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Very little scholarship has been published on politics in Tunisia in the last two decades, resulting in scant coverage of the country’s political relations with the European Union (EU). Likewise, few studies of the EU’s democracy promotion and Mediterranean policies have provided any in-depth analysis of Tunisia. Meanwhile, much has been made by scholars of role played by democracy promotion in the EU’s foreign policy, particularly focusing on understandings of the Union as a ‘normative power’ or as an advocate of the ‘democratic peace theory’. By assessing EU democracy promotion in Tunisia, this thesis argues that democracy promotion has become a predominantly functional part of this foreign policy; its principal role being a means of realising the Union’s principal objectives of achieving security and stability for Europeans. By analysing the discourse of actors involved with the EU’s democracy promotion, the thesis traces a shift in EU policy from a more normative position in the mid-1990s to a more realist and securitised one since the turn of the twenty-first century. Tunisia has evolved over the last two centuries as a state strongly committed to European-influenced socio-economic reforms, but reforms which have led to little political contestability and few changes in government. However, as the EU forged a new approach to its Mediterranean neighbours, it established the promotion of democracy in its neighbours as an integral part of its foreign and security policies. Democracy was to be promoted in Tunisia within multilateral and holistic policy frameworks, such as the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, and by a range of methods that encourage reform of many levels of the region’s societies. Yet it appears that these reforms are failing to deliver the political reforms they once promised. Furthermore, democracy is gradually slipping off the EU’s agenda, and its policy objectives converge with those of the Tunisian government as security concerns come to dominate its policy discourses. In the Tunisian context at least, democracy is a purely utilitarian device used to achieve security. When that security already exists, democracy loses its utility, and fades from its once prominent place in the EU policy in Tunisia.

The cocoa industry has been the economic pillar of Ghana and the Ivory Coast for over three-quarters of a century. Both countries have depended on the industry for the bulk of the wherewithal required for economic development. In Ghana, the industry has however, since the beginning of the 1970s, shown clear signs of decline in terms of output. Cocoa output in Ghana has slumped from 538,000 tonnes in 1965 to 175,000 tonnes in 1985. In the Ivory Coast, cocoa output has on the contrary, risen from 148,000 tonnes in 1965 to 565,000 tonnes in 1985. Ghana is currently trailing behind Ivory Coast and Brazil in cocoa beans production. The objective of the study has been to identify the causes of the decline and growth-of the cocoa industry in Ghana and the Ivory Coast respectively through an in-depth study of government agricultural policies. The rationale behind the comparative study is to bring out the strengths and weaknesses in the agricultural policies of the two countries so that Ghana can sift out the good policies that have aided the Ivory Coast cocoa industry to flourish and use them to revamp, its floundering cocoa industry. The study employs multiple regression, cost-benefit and domestic resource costs techniques to analyse government agricultural policies and to assess the relative profitability of cocoa production. The study has revealed that the major explanatory factor for the current state of the industry in both countries is the producer price policy of the governments of the two countries. While producer prices are not favourable in Ghana, they tend tobe relatively high in the Ivory Coast. The poor producer price policy of the government of Ghana has led to a shift of resources from the cocoa industry to other more lucrative ventures such as food-cropping and commerce. Other factors that have been discovered through the study to account for the decline of cocoa output in Ghana include inefficient marketing system, lack of farm inputs and poor implentation of cocoa rehabilitation projects. The results of the comparative advantage analysis suggest that there is the need for Ghana to embark on a policy of agricultural diversification. Besides cocoa, a cash crop whose development is worth encouraging by the government of Ghana is the oil palm. Based on the experience of the Ivory Coast, a number of recommendations have been suggested in the concluding chapter for adoption by the government of Ghana. These policy recommendations include a yearly upward adjustment of the cocoa producer price to a level that will leave the cocoa farmer with an appreciable profit margin, the privatization of the cocoa marketing board, a regular and an adequate supply of farm inputs and an efficient implementation of cocoa rehabilitation projects.

In this thesis the performance evaluation of tourism sector in Iraq is described and analysed. The research focuses on the measurement of financial, non-financial and economic performance related to tourism sector and to the enterprises which are operating in the tourist field in Iraq. As the purpose of the study is to examine and evaluate the performance of the state-owned enterprises in the tourism sector, other objectives are considered as well: - to assess the impact of tourism as an economic activity, relating to the balance of payments, employment, etc., in comparison with other productive sectors, - to define the performance criteria, financial and nonfinancial, which are necessary to the study, - to measure the performance of tourism enterprises empirically by building a model to explain the variation in financial performance of different enterprises and rank them, and - to construct a theoretical programme concerning the evaluation of tourism services from the customer's po int of view. The study covers the financial, non-financial and economic performance in detail. Financial performance is based on the traditional statements (balance sheet and profit and loss accounts) and afterward different ratios have been selected. A comprehensive model relating to factor analysis has been built. The model was used to measure the financial performance of different enterprises under investigation in the tourism field in Iraq. Non-financial performance is based on a suggestion programme which concern the quality audit of the services from the customer's point of view. Economic performance is based on the role of tourism in development and its impact on the economy in, for example, the balance of payments, employment, tourist multiplier effect. A systematic review of methodologies on financial evaluation led to identifying the most appropriate indicators of performance measurement: profitability, managerial performance, and liquidity. These cover all the financial aspects of tourism enterprises. By following factor analysis technique, we could classify and rank the enterprises under investigation into three groups: - Above-average performance enterprises. - Average performance enterprises. - Below-average performance enterprises. A review of financing methods in tourism sector including the theories of capital structure, and a case study to Hatra tourist project in Iraq.

Various multi-provider, multi-media and multi-technology systems have emerged from the convergence of communications and computing technologies. With such systems, the provision of services over heterogeneous networks with competing service providers becomes a very challenging issue. In the mobile communication environment, this trend is also accompanied by a reorganisation of the business model. For instance, with first generations of mobile systems, the network operator was also the service provider. This is now changing with the recent introduction of organisations that offer mobile services without owning a network infrastructure nor a radio licence to operate a network. It becomes therefore apparent that there will be a separation between the service and network provider roles in emerging mobile communication systems. This research study proposes a framework to allow this separation by allowing heterogeneous networks to support various service creation platforms. The proposal is organised around a set of 'digital marketplaces' where agents acting on behalf of users and organisations are able to trade communication services. These inter-agent interactions are performed according to a pre-defined auction protocol and controlled by a market provider. Dynamics of a marketplace are driven by economics principles so as to reach a market equilibrium where the demand of services equals its associated supply. In this context, scarce resources are preserved for users who value them most. In each marketplace, a reputation mechanism is in place to penalise network operators which are not fulfilling their contract commitments. Smart services can exploit the dynamics of a digital marketplace by exploiting more efficiently the radio resources. The key features of the proposed marketbased framework are a self-organisation in an environment where providers and users can register dynamically, a competition at the service level, the possibility to develop fairer pricing shemes and the integration of various service creation platforms over heterogeneous networks.

The general purposes of this study were to examine the British tour operator's familiarity with Turkey and analyse what image and expectations British tourists have about Turkey as a tourist destination, as well as their experience and satisfaction with the country. Two studies were conducted in order to test hypotheses. The first study was on British tour operating companies offering Turkey as a tourist destination in the UK. The second study was applied over a three-month period in Turkey on British tourists returning from Turkey. The majority of the tour operators are familiar with Turkey as a tourist destination, which is perceived as a destination to be visited mainly for its good weather together with value for money and the historic attractions. Generally, British tourists expressed high degrees of satisfaction with their holiday experience in Turkey. They were satisfied with most services offered, attractions visited and prices paid. "Good weather" "warm, friendly people" "plenty to do and see" were ranked as the three most important reasons and expectations for travelling to Turkey. British tourists mainly viewed Turkey as a sun, sea and sand destination. However. "to visit a newly fashionable destination' seemed to be of no importance for the British tourist. Overall, this research has provided some perspectives for understanding tourism marketing issues. It is expected that this study can provide useful reference for Turkey in its effort of marketing tourism. The study provides useful empirical data and information that enable the marketers of Turkey to see certain areas for feasible improvement in order to maintain andlor increase their customers' satisfaction.

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The year of 2007 was indeed a year of turmoil for the Swedish labor law. This was the year of the preliminary ruling in the case “Laval un Partneri” (C-341/05), in which the ECJ ruled that the right to take collective action against foreign employers who post employees to work in Sweden as stated in Swedish labor law at the time constituted a disproportionate restriction on the freedom to provide services.   Due to the ruling of the ECJ, the Swedish legislature governing the right to take collective action toward these employers had to be modified. Changes were made in order to align the Swedish labour law with the EU-law, especially concerning the Posting of Workers Act. These amendments came to be referred to as “lex Laval”, and they constitute a restriction on the right to take collective action.   As a result of a heated public debate regarding the right to take collective action, lex Laval is now about to be amended. The purpose of the revision of the legislation is to, once again, extend the right to take collective action. This is motivated by a demand of improved possibilities to control the working conditions which the employers actually apply to the posted workers. This is said to be in line with the EU-law since the approval of the new Enforcement Directive (2014/67/EU) in 2014.     The main purpose of this essay is to give an account of the legislative changes made to the Swedish labor law in consequence of the Laval case as well as the expected changes to come, and to analyze these coming changes from an EU-law point of view. Will they constitute a disproportionate restriction on the freedom to provide services just like the legislation before the Laval case did? In addition, the essay will also give an account of the public debate regarding posting of workers, both on a Swedish national level and on an EU-level. In the light of the debate, the essay will also analyze the European Commission’s proposal of a new directive amending the existing Posted Workers directive (96/71/EC) in relation to the latest proposed change of lex Laval.

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