions by which the Gentiles could be members of the church (cf. Acts 15:2). In this study, I will place the Apostolic Letter (15:23-29) within a larger theological and narrative framework of Luke-Acts—the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel— and argue that, as Luke’s rhetorical device, the Decree (15:20, 29; 21:25) not only serves to explain some already existing practices among Jewish and Gentile Christians, but more importantly, serves as a guiding principle for concrete table fellowship between Jewish believers and Gentile believers within a community that calls its believers to be of “one heart and soul” (4:32). / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

The Reform of the United Nations Security Council through the Enlargement of its Members Abstract This master thesis focuses on the topic which has been discussed in the international community for several decades. Security Council is responsible for maintaining peace and security in the world since the organization was founded. In order to carry out this task, it has been endowed with several prominent powers, from which the most important and controversial at the same time is the right to veto, with the ability to block any resolution. The structure of the Security Council was established after the end of the Second World War and it has not been changed since then, besides the reform in 1963. This fact negatively affects proper functioning of the Security Council in today's world, which has changed rapidly since 1945, and reduces its legitimacy because of the insufficient representation of the UN members. The organization was founded by 51 states, but since then the membership has increased almost four times and today there are already 193 countries in the UN. Nowadays, there are several reform groups that want to achieve different progresses in different ways. But in most of these cases there have been attempts to increase the number of members of the Security Council - both permanent and elected. The...

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Untersuchung der institutionalisierten Beziehungen zwischen der NATO und Russland seit 1997 und konzentriert sich dabei besonders auf die Ergebnisse des „Permanent Council“ (PJC, 1997) und des „NATO-Russia Council“ (NRC, 2002). Das Vermächtnis von Strukturen, die während des kalten Krieges entstanden, beeinflusst weiterhin die Interaktionen zwischen der NATO und Russland. Dies wurde insbesondere während der Kosovo-Krise und nach dem 11. September 2001, welcher die „post-post-Cold War era“ einläutete, sichtbar. Das zentrale Kapitel der Dissertation beinhaltet eine empirische Analyse der Policy-Felder, denen sich der PJC und der NRC widmen. Hier wird vor allem auf die Zusammenarbeit von der NATO und Russland auf dem Balkan und auf den Kampf gegen den Terrorismus eingegangen. Die Fallstudie untersucht NATO-Russland Interaktionen in Zentralasien; besonders im Hinblick auf geopolitische Trends, die für beide Akteure und ihre zukünftigen Beziehungen wichtige Auswirkungen haben werden. Diese Arbeit untersucht die Qualität der Beziehungen zwischen der NATO und Russland anhand von Ereignissen, welche diese Beziehungen geprägt haben und erklärt, warum manche Verhaltensmuster sich kontinuierlich wiederholen. / This dissertation examines the institutionalized relationship between NATO and Russia since 1997; focussing on the outcomes of the 1997 Permanent Joint Council (PJC) and the 2002 NATO-Russia Council (NRC). The legacy of Cold War structures has continued to influence the way NATO and Russia interact; most notably during the Kosovo crisis and in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11 that rang in the “post-post-Cold War era”. The bulk of the research consists of an empirical analysis of policy fields covered by the PJC and the NRC. Particular attention is given to NATO-Russia interaction in the Balkans, as well as to the fight against terrorism. The case study assesses NATO-Russia interaction in Central Asia, taking into consideration geopolitical trends that will shape both actors’ actions in the future. Tracing events that have shaped NATO-Russia relations, this dissertation analyzes the quality of NATO-Russia relations and explains why certain patterns keep reoccurring.

Trademarks are a valuable asset of a business and play a crucial role with regards to the quality of goods and its reputation, however, the rise in counterfeiting activities is undermining those benefits. Counterfeiting activities are considered to be the fastest growing phenomenon that focuses solely on reputable international brands ranging from cosmetics, watches, shoes and clothing, to cars and aeroplane parts. It has engulfed the world economy by dealing with fake commodities and intellectual property rights across the board. The PhD thesis looks at the relevant trademark laws in the Gulf Cooperation Council States (GCC) as an effective enforcement mechanism to deal with the rise of counterfeiting activities in the region. The GCC States have been listed among the countries with significant problems in terms of intellectual property protection and enforcement. Thus, the importance and effectiveness of border measures, judicial process, including civil and criminal proceedings in all six Member States are analysed using a combination of comparative, doctrinal, and socio-legal research. The main objective of the thesis is to show the degree to which the GCC States' legislative regimes and their enforcement efforts addresses counterfeiting problems to meet their international treaty obligations.

How has the question of Swedish neutrality been taught in the Swedish school during the 1950s, 1960s and 2000s? Neutrality is changeable and can be linked to shifts in history culture, conscious and contemporary perceptions during time. The material has been interpreted through the hermeneutics guidelines, which means that I have made the interpretation. At the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, the Swedish government declared the country neutral. Sweden was represented during the war by a collective government led by Per Albin Hansson and declared the country as "non-warring". The consequence of this was that Sweden was not drawn into any armed conflict. In our school books, the knowledge is conveyed that Sweden was not included in the Second World War. Between historians and within history science, it is continuously debated to what extent the Swedish government maintained and protected the neutrality. The essay will analyze and study material in which Sweden’s neutrality is portrayed and in what way the transit agreement is reported in the textbooks and how it differs. Differences in history consciousness will be investigated with the help of current research. Compared to previous research, this study provides a more complex understanding of neutrality changes in school textbooks. The analysis has concluded that the historiography appears different over time and that the ethical aspect is becoming increasingly apparent.