This thesis examines the effects of France’s educational social cohesion policies, Zones d’Education Prioritaire (ZEP schools) and L’Agence nationale pour la cohesion sociale et l’égalité des chances (Acsé). I argue that these policies affect access to education for working-class descendants of immigrants; however, France’s republican ideology inhibits the extent to which equitability can be established between working-class descendants of immigrants and the majority population. Though a quantitative and qualitative data analysis, I scrutinize trends in education access and the labor market over the 2000s. Lastly, I make policy recommendations centering around positive discrimination approaches that France should adopt, in order to prioritize its most marginalized population.

Thesis (M.M. (Public and Development Management))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2015. / Development aid plays a significant role on the African continent in a number of ways which include, but is not limited to, financing budget deficits, conflict resolution and humanitarian assistance. South Africa, China, India and Brazil are among the “four main South powers” emerging on the global scene with aid policies designed at providing development aid to African Countries [Tjønneland, 2013: 1]. This study has examined the establishment and implementation of the African Renaissance and International Co-operation Fund (ARF) by analysing the policy processes that led to its creation and operation, from 2000 to 2009. The principle behind the development of such an act was South Africa’s desire to show its commitment in assisting in resolving Africa’s socio-economic challenges that impede development in Africa. ARF has suffered inconsistency in policy making and implementation. The study has found that the challenges in ARF policy processes were attributed to governance issues, issues of accountability, temptation to be used as a state fund for political interest, weakness in the institutional framework, absence of autonomy in management, absence of monitoring and evaluation, political power and poor administration systems.

Thesis (M.M. (Public Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Governance, 2014. / This explanatory sequential thesis examined the Minerals Energy Complex (MEC) as a network of policy stakeholders in South Africa’s beneficiation policy adopted in 2011. The MEC is a set of well-developed industries and institutions that have developed around the mining, energy and financial sectors of the South African economy. The MEC, as Fine and Rustomjee (1996, p. 5) see it, evolves over time depending on the balance and distribution of power amongst stakeholders in the mineral sector. This thesis found evidence that the MEC as it exists 2014 has evolved into a policy network of participant stakeholders in the beneficiation policy. The thesis employed network analytic techniques by combining qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The combination of the two methodologies allows a researcher to utilise findings from different data sets; thereby increasing the comprehensiveness of the study, as pointed out in the literature by Fischer (2011). As Coviello (2005) has illustrated, policy networks can be meaningfully examined with a bifocal lens that integrates both qualitative and quantitative analytic techniques relevant to understanding network structure, relationships between network participants and dynamics of these relationships. The data results derived from research methodology unpacked how the MEC as a policy network of stakeholders is constituted and operates in terms of the resources exchanges around the beneficiation policy. Since the research proposition argued that stakeholders in possession of highly valued resources in the MEC policy network are likely to exercise higher levels of influence in the implementation dynamics of the beneficiation policy, the results generated revealed a limited number of influential stakeholders in the MEC policy network. Against this background, the thesis detailed the type of influence stakeholders may exert, along with their level of interest in the implementation of the beneficiation policy.

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Experiences of Youth Recreation Sport Organizations' Administrators with Implementation of Maryland Concussion Law by Donelle Damali Ainsworth-McKenna MHSA, The George Washington University, 2004 BS, Morgan State University, 2000 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Health Services Walden University September 2015 There have been statewide concussion policies implemented in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to address the problem of sports-related concussions in youth athletes. The efforts to implement the requirements of these laws have mainly focused on high school athletics, despite evidence that pre-high school youth athletes who participate in organized community sports through recreation sport organizations are sustaining concussions at a similar rate as high school athletes. Thus, this study explored the implementation of the Maryland concussion law in youth sports recreation organizations in Laurel, Maryland that serve pre-high school youth athletes aged 5-14 years. A qualitative approach was utilized to conduct this study. Administrators of such youth sports and recreation organizations were interviewed to answer the central research question about how the Maryland concussion law is being implemented in youth sport recreation organizations in the state. The diffusion of innovations theory was the theoretical framework used to guide this study as well as to explore barriers to and facilitators of implementing this policy. NVivo software was used to analyze the data, and the results identified concussion training, guidelines, resources, and policing as integral to implementation of the policy. These findings can be used to inform policies, implementation, and best practices for this policy. Thus the individual and community implications for positive social change include behavior change to prevent, identify, and manage concussions in youth athletes to reduce the potential impact of concussions in youth athletes.

The research question animating this project is ‘what is the nature of neoliberalism’s influence on recent and contemporary US climate change policy?’ Situating itself against several growing bodies of literature which have sought to underscore the fetishism of markets in recent environmental and climate policy agendas under neoliberalism – e.g., the work of Heynen et al (2007) on ‘neoliberal environments’; Paterson and Newell’s (2010) work on neoliberalism and carbon markets; and the work of Dryzek et al (2003) on state forms and ecological modernization – this project argues that any such analysis must be predicated on a considerably more nuanced conception of (a) ‘neoliberalism’, (b) the historic role of states in fostering accumulation, and (c) the nature of policy development within any specific neoliberal context. Applying these theoretical re-conceptualizations to the American context, the project argues that a central tension informing contemporary US climate policy under neoliberalism can be understood a stand-off between two prevailing logics in the federal policy process: on the one hand, Washington’s attempt to build on its tradition of using state power to foster high-tech market development by cultivating the alternative energy realm as a developmental state project, and on the other, the anti-regulationist bent of neoliberalism which seeks to delegitimize the ‘pull’ policies required to ‘creatively destroy’ conventional energy and animate domestic alternative energy markets. Against the general conception of the US as a ‘climate laggard’ whose policy options are restricted market mechanisms and generally anathema to progressive ecological modernization, this body of work shows how the US has managed to develop a robust set of interventionist ‘push’ and ‘pull’ climate policies along ‘alternative policy pathways’, despite the prevailing anti-state rhetoric of neoliberalism.

Art education has faced cutbacks in school funding because of the mandates and current trends in our nation’s educational policies. The United States Department of Education states that its federal involvement in education is limited. In fact, federal legislations, regulations, and other policies dictate the structure of education in every state particularly with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and now the Race to the Top (RTTT) initiative. The arts have been unfavorably impacted under the nation’s most predominant policy, NCLB, and run the risk of further adverse impacts with RTTT, regardless of the public’s support of the arts and its educational benefits. By linking federal funding to the school's yearly progress in reading and mathematics, NCLB created an environment in which art is viewed as nonessential and secondary to the academic mission of the school. Policymakers have underestimated the critical role the non-profit cultural sector can offer to arts learning for academic support. Collaboration of the arts community with local schools expands access to the arts for America’s schools. Some schools have already adopted this strategy to tap the expertise of local community arts organizations to address the issues surrounding arts education, like the lack of funding and resources. The future of our educational system must create innovative ways for students, teachers, parents, and the community to work together in partnerships to ensure all American children is provided a high-quality education. An example of this promising practice would be to connect schools with the arts community, particularly schools and museum partnerships. School and museum partnerships have a long-standing history of collaborating with one another and therefore share a commitment to some of the same educational goals (Osterman & Sheppard, 2010). The purpose of this study investigated features and operational logistics of successful partnerships between museums and schools. The study explored an existing partnership with an art museum and an urban public school district. To understand the elements of these partnerships, the study investigated art education and cultural governing policies, program goals and long-term goals, operation and funding. It is my hope that through this study a discourse about policy recommendations or policy-making eventually develops that could aid in the creation of successful partnering relationships to sustain art education in the state of Georgia. In this qualitative case study, the research design utilized several methods of data collection, including semi-structured interviews, documents, and visual methods, specifically image elicited exercises as positioned by Harper (2002). Participants in the study included school administrators, principals, art teachers, and museum educators.

Abstract This study aims at continuously exploring government procurement policy itself via the views of both constructors and the government officials, based on the Likert-scale questionnaire designed by the author. With cluster sampling, the subjects are 99 officials from the government officials of Kaohsiung city and 44 constructors in the south of Taiwan . The key point is to evaluate the policy impact, in other word is to assess the achievement of policy effectiveness & policy goal. Is there any significantly difference for and against practicing the government procurement law between constructors and the government? This study construct policy impact evaluation with in the way of management, politics & law; based on policy effectiveness, system maintenance, responsiveness, To evaluate whether or not can the illegal thing be reduced because of practicing government procurement law which based on policy effectiveness, system maintenance, responsiveness & appropriateness. Results from questionnaire are statistically processed with SPSS. There are several conclusions. Both constructors & the government officials have the same views toward practicing the government procurement law. Both of them agree that the procurement environment itself has been significantly changed. Though the efficiency & quality of government procurement have been improved since the government procurement law had been practiced. But the efficiency & quality of government procurement still has not improved equally, even the government procurement procedure were fair & information openly. The persons who proceeded procurement have no confidence toward their own departments is rather alarming. Anyway, NT$500 thousand have been thought to be the appropriate standard of internet procurement. The findings can serve as reference of improvement of government procurement policy. Key words¡GPublic Policy, Policy Impact, Policy Effectiveness, System Maintenance, Responsiveness, Appropriateness

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 295-316). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

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