Thesis (M.A.)--Lancaster Bible College, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-74).

M.A. (History) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Using Lancaster’s characteristics approach to consumer theory the study investigates the impact of a variety of characteristics on the rates charged for hotel rooms in Stockholm. In particular, it examines how a number of these characteristics explain variations in room rates between weekdays and weekends. Data for 105 observations (weekday sample) and 110 observations (weekend sample) were extracted from 49 hotels in and around the Swedish capital of Stockholm from the Internet-based hotel booking site hotels.com. Based on semilog regression analysis three models for the whole sample, weekday sample and weekend sample were estimated. The results show that the provision of breakfast, distance from the city center, availability of minibar in a room, provision of free cancellation option, average room size, number of guest rooms (hotel size) and hotel star rating have significant effects on both weekday and weekend room rates. By contrast, the presence of bathroom and the provision of free parking space turned out to be insignificant in both models; whereas the provision of a 24-hour room service and association with hotel chain appear to be significant only in the weekday model. The impact of the star variable is also found to be more pronounced during the weekdays than weekends. These results are expected to shed light on which hotel characteristics consumers have to pay extra, and enhance hotel managers’ strategic pricing. The study also highlights the critical role of a proper definition and measurement of the hotel star rating in hedonic pricing.Many hedonic studies have regressed the number of stars, which are ordinal measures of quality that indicate the relative ranking of hotels, in their cardinal sense. As a result, they have failed to measure the impact of each rating independently. To solve this recurrent problem, the study attempts to provide another method of quantifying the star variable whereby one can accurately measure the star rating and capture the impact of each rating independently by creating “one less dummy variable than there are alternatives”. It is hoped that this will inspire further research and analysis.

No description available.

Thesis (B. Arch.)--Roger Williams University, 2009. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Feb. 12, 2010) Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Text in Afrikaans / This study aims to analyze the conflict resolution process in Zimbabwe after the Lancaster House Agreement and the subsequent elections from March 4, 1980 up until 2002. The objective is to determine what effect this process has had on all the people in Zimbabwe, both nationally and locally. It also endeavours to evaluate their attempts to transform from a violent culture of guerilla warfare, to an all-inclusive sustainable peaceful environment and culture. The reason for this specific time period of the study lies in the fact that the peace building process of the Zimbabwean conflict resolution process was supposed to be introduced during this time. This is the era during which the root of historic conflict, according to the peace building theory, has had to be transformed. It also implies the start of the implementation of the radical land reform process. From this perspective the following 5 key questions form the raison d‟être of the study and will be analyzed in the different chapters: 1. The requirements for sustainable peace, according to the conflict resolution and peace building theory, as developed by Galtung, Mitchell, Lederach, Burton and Anstey. 2. The characteristics of the historical conflict structure to be transformed during the post-1980 period. 3. An evaluation of the development of an all inclusive, multi-faceted and integrated program for the transformation of the historical conflict structure. 4. An evaluation of the international managers‟ contributions for laying the foundation for the integration of peace-making and the subsequent phases of the peace building process. It also questions the degree of reconciliation and peace building. 5. The lessons learnt from the Zimbabwean experience and its implications for conflict resolutions and peace implementation processes in Southern African societies. Included in this question is to seek clarification and to develop proposals about the roles and contributions of internal and external role players on all levels of society in such processes. Hence the conclusive finding that conflict resolution and peace building is an integrated multi-dimensional process. This conclusion is confirmed in the Zimbabwean situation. Conflict involves the entanglement of needs, unappeased perceptions and codes of conduct during the period of negotiations. In Zimbabwe the escalation and de-escalation of these influences are clearly observed. The evaluation and manipulation of the history of Zimababwe, of which the manipulation is still continuing, is harming the process of reconciliation and peace building. The absence of an inclusive raison d‟être for all parties involved (regarding differences and diversities on ethnical, social, economical and other levels) implies a strong escalating and de-escalating factor in the irreconcilability in Zimbabwe. The initiation of an integrated and multi-dimensional process, mechanism and framework of reconciliation and peace is strongly advised. This process, mechanism and framework has to have an integrated structure starting at international level (United Nations Peace Building Commission) decentralizing into regional, national, provincial and local government structures. The process and mechanism must be part of the establishment of conflict resolution and peace building as an generic management style and approach aimed at the political and governing processes of societies in transformation. This is especially important for the current Zimbabwean situation. / Die oogmerk van die studie is „n ontleding van die konflikresolusie-proses in Zimbabwe sedert die Lancaster House-ooreenkoms en die daaropvolgende verkiesings van 4 Maart 1980 tot en met die jaar 2002. Die doelstelling is om te bepaal in watter mate en op welke wyse, daar op alle vlakke van die gemeenskap nasionaal en op plaaslike vlak, gepoog is om die geweldskultuur, wat kenmerkend van die guerrilla-oorlog was, te transformeer tot „n volhoubare inklusiewe vredesomgewing en -kultuur. „n Primêre motivering vir die keuse van die bepaalde navorsingstydperk is dat dit veronderstel is om die vredebou-periode van die Zimbabwiese konflikresolusie-proses in te lui. Dit is die era waartydens die bronne van die historiese konflik, ooreenkomstig die vredebou-teorie, getransformeer moes word. Dit sluit ook die era in waartydens die eerste stappe van die radikale grondhervormingsproses geïmplementeer is. In die lig hiervan word die onderstaande 5 kernvraagstukke as raison d‟être van die studie op „n hoofstukbasis ondersoek: 1. Wat is die vereistes vir volhoubare vrede, ooreenkomstig die konflikresolusie- en vredebouteorie soos veral ontwikkel deur Galtung, Mitchell, Lederach, Burton en Anstey? 2. Wat was die kenmerke van die historiese konflikstruktuur wat in die post-1980- periode moes transformeer? 3. Het daar in die post-1980-periode „n inklusiewe, multi-vlakkige en geïntegreerde program vir die transformasie van die historiese konflikstruktuur, ontwikkel? 4. Het die internasionale bestuurders van die proses die grondslag gelê vir „n integrering van vredevestiging met die verdere fases van vredebou? In watter mate was versoening en vredebou enigsins „n prioriteit? Indien nie, waarom nie? 5. Watter lesse kan vanuit die Zimbabwiese ervaring geleer word wat kan bydra tot 'n beter begrip van praktiese konflikresolusie en vredebou-implementeringsprosesse in veral Suider-Afrikaanse gemeenskappe? Watter bydraes kan en moet interne en eksterne rolspelers speel? Voortspruitend hieruit word daar ook aanbevelings aan die hand gedoen oor die integrasie van internasionale en nasionale (eerste, tweede en derde vlakke) rolspelers in hierdie verband. Teen hierdie agtergrond word samevattend bevind dat konflikresolusie en vredebou, „n geïntegreerde multi-dimensionele en multi-vlakkige proses is. Vanuit die Zimbabwe situasie word bevind en bevestig dat konflik uit „n geïntegreerde wisselwerking van behoefte- en doel-onversoenbaarheidspersepsies met voort-spruitende konflikterende gesindhede en gedragspatroon-verskynsels, bestaan. Daar word ook aangetoon dat daar duidelike eskalerende en de-eskalerende invloede teenwoordig is. Daar is ook bevind dat die wyse hoe die geskiedenis van Zimbabwe evalueer en hanteer is en steeds word, die bou van versoening en langtermyn vrede benadeel. Die afwesigheid van „n inklusiewe raison d‟être wat alle rolspelers inbind tot een Zimbabwiese sentiment, ten spyte van diepliggende verskille en diversiteite op etniese, stam, sosiale, ekonomiese, klas en ander terreine, is „n sterk eskalerende faktor en gevolg in hierdie verband. Die loodsing van „n diepliggende en veelvlakkige versoeningsproses, sal die identifisering van sódanige sentiment – die aorta van Zimbabwe se konstruktiewe, volhoubare voortbestaan – as primêre samebindende prioriteit moet neem. Teen hierdie agtergrond word „n geïntegreede versoenings- en vredebou meganisme en raamwerk ontwikkel en voorgestel. „n Meganisme en proses wat multi-vlakkige deelname vanaf „n internasionale (United Nations Peace Building Commission) tot en met „n streeks, nasionale, provinsiale en plaaslike fokusvlak, verseker. „n Proses en meganisme wat ook deel uitmaak van die meer prominente vestiging en institusionalisering van konflikresolusie en vredebou as „n generiese bestuurstyl en program in die politieke en regeerprosesse in oorgangsamelewings, maar veral ook in die Zimbabwe situasie. / Political Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Afrika-Politiek)

Dès 2005 et son élection à la tête du Parti conservateur, David Cameron fit connaître son intention de réviser la politique étrangère britannique selon les principes du « conservatisme libéral ». Prenant ses distances avec le réalisme qui avait guidé les choix de Margaret Thatcher et de John Major aux lendemains de la guerre froide, Cameron associait la défense des intérêts nationaux et le maintien du rôle du Royaume-Uni sur la scène internationale avec le renouveau d’une tradition libérale, qu’il prenait cependant soin de distinguer des excès de l’interventionnisme dont avait fait preuve Tony Blair après 2001. Arrivés au pouvoir en mai 2010 au sein d’un gouvernement de coalition, les Conservateurs refusaient l’idée de tout repli stratégique, en dépit du décalage qui existait entre leurs ambitions et les moyens limités qu’ils étaient en mesure de consacrer à la politique de sécurité. Par le biais de l’analyse de deux études de cas : la signature d’accords de coopération bilatérale avec la France, le 2 novembre 2010, et l’intervention militaire en Libye de 2011, cette thèse examine les facteurs qui influencèrent les décisions prises par le nouveau gouvernement, ainsi que les mécanismes ayant conduit à leur adoption. Suivant une approche interprétiviste, ce travail étudie les traditions, c’est-à-dire l’héritage historique, dans lesquelles les actions du gouvernement de coalition s’inscrivirent, mais aussi la manière dont les différents acteurs de ce domaine spécifique de la politique du pays ont fait évoluer cet héritage pour répondre aux dilemmes posés par l’émergence de nouvelles menaces dans un contexte de réduction des dépenses de l’Etat et d’incertitude stratégique. / Soon after he was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 2005, David Cameron signalled his intention to implement a foreign policy based on ‘liberal Conservative’ principles. Cameron distanced himself from the realism that had guided the choices made by Margaret Thatcher and John Major in the aftermath of the Cold War. Therefore, he associated the defence of national interests, as well as the preservation of Britain’s role in the world, to the revival of the liberal tradition. However, he also insisted on the difference between his approach and the excesses of Tony Blair’s interventionism after 2001. The Conservatives, who were part of the Coalition Government that took office in May 2010, rejected the idea of strategic shrinkage, in spite of the existing gap between their ambitions and the limited resources they could allocate to security policy. Through the analysis of two case studies – the signing of the Lancaster House Treaties on 2 November 2010, and the 2011 military intervention in Libya – this thesis examines the factors that influenced the decisions made by the new government, as well as the mechanisms that led to them. By adopting an interpretivist perspective on these events, the thesis studies the traditions, that is to say the historical inheritance that formed the background of the government’s actions, but also the way the various actors involved in that specific area of policy modified that inheritance to respond to the dilemmas created by the emergence of new threats in a context of cuts in government spending and strategic uncertainty.

Text in Afrikaans / This study aims to analyze the conflict resolution process in Zimbabwe after the Lancaster House Agreement and the subsequent elections from March 4, 1980 up until 2002. The objective is to determine what effect this process has had on all the people in Zimbabwe, both nationally and locally. It also endeavours to evaluate their attempts to transform from a violent culture of guerilla warfare, to an all-inclusive sustainable peaceful environment and culture. The reason for this specific time period of the study lies in the fact that the peace building process of the Zimbabwean conflict resolution process was supposed to be introduced during this time. This is the era during which the root of historic conflict, according to the peace building theory, has had to be transformed. It also implies the start of the implementation of the radical land reform process. From this perspective the following 5 key questions form the raison d‟être of the study and will be analyzed in the different chapters: 1. The requirements for sustainable peace, according to the conflict resolution and peace building theory, as developed by Galtung, Mitchell, Lederach, Burton and Anstey. 2. The characteristics of the historical conflict structure to be transformed during the post-1980 period. 3. An evaluation of the development of an all inclusive, multi-faceted and integrated program for the transformation of the historical conflict structure. 4. An evaluation of the international managers‟ contributions for laying the foundation for the integration of peace-making and the subsequent phases of the peace building process. It also questions the degree of reconciliation and peace building. 5. The lessons learnt from the Zimbabwean experience and its implications for conflict resolutions and peace implementation processes in Southern African societies. Included in this question is to seek clarification and to develop proposals about the roles and contributions of internal and external role players on all levels of society in such processes. Hence the conclusive finding that conflict resolution and peace building is an integrated multi-dimensional process. This conclusion is confirmed in the Zimbabwean situation. Conflict involves the entanglement of needs, unappeased perceptions and codes of conduct during the period of negotiations. In Zimbabwe the escalation and de-escalation of these influences are clearly observed. The evaluation and manipulation of the history of Zimababwe, of which the manipulation is still continuing, is harming the process of reconciliation and peace building. The absence of an inclusive raison d‟être for all parties involved (regarding differences and diversities on ethnical, social, economical and other levels) implies a strong escalating and de-escalating factor in the irreconcilability in Zimbabwe. The initiation of an integrated and multi-dimensional process, mechanism and framework of reconciliation and peace is strongly advised. This process, mechanism and framework has to have an integrated structure starting at international level (United Nations Peace Building Commission) decentralizing into regional, national, provincial and local government structures. The process and mechanism must be part of the establishment of conflict resolution and peace building as an generic management style and approach aimed at the political and governing processes of societies in transformation. This is especially important for the current Zimbabwean situation. / Die oogmerk van die studie is „n ontleding van die konflikresolusie-proses in Zimbabwe sedert die Lancaster House-ooreenkoms en die daaropvolgende verkiesings van 4 Maart 1980 tot en met die jaar 2002. Die doelstelling is om te bepaal in watter mate en op welke wyse, daar op alle vlakke van die gemeenskap nasionaal en op plaaslike vlak, gepoog is om die geweldskultuur, wat kenmerkend van die guerrilla-oorlog was, te transformeer tot „n volhoubare inklusiewe vredesomgewing en -kultuur. „n Primêre motivering vir die keuse van die bepaalde navorsingstydperk is dat dit veronderstel is om die vredebou-periode van die Zimbabwiese konflikresolusie-proses in te lui. Dit is die era waartydens die bronne van die historiese konflik, ooreenkomstig die vredebou-teorie, getransformeer moes word. Dit sluit ook die era in waartydens die eerste stappe van die radikale grondhervormingsproses geïmplementeer is. In die lig hiervan word die onderstaande 5 kernvraagstukke as raison d‟être van die studie op „n hoofstukbasis ondersoek: 1. Wat is die vereistes vir volhoubare vrede, ooreenkomstig die konflikresolusie- en vredebouteorie soos veral ontwikkel deur Galtung, Mitchell, Lederach, Burton en Anstey? 2. Wat was die kenmerke van die historiese konflikstruktuur wat in die post-1980- periode moes transformeer? 3. Het daar in die post-1980-periode „n inklusiewe, multi-vlakkige en geïntegreerde program vir die transformasie van die historiese konflikstruktuur, ontwikkel? 4. Het die internasionale bestuurders van die proses die grondslag gelê vir „n integrering van vredevestiging met die verdere fases van vredebou? In watter mate was versoening en vredebou enigsins „n prioriteit? Indien nie, waarom nie? 5. Watter lesse kan vanuit die Zimbabwiese ervaring geleer word wat kan bydra tot 'n beter begrip van praktiese konflikresolusie en vredebou-implementeringsprosesse in veral Suider-Afrikaanse gemeenskappe? Watter bydraes kan en moet interne en eksterne rolspelers speel? Voortspruitend hieruit word daar ook aanbevelings aan die hand gedoen oor die integrasie van internasionale en nasionale (eerste, tweede en derde vlakke) rolspelers in hierdie verband. Teen hierdie agtergrond word samevattend bevind dat konflikresolusie en vredebou, „n geïntegreerde multi-dimensionele en multi-vlakkige proses is. Vanuit die Zimbabwe situasie word bevind en bevestig dat konflik uit „n geïntegreerde wisselwerking van behoefte- en doel-onversoenbaarheidspersepsies met voort-spruitende konflikterende gesindhede en gedragspatroon-verskynsels, bestaan. Daar word ook aangetoon dat daar duidelike eskalerende en de-eskalerende invloede teenwoordig is. Daar is ook bevind dat die wyse hoe die geskiedenis van Zimbabwe evalueer en hanteer is en steeds word, die bou van versoening en langtermyn vrede benadeel. Die afwesigheid van „n inklusiewe raison d‟être wat alle rolspelers inbind tot een Zimbabwiese sentiment, ten spyte van diepliggende verskille en diversiteite op etniese, stam, sosiale, ekonomiese, klas en ander terreine, is „n sterk eskalerende faktor en gevolg in hierdie verband. Die loodsing van „n diepliggende en veelvlakkige versoeningsproses, sal die identifisering van sódanige sentiment – die aorta van Zimbabwe se konstruktiewe, volhoubare voortbestaan – as primêre samebindende prioriteit moet neem. Teen hierdie agtergrond word „n geïntegreede versoenings- en vredebou meganisme en raamwerk ontwikkel en voorgestel. „n Meganisme en proses wat multi-vlakkige deelname vanaf „n internasionale (United Nations Peace Building Commission) tot en met „n streeks, nasionale, provinsiale en plaaslike fokusvlak, verseker. „n Proses en meganisme wat ook deel uitmaak van die meer prominente vestiging en institusionalisering van konflikresolusie en vredebou as „n generiese bestuurstyl en program in die politieke en regeerprosesse in oorgangsamelewings, maar veral ook in die Zimbabwe situasie. / Political Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Afrika-Politiek)

No description available.

No description available.