As políticas públicas revelam e materializam interesses e demandas de atores, classes sociais ou coalizões que hegemonicamente influenciam as ações do Estado. Portanto, o Estado e suas políticas públicas expressam conflitos abertos mediante a opção por determinadas demandas e a não contemplação de outras, bem como velam conflitos latentes. Tentar compreender e analisar essa dinâmica no processo de formulação e implantação da política pública voltada a Arranjos Produtivos Locais (APLs) é um dos objetivos centrais deste trabalho. Ou seja, identificar quais foram os valores, interesses e convicções político-ideológicas que orientaram a proposição dos APLs como política pública de desenvolvimento regional no contexto dos anos 2000 no Governo Federal e, especificamente, no governo do Estado do Paraná? Para essa investigação nos valemos dos referenciais teóricos do campo de estudos em Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade (CTS) e de alguns conceitos fundamentais da “Teoria Crítica da Tecnologia” de Andrew Feenberg. A hipótese que procuramos confirmar é a estreita vinculação teórica e metodológica da política pública APL com os fundamentos do inovacionismo e das diretrizes neoliberais. Como resultado de pesquisa, a partir da explicitação e verificação dessa relação cogitada em nossa hipótese, desenvolvemos análise que procura demonstrar os limites e contradições da política pública APL em sua compreensão e perspectiva sobre desenvolvimento e inclusão social. / Public policies reveal and embody interests and demands of actors, social classes or coalitions that hegemonically influence State actions. Therefore, the State and its public policies express open conflicts by opting for certain demands, not contemplating others and even veiling underlying conflicts. It is one of the central objectives of this work to try to understand and analyze this dynamic in the formulation and implementation of the public policy directed to the Local Productive Arrangements (APLs).That is, to identify what were the values, interests and political and ideological convictions that guided the proposition of APLs by the federal government and specifically the government of Paraná, as a public policy of regional development in the context of the 2000s? For this research we make use of theoretical frameworks of Science Technology and Society(STS) field of study and some basic concepts of "critical theory of technology" proposed by Andrew Feenberg. The hypothesis we seek to confirm is the narrow theoretical and methodological linking APL public policy with the fundamentals of inovacionismo and neoliberal policies. As a result of research, from the explanation and verification of this relationship contemplated in our case, we have developed analysis that seeks to demonstrate the limits and contradictions of APL public policy in their understanding and perspective on development and social inclusion.

Events or forces of nature with catastrophic consequences, or "natural disasters," have increased in both frequency and force due to climate change and increased urbanization in climate-sensitive areas. To create capacity to face these dangers, an entity must first quantify the threat and translate scientific knowledge on nature into comprehensible estimates of cost and loss. These estimates equip those at risk with knowledge to enact policy, formulate mitigation plans, raise awareness, and promote preparedness in light of potential destruction. Hazards-United States, or Hazus, is one such tool created by the federal government to estimate loss from a variety of threats, including earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods. Private and governmental agencies use Hazus to provide information and support to enact mitigation measures, craft plans, and create insurance assessments; hence the results of Hazus can have lasting and irreversible effects once the hazard in question occurs. This thesis addresses this problem and sheds light on the obvious and deterministic failings of Hazus in the context of the probable earthquake in Portland, OR; stripping away the tool's black box and exposing the grim vulnerabilities it fails to account for. The purpose of this thesis is twofold. First, this thesis aims to examine the critical flaws within Hazus and the omitted vulnerabilities particular to the Portland region and likely relevant in other areas of study. Second and more nationally applicable, this thesis intends to examine the influence Hazus outputs can have in the framing of seismic risk by the non-expert public. Combining the problem of inadequate understanding of risk in Portland with the questionable faith in Hazus alludes to a larger, socio-technical situation in need of attention by the academic and hazard mitigation community. This thesis addresses those issues in scope and adds to the growing body of literature on defining risk, hazard mitigation, and the consequences of natural disasters to urban environments.

This thesis explores questions of gender equality in social welfare theory; methodologies; approaches and policymaking in the Global South in the context of land reforms. This stems from the realisation that gender equality issues in social welfare are increasingly receiving greater attention in the context of the Global North and less in the South. By adopting a Transformative Social Policy framework, the research departs from hegemonic livelihoods, poverty reduction and the ‘classical models’ of land reforms often designed from the mould of the neoliberal discourse of individual tenure to focus on land reform as a relational question. Empirical data was gathered using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach involving survey questionnaires; in-depths interviews; focus group discussions; key informant interviews and field observations. A total of 105 randomly selected households, comprising 56 male-headed households (MHHs) and 49 female-headed households (FHHs) participated in the quantitative component of the study, comprising a control group of nonland reform beneficiaries. Additionally, 30 purposively selected in-depths interviews comprising 20 FHHs and 10 MHHs were conducted in resettlement study sites. Findings from this this study indicates that despite the country’s depressed economic environment and the effects of climate change, transfer of land enhanced the productive capacities of individuals and rural households, including those headed by females. At micro-level, in-kind transfer of land to rural households proved to be a more superior social protection measure compared to either food or cash transfer. However, social relations and institutions proved resistant to change, posing a greater obstacle to social transformation. And more importantly, from a social reproductive perspective, the same land reform that enhanced the productive capacities of women, inadvertently, increased their social reproductive work with implications on the welfare of women relative to men. The thesis makes a contribution to social policy debates in Africa, which hitherto have been dominated by the introduction of cash transfers as witnessed in many countries across the continent. The transformative social policy approach brings novelty to the study of land reforms. By Conceptualising gender as a relational and social construct, the study adds knowledge on the nexus between gender, land reform and welfare using the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) as reference. With the FTLRP––as a leftist policy in a liberalised economy––there is a need for the government to re-align its social and economic policies to avoid inconsistencies in the country’s development path. On the gender front there is need to legislate resettlement areas as outside the jurisdiction of traditional structures; promulgate statutory instruments dealing with land and setting up designated land claims courts linked right up to the Constitutional Court. Specifically, for Chiredzi, there is a need to establish a corporate body to administer the affairs of Mkwasine following the pulling out of the Estate. Keywords: gender, land reforms, water reforms, transformative / Sociology / Ph. D. (Sociology)