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This thesis places the work of Dr Richard Beeching as Chairman of the British Railways Board in the context of Government policy towards the nationalised railways 1951-64, and examines the popular myth that Beeching and the Minister who appointed him, Ernest Marples, initiated a policy of railway closures and contraction. The thesis argues that Beeching's appointment and policies need to be seen in the context of the failure of Government policy towards the railways during the 1950s. The background to the Transport Act, 1953 is analysed. It is argued that, through this Act, the Government increased competition in the transport field, but was unwilling to accept, and unprepared for, the logical consequences of this change. The discussion of the Government's subsequent policy towards the railways during the 1950s argues that by intervening in industrial relations and price-setting, Ministers not only forced the railways into the red, but hampered their own efforts to encourage the industry to increase its efficiency. Government involvement in industrial relations, price-setting, investment and the withdrawal of unremunerative services is discussed. The Government's tougher approach to railway finances after 1959 (apparent in the 1962 Transport Act, tighter supervision of investment and the closure programme under Beeching) is placed in two contexts. Firstly, the growing recognition within Whitehall that the rise of road transport would limit the railways' future role. Secondly, the reform of the relationship between government and the nationalised industries in general. This discussion leads to a re-evaluation of Marples' significance, and a rejection of the view that Beeching's closure programme arose from a study of the railways in isolation from transport as a whole. Finally, the presentation and implementation of Beeching's closure programme until the 1964 General Election is discussed. The thesis argues that the social and economic consequences of closures were not ignored.

This thesis investigates managers’ use of power and its relationship to employees’ organisational commitment and job satisfaction and any other potential factors influencing the relationship in Nationalised Commercial Banks (NCBs) in Bangladesh. Earlier research focused only on employees’ perceptions of managers’ use of power in NCBs, and findings indicated a positive relationship between managers’ use of power and employees’ perceptions. The present research differs from the previous studies by linking managers' use of power with employees' organisational outcomes. The objective was to gain insights into ways in which the management of NCBs might use their power to enhance the levels of employees’ commitment and job satisfaction. Data were collected from several sources. Likert-type questionnaires were distributed to 600 employees in three NCBs and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 36 branch managers and four experts on banking. Complete questionnaires (in total 321) were included for data analysis using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and stepwise regression analysis. Both the bank managers and experts on banking interview transcripts were coded according to the interview schedule questions. The findings indicated a relationship between managers’ use of power and procedural justice, and employees’ organisational commitment and job satisfaction in NCBs. In the quantitative findings no significant relationships were found between gender, age, and education level, and power, procedural justice, commitment, and job satisfaction. The qualitative findings, however, suggested that employees’ age and education level were related to criterion variables; but the findings indicated there was no relationship between gender and criterion variables. The results of this study provide insight into how the management of NCBs can enhance the level of their employees’ commitment and job satisfaction. To improve managers’ use of power and its relationships with employees’ commitment and job satisfaction in NCBs in Bangladesh, there have to be changes at the individual and organisational levels. At the individual level improving managers’ power bases would involve basic education and specific job-related training. Managers should also be encouraged to enhance their skills through continuous self-learning. At organisational level top management should provide appropriate reinforcements for managers in learning about and improving their power bases.

This thesis is about the construction of a nationalised public Catholic culture in Slovakia from 1985 to 1993. At the core of this culture was the assumption that the Catholic Church had always been an integral part of the Slovak nation, her past, her present and her future. The thesis seeks to answer the question of who created this culture during the 1980s and 1990s and how and why they did so. To answer these questions this thesis adopts a cultural approach and explores how this culture was created utilising the concepts of collective memory, symbols and events as its main analytical tools. The data for this analysis include, but are not restricted to, materials produced in relation to various commemorative events and pilgrimages, especially those related to the leading national Catholic symbols: the National Patroness Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and Saints Cyril and Methodius. The thesis argues that this culture was deliberately constructed from the point of view of many actors. Before 1989 these included the official Catholic hierarchy, underground Catholic Church communities, the pope and nationalist Communists. After 1989 these actors continued to construct this culture even as their positions of power changed. Most notably, underground Catholics became part of current ecclesiastical and political elite, and communist nationalists dissociated themselves from the Communist Party but retained their position within the cultural and political elite. The thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter looks at how the nationalised public Catholic culture started in the mid-1980s with underground Catholic communities that focused on culture and grassroots mobilisation. The second chapter looks at how the nationalist Communists and the official church hierarchy became involved in construction of parts of this culture and how their involvement resonated with the underground Catholic communities. Chapter Three examines how this culture continued to develop in the early 1990s in a new political context, and how it contributed to a broader cultural legitimisation of Slovak independence.