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"December 2002." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 254-269). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

The thesis describes and analyses the Thai alcohol policy process in the period 1997 - 2006, in order to investigate the characteristics and areas for potential improvement of the Thai alcohol policy process. The analysis used several extant public policy models. The models covered three aspects of the process at the macro leve l : stages of development, the characteristics and behaviours of maj or policy players, and the policy context. At the micro level the analysis employs concepts of agenda setting, policy formulation, policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation, stakeholder relationships and policy context. Information on Thai alcohol policy was collected from two sources: secondary data included official documents, literature, technical publications and mass media; pnmary data was collected through stakeholder interviews. Thai alcohol policy, during this period became more comprehensive and more oriented to public health. Problem-reduction values gained momentum while economic values remained significant. Thai policy stakeholders focused on the formulation process, while implementation, monitoring and evaluation were neglected. Limited resources, human capacity and ineffective management exacerbated this situation. Incrementalism characterised Thai alcohol policy formulation; existing policy or the policy precursor was very important to the decisions made. Limitations in the availability, accuracy and utilisation of knowledge about alcohol consumption, related problems and alcohol policy also affected the process. The Thai alcohol policy process became a more open public policy sphere for stakeholders. Many new players made major contributions to the process. The mechanisms stakeholders use to influence policy have become more complex and included: technical knowledge, the use of mass media and civil movements, and coordination among stakeholders. A centralised bureaucratic administration and personal and institutional interests are critical features for official stakeholders, while connection to high ranking officials and representation in the process are significant for interest groups. The Thai cultural context had a crucial impact on the alcohol policy process; cultural features which are not explicitly covered in the Western policy models utilised include cronyism, relationships, representation, commitment, negligence, and compromise. These characteristics make the Thai alcohol policy process difficult to fully explain in terms of the available public policy theories.

Over the past ten years, the State of California has realized environmental, economic, and social benefits through the increased deployment of solar photovoltaic technologies. However, utility-scale and residential-scale solar projects also pose a variety of problems, which have created barriers to their broader adoption. Community solar projects offer a model for solar development that can reduce the problems associated with utility-scale and residential-scale projects, while simultaneously preserving the benefits of each. This thesis examines the problems associated with current solar projects and proposes policy to support the community solar project model in California.

Over the past ten years, the State of California has realized environmental, economic, and social benefits through the increased deployment of solar photovoltaic technologies. However, utility-scale and residential-scale solar projects also pose a variety of problems, which have created barriers to their broader adoption. Community solar projects offer a model for solar development that can reduce the problems associated with utility-scale and residential-scale projects, while simultaneously preserving the benefits of each. This thesis examines the problems associated with current solar projects and proposes policy to support the community solar project model in California.

From 2006-2008, both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia proposed changes to their French second language (FSL) policies and programs. In observing the cases, it becomes clear that government officials made use of policy instruments to both implement policy and navigated the policy process. This work builds off existing literature that seeks to understand the instrument selection process, as well as the impact of policy tools on the policy-making process and more specifically, on the actors involved directly and indirectly in it. Using a framework that incorporates components of Contextual Interaction Theory and elements of procedural policy instrument scholarship, the project endeavours to identify what instruments were used to develop and implement FSL policy in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as to comprehend why the tools were selected. The dissertation relies on document analysis and semi-structured interviews conducted with government officials and stakeholders to determine that instrument selection is based on the actors’ cognitions, motivations, and available/accessible resources. Furthermore, legitimacy plays an integral role in the selection of instruments. Government policymakers are faced with varying degrees of legitimacy, as expressed by actors indirectly involved in the policy process. Inevitably, these actors react to policy content and the policy process, which leads to sometimes contentious interactions. The current research expands on the educational policy literature by using a lens that accounts for the role of instruments in the policy process and provides a nuanced understanding of how the actors’ interactions shape and influence policy-making. It makes an original contribution to the policy instruments literature by developing a framework that accounts for the selection criteria used by both policymakers and stakeholders when choosing policy tools and resources. This dissertation contributes to the discipline of public administration and the field of public policy primarily by expounding the explanatory value of policy instruments regarding what they can tell us about the policy process, policy-making and policy outcomes. It does this by looking at how it is actors both directly and indirectly involved in the policy process interpret policy instruments and shows how government’s policy-making capacity is constrained not only by the resources available to it but by the resources accessible to actors indirectly involved in the policy process. Looking at the reciprocal nature of tool selection and tool implementation helps to explain policy-making and outcomes, as well as accounts for the roles of actors both proximately and peripherally involved in the process.

Britain and Germany are two countries that are internationally recognised for their energy efficiency policies in the area of domestic buildings. Although pursuing similar objectives, the two countries have quite different flagship policies: Germany put in place a large loan and grant scheme to finance residential energy efficiency measures in 2001, the CO2-Building Rehabilitation Programme. The UK was the first country in Europe that introduced Energy savings obligations in 1994. Since then the policy instruments in both countries experienced significant change. This thesis explores the politics of the changes that occurred, and investigates the policy processes that led to the modifications. Mainstream theories of policy change emphasise short-term crisis-like events when it comes to explaining why policies change significantly. However, more recent theoretical approaches suggest that gradual mechanisms, including accumulating external pressures and slowly developing consequences of the policies themselves, play an important role as well. In order to approach the two cases theoretically, this thesis draws on the concept of friction developed in Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and the policy feedback literature. This thesis investigates how long-term pressures, for example the perceived impact of climate change and rising energy prices, affected the evolution of the key home energy efficiency policies in Britain and Germany. Combined with assessing the impact of institutional changes and policy feedback, a comprehensive analysis of long-term policy change is carried out. A set of different methods is employed to undertake the investigation including qualitative and quantitative research methods such as semi-structured interviews with more than 25 experts followed by qualitative content analysis, complementary document analysis, and the review of data sets. The analysis provides a detailed historical case study of the key home energy efficiency policy instruments in Germany and the UK with a focus on the causal mechanisms of gradual pressures. Wider conclusions are drawn for the theories of policy change and how gradual pressures might be accounted for in those theories in a more meaningful way.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Economics and Finance / Master / Master of Economics

Since the regional policy nowadays is an important subject in the European institutions, the involvement of regional and local authorities in the programming, management, evaluation and monitoring of operations is essential for the success of EU level policy. A Regional Problem is defined as a problem that arises in an area of a country where there is dependence on a narrow industrial base often faced with declining manufacturing activity, and lack of general infrastructures. Other challenges include low levels of GDP and a net migration out of a country or region. The EU is trying to overcome these challenges by using the Structural funds financing programs to help firms in these regions. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the innovation policy and the industrial policy at the national and regional levels in Ireland and Finland, over the 1990s. In both countries the period from 1991-99 was marked by expansion, as measured by steady output growth for manufacturing as a whole (albeit at substantially lower levels in Finland than in Ireland). / In general, the evidence presented in this paper suggests a positive relationship between innovation policy as reflected in financial support to firms for R&D and business level investment in R&D and innovation activity. R&D financial assistance to firms has been a significant feature of the industrial development policy in Ireland since the 1980s. At the same time, the proportion of manufacturing firms undertaking R&D, product and process innovations increased steadily throughout the 1990s. In Ireland the construction industry boosted economic development as foreign businesses could find favourable conditions for setting up their businesses. Initially tax and grant incentives were given to firms which were later on complemented by high killed labour that could be utilized in high tech businesses. / zeqavete@gmail.com khanomair82@gmail.com