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Thesis (LLM. (Development and Management Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / This mini-dissertation looks into the relationship between the different spheres or organs of the state, which is elaborately provided for in Chapter 3 of the Constitution. In particular, this mini-dissertation scrutinizes the propriety of the relationship between provincial and local government, using case law to analyze and examine conflicts within the organs of government. The critical question that is posed is whether the mechanisms provided for in the Constitution and legislation are working appropriately to foster cooperation between the spheres of government or whether they are inadequate to address these challenges. An argument that this mini-dissertation raises is that, in spite of the laws that have been put in place to resolve conflict within the state organs, the mechanisms provided for are inadequate and need to be strengthened if there is going to be proper and better cooperation between the spheres of government. The gap is more glaring in cases involving intervention by provincial governments into the functional terrain of local government. It has been observed that there is lack of willpower from the different role players to ensure the improvement of intergovernmental relations and cooperation as espoused by the Constitution. A comparative analysis was done, hence the mini-dissertation utilises the jurisprudence of the United Kingdom and Canada and draws useful lessons for South Africa. This paper therefore concludes that there is a need for legislative reform that will compel organs of government to avoid costly litigation against one another. It is recommended, also, that there should be effective inter-sphere communication so as to make plain the expectations of one sphere over another.

Essa tese tem por objetivo analisar a crise da escravidão brasileira em perspectiva global entre o período que vai da Guerra Civil norte-americana (1861-1865) à formação do movimento abolicionista nacional (1879-1880). Para tanto, recorreu-se ao emprego de dois planos distintos, porém relacionados de análise. O primeiro consistiu em verificar como os coevos brasileiros nortearam seu horizonte de expectativas sobre a condução da emancipação a partir dos espaços de experiência fornecidos por processos históricos nacionais e globais. O segundo consistiu em examinar como a reorganização da economia-mundo capitalista, as transformações no sistema interestatal e a mobilização social no Brasil e em outras regiões do mundo impactaram os processos políticos e socioeconômicos em curso no Império. Ao unir essas duas dimensões, a pesquisa tem como finalidade última mostrar que a crise do cativeiro no Brasil não fez parte de um aventado século de abolições, mas de uma estrutura ou mesmo de um tempo histórico específico da escravidão negra nas Américas que denomino de segunda era da abolição. / This dissertation analyzes the crisis of Brazilian slavery in global perspective during the period from the American Civil War (1861-1865) to the formation of the national abolitionist movement (1879-1880). To do so, it employs two distinct but related strategies. The first one consists on verifying how Brazilians guided their horizon of expectations regarding how to conduct emancipation based on spaces of experience provided by national and global historical processes. The second is to examine how the reorganization of the capitalist world-economy, the transformations in the interstate system, and social mobilization in Brazil and other regions of the world impacted political and socioeconomic processes underway in the Empire. By uniting these two dimensions, this research ultimately demonstrates that the crisis of slavery in Brazil was not part of a fledged century of abolitions, but rather a specific historical structure or time of black slavery in the Americas that I call second age of abolition.

The concept of hegemony has been an important subject in the 1970s as the US hegemonic position has entered into a decline period. This study aims to underline that the ongoing decline of US hegemony shares substantial analogies with the decline of British hegemony in the late 19th century. As the hegemonic economy enters into contraction period, it starts to experience financial expansion. Today, the US hegemony is in the midst of such an orientation toward the financialization. The study analyzes the historical changes within both hegemonic cases by direct references to the world-system theory and construct a comparative perspective in production, commerce and finance domains respectively to support these arguments.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 17, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Thesis advisor: Dr. Susan Flader and Dr. Jeffrey L. Pasley. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis explores how the campaign for the The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways was a product of the 1950s military-industrial complex, which developed from a nationalist project seeking to confirm American exceptionalism during the early Cold War.

abstract: Speculation regarding interstate conflict is of great concern to many, if not, all people. As such, forecasting interstate conflict has been an interest to experts, scholars, government officials, and concerned citizens. Presently, there are two approaches to the problem of conflict forecasting with divergent results. The first tends to use a bird’s eye view with big data to forecast actions while missing the intimate details of the groups it is studying. The other opts for more grounded details of cultural meaning and interpretation, yet struggles in the realm of practical application for forecasting. While outlining issues with both approaches, an important question surfaced: are actions causing interpretations and/or are the interpretations driving actions? In response, the Theory of Narrative Conflict (TNC) is proposed to begin answering these questions. To properly address the complexity of forecasting and of culture, TNC draws from a number of different sources, including narrative theory, systems theory, nationalism, and the expression of these in strategic communication. As a case study, this dissertation examines positions of both the U.S. and China in the South and East China Seas over five years. Methodologically, this dissertation demonstrates the benefit of content analysis to identify local narratives and both stabilizing and destabilizing events contained in thousands of news articles over a five-year period. Additionally, the use of time series and a Markov analysis both demonstrate usefulness in forecasting. Theoretically, TNC displays the usefulness of narrative theory to forecast both actions driven by narrative and common interpretations after events. Practically, this dissertation demonstrates that current efforts in the U.S. and China have not resulted in an increased understanding of the other country. Neither media giant demonstrates the capacity to be critical of their own national identity and preferred interpretation of world affairs. In short, the battle for the hearts and minds of foreign persons should be challenged. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication Studies 2017

Although the topic of international mediation has been debated frequently amongst academic scholars, most literature has failed to address the notion of threat perception. This thesis examines the impact of threat perceptions from ideational and material force on the prospects for successful international mediation. In this comparative case study, I argue that threat perception is an influential factor conditioning the road towards peace agreements, by examining one case of failure and one case of success in international mediation of interstate conflicts. The first case in the comparison consists of the conflict between Armenia-Azerbaijan in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where the OSCE Minsk Group has conducted mediation efforts. The second case examined is the conflict between Israel-Egypt which predominately have been mediated by the US. A conflict which ending was marked by the Camp David Accords in 1978 and resulted in a peace treaty the year after. The analysis shows that threat perception is indeed a factor of importance for outcome in relation to international mediation. Compared to previous research largely focused on material factors, the result shows that ideational factors should be considered to the same extent and are influential in both cases. This contribution to the field of war studies and international mediation literature also reflects the interconnectivity between threat perceptions from ideational and material force. An insight which I argue is pivotal for the comprehension of why some interstate conflicts appear to be resistant to resolution.

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Adaptive ramp metering (ARM) is a widely popular intelligent transportation system (ITS) tool that boasts the ability to reduce congestion and streamline traffic flow during peak hour periods while maintaining a lower implementation cost than traditional methods such as freeway widening. This thesis explores the effectiveness of ARM implementation on an 18 mile segment of the Interstate 80 (I-80) corridor in the Bay Area residing in northern California. Smaller segments of this particular segment were analyzed to determine the effective length of ARM on efficiency at various lengths originating from a known bottleneck location. Efficiency values were also compared against a control segment of the Interstate 280 (I-280) in San Jose to provide a test site experiencing similar traffic congestion but without any ARM implementation. An Empirical Bayes analysis was conducted to provide the foundation of a safety evaluation of the ramp metering implementation and determine a counterfactual estimate of expected collisions had ARM implementation not occurred. It was found that the installation of the ramp meters did allow for some marginal increases in efficiency but may not be entirely associated with ARM implementation due to a variety of external factors as well as showing inconsistent behavior between analyzed segments. Regarding safety, the predictive model estimates 32.8 collisions to occur along a 0.5 mile segment within a three-year timeframe if ARM were not installed, which implies substantial improvements in safety conditions. However additional efficiency and safety data within the “after” period may be necessary to provide a more robust and conclusive evaluation as the ARM system is still relatively new.