This Ph.D thesis evaluates the impact of the concept of risk on mental health law and policy in England following the introduction of the Mental Health Act 2007, which amended the Mental Health Act 1983. First, the thesis investigates the role played by risk as the principal policy driver of the 2007 Act, arguing that the concept’s renewed significance heralds an era of ‘New Medicalism’ in which the law’s determinative power is reduced in order to foster a greater responsiveness to patients’ risks. Secondly, it argues that the works of Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens, which popularised the ‘Risk Society’ perspective, and Michel Foucault, who developed the ‘Governmentality’ thesis, help to illuminate the prevailing trends in mental health policy in the 21st Century. The author contends that Foucault’s Governmentality thesis may provide the theoretical foundation on which the concept of risk was deployed by the policy-makers who shaped the 2007 Act. Thirdly, the thesis discusses the reason why risk is such a difficult concept to understand from a legal point of view. It shows that risk-based statutory provisions have the potential to undermine certainty in decision-making processes and notionally make it difficult for patients to predict the nature and extent of their engagement with mental health services. It also demonstrates that risk is a problematic concept for the courts, which have preferred to leave it as a matter of fact. Fourthly, and as a corollary, the thesis hypothesises that because of the greater prominence given to risk there is now more control of, and less liberty for, patients with mental disorder following the introduction of the 2007 Act. To test this, the author draws upon literature examining the current state of play in mental health practice, the legal oversight of psychiatric decision-making, and the significance of law reform on mental health practice. He finds that in fact the law is rarely determinative of mental health decision-making and that legislative changes do not fundamentally alter the functioning of the compulsory powers. As a result, there is no evidence to suggest that the 2007 Act has jeopardised patients’ liberty whilst facilitating greater control over them. For that reason, the final chapter offers a defence of the concept of risk in mental health law. It argues that while the law can never achieve certainty, the concept’s inclusion reflects the realities of mental health practice and allows decision-makers to operate according to their training and expertise. This chapter argues that mental health practitioners possess a level of knowledge and understanding of risk which defies objective explication. While mental health policy may be shaped by the desire to control deviance and the law may be drafted to accomplish that end, the reality is that practitioners invariably achieve the ‘right’ outcome notwithstanding legal and policy uncertainties. The thesis concludes that the 2007 Act has aligned the law with the realities of mental health practice and, for that reason, has not directly jeopardised liberty.

Over 300 samples were examined from a wide range of Lower Cretaceous exposures. A total of 26 Circumpolles species were recognised, 7 previously published and 19 newly described in this thesis. Each species is described using optical (O.M.), scanning electron (S.E.M.), and, where possible, transmission electron microscopy (T.E.M.). Several new techniques for combined S.E.M., O.M. and T.E.M. microscopy are discussed. The stratigraphic distribution of these Circumpolles allows the recognition of 8 informal palynostratigraphic zones, 6 of which are recognised in both marine and non-marine basins of deposition. These are; the late Volgian, early Ryazanian, late Ryazanian - early Valanginian, late Valanginian, early Hauterivian, Hauterivian - Barremian, late Barremian - early Aptian and Aptian - Albian. Combined S.E.M. and T.E.M. analyses of the Circumpolles described highlights some important phylogenetic trends seen within the Circumpolles group of pollen grains and their parent plants the Cheirolepidiaceae. There is a progressive evolutionary change from an essentially gymnospermous, Late Triassic group to a more advanced Early Cretaceous group (exhibiting many morphological features similar to those found on more recent angiospermous pollen grains). This includes a change in the intexine from undifferentiated to reticulate and from granulate/columellate to alveolate. A change in the external microsculpture of the Circumpolles group is also evident from smooth, to roughened, to granulate, echinate and eventually microechinate. The range of variation shown by the intexine appears to have phylogenetic importance and useful for both generic and specific identification of Circumpolles. Microsculptural variation, however, may well be controlled by environmental factors such as climate and is more useful for specific and suprageneric classification. Of fundamental importance to the Circumpolles group is the change from distal germination in the Jurassic to rimulate germination in the Late Jurassic, Early Cretaceous and eventually to a colpate style of germination in the Aptian. This latter mode of germination was previously considered to be restricted to, and characteristic of, angiosperm pollen grains.

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This thesis considers the contribution of seventeenth-century responses to the Polity towards the creation of Hooker's Anglican identity. It begins with an examination of the growing tensions between the old Refonned understanding of Hooker, and the new Laudian desire to comprehend the Polity as the expression of a distinctive doctrinal religious settlement. Although the dominance of the latter group was temporarily eclipsed by the Civil War it was their understanding of Hooker which emerged as the authentic opinion of the English Church at the Restoration. The examination of the Restoration response to Hooker considers how his recently established image as an Anglican father was perpetuated, the methods used to suppress rival assessments, and the weaknesses of this interpretation. The accession of the Catholic James effectively challenged the Restoration Hooker-sponsored belief in passive obedience, and challenged his Anglican credentials through the large numbers of Catholics who cited the Polity in support of the Roman Church. The long term effects of this upon Hooker are evaluated during the reign of William and Mary. The Whig desire to justify William encouraged them to exploit Hooker's belief in an original political compact, and to encourage more latitudinarian ideas within the Church. Restoration ideologies, however, were far from moribund. Several Tories were able to reconcile their opinions to the change of monarchs, and others waited until the reign of Anne where they endeavoured to put the political and religious clock back. This dominance was only temporary, however, since the advent of the Hanoverians led to the swift resurgence of the Whigs. Nevertheless this did nothing to undermine the now universal belief that Hooker was the leading exponent of the English Church. Although Hooker had anticipated that the Polity would be read as, a Reformed text, it had been turned into a specifically Anglican work within a century of his death.

This study was initiated by an interest in discovering how, if at all, primary school teachers in two European countries perceive and practice environmental education. The thesis describes the historical development of the term 'environmental education', it discusses the main themes of environmentalism today, it refers to the global scene of policies and practices for environmental education, it addresses the status of environmental education in England and in Greece and finally it presents and discusses the conduct and results of an empirical study. The study was undertaken with a sample of primary school teachers in England and in Greece, whose commitment to environmental education was unknown. It follows a qualitative approach based on a semi-structured interview together with some quantitative elements of analysis. The results of the study reveal that even though teachers support education ABOUT the environment, they are not aware of on-going and historic developments in environmental education. Furthermore, they do not have efficient training in environmental education and they lack information about it and about appropriate methods of teaching it. They exhibit anthropocentric rather than ecocentric approaches to environmental issues and also they hold technocentric beliefs concerning the environmental literacy of today's society. Similarities and differences among the English and the Greek teachers emerged from the data collected. These are discussed in terms of the national curriculum of both countries, in terms of international documents, in terms of the type of support offered and how such support is utilised by teachers. The thesis concludes with recommendations concerning the school curricula of both countries and with recommendations for fiirther research.

The proliferation of the corporate form has resulted in a state of dependency by the economy on the companies operating within it. These companies require the free flow of capital for investment, growth, and avoidance of precipitate insolvency. For over a century, the floating charge has played a cardinal role in the provision of credit to companies in the UK. Over the same period, the charge has undergone several statutory interventions raising doubts as to the ability of financiers to rely on the charge as a basis for extending and securing credit. This thesis explores the impact of some of these changes on lending practices and insolvency outcomes. The changes examined primarily relate to the redistribution of floating charge assets in favour of other creditors in insolvency. The thesis uses analytical and empirical research methods. There are six chapters in the thesis. Chapters 1 and 2 provide a commercial background to the study and identify the research question; they explore the impact of companies on the economy, and the importance of credit and security. Chapter 3 contains an empirical account of the impact that the treatment of the floating charge in insolvency has on lending practices and insolvency outcomes. Chapter 4 examines the interest conferred by a floating charge against current inroads into the rights of a floating chargee. Chapter 5 scrutinises the raison d’être for redistributing floating charge assets. Chapter 6 concludes the thesis by providing analytical commentary on proposals regarding the future of the floating charge and factoring. This is followed by a Postscript which summarises the arguments and evidence contained in the thesis, and sets out a number of recommendations. The thesis will show that the floating charge is still used in corporate finance transactions. Proposals to unify company security interests would not affect this. However there are noticeable alterations in lending practices, partly devised as a response to the treatment of the floating charge. These alterations sometimes have adverse effects on insolvency outcomes. Overall, it argues that the treatment of the floating charge lacks sound justification, and, in certain respects, fails in its objectives.

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Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University