Using a Foucault-inspired critical analysis of discourse within a Gramscian framework of hegemony, this thesis analyzes how patterns of international climate change policy relate to climate policy in British Columbia (BC), Canada, and explores the patterns of resistance to carbon neutrality in a single municipality. The BC Carbon Neutral Government Strategy and the Provincial Crown Corporation responsible for stimulating the growth of the BC carbon-offset market are characterized by neo-liberalism ideology and dispossession. The District of Saanich’s policy, which establishes a local and public form of carbon offset alternative, is characterized as a form of resistance. Saanich’s policy represents a passive revolution. This thesis suggests that the discourse of ecological modernization exists within both the hegemonic climate policy structure as well as the alternative found in Saanich. This thesis also suggests that municipalities represent a political space in which a Gramscian war of position may be waged. / Graduate

The Internet consists of thousands of autonomous networks connected together to provide end-to-end reachability. Networks of different sizes, and with different functions and business objectives, interact and co-exist in the evolving "Internet Ecosystem". The Internet ecosystem is highly dynamic, experiencing growth (birth of new networks), rewiring (changes in the connectivity of existing networks), as well as deaths (of existing networks). The dynamics of the Internet ecosystem are determined both by external "environmental" factors (such as the state of the global economy or the popularity of new Internet applications) and the complex incentives and objectives of each network. These dynamics have major implications on how the future Internet will look like. How does the Internet evolve? What is the Internet heading towards, in terms of topological, performance, and economic organization? How do given optimization strategies affect the profitability of different networks? How do these strategies affect the Internet in terms of topology, economics, and performance? In this thesis, we take some steps towards answering the above questions using a combination of measurement and modeling approaches. We first study the evolution of the Autonomous System (AS) topology over the last decade. In particular, we classify ASes and inter-AS links according to their business function, and study separately their evolution over the last 10 years. Next, we focus on enterprise customers and content providers at the edge of the Internet, and propose algorithms for a stub network to choose its upstream providers to maximize its utility (either monetary cost, reliability or performance). Third, we develop a model for interdomain network formation, incorporating the effects of economics, geography, and the provider/peer selections strategies of different types of networks. We use this model to examine the "outcome" of these strategies, in terms of the topology, economics and performance of the resulting internetwork. We also investigate the effect of external factors, such as the nature of the interdomain traffic matrix, customer preferences in provider selection, and pricing/cost structures. Finally, we focus on a recent trend due to the increasing amount of traffic flowing from content providers (who generate content), to access providers (who serve end users). This has led to a tussle between content providers and access providers, who have threatened to prioritize certain types of traffic, or charge content providers directly -- strategies that are viewed as violations of "network neutrality". In our work, we evaluate various pricing and connection strategies that access providers can use to remain profitable without violating network neutrality.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 512-520).

Thesis (Habilitationsschrift)--Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, 1980. / Includes index. Bibliography: p. 243-251.

Thesis (M.A. (Political and International Studies))--Rhodes University, 2005. / A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts.

The purpose of this study is to examine how genders are made within the gender neutral discourse in the preschools equality treatment area. The study is based on critcal literature studies influed by discourse analysis and hermeneuitcs. It also relies on intervjues with two preschool teachers.  The study will examine and answer the following questions: How are genders made within the gender neutral discourse? How is the feminine and masculine problematized in preschool and how is the discourse within gender neutrality linked to norms, power and gender? The theoretical starting point of this study is gender. This starting point also includes norms, power and masculinity, to get a complete understanding of the problem area. The result of the study shows that the ambition to develope a gender natural policy in pre school is a problematic issue because the understanding of the concept neutrality excludes the feminine. Finally with critical eyes against the gender neutral concept my interpretation is that we need to concider the norms to be able to reach equal treatment and gender equality. These unwritten laws that norms produce creates  unbalance, power structure and exclusion between genders and individuals.     Keywords: Gender, Norm criticism, equal treatment, gender equality, gender neutrality. Nyckelord: Genus, normkritik, likabehandling, jämställdhetsarbete och könsneutralitet.

This thesis focuses on economic relations between the Third Reich and Yugoslavia before the German attack in April 1941. It questions the conventional wisdom, according to which economic relations served mainly as a tool of German foreign policy towards Yugoslavia. Instead, it aims to place mutual economic relations within both the broader context of the German economic and financial plans and policies in the 1930s, and within the already existing economic and trading ties between the two countries, as they had been developing since the 1920s. Before 1936, economic relations between Yugoslavia and Germany are observed from the context of the polycratic character of the Third Reich’s executive, which enabled various economic policies, pursued by different levels of authority such as the Foreign Ministry, Economic Ministry, Food and Agriculture Ministry, the Reichsbank, etc. to exist alongside each other. After 1936, Yugoslav-German economic relations increasingly functioned within the framework of the German Four-Year-Plan. Yugoslavia’s mineral riches were of importance for German rearmament and, particularly after the Anschluss and the creation of the Bohemian Protectorate, Yugoslavia found itself increasingly dependent on trade with Germany. At the same time, the German market and exports were necessary for the process of Yugoslavia’s industrialisation, which had gathered momentum since the mid-1930s. This was however in many aspects inconsistent with the German long-term imperialist ambitions in South-Eastern Europe. This dissertation concludes that German economic policy towards Yugoslavia failed. Also, that contrary to the traditional view in historiography and despite its economic dependency on Germany, Yugoslavia maintained its political agency. It was international political developments beyond Yugoslavia’s control which eventually decreased Belgrade’s political maneuverability and forced the government in Belgrade to become more receptive towards German demands, particularly after the fall of France in June 1940.

The issue of the Islamic headscarf has been in the centre of the political debate whether it fits into the Western culture or not. Several member-states in the European Union have issued laws and regulations that impose restrictions on wearing the Islamic headscarf in the public sphere. Even some EU courts have ruled such restrictions imposed by member-states. Recently, this issue has been discussed in the context of the occupational life. In a dispute before the European Court of Justice, the ban was considered as legitimate. In this research, I analyse the judgment from a socio-legal perspective and analyse the intersectional identity of Mrs. Achbita who is a party in the dispute, considering that she belongs to the social category of veiled working Muslim women.

A presente dissertação busca trabalhar o problema do debate liberal-comunitarista, tomando por base a filosofia política de Charles Taylor. A proposta é a de explicitar alguns dos termos do debate, no tocante à situação do patriotismo, ou virtude republicana, na sociedade moderna e no Estado Liberal dito "neutro". Partindo da filosofia do self de Charles Taylor, a dissertação busca esquematizar as características do self moderno. Esse self, advoga-se, é próprio de um determinado Estado: o Estado Liberal dito "neutro", isto é, "neutro" no sentido de negar privilégios a determinados estilos de vida em detrimento de outros. E esta mesma neutralidade, em contrapartida, seria um espelho das características desse self moderno. Analisa-se as relações desse self moderno com esse Estado liberal dito "neutro", e de como as teorias tipicamente liberais, ou procedimentalistas, segundo Charles Taylor, falham em reconhecer essas relações, levando a crer que o self moderno não contaria com nenhuma fonte moral que o mantivesse ligado à sociedade política, ao Estado liberal dito "neutro" que é, ao mesmo tempo, possibilitador e reflexo desse self moderno. O trabalho busca, por fim, com auxílio da filosofia de Charles Taylor, resgatar a noção de patriotismo, dentro da esfera das virtudes republicanas, a fim de sugerir uma resolução do conflito, reestabelecendo a integridade das relações entre o self moderno e o Estado liberal dito "neutro". Para tanto, foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa bibliográfica com ênfase nas obras de Charles Taylor "Argumentos Filosóficos", "Fontes do Self" e "A Secular Age", com auxílio de outras. Examinou-se profundamente a bibliografia de Charles Taylor a fim de identificar seu método com clareza, para utilizá-lo no presente trabalho. / This dissertation seeks to address the problem of the liberal-communitarian debate, based on the political philosophy of Charles Taylor. The proposal is to clarify some of the terms of the debate regarding the situation of patriotism and the republican virtues in the modern society and the supposedly "neutral" liberal State. Based on the philosophy of self Charles Taylor, the dissertation outlines the characteristics of the modern self. This self, this dissertation advocates, is proper of a particular state: the supposedly "neutral" liberal State, ie, "neutral" in the sense of denying privileges to certain lifestyles over others. And this same neutrality, in contrast, would be a mirror of the characteristics of modern self. The dissertation analyses the relationship of self with that modern liberal state called "neutral", and how typically liberal theories, or proceduralists, according to Charles Taylor, fail to recognize these relationships, leading to the belief that the modern self would not count on any source moral to keep it connected to the political society, the supposedly "neutral" liberal State which is at the same time, enabler and a reflection of modern self. The job search, finally, with the aid of the philosophy of Charles Taylor, to rescue the notion of patriotism, within the sphere of republican virtues, in order to suggest a resolution of the conflict, reestablishing the integrity of relationships between the self and the supposedly "neutral" liberal State. To that end, a bibliographical references research with emphasis on the works of Charles Taylor "Philosophical Arguments", "Sources of the Self" and "A Secular Age" has been developed, with the addition of some others. The works of Charles Taylor have been researched deeply in order to identify clearly his method, to put it in use it in this work.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A tese pretende estabelecer o que estaria o mais próximo possível de uma lógica da descoberta para as ciências sociais. A narrativa dessas disciplinas não seria neutra nem objetiva, mas procuraria produzir, retoricamente, os efeitos de neutralidade e objetividade, evitando a heroicização, a vilanização e a vitimização dos agentes. Isso decorreria da necessidade de o cientista social validar sua narrativa perante um auditório ideal ou potencialmente universal, abrigando, em princípio, todo o tipo de valores. Essa pluralidade de visões de mundo não permite que os agentes sejam ingenuamente tratados como heróis, vilões ou vítimas. Com isso, o autor do texto de ciências sociais procuraria simular um ponto de vista de Deus, como ironista supremo, que tudo vê, acima dos participantes imperceptivos de seu relato. Foi feito um estudo de caso a partir do debate sobre populismo no Brasil, no qual foram identificados quatro pontos básicos em torno dos quais girou a controvérsia: o das estruturas prototípicas, o da estruturação imaginária, o da estrutura intersubjetiva e a dinâmica da relação entre grande teoria e pesquisa empírica. / The aim of this thesis is to get as close as possible to a logic of discovery for the social sciences. Those disciplines do not have a neutral and objective narrative, but try to achieve, rhetorically, neutrality and objectivity effects, avoiding to portrait agents as heroes, villains or victims. It follows from the need to validate scientific narratives in face of an ideally or potentially universal auditory, withholding, in principle, all kinds of values. Such plurality of world visions makes it difficult to naively treat agents as heroes, villains, or victims. As a consequence, the social scientist simulates a Gods Eye view, placing himself in a Supreme Ironist perspective, who sees everything from above, whose vision reaches beyond what nonperceptive agents can see. To make my point, I took as case study the Brazilian controversy over populism. Based on it, four main topics of development were identified: one refered to the prototypical theoretic structures, other to its imaginary structuration, another to its intersubjective structure, and a last one to the relationship of empirical research to grand theory.