A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology) in the Department of Psychology University of Zululand, 2007. / Moral maturity is understood as the progressive development of more morally adequate forms of moral judgment. Thus one would expect higher levels of moral reasoning from the highly educated. In this study, this assumption is proved to the contrary. When moral judgments of undergraduates and post graduate students of the University of Zululand were compared in relation to their socio-political beliefs, results proved that education does not play a significant role when it comes to such issues. The level of education did not correlate with all political beliefs as one would expect. The results of this study showed that a relatively high level of moral reasoning is related to more progressive political ideas, not to a high level of education. Theories of moral reasoning and those in contrary have supported research findings.

Colonias are low-income settlements on the US-Mexico border characterized by poor infrastructure, minimum services, and an active housing construction with a high self-help and self-management component. Housing in colonias is very diverse showing house forms that include temporary and permanent structures, campers, trailers or manufactured houses and conventional homes. Most of this housing does not meet construction standards and codes and is considered substandard. Colonias households are also of diverse nature and composition including single households, nuclear and extended families, as well as multiple households sharing lots. This wide variety of house forms and households in colonias fits poorly within the nuclear household, single family detached housing idealized by conventional low-income housing projects, programs and policies. As a result, colonias marginally benefit from the resources available to them and continue to depend mostly on the individual efforts of their inhabitants. This research identifies the housing diversity and the process of housing consolidation in colonias of the US-Mexico border by looking at the patterns of house form and household arrangements in colonias of South Texas. Ten colonias located to the east of the city of Laredo along Highway 359 in Webb County, Texas were selected based on their characteristics, data availability and accessibility. Data collected included periodic aerial images of the colonias spanning a period of 28 years, household information from the 2000 census disaggregated at the block level for these colonias, and information from a field survey and a semi structured interview made to a random sample of 123 households between February and June 2007. The survey collected information about house form and household characteristics. The survey also incorporated descriptive accounts on how households completed their house from the initial structure built or set on the lot until the current house form. Data was compiled and analyzed using simple statistical methods looking for identifiable patterns on house form and household characteristics and changes over time. Findings showed that housing in colonias is built and consolidated following identifiable patterns of successive changes to the house form. Findings also showed that households in colonias share characteristics that change over time in similar ways. These results suggest similarities of colonias with extra-legal settlements in other developing areas. Based on these findings, the study reflects on possible considerations that could improve the impact of projects, programs and policies directed to support colonias and improve colonias housing.

Enfin, le droit international dispose d’un ensemble de règles relatives à la responsabilité des organisations internationales pour fait internationalement illicite. Après 10 ans de travail, la Commission du droit international est parvenue, en 2011, à élaborer un projet d'articles codifiant les règles en la matière. La tâche était pourtant délicate : assujettir ces entités dont la nature et le fonctionnement sont différents des Etats, à un ensemble de règles unique dans le domaine de la responsabilité internationale. L’objet de cette étude porte sur l’œuvre de codification effectuée par la Commission dans le projet d’articles. Il s’agit plus précisément d’analyser les techniques de codification utilisées par la Commission dans l’élaboration des règles applicables : s’agit-il d’une codification stricto sensu de la pratique ou bien de l’élaboration de nouvelles règles relevant du « développement progressif » du droit international ? La réponse apportée à cette question suppose préalablement de définir les sources de la codification en ce qui concerne chacune des dispositions du projet d’articles, en se demandant si elle concrétise une pratique bien établie des organisations internationales, ou au contraire une transposition des règles du projet d’articles sur la responsabilité de l’Etat, adaptées aux particularités des organisations internationales. L’autorité du projet d’articles ne semble pas, à l’heure actuelle, faire l’unanimité, et dans ce contexte, la présente étude portant sur le rapport entre codification et développement progressif dans l’œuvre de codification de la CDI permet d’apprécier l’autorité substantielle propre à chacune des dispositions du projet d’articles. D’autant qu’on ne sait absolument pas si une convention de codification sera adoptée, qui pourra ériger les dispositions du projet d’articles en normes juridiquement obligatoires. / The international law has finally a set of rules on the responsibility of the international organizations for internationally wrongful acts. After 10 years of work, the International Law Commission was able in 2011 to elaborate a draft articles codifying the rules on the matter. However the task was difficult: subject these entities, whose nature and functioning is different from States to a single set of rules in the field of international responsibility. The purpose of this study focuses on the work of codification made by the Commission in the draft articles. This is specifically to analyze the techniques of codification used by the Commission in the elaboration of the applicable rules: is it a codification sticto sensu of the practice or a creation of new rules under the "progressive development" of the international law? The answer to this question presupposes to define the sources of codification in each of the provisions of the draft articles concerned, wondering if it embodies a well-established practice of international organizations, or rather a transposition of the rules of the draft articles on States responsibility, adapted to the features of international organizations. At present the authority of the draft articles does not seem to have unanimity, and in this context, the present study on the relation between codification and progressive development in the codification work of ILC can appreciate the substantial own authority of each provisions of the draft articles. Especially that no one knows if a codification convention will be adopted, which will set the provisions of the draft articles up as legally binding norms.