Due to technological advances, local city governments are relying heavily on websites and the Internet to connect with citizens. This project will discuss the relationship between e-government and civic engagement in San Diego county and its effectiveness. E-government is defined as the delivery of a city government’s information and services to its citizens through its website. Civic engagement involves active participation from the citizens and is defined as the interaction between the city government and its citizens. This project will analyze the 18 city websites of San Diego county to determine the effectiveness of each city’s website in providing e-government and civic engagement services. Each website will be rated and ranked, and a detailed recommendation on how the 5 lowest ranking cities can revise their websites to increase civic engagement will be provided. It will be shown that novel approaches such as online civic engagement, financial transparency, and personalized mobile apps not only enhance civic engagement in several city government websites but also receive positive user feedback and high resident satisfaction ratings.

The objectives of this study are to investigate the impact of Enterprise Zones (EZs) on the employment of zone residents in 14 states and 60 communities. The author's investigation constitutes the "first" national study to evaluate the employment impacts on zone residents. (A comparative, supplemental, single case study on new jobs for zone residents in Portland, Oregon has been added in Appendix B.) The results show that the impact of EZs on decreasing the unemployment rates of zone residents is significant. Also, the interventionist factors of length of time since designation, type of incentives, and number of incentives are all significant indicators of different performances between zones. The employer-based incentives of property tax abatements and income tax credits are the types of incentives that are significant. However, the descriptive factors of land use, population, and geographic size are not significantly influential. On average, the predictive model shows that a full-incentives package would result in an EZ decreasing unemployment to the level of its surrounding community in just over ten years. (The supplemental single case study also shows that the majority of new hires are zone residents.) The major policy implications and recommendations from this study are: (1) That a full-scale incentives package with employer-based property tax abatements and income tax credits, along with other incentives, should be implemented by all state EZ programs; (2) That more economic incentives should be developed at the federal level to enhance state EZ programs; (3) That more targeted areas should be designated as EZs by the federal program, and that all states should enact targeted EZ programs; (4) That annual unemployment data reports on EZs and their surrounding communities should be mandated by the federal and state governments. (The major recommendations from the supplemental single case study are that specific data should be mandated and derived on new hires and zone residents for all EZ programs, and that a formal job referral and training provider network should be provided for all EZ programs.)

This dissertation will explore how gender wage gap and political capacity represented by relative political extraction affect change in economic growth rate of a country. The main argument of the study is that gender wage gap is affecting the labor market by discouraging productive female labor force from entering the labor market. This in turn affects the efficiency and productivity of the labor market reflected in negative economic growth or economic growth potential being compromised. Here the case of Indian economy is examined. The important policy implication of this study is that it could account for the wage differential between genders and it could show how economies are missing out on the labor productivity and in turn negatively affecting the rate of economic growth. Various sociological literatures have dealt in depth with the gender wage gap and its effect on the socio-cultural fabric of a society. While the current study recognizes existence of extensive sociological theories on gender wage gap, the focus is on the economic impact of gender wage gap on the growth rate change of a country. The argument is that gender wage gap negatively affects the economic growth rate change. Economic growth literature have proved beyond doubt that economic and political factor together contribute to the economic growth of a country. Political variables such as political capacity reflects the efficiency of the government in resource extraction, its reach and allocation of those resources extracted. Such an efficient government provides the necessary environment for the economic growth. However, this political variable alone is not enough to increase economic growth of an economy. Rather governments must also possess the economic tools necessary, such as capital stock, human labor and labor force. These economic and political variables together can contribute towards an increased economic growth. How these political and economic factors combine to achieve economic growth of a country? Hence this study looks at both the economic and political variables in a model to see how they affect economic growth.

Transnational networks are growing in prevalence and importance as states, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental organizations seek to meet climate change goals; yet, the organizations in these networks struggle between the global, technical and local, contextual sources of power, authority, and knowledge used to influence decision-making and governance. This dissertation analyzes these contestations in Pacific Islands climate change diplomacy and governance efforts by asking: i) What do power relations look like among the Pacific Islands' networked organizations? ii) To what authority do organizations appeal to access sources of power? iii) What sources of knowledge are produced and reproduced by these organizations? and iv) How do these patterns fit within the broader history of the Pacific Islands and climate change? I draw from interviews, document analysis, event participation, and social network analysis of Pacific Island climate change diplomacy and governance. This examination leads me to propose the concept of "Climate Empire," which can be understood as the network of knowledge and communicative services that imagine, build, and administer the globe through a decentralized and deterritorialized apparatus of rule. In the Pacific Islands, Climate Empire upholds technical bureaucratic and scientific approaches to overcoming climate challenges; however, the global spaces in which these approaches are produced are reconnected with the spaces of local resistance through data collection networks and efforts to relocalize knowledge. Thus, the local/global divisions found in diplomacy and governance in the Pacific Islands collectively produce and reform Climate Empire as organizations interact in the network. Further research is necessary to understand the extensiveness of Climate Empire, as well as to ensure the inclusion and empowerment of Pacific Island voices in climate governance for both justice and efficacy.

Utilizing a validated risk assessment tool to predict future offending is recommended as best practices in corrections by a number of professional organizations (Latessa & Lovins, 2010). Guided by the risk-needs-responsivity model, risk assessment tools have evolved to help inform criminal justice practitioners by identifying offenders most in need of intervention or supervision, guiding the case plan to optimize outcomes (Bonta & Andrews, 2007). The Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) utilizes the Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument (YASI) at all stages of contact with youthful offenders, including intake, probation, commitment, and parole (DJJ, 2016). However, risk assessment instruments do not always generalize across populations (Schwalbe, 2007) and are not always used effectively for case planning decisions (Singh et al., 2014). This study focused on the accuracy, equity, and usage of YASI in the Virginia juvenile justice system. Findings suggested that YASI performed at the expected and adequate levels of predictive validity in comparison to existing research. The predictive validity of the overall and dynamic risk scores and levels was statistically equivalent for males and females, but the Community/Peers and Family domains had stronger predictive validity for males than females. The predictive validity was statistically equivalent for White and Black youth for overall risk levels and dynamic risk scores and levels; however, the predictive validity for the overall risk scores was higher for White youth than Black youth. Each domain had a positive correlation between risk and assignment as a case planning priority area with a wide variation in the strength of correlation. Future research should focus on instrumental validity, protective factors, inter-rater reliability, domain interactions and clusters, reoffense types and timing, additional group and geographical differences, weighting and scoring, service matching, recidivism reduction, and program evaluations. Policy recommendations regarding risk assessment use in juvenile justice systems include a repeated cycle of determining purpose and function, conducting staff and stakeholder training, testing, and calibrating and modifying the tool.

The purpose of this study is to identify students’ awareness, knowledge, and perceptions of the mandatory reporting policy related to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX). Mandatory reporting requirements are being implemented in higher educational institutions; however, existing literature does not examine students’ perceptions or their knowledge of the specific requirements that apply exclusively to them. This exploratory study examines the perceptions of college students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia. Drawing on survey data (N = 501) from a large, public research university, the study explores two outcome variables: students’ awareness of the mandatory reporting policy and students’ knowledge of the university’s Title IX and mandatory reporting policy. It is hypothesized that variation across such views may be predicted by several factors, such as rape myth acceptance, knowing a victim of sexual misconduct, knowing an individual falsely accused of sexual misconduct, and demographic characteristics. Most of the students were aware of the university’s mandatory reporting policy, but they were not especially knowledgeable about the specifics. An overwhelming number of students support the use of mandatory reporting on college campuses for sexual misconduct, but fewer individuals stated they are more likely to disclose personal sexual victimization with an enacted mandatory reporting policy. Being knowledgeable about the university’s mandatory reporting policy was positively associated with higher general support of mandatory reporting. In addition, being aware of the enacted mandatory reporting policy also emerged as statistically significant and positively associated with perceptions of disadvantages and advantages of the mandatory reporting policy. Other findings and implications are discussed.

The study concerns the inter-relationship between media reform and civil society in Thailand between 1995-2000. It examines case studies of two selected television organisations - the production company Watchdog and the broadcast channel Independent Television (iTV) - and analyses their internal production decision-making processes, their public affairs programs and their urban and rural audiences. Debates about civil society and media reform between 1995-2000 influenced the government's media regulation policies to the extent that more attention was paid to media freedom as intended by Articles 39, 40 and 41 in the 1997 Constitution. Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) took an important role in monitoring government policies on media reform under the Constitution and issues about media re-regulation and ownership were canvassed, although the drawn out National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) selecting process delayed media reform. The transparency of the selection process of the NBC has been widely debated among NGOs, media scholars and media professionals. Most Thai public affairs programs in the period were shown on iTV, Channel 9 and Channel 11 and were in the minority compared with entertainment. Thai television stations normally screened entertainment programs to make profits, while they usually would not allow producers to air open debates critical of the government. Also, public affairs programs that were screened often were given inappropriate airtimes. Watchdog and iTV treated public affairs programs in different ways. Watchdog, originating from an NCO, the Creative Media Foundation, emphasized public participation in local community-oriented programs - such as Chirmsak Pinthong's Lan Ban Lan Muang - which exemplified civic journalism on television. In contrast, iTV was created in 1996 to meet the promise made in 1992 after Black May that a non-state commercial channel would be introduced. It was organised by journalists from the Nation Multimedia Company and focused on current national news issues which seldom allowed public participation. Both organisations attempted to maintain their professionalism despite political and business pressures. Chirmsak and Watchdog were accused of bias favoring the Democrat Party and often encountered program censorship. ITV staff, especially in the news department led by Suthichai Yoon and Thepchai Yong, unsuccessful fought. Shin Corps 2000-2001 takeover of the station that had been brought on by the financial problems of iTV and the Siam Commercial Bank after the economic crisis of 1997. There were three main concepts of civil society in the period 1997-2000 - Communitarianism, Self-sufficiency and Good Governance. These ideas were advanced by reformers such as Dr. Prawase Wasi and Thirayut Boonme, and were reinforced by His Majesty King Bhumibol's December 1997 Birthday Speech that endorsed the ideal of national self-sufficiency. Thai civil society debates often were involved with rural people, while the 8th National Development Plan and the Chuan government's policy on decentralisation aimed to strengthen the rural sector as an antidote to the 1997 crisis. However, the aims of civil society reformers were at times too idealistic and were viewed with skepticism by some middle class urban critics. The continuing influence of electoral corruption in rural areas also obstructed civil society ideals, while decentralisation and community development still maintained a top-down way of development and depended on government support. These difficulties in implementing pro-civil society reforms in the political process were paralleled by difficulties in developing public interest programs on Thai television. Current affairs and investigative journalism programs, such as iTV Talk, Tod Rahad and Krong Satanakarn, did not often open public discussion on the programs. Rather, the regular format of panel discussions, consisting of elites and some celebrities, tended to focus on national topics rather than local issues. The hosts of many of these public affairs programs depended on their own celebrities status and tended to invite well-known guests, whereas community-oriented programs such as Lan Ban Lan Muang and Tid Ban Tang Muang promoted civic journalism and deliberative democracy more effectively. The latter programs allowed the public to participate in the programs as the main actors and even proposed their own agendas. However, a limited study of three audience focus groups - an expert urban group, a young middle class urban group, and a rural group - found considerable scepticism about the possibility of developing public interest awareness via television programs. The expert and young middle class groups criticised both the hosts and the style of a selection of current affairs programs, which they thought were too serious and also biased. Some also considered that current affairs programs were a platform for the people in power rather than providing a space for the public. Therefore, they rarely watched them. In contrast, the rural group who participated in Lan Ban Lan Muang, believed that the program was useful for development communication. The audience gained information about other communities and used the media as the means to publicise their own community. However, they rarely watched it because the airtime of the program was the same as a popular entertainment program on Channel 3. The researcher used qualitative research methods to collect data, including indepth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, program recording and document analysis. Theoretically, the study has attempted to combine the approaches of western and Thai scholars. The main approach used to explain the relationship between the media and civil society is media and public sphere theory, as introduced by Habermas, and combined with the perspectives on media re-regulation of the Thai scholar Ubonrat Siriyusak. In terms of analysing Watchdog and iTV, the researcher used political economy perspectives to understand decision-making in both organisations. In addition, an organisational culture approach was used to explore conflicts of interest that arose in both organisations due to their different sub-cultures. Civic journalism, framing theory and development communication theory were further employed to examine the television programs and their roles in promoting the public interest and development projects, while the audience groups were considered in the context of participatory communication theory and reception theory.

本研究欲探討媒介使用對政治知識的影響，研究重點為台灣新興媒體有線電視的國會頻道，及大眾傳播媒介報紙和電視，以八十二年底的台北縣長選舉為例，希望能找出台灣的新興媒體和既有媒體，在報導選舉議題時，所造成的效果為何，不同媒體間是否有所差異。 　　知溝假設提出的人口因素，也屬本研究範圍，本研究採知溝假設提出的『教育程度』、『年齡』、「性別』、和『政治興趣』等變項，希望找出人口變項與政治知識間的相關性。 　　由於研究經費、人力和時間的限制，本研究以居住在台北縣六個月以上，年滿二十歲，擁有此次台北縣長選舉投票權的選民為研究對象，採電話抽樣法，本研究的電話抽樣是由聯合報系民調中心的四十七萬筆電話資料庫中，以隨機取樣法抽出2349組電話號碼進行撥號，於82年12月6、7兩日於中國國民黨文工會民意調查辦公室進行施測。有效成功樣本數為558人，其中男性285人，女性272人。 　　本研究發現，報紙暴露量高低在政治知識方面，呈顯著差異，即報紙暴露量愈高政治知識愈高。而電視暴露量、電視新聞暴露量高低在政治知識上，並無顯著差異。 　　此外在人口變項方面，發現性別與教育程度各組在政治知識方面有顯著差異，教育程度愈高，政治知識愈豐富齡各組在政治知識方面差異則不顯著。在政治興趣方面，由以往研究顯示，政治興趣是預測政治知識的重要變項，在此研究中，同樣發現政治興趣各組在政治知識方面，呈高度顯著差異，政治興趣愈高，政治知識愈豐富。 　　本研究主要目的是探討新興媒體有線電視國會頻道（公共事務頻道）對選民政治知識的影響力，研究發現，有線電視國會頻道暴露量高低對政治知識影響並不顯著。在控制『政治興趣」與『人口變項』的影響力之後，亦無顯著差異。推測其原因，可能是有線電視國會或政治頻道收視習慣並未養成，而且此類頻道多單純播放國會議事或公聽會，形式僵硬，內容呆板，流於各說各話，無法提昇觀眾的注意程度。

A great virtue of our fairly liberal society is its willingness to allow, legally and socially, individuals to choose their own lifestyle, free from interference or coercion. For this reason, there is rightly a strong resistance and hostility to government regulation of wholly self-regarding behavior – acts which only affect the actor. Whether justified by an appeal to sovereignty or utility, that which one does to oneself is seen as beyond the jurisdiction of government. Yet the problem of the so-called obesity "epidemic" – the explosion in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in recent decades – is a case of self-harm which does indeed warrant government intervention. This thesis considers utilitarian and autonomy-based arguments against interference in self-regarding action, then show why obesity merits intervention nevertheless.

The problem of rent-seeking in China’s state-owned enterprises has worsened since the rapid increase in infrastructure investment, such as telecom and railway. State-owned enterprise reform in China has given licensing power to officials and executives without sufficient checks and balances. The Chinese government plans to introduce corporate governance structures and encourage private investment for the previously state-dominated industries, such as the railway industry, in the next decade. Yet these formalities cannot eradicate the political problem of corruption. This thesis will examine rent-seeking through the case studies of China Mobile’s former deputy general manager and Communist Party secretary Zhang Chunjiang’s patronage network in the value-added service industry and the Ministry of Railway’s ex-Minister Liu Zhijun’s patronage networks in the high speed railway project. Both central agents committed collective rent-seeking against the will of the principal through their subsidiaries.