A number of suggestions about the source and nature of Euroskepticism have been put forward over the last few decades, but none of these broad definitions truly capture the phenomenon in all of the European Union's member states. In the United Kingdom, the member state often cited as one of the most Euroskeptic, a unique set of economic, political and socio-cultural circumstances create a particular brand of Euroskepticism. While British Euroskepticism follows some common characteristics and patterns to other member states, it nevertheless relies on a pervasive, psychological, wide-scale nationalist sentiment to a degree not seen in other member states. This thesis begins with an overall examination of Euroskepticism in the EU-15, testing possible definitions and characteristics that might hold true throughout all member states. Specifically, the national political ideology is tested against various possible sources of Euroskepticism, in order to both affirm the role of ideology in the formation of Euroskeptic attitudes and to test whether certain attitudes can be equated to Euroskepticism. The thesis then examines the example of Great Britain, drawing from regression data to make comparisons between Britain and the rest of the EU member states. Interest is given to the ebb and flow of Euroskeptic attitudes over time, the rightward ideological trend of Euroskepticism of late, as well as the specific role of political parties in shaping attitudes towards the European Union in the publics of member states. While the role of ideology is shown to be important, the presence of other critical factors (i.e. levels of nationalism, status as a recipient or contributor state, and salience of the European integration issue in domestic party politics) is shown to manipulate the overall level of Euroskepticism in member states. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of International Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2005. / April 1, 2005. / Ideology, Great Britain, European Union, Euroskepticism / Includes bibliographical references. / Dale L. Smith, Professor Directing Thesis; Burton M. Atkins, Committee Member; Patrick M. O’Sullivan, Committee Member.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the import of the policy network for policy conflict resolution. Emergent networks, or self-organizing informal relationships that appear below the surface of formal networks or relationships, could be viewed as conflict resolution mechanisms despite their potential to conflict with or crowd out the formal networks or relationships. Informal policy networks can complement formal solutions and resolve certain coordination problems more efficiently than would be possible between pairs of groups. The literature on public management topics in network settings and on the design of policy networks is extensive, but issues related to the emergence and evolution of self-organizing policy networks are not yet fully understood. In particular, one poorly understood aspect of these networks is how the presence of multiple motivations or incentives that various actors face in situations of conflict affects the structures of interaction among these actors; this recurrent decision-making process has not been studied systematically. This dissertation consists of three studies. The goal of the first study is to examine the form of a policy network by focusing on how networks emerge and evolve at the micro-level to solve collective action dilemmas endemic to the decentralized and democratized policy decision-making processes, particularly in the conflict resolution arena. The goal of the second study is to examine the main actors and structural characteristics of network evolution in the dynamic process of conflict resolution. The goal of the third study is to highlight the role of tie formality in the evolution of multiplex ties in the conflict resolution process. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / March 18, 2015. / Conflict resolution, Formal and informal network, Network governance, Policy conflict, Policy network, Policy process / Includes bibliographical references. / Frances S. Berry, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Keon-Hyung Lee, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Charles Barrilleaux, University Representative; Ralph Brower, Committee Member.

Delegation of decision-making authority has important ramifications for democracy, the public interest, transparency in government, and political accountability, yet the factors that explain this phenomenon at the local level remain relatively unexplored. While much has been written about the delegation of policymaking from Congress to the bureaucracy, the policies that explain delegation at the local level have gotten little attention. The typical explanations for delegation at the national level include party affiliation, interbranch conflict, divided government, and the executive veto (Epstein & O'Halloran, 1999; Volden, 2002), which do not apply at the county level. This research attempts to answer the question of how we account for delegation by investigating the impact that economic and political institutions have on the level of delegation established in local governments' subdivision review process. While subdivision reviews by nature are non-discretionary, almost half (49%) of Florida County Commissions retain this authority and do not delegate. I investigate this phenomenon and try to understand the motivations that may underlie this pattern by applying economic and political theories of delegation to an analysis of subdivision regulations at the county level. The research utilizes a mixed method approach including a statistical logistic regression analysis based upon political and economic variables as well as community characteristics that explain delegation. A grounded analysis was conducted that relies on a conceptual framework that includes an analysis of the context, characteristics, and behavior of the Chief Elected Official, Chief Executive, and Growth Management Director. The qualitative analysis is designed to explain the elements of negotiation that occur in the permitting process and how actors draw upon these elements as they navigate through the process. / A Dissertation submitted to the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / March 5, 2015. / Delegation, Land Use, Local Government, Permitting, Politics, Subdivisions / Includes bibliographical references. / Ralph Brower, Professor Directing Dissertation; Amanda Porterfield, University Representative; Frances Berry, Committee Member; Earle Klay, Committee Member.

abstract: The lack of in-depth understanding of why policies succeed or fail in implementation puts future policymaking in a situation of having insufficient information to craft effective interventions. Mainstream policy implementation theory is rooted in a democratic institutional setting. Much less empirical research and theory addresses implementation in top-down authoritarian contexts, such as China. This study addresses the research question of how the Chinese governance context affects stakeholder’s behavior in combating air pollution, based on the analysis of implementation of three particular air pollution policies: (i) Natural gas / electricity conversion from coal, for winter heating, (ii) Widespread deployment of New Energy Vehicles, and (iii) The shutting down of cement production in northern China during the winter heating period to avoid overlapping pollution emissions from winter heating. This study identifies flexibility and accountability as two important characteristics of the Chinese governance context, and traces how they affect stakeholder behavior and coalition formation, which in turn impacts policy implementation performance. The case study methodology triangulates analysis of government policy documents, secondary data, and the results of semi-structured key informant interviews. Findings include: (i) The Chinese government has a very strong implementation capability to pass directives down and scale up, enabling rapid accomplishment of massive goals. It also has the capability to decide how the market should come into play, and to shape public opinion and ignore opposition; (ii) Interventions from the authoritarian government, given China’s vast economy and market, and the efficient top-down tiered bureaucratic system, risk distorting the market and the real policy goals during the implementation process; (iii) There tends to be an absence of bottom-up participation and feedback mechanisms; (iv) An effective self-correction mechanism, associated with flexibility and adaptability by a myriad of stakeholders often enables effective policy adjustment. Policy implications include: (i) Policy implementation concerns need to be integrated into policy design; (ii) More thorough discussion of options is required during policy design; (iii) Better communication channels and instruments are needed to provide feedback from the bottom-up; (iv) On complex policy issues such as air pollution, pilot projects should be carried out before massive adoption of a policy. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Urban Planning 2020

The conversion of publicly owned industries and services into privately owned assets has been one of the most radical and controversial global economic trends of the past three decades. The major underlying rationale for this conversion is that public ownership is inherently economically inefficient. This point of view not only ignores the substantive evidence that disapproves this claim, but it also fails to recognize the merits of public ownership in promoting social welfare and health. Public ownership—in the form of public employment—does the latter in two ways: first, by providing employees with better and more equal benefits and working conditions than does the private sector, and second, by ensuring the smooth delivery of affordable quality social services to the public at large. This study quantitatively evaluates the impact of public employment on health at both the national and the individual level. At the national level, a cross-country sample from the 1980s shows that an increase of public sector employment was associated with a statistically and economically significant increase in life expectancy—a major indicator of population health. The association was even more prominent for middle- and low-income countries and for women. At the individual level, using logistic regression on data from a 2006 Chinese household survey, this study finds that public sector employees were statistically more likely to report good or excellent health than private sector employees. Analysis of the data reveals that much of this health premium is attributable to the fact that the public sector provides more permanent jobs than the private sector. Further, the private sector appears to have steep social class-health gradients, while such health inequality is moderate or even absent within the public sector. As a complement to the quantitative findings, this study also conducts a qualitative survey of China’s institutional and social context. It helps to further explain why the public sector in China remains a better employer after the collapse of the “iron rice bowl” system. Several policy implications emerge from this study. First, public sector employment deserves serious consideration as an instrument to promote health and health equality. Second, job security is essential for health; proposals for a more flexible and less regulated labor market are neither theoretically nor empirically justified. And last but not least, if the public sector continues its recent practice of implementing neoliberal policies, such as privatization and deregulation, its health premium over the private sector may go away.

This study explores the concept of partnership in community development programs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the concept of partnership, and acquire a comprehensive understanding of community development programs called partnership programs. In the past few years the international development community, especially the nongovernment organization (NGO) community, has been discussing the importance of establishing partnerships between organizations and people from the developed countries with organizations and people from the emerging nations. Also, during the past fifty years community development programs have become the dominant type of development program for communities working together to improve the living condition of the community members. In the last few years a new concept called, "partnerships and community partnerships" is being heard as a new type of development program. What are these partnerships? How are they different from community development programs? Are these partnerships worthwhile? And if they are, how, and to whom? These questions need to be answered in order to decide if and how development organizations should implement partnership programs. The following research hopes to answer these questions. Six programs have been studied, five short cases and one longer case study. The issue of power and empowerment have been examined in detail because it is important to understand exactly how partnership members empower themselves to improve their lives for themselves. Three other dimensions used in this dissertation to understand partnerships are: different types of teaching pedagogies, participation, and different types of community development organizations. By examining partnership programs through these four dimensions the author was able to better understand and explain why and how partnership programs are different from community development partnership programs of the past. The study concludes with a description of what partnership pedagogy is, and how the author believes that creating partnerships in development is one way of transforming our institutions into more effective systems for human beings to work and live together.

In strengthening health systems, the World Health Report 2000 indicates that health system improvement strategies must also cover private (for-profit and non-profit) health care provision and financing if progress towards Universal Health Coverage is to be achieved. Yet very little is known about the financing of non-profit providers in Africa - especially not faith-based health providers, who have often historically remained elusive in terms of financial transparency. This thesis reports on a multiple case study conducted with two non-profit faith-based health providers in Kenya, namely the Africa Inland Church Kijabe Hospital; and Nyumbani-Children of God Relief Institute in Nairobi (Nyumbani) - and situates these within the broader context of health systems financing and public-private partnership in Kenya. Data was collected from multiples sources including: secondary literature; secondary analysis of existing data (such as the Kenya Health Information System); financial data on projects and annual reports; routine facility and service data; previous research on both organizations; archival data; and supplemented by 6 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. The study reveals a highly complex funding environment for non-profit (and faith-based) health providers in Kenya, which is a result of historic health system configurations, and current funding policy and focus (such as the influx of HIV-related funding). The HIV program in AIC Kijabe Hospital is solely funded by USAID; while Nyumbani is also funded by USAID (70%), but has other private sources. In both cases, funding from various sources is structured differently with varied financial flows and requirements. Faith-based health providers in Kenya are highly dependent on complex donor-funding arrangements, and lack financial resilience as a result. Donors need to better understand the nuance of engagement with such providers.

No description available.

0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu