Governments have a choice whether to intervene in the transport infrastructure sector to manage, finance and organize and sometimes own the assets of the sector or to rely on markets and private sector actors for the provision of these systems. In Sweden, like in most other countries, the government has, since the 19th century, gradually taken a more active role both for railroads and roads, including most of the roles outlined above. From the 1840s, railroads and a more modern road system developed based on a mix of government and private/local government initiatives. A step towards centralization was taken in the 1930-40s, as the private- and local government-owned railroads and rural public roads, a majority of the total system, were taken over (nationalized) by the State. The government still owns these assets. In this paper, the development of railroad and road infrastructure is analyzed based on a co-evolutionary perspective, including the influence of technology, economics and politics. The perspective is used in order to facilitate an understanding and explanation of the successive steps that led to the decision to nationalize railroads and roads. The following time periods up to 2010 are also analyzed with the perspective as a relief. Based on a study primarily of the public documents of the time it is argued that the nationalization can be seen as a more or less logical step in a process of centralization that had been going on since the mid-1800s. Business economics rationality and cost reduction were important arguments for nationalization. Arguments in favor of the nationalization were that it was seen as a modernization of the sector, which also allowed for the introduction of new technology and a reduction of differences in road taxes. Welfare economics reasoning and discussions on natural monopolies were, however, not the focus. It is further argued that the government waited for some time to take the final steps to nationalize the railroads and roads. The government entered the scene as a rather reluctant infrastructure manager. The Parliament’s 1963 decision on transport policy, which is generally seen as among the most important policy decisions in the sector since the 1940s, might, it is argued, have been given a too important role. However, it is argued that the proposals put forward by the 1944 Transport Committee, which were never formally decided upon, were perhaps more influential. These proposals were largely market-friendly within the framework of the government ownership and financing model. The railroad and road systems should be run more or less as private businesses within this framework, with a focus on business economics efficiency, a full cost responsibility, and a competition view on the transport market. The transport policy decision was formally approved in 1963, and it was largely based on the principles of the 1944 Transport Committee. These policies opened for a further restructuring of the transport sector, including transport infrastructure. The road system was expanded, while the railroads contracted, suffering from high costs and a decreasing market. There was, however, a gradually growing criticism towards both the planning practices and new construction programs for the road system, and against the effects the policies seemed to have for the railroad system. The transport polices were changed during the 1970s. The 1979 Parliamentary decision on a revised transport policy brought a formal end to the policies based on market forces, competition and business economics, all of which were features of the 1963 decision. The new management philosophy was based on welfare economics, which should be the new basis for transport infrastructure and transport policies when it came to planning, management and pricing/taxation. An interesting phase in the historical development of transport policy was a return in the 1988 Parliamentary decision to a goal structure closer to the earlier (1963) formulation of transport policies. In a following decision in 1998, another turn was made, which has since established welfare economics as the basis for transport infrastructure policies. The principles set in the 1940s, with a firm base in a “cost responsibility principle” and a business economics perspective on transport infrastructure combined with government ownership and financing, was finally shifted to more of a welfare economics basis during the 1980-90s. This was, it is argued, a way of reflecting a more active political agenda with new goals for transport policy. The policy shift was combined with deregulation and some privatization steps from the 1980s onwards. If the former policies might be seen as expressing a contradiction between government ownership and business economics, the new policies made a contradiction between deregulation and more developed and wider political goals in combination with welfare economics obvious. The government might be seen having gone from reluctance to contradiction as the basic stance of its policies as owner of railroads and roads. / <p> 20130614</p>

Student Number : 9907324E - MSc research report - School of Architecture - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / This dissertation explores poverty in the inner city of Johannesburg. The World Bank perspectives on describing poverty have been adopted as a theoretical framework for understanding poverty in the inner city. The report looks at the local government’s planning framework for the inner city, and through Flyvberg’s theory of power and rationality, critically assess the potential of the RSDF to alleviate poverty in the inner city. Through Healey’s collaborative planning theory, the dissertation looks at possibility of improving poverty alleviation in the inner City of Johannesburg. Views were obtained from planning officials and community based organisations engaged in development of the poor. Additionally, statistical information from census 1996 and 2001 provide the reader with concrete figures on poverty in the inner city of Johannesburg.

Organic food is produced in a way that strives towards maintaining and improving natural resources. The welfare of both producers and consumers is central, also taking both animals and the environment into account. The Swedish government finds this important and in 2006 they made a resolution that the consumption of organic food should be stimulated. The goal was that 25 % of the municipalities’ consumption of food should be organic in 2010. The municipality of Ludvika reached the government's target in 2011 and is currently increasing their proportion of organic food by one new product every year.  Ludvika is a member of The National Association of Swedish Eco-municipalities and the town of Ludvika is also a Fairtrade city. These commitments have resulted in an increased focus on environmental and justice issues, where organic food is an important part. An analysis of Ludvika’s work with organic food was done throughout this thesis. The results were then compared to the leading municipality in the county, Borlänge, which is also the best in the nation. This was done to give a picture of how their work is done today and how it could evolve in the future. The municipality of Ludvika has a good diet policy and an ambitious theoretical basis for their climate policy. The membership of the The National Association of Swedish Eco-municipalities and the fact that Ludvika is a Fairtrade city is founded on certain commitments and strategies. The action taken in accordance with these strategies can be more clear and closer to the initial level of ambition. The importance of a holistic approach has been mentioned in this thesis. It has been suggested how the choice of organic food contribute to a better environment and health, relative to the use of taxes paid by the inhabitants. An important conclusion from the comparison with the leading municipality in organic foods is that it has not had to be more expensive to increase the share of organic food. Through good planning, innovation and an increased knowledge much can be done, even if a limited budget initially is perceived as a problem.

abstract: 近些年来，我国城市化进程不断加快，到2020年我国常住人口城镇化率将达到60%左右，户籍人口城镇化率将会达到45%左右。伴随着我国城市化进程的高速推进以及经济水平的不断提高，公共物品及服务的需求程度加大，政府单独出资建设公共项目会导致资金不足、经营管理效率低下等问题。与此同时，我国当前不同层级地方政府的政府性债务都达到了一个非常高的水平，截至2017年末，中国地方政府债务16.47万亿元，债务率（债务余额/综合财力）为76.5%，其中地方负有偿还责任的债务约12.9万亿，地方政府性债务的控制和转化成为经济新常态下重要特征之一。在地方债务压力较大的情况下，PPP将替代土地财政和地方政府融资，为我国新型城镇化建设提供可持续的资金支持，PPP模式成为当前城市建设领域融资的重要选项。 据此，本文基于实证研究方法探讨在债务约束的背景下，在地方政府债务约束下，PPP模式的引入，对城市规划中建设用地面积、人口规划规模与容量、建设用地属性等的城市规划变量的影响；与此同时，考虑到地方政府的政策很大程度上受到是由地方官员，特别是受到作为地方政府党政“一把手”的市委书记和市长的晋升压力和激励的影响，讨论市委书记/市长的晋升压力和激励对PPP模式引入效果的影响。研究发现，在地方政府债务约束下，PPP模式的引入，显著增加城市规划中建设用地面积、人口规划规模与容量、建设用地属性等的城市规划变量；同时，地方政府官员存在利用PPP放大城市建设和规划规模的行为，反映了PPP项目在引入和使用的过程中很大程度上受政府官员的激励的影响。 / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2019

The smallholders of Lebowa are not idealists farming for the good of the nation; they are farn1ing for survival, and any plan for the agricultural sector must be jn harmony with the hopes and aspirations of these farm people. The conceptual background was build around Mosher's philosophy of areas with different growth potentials and the Lebowa goverments declared developrnent policy. Following these guidelines, an attempt was made to divide Lebowa into three area types according to different growth potentials. The rnethodology of the division of areas was adjusted to place more emphasis on the human factor. Smallholders were divided into two groups: Group A (Immediate Growth potential areas) and Group B (Future and Low Growth potential areas). Group A farmers were found to be more settled with stronger traditional structures and are generally speaking more satisfied with the present state of affairs. They enjoy higher welfare levels. They are generally more conservative but sometimes also more rational than Group B fanners. The smallholders have little knowledge on the ecologically possible carrying capacity of grazing and their aspirations are unrealistically high. Non-traditional leaders regard lack of incentives, for example too small arable fields, inadequate markets, credit etc. and the subsistence base of the present social order; as major causes of low productivity. They generally have a very low opinion of traditional leadership. The level of rural off-farm employment, especially for Group A, is low and compares unfavourably with many African countries. A large variety of crops is grown and intercropping is common. In stock fanning, the smallholders have demonstrated positive response to price changes both in numbers and in percentages of stock sold. Overgrazjng is a growingg problem, and the pursuance of a. production oriented extension programme is in danger of being counter-productive, because this enables smallholders to build up larger herds. This is likely to occur as long as arable and grazing land is communal or free, even if agrict:ltural productjon will be significantly directed towards the market. Livestock is perhaps the only investment alternative open to many Lebowa farmers. This suggests that alternative investinent opportunities must be created. This will require modification in the direction of flow of capital between different sectors by creating opportunities to invest in agricultural and agro-based production or financial institutions. Extension efforts should concentrate more on livestock quality which, coupled with progressive farming practices should lead to reduced livestock numbers. The low level of market orientation can partly be explained by underdeveloped marketing and credit institutions. The Lebowa smallholders and their non-traditional leaders gave a clear tnandate for land tenure reform. The traditional leaders are iil many respect more progressive than popular belief will suggest, but are hesitant in this regard. / Thesis( DSc Agric)--University of Pretoria, 1982 / gm2014 / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

In this thesis, the response of a provincial government's budgetary decisions with respect to changes in Federal conditional and unconditional grants was investigated with special reference to whether or not the responses of a high income province (Ontario) differed from those of a low income province (New Brunswick). In order to facilitate the analysis, a theoretical framework (called Model I) was set forth in which a province's expenditure and tax responses to changes in net provincial product and Federal grants could be derived. Using this framework, separate equations were estimated for Ontario and for New Brunswick for those expenditures aided by the National Health Grant Program, the Trans-Canada Highway Program, the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Program, and the categorical welfare programs and the Canada Assistance Plan; and for other aided expenditures, unaided expenditures, and revenue. Since expenditure data were not available according to the definitions required for Model I, separate expenditure equations could not be estimated, within the context of Model I, for education, fish and game, forest~ and lands (settlement and agriculture). Thus, an alternative framework (called Model II) was developed. In Model II, these data difficulties were taken into account through a reformulation of the province's quadratic utility function; this allowed the magnitude of the conditional and unconditional grant coefficients to be derived and interpreted prior to estimation. Nine expenditure equations and one revenue equation were estimated for Ontario and for New Brunswick within the framework of Model II. The major difference between the dependent variables used in Model I and Medel II is that in the latter the dependent expenditure variable for each program area considered separately allows the inclusion of expenditures which may be both aided and unaided whereas in Model I the dependent variable for programs considered separately properly includes expenditures only on those goods and services which are specifically aided by federal conditional grants. On the basis of the empirical estimates of Models I and II, the following conclusions may be drawn: first, Ontario and New Brunswick do not appear to respond to changes in Federal conditional and unconditional grants in the same manner. For example, the empirical estimates of Model I reveal that only New Brunswick's expenditures responded as predicted to the receipt of Federal limited conditional grants in the three limited grant programs considered separately, namely, the General Health Grants' Program, hospital construction, and the Trans-Canada Highway. On the other hand, the empirical estimates of Model II indicate that Federal conditional grants for hospital construction, hospital insurance and diagnostic services, social welfare, and lands (settlement and agriculture) stimulated both provinces' expenditures in these areas during the period from 1948 to 1970; and that Federal grants for the Trans-Canada Highway encouraged Ontario's total road expenditures while gr'-nts received under the General Health Grants' Progran and under the various forestry programs stimulated New Brunswick's expenditures on general and public health and on forests, respectively. With regard to unconditional grants, only Ontario's expenditures on education and New Brunswick's expenditures on lands (settlement and agriculture) were stimulated by their receipt. A second conclusion is that conditional grants stimulate spending on individual programs to a greater degree than do unconditional grants; and, third, unconditional grants are used as a substitute for own source revenue in the case of New Brunswick. In addition, the theoretical models' predictions that a province responds to the same extent to changes in net provincial product and unconditional federal grants is supported in the case of both Ontario and New Brunswick. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Vidaus kontrolė yra sistema su bendra įmonės kultūra ir individualia kontrolės veikla, kurią atlieka kiekvienas įmonės darbuotojas, vadovams vadovaujant bei vidaus auditui prižiūrint. Tuo tarpu vidaus audito tikslas - prižiūrėti vidaus kontrolės sistemą ir siekti, kad sistema funkcionuotų kuo ekonomiškiau, efektyviau ir rezultatyviau. 2003 metais, priėmus Lietuvos Respublikos vietos savivaldos įstatymo pakeitimo įstatymą, sukurta teisinė bazė nuo 2004 m. sausio 1 d. įdiegti savivaldybėse vidaus ir išorės audito sistemą. Steigiama centralizuota savivaldybės vidaus audito tarnyba. Darbo pagrindinis tikslas - atlikti vidaus kontrolės ir vidaus audito Utenos apskrities savivaldybėse lyginamąją analizę, pateikti išvadas ir rekomendacijas vidaus kontrolės ir vidaus audito sistemų tobulinimui. Šiam tikslui pasiekti buvo atliktas tyrimas Utenos apskrities savivaldybėse. Nagrinėtos sritys: CVAT darbo organizavimas, SVAT darbo planavimas, vidaus audito atlikimas, vidaus audito ataskaitos, CVAT personalo ištekliai, CVAT darbuotojų kvalifikacijos tobulinimas. Pagal vienodus kriterijus atlikus lyginamąją analizę, padaryta išvada, kad daugelyje Utenos apskrities savivaldybių CVAT akivaizdus darbuotojų trūkumas, daugelyje VAT nesuformuotos tarnybos. Atlikto tyrimo gauti rezultatai iš dalies leido patvirtinti darbo pradžioje iškeltą hipotezę “Vidaus kontrolės ir vidaus audito sistemos Utenos apskrities savivaldybėse yra silpnos”. / Internal control is a system with a common enterprise's culture and individual control activity, which is being fulfiled by each worker, directed by the head and supervised by internal audit. Meanwhile, the aim of the internal audit is to supervise control system and try to achieve the system to functionate more economical way, more effective and resultant. In 2003, when was passed the amendment the law of the Republic of Lithuania on local self- government, was introduced legislation to spread internal and external audit system in local governments from 1 January, 2004. Establishing centralized local government's internal audit service. The main aim of the work - to carry out internal control's and internal audit's comparable analysis in Utena's district local governments, to present conclusions and recomendations for inprovement of internal control and internal audit systems. To reach this aim there was caried out research in Utena's district governments. Investigated fields: work organisation of the centralized internal audit service, centralized internal audit service's work layout, internal audit perfomance, internal audit reports, centralized internal audit service's staff sources, centralized internal audit service's workers' qualification improvement. After was made comparable analysis according to same criterions, drawn a conclusion, which says that in many Utena's district governments centralized internal audit service's obvious shortage of workers, in many... [to full text]

The thesis deals with the government's policy towards national minorities in Slovakia after 1993. It focuses on policies towards the two most populous minorities in Slovakia (Hungarian and Roma minority) mainly in two key spheres -- culture and education. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the development of the minority policy towards Hungarians and Roma people and to asses individual factors that causes its changes. The goal is also to compare the approach of government coalitions towards these two minorities. The continuity of these policies is mainly observed. Policies can be influenced by internal and external factors. International organizations -- Council of Europe, European Union and OSCE -- and Hungarians are set as external factors and different government coalition in Slovakia as internal. Last question that thesis deals with is if the triadic nexus (as characterized by Rogers Brubaker) between nationalism of Slovak government, Hungary and Hungarian minority in Slovakia can influence also minority policy towards Roma. Despite all these factors that have an influence on government's minority policy after 1993 in Slovakia, it is continual.

This thesis is concerned with the reaction of British M. P.'s to the Labor government's Palestinian policy 1945-48. The primary data comes from the British Parliamentary Debates (Commons) and works by British leaders. There are great differences among British political parties and between individuals within the parties in their reactions to and suggestions concerning the deteriorating situation in Palestine. Most politicians supported the Jews prior to the terrorist activity of 1947, but many then shifted to the Arab side. Due to the anti-Zionist policy of Ernest Bevin and Clement Attlee, a solution to the Palestinian problem was delayed; the Jews were driven to desperation; and Great Britain, previously a friend to the Jews, became their bitterest enemy.

This thesis is dedicated to government anti-corruption struggle in the period from 1999 to present. The key objective is to evaluate which of the measures specified in the government policies were fulfilled and if they have a real impact on reducing the scope for corruption. The theoretical part explains the concept of corruption and the basis of the various typologies of this concept. Following the demarcation of motives for corrupt behavior and the costs associated with this behavior, then I allude to various ways of measuring corruption used in the Czech environment. Next chapter focuses on the definition of corruption from the perspective of criminal law whereas links to crimes with signs of corruption. In the practical part are incorporated findings from previous chapters to evaluate the government's anti-corruption policies within a specified period. The conclusion analyzes the nuanced measures which government has overlooked and also assesses the priorities of particular parts of Anti-Corruption Barometer, which are not sufficiently applied in the Czech Republic.