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This thesis narrates the exercise of state autonomy to achieve macro-economic stability and effect incremental policy change in South Africa between 1994 and 2014. Employing a composite case study of the macro-economic policy framework; the Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) (1996) strategy, and two micro policies, Free Basic Electricity (FBE) (2003) and No Fee Schools (NFS) (2006), it demonstrates how the post-apartheid state introduced reforms at macro and micro policy levels. Taking a historical institutionalist approach, it emphasizes the importance of ideas, context, configurations, temporal arguments and path-dependence to recount a story of policy change. The main sources of evidence comprise semi-structured elite interviews conducted with senior politicians, public servants, trade unionists and academic researchers as well as secondary data such as Hansard, government documents and other research reports. Data collection in South Africa was undertaken over a period of twelve months across various sites such as state departments, parliament, the South African Reserve Bank, university libraries, municipalities, private companies, parastatals and schools in the Gauteng Province. The context of transition from apartheid to a democratic dispensation, 1990-1994, with the negotiation processes forms a backdrop to the study whereby compromises and important policy choices set the scene for the formulation of new policy infrastructure culminating in GEAR in 1996. The implementation of GEAR in 1996 and the achievement of macroeconomic stability in turn prepared the ground for intervention at micro policy level. Consequently the introduction of incremental policy change through micro policies such as FBE (2003) and NFS (2006) became possible. Importantly this thesis reveals that whilst incremental policy change has been achievable, it is not totally transformative but rather built upon policy legacies as it proffers gradual adjustments which do not reverse earlier policy decisions and compromises nor effect fundamental change. Nevertheless, even in a difficult international and domestic environment, the South African state has shown a capacity to initiate and sustain incremental change in key areas of public policy.

Although bicycling has been the subject of increasing academic attention, particularly in the areas of mode choice, benefit analyses, and discussions of policies/treatments, much less attention has been devoted to actually studying how communities have made decisions about whether and what they’ll implement in regards to bicycle infrastructure. “Policy entrepreneurs” are theorized as actors centrally responsible for either creating an opportunity or capitalizing on an opportunity to pair a public problem with a policy solution. A survey instrument solicited directly the participation of the 200 most populous municipalities within the United States. Using a variety of analytical tools (and merged data sources) as well as a novel matching methodology for the selection of case studies, it was possible to identify interesting and broadly informative relationships, which were explored further via the case study comparison. 20 case interviews were conducted across 6 case study cities as a complement to the survey project. Individual policy entrepreneurs and their role or qualities were not significant quantitatively or qualitatively, despite being regularly present. However, having a network of supportive actors (including strong champions/policy entrepreneurs) played a critical role in making projects happen and at larger scales. Advocates and planners may be more successful by being attuned to these networks and political contexts and taking advantage of open “windows” of engagement. Alternatively, these windows can be opened ‘manually’ through grant applications, developing relationships, hosting trainings or speakers, and more. Lastly, city population was also associated with implementation, suggesting underlying factors to be explored in the future.

What kinds of social organisations (SOs) are more likely to succeed in promoting policy change? How and why can some SOs promote policy change in China? This thesis argues that the emerging tendency of social marketisation - social entrepreneurship and government purchase of services from SOs - can empower social organisations to facilitate policy change from the government. Based on three survey databases, this research shows that when social organisations become social enterprises or obtained government contracts for purchasing services, their likelihoods of success in promoting policy change increased and their influence on government policy making improved, after controlling for other resource and institutional factors. This research subsequently draws upon two in-depth case studies on Nonprofit Incubator (NPI) and China Foundation Centre (CFC) to demonstrate how social organisations can use entrepreneurial and marketised strategies to promote the emergence and spread of five new government policies in China. The underlying mechanism of their successes is the formation of social organisation chains (SOCs), which consist of infrastructure, financial, support, and operational organisations. The formation of SOCs created positive social change. Positive social change facilitated policy change. This study further applies the perspective of SOCs to examine how the three local states (Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen) re-regulate the social organisation sector, and reveals a wider applicability of SOCs at the city level. Finally, this thesis has discussed the relations between social marketisation and other significant theoretical and practical issues. The contribution of this thesis is that it finds a positive relationship between social marketisation and policy change in China, and reveals the process and the underlying mechanism.

Competing narratives on the “rise and fall of multiculturalism” (Kymlicka 2010) confuse our understanding of the evolution of multiculturalism policy, particularly in the case of federations like Canada and Australia. Part of the issue is the sharp separation between stability and change and prevailing focus on national multiculturalism policies. This overlooks important and simultaneous developments in the constituent units of these two federations. We therefore ask how and why have multiculturalism policies changed in the constituent units of Australia and Canada? First, we argue that amid a noticeable decline in support for multiculturalism on the part of the central government in both countries, constituent unit governments have become a crucial source of multiculturalism policy development in Australia and Canada. Because many of the economic, labour, civil rights and social policy challenges involve state/provincial or shared responsibilities, multiculturalism policies are developed and implemented in large part by constituent units. Thus, we cannot comment on multiculturalism policies in federations without paying attention to the experiences and contributions of constituent units. Second, we argue this process of multiculturalism policy change can be conceptualized along four modes of gradual institutional change referred to as policy drift, layering, displacement, and conversion. These incremental modes of policy change are the result of a distinct combination of contextual, structural, and agency-based factors. More precisely, (1) a shift in the socio-political context marks the opening of a critical juncture as new ideas and demands for reform emerge; (2) institutional rules with separate compliance and enforcement standards structure reform pathways; and (3) the relationship between policy and political entrepreneurship activates the causal mechanisms that consolidate the separate modes of gradual institutional change. The dissertation therefore offers a more complete theoretical explanation of the processes of institutional change, their ideational influences and causal mechanisms through fresh empirical observation. Building on Mahoney and Thelen’s (2010) theory on gradual institutional change, the dissertation applies a process-tracing method over the period 1989 to 2019 to four case studies: Nova Scotia, South Australia, New South Wales, and British Columbia. In sum, generating inquiry that looks beyond national policies allows us to capture concurrent processes happening within and across State/provincial boundaries, which in turn shape their shared citizenship.

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.

Despite the UK’s abundance of renewable energy sources and the imperative for renewable energy to make a significant contribution to addressing the problems of climate change and fossil-fuel dependency, renewable energy capacity in the UK has developed slowly compared with some other EU states. The UK has introduced a succession of policies to promote renewable energy, but so far these have failed to meet national and EU targets. This signals the need for detailed examination of the reasons for these ‘failures’ and, in particular, the extent, nature and constraints on ‘policy learning’ within UK renewable energy policy. Policy learning has emerged in recent years as an innovative way of exploring the roles of knowledge acquisition and use in policy change. This study examines the contribution of policy learning to the development of UK renewable energy policy. It is argued that interpreting UK renewable energy policy development through the lens of policy learning yields fresh perspectives on why policies develop in certain directions and not others. In so doing, it critically examines problems caused by failings in policy learning and identifies options for the further promotion of renewable energies in the UK. The study distinguishes four different forms of policy learning: technical, conceptual, social and political. Little research has been conducted on the characteristics of these different learning types, the conditions under which they occur, the psychological, institutional and cultural factors that stimulate or constrain learning, and how they interact to shape policy change. The study utilises a qualitative methodology to analyse and explain changes in UK renewable energy policy over the past 20 years. The main methods employed are content analysis of policy documents (including legislative acts and instruments, consultations and select committee reports); and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders from government, industry, NGOs, academia and the media. It is argued in the thesis that UK energy policy has tended to become ‘locked’ into low-level forms of technical learning because current government learning mechanisms do not challenge the parameters of existing policy and, thus, fail to stimulate broader processes of conceptual and social learning that might encourage more radical policy change. These forms of policy learning are particularly constrained by hierarchical institutional structures that hinder communication and learning between policy areas. Furthermore, the current style of policy making for renewable energy in the UK privileges the interests of incumbent energy companies, giving them the ability to filter or block new ideas that do not align with their commercial interests. Political learning was shown to operate alongside other types of policy learning and to take multiple forms but focused predominantly on political risk management rather than political innovation: thus, it tended to narrow rather than extend the parameters of debate. These findings were used to develop a model of policy learning in UK renewable energy policy. This was used to conceptualise relationships between different learning types, highlight specific barriers to policy learning, and illustrate dynamics of policy learning and change that might be extended to other policy areas and countries. Finally, it is argued that many of the barriers identified might be overcome by fostering more evidence-based policy making and learning mechanisms that engage with a broader range of stakeholders to stimulate more pluralistic government processes.

In Tanzania, fiscal adjustment policies emphasized an increase in tax revenue and cuts in public spending to correct the fiscal deficit. However, adjustment policies restricted the impact of fiscal policies in correcting fiscal deficit because they led to a low GDP growth and narrowed the tax base. The government overlooked the need to have an alternative tax base that could compensate for the fall in GDP growth. In that respect, the main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of fiscal adjustment policies in correcting the fiscal deficit in Tanzania in different adjustment periods in the 1973-2000 period. The thesis adopts a country study approach to analyse the effect of changes in the tax structure on the fiscal position using the primary balance as a proxy. The study also uses time series econometric methods to examine the impact of economic policy regime changes on public spending and GDP growth and the implications for fiscal policy in Tanzania. The study finds that changes in macroeconomic conditions either temporarily expanded or narrowed the tax bases and influenced the correction of the fiscal deficit in different years. Fiscal adjustment policies were pro-cyclical, thus leading to low GDP growth. This limited the effect of changes in the tax structure in reducing the fiscal deficit. Lastly, policy regime changes led to public spending instability and a structural break in the GDP data series. This signified that economic policy reforms caused fundamental changes in the economy, with implications for macroeconomic and fiscal policies in Tanzania. In sum, the results suggest that pro-cyclical policies are harmful for countries pursuing fiscal adjustment policies to correct a fiscal deficit.

Introduction: According to the CDC (2008), tobacco-related deaths out number deaths from alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, murders, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and illegal drug use. One out of every five deaths in the United States can be attributed to tobacco, culminating in a staggering 443,000 deaths in the US every year. Smoking is also the leading preventable cause of death in America (CDC, 2008). In 2006, the Surgeon General’s Report speaks to not only the detrimental effects of smoking, but also the harmful effects second hand smoke can have on an individual’s health. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control’s Office of Smoking and Health reported that 49,400 deaths every year in the US are the result of second hand smoke exposure, of which 46,000 will have died from heart disease attributable to second hand smoke in the environment in which they live, work, play, and learn (CDC, 2008). While the negative health outcomes with tobacco use have inundated mainstream media and literature, tobacco use has another large and devastating effect on communities around the world. That effect is the result of Tobacco Product Litter (TPL). Beyond the unsightliness of TPL, several other unwanted complications to society result from the disregarded refuse, such as harm to the environment and damages incurred by other businesses not associated at all with tobacco products. Rationale for Intervention: First and foremost the Tobacco-Free GSU Initiative was intended to promote the health of the Georgia State University community consisting of students, faculty, and staff. The American College Health Association (2009) recommends 100% tobacco-free campuses, indoors and outdoors. Studies have shown that non-smokers and smokers attending college are in favor of campus policies that control the use of tobacco on campus (Rigotti, Regan, Moran, et al., 2003; Thompson B, Coronado GD, Chen L, et al., 2006). Sawdey et al. (2011) cites the need for the implementation of smoke-free policies by campuses in order to utilize the opportunity to create an atmosphere conducive to tobacco cessation. Considering that one third of young Americans attend a college or university (Rigotti et al., 2003), exposing one third of the youth population of the United States to a tobacco-free environment could potentially change the socially acceptable norms of using tobacco, whist simultaneously creating an environment free of TPL. Intervention Strategy Analysis: Tobacco-Free GSU utilized a methodology similar to the strategies Glassman, Reindel and Whewell outlined in their 2011 study Strategies for Implementing a Tobacco-Free Campus. The Glassman et al. (2011) strategy included: Creating a Committee, Utilizing a Student Debate, Publicity, Drafting of a Potential Policy, Targeting the College or University Board of Trustees, Addressing Barriers to Becoming Tobacco-Free, Student Involvement, Administrative and Staff Support, Resources, and Enforcement Conclusion: In order to facilitate the best possible outcome, this author recommends those seeking to create a tobacco-free campus utilize the strategies outlined throughout this document, whilst creating strategies specific to their location, population, and situation.

The National Parks of the United Kingdom are characterised by their beautiful countryside and spectacular rural landscapes. They are also significant leisure based trip attracting locations, the dominant transport mode being the private car which typically accounts for 90% of all journeys made to these destinations. Excessive car use in National Parks is problematic since traffic congestion, environmental degradation, vehicle noise and parking problems serve to undermine the natural and recreational values which they are intended to promote. As recognition of the negative impacts of car use in National Parks has grown, so have calls for innovation and experimentation in approaches to traffic management and transport policy in these locations. Despite this, policy change has been slow. Sustainable and effective solutions to transport problems in UK National Parks appear no nearer to being found now than they were sixty five years ago. Accordingly, this thesis seeks to investigate the process of policy change with respect to leisure transport in UK National Parks. The study adopts the Multiple Streams framework (Kingdon, 1984) as the mechanism by which to explore policy change in the sector, and a case study method is chosen as the overarching research approach. Within the case study design, a three stage research method is undertaken, consisting of a) documentary analysis combined with semi-structured interviews with Transport Officers at UK National Park Authorities, b) two sub case studies at the local level in the New Forest and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, and c) semi-structured interviews with National Park transport planning experts at the national level. The Multiple Streams framework is shown to accurately identify important processes and mechanisms which can be seen to account for policy stability (and therefore inhibit change) within the National Park transport planning sector. As such, the thesis concludes that at the present time there is no significant window for policy change with respect to leisure transport in UK National Parks. A number of barriers exist which make this so. First are perceptions of public and political apathy towards transport problems in the National Parks, and a lack of quantifiable data by which to ‗frame‘ these issues. Second are competing agendas of key delivery agencies in the policy sector, where conflict between economic and environment objectives limit the consideration of certain transport planning instruments for use. Third are issues surrounding the technical feasibility (in terms of implementation) and public acceptability of a range of transport planning instruments, and fourth is a lack of advocacy for policy change amongst the general public and politicians at the local and national level. In light of the research findings, recommendations and advice to policy makers and practitioners seeking change within the sector are offered.