This research study examines how faculty perceive academic freedom at a metropolitan university. Thirty structured interviews were conducted with social science faculty, who have been tenured for 10 years or more, at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). These faculty came from the departments of Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, Political Science, Urban Studies, Criminal Justice, Women’s Studies, and African-American Studies. The following five questions were the central research questions: (a) how do core faculty in the social sciences at VCU define academic freedom; (b) do these same faculty perceive academic freedom to be a significant feature of a career in higher education; (c) do these same faculty perceive any existing threats to their academic freedom; (d) how do these faculty define academic tenure; and (e) how did these faculty learn about academic freedom and tenure. Where previous research has often focused on comparing and contrasting faculty perceptions of academic freedom from different institutions, ranks and disciplines, this research targeted a fairly homogenous population of faculty in order to identify any common socialization experiences, both formal and informal, which may have contributed to common perceptions. The findings suggest that these faculty do not share a common perception of academic freedom. Where most of the respondents did agree that academic freedom protected both research and teaching, approximately half of the respondents did not associate any institutional limitations or professional responsibilities with academic freedom. Most of the respondents considered academic freedom to be a significant feature of an academic career. They perceived the current threats to academic freedom to be largely stemmed from within the institution. In particular, they believed that a top- down business model of leadership coupled with a weak academic culture to be the most significant threats to academic freedom. They defined tenure primarily as a means of protecting their own academic freedom through job security. Lastly, most of them learned about academic freedom very vicariously and informally, which helps explain the varied perceptions of what academic freedom means to them and how it should be exercised.

<p> This dissertation examined the literature of cutback management in the context of the Great Recession. Specifically, it studied the relationship between cutback management policies used by county governments during the recession and revenue changes. </p><p> The purpose of this dissertation was to test whether or not the percent change in revenue had an impact on the probability that cutback management policies were used in the recession. According to the cutback management literature developed in the 1970s and 1980s, there should be a relationship. </p><p> The theoretical framework used for this study was the rational-approach framework, which proposes that every expenditure reducing and revenue increasing policy is enacted based on the percent decrease in revenue the government faces. This suggests that the cutback management policies are a proportional response to revenue decline. The framework was operationalized by using a binary logistic regression that used policy enactment as the dependent variable and the percent change in revenue as the independent variable. Eighty-six counties were sampled and 7 years of each county&rsquo;s budget book were examined for policies and financial data. </p><p> The research found that eleven expenditure policies and three revenue policies had a statistically significant relationship with the percent change in revenues. This resulted in the conclusion that the framework and, therefore, the cutback management literature were useful in explaining primarily expenditure policies.</p>

<p>Across the globe, the viability of welfare states depends on the success of policy adaptations to a post-industrial, internationalized economy and domestic demographic changes that encompass family formation, declines in fertility, and lifespan extensions of the elderly. One of the most important issues facing contemporary welfare states is the need to adjust social policy to the demise of the male breadwinner model in favor of the increased participation of women and mothers in the workforce. Whereas childrearing was traditionally the central occupation of stay-at-home mothers, their workforce participation has necessitated out-of-home care for children under the ages of five or six, before the start of primary school. Providing financial supports and investing in early childhood care and education are several policy instruments that can be used, not only to ease the burden of care faced by working mothers and their partners, but to promote the well-being and long-term economic productivity of their children as adults. In turn, the increased economic productivity of future generations can mitigate social risks and threats to the survival of the welfare state. Using a social investment approach based on human capital development in children, a set of indices is constructed to measure public investments in early childhood by ten member countries of the OECD from 2001 through 2011. The indices permit a theoretical exploration of patterns of expenditure and characteristics of policy design relative to their conformity to acknowledged types of welfare state regimes. The indices are also used to detect empirical changes in welfare state expenditures for early childhood investments pre- and post- the fiscal crisis of 2008. The study contributes to the literature of welfare state theory by situating investments in early childhood as a stage in the evolution of family policy; by creating a set of measures that characterizes public investments from a child-centered developmental perspective, one that is less prominent than work-family balance and gender equity viewpoints; and lastly, by combining expenditures and policy design components into a single measure.

<p><b>Background</b>: Throughout the twentieth century, Brazil developed a Social Health Insurance, providing coverage to formal workers and their dependents. In 1988, the country implemented a health reform adopting a National Health Service model, based on three core principles, universal coverage, open-ended benefit package and striving for health equity. During this transition, formal workers recomposed their privileged access to healthcare through private health insurance, resulting in a two-tier system represented by those with dual coverage&mdash;public and private&mdash;and those who must rely exclusively on the public insurance. Private health insurance coverage has a positive correlation with income, however, between 1998 and 2008 private coverage expanded vigorously among the poor, while remained stable among the rich. The health equity literature in Brazil consistently reports the presence of relevant inequalities in utilization of health services favoring privately insured individuals. A gap in this literature, however, is to determine whether inequalities in utilization of health services remain among insured individuals, i.e., does private insurance improve access regardless of individuals&rsquo; income? </p><p> <b>Methods</b>: The study relies on Andersen&rsquo;s behavioral model as a theoretical framework to analyze data from two rounds (1998 &amp; 2008) of a national household survey, assessing levels of utilization of fourteen dependent variables across income quintiles and calculating concentration indexes as summary measures of inequality. Dependent variable distributions across income are standardized by need using the indirect method. Concentration curves compare the evolution of inequality during that time. Curve dominance is formally tested between survey years. Decomposition analysis identifies the most relevant contributors to inequality. Physician services are analyzed as the probability of having a physician visit and the number of physician visits. Hospital services are analyzed as the number of hospital admissions, the probability of having a hospitalization, and the number of hospital days during the last hospitalization. The latter two variables are broken down according to their financing source, either public (SUS) or private insurance. </p><p> <b>Results</b>: Physician services present very low inequalities, although a statistically significant positive gradient persists in both survey rounds. Poor PHI beneficiaries have an advantage compared to national levels. SUS financed hospitalizations are a rare phenomenon among privately insured individual but strongly concentrated on the poor. Poor PHI beneficiaries utilize private hospital at lower levels than the rich. Compared at a national level, they are at a disadvantage. In 1998, this was not the case, suggesting that insurers may be developing mechanisms to deter hospital utilization among the poor. Premium value and income are the most relevant contributors to inequality in physician and hospital services. </p><p> <b>Conclusions</b>: The Brazilian government (ANS) needs to monitor utilization levels across income and develop policies to increase accountability of PHI products particularly preventing insurers from purposefully pushing their beneficiaries to use SUS hospitals. Greater availability on insurance policies segmented as ambulatory care only and inpatient services only would increase the range of options for consumers that could sort more adequate coverage according to their capacity to pay and healthcare needs. </p>

<p> Since the inception of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), considerable emphasis has been placed on the use of prospective policy analysis tools that aim to inform environmental decisions, including cost-benefit analysis and risk assessment. However, compared to the prevalence of <i> ex ante</i> analysis at the EPA to inform decisions, relatively little evaluation of these same environmental policies is conducted after implementation, to inform future policy development or to modify existing policies. </p><p> This dissertation applied accountability, organizational learning, evaluation capacity, and institutionalism literature in consideration of processes and determinants that affect evaluation supply at the EPA. The dissertation relied on archival documents, semi-structured interviews, and three embedded case studies of EPA&rsquo;s ambient air, hazardous waste, and performance partnership programs. Ten key factors were identified across the three case studies in this research that affect EPA's production of program evaluation to inform decision-making, and a new emergent model of evaluation capacity was proposed for EPA given the agency's regulatory structure. This research concludes that evaluation has much to offer EPA decision-makers, and efforts to improve evaluation capacity will present organizational learning opportunities that can further support the agency's evidence-building practices, specifically improving the application and use of program evaluation at EPA.</p>

<p> A lack of alignment between police performance evaluation policy purposes and officer performance evaluation perceptions has implications for the organizations&rsquo; resource management, officer morale, and public safety. A literature review points towards a gap existing between policy purpose statements and employee perceptions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the policy purposes of police performance evaluations and the officers&rsquo; perceptions of those evaluation experiences in 4 Ontario municipal police services. DiMaggio and Powell&rsquo;s (1983) Institutional theory was the foundation for this study. Data for this study were collected from 4 police services in Ontario, Canada. The data consisted of police performance evaluation policies and in-person interviews with 12 officers. Data were inductively coded, and then the coded data were subjected to content analysis. Three policy purpose themes and 13 officer perception themes emerged that indicate that: 1) there seems to be a lack of alignment between the policy purpose theme of assessing work performance and eight of the perception themes; 2) officers perceived performance evaluations as negatively impacting their morale: and, 3) healthy relationships with supervisors were more useful to officers than performance evaluations in terms of performance and career outcomes and progression. Consistent with Institutional theory, officers perceived performance evaluations to be necessary even with limited utility. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations to police executives to consider alternative processes in tandem with performance evaluations to improve morale, in turn creating better opportunities for improved public and officer safety.</p>

This D.Phil. thesis is an international comparative study looking at the development and implementation stages of policies tasked to reduce emissions from transport. The substance of policy is all too often the primary focus of research, leaving the settings in which these policies are developed and implemented relatively underexplored. Examining the relationships and interplay that exists between departments responsible for climate change and transport at the sub-national (state) level and those with their local and national counterparts, this research tries to unpick the organisational intricacies that may act as barriers to delivery. State governments have become a promising source of action to reduce emissions from other sectors for which they have legislative responsibility; however, the private road transport sector remains a challenge. This research examines the barriers preventing such progress and whether the lack of collaboration between departments and across levels of government are responsible in part for these challenges. Taking a specific policy intervention designed to reduce transport-related emissions from four case study governments (Bavaria, California, Scotland and South Australia) this research is about organisational structures of government and policy processes. The main hypothesis of the research is that conventional environmental/climate change- and transport-policymaking practices are incompatible – and that this incompatibility is hampered by organisational structures of government. Together these factors render implementation of policies to reduce the climate impact of transport difficult. The hypothesis is guided by four research themes – scale, scope, leadership and process. Each of these themes has a distinct yet important part to play in understanding and comparing the case study contexts, in terms of the cross-departmental and cross-level interactions occurring within each of the sub-national governments. Each of the subject case study governments have been chosen since they are self-determined ‘leaders’ on climate change. This research serves to highlight some of the governance issues that need to be overcome or removed for such positive political intent to be realised. It posits that without successfully linking frameworks and interested stakeholders in the process, tangible emissions reductions will be difficult to achieve. The main objective of the research is to investigate the frameworks, interplay and dynamics at the sub-national level of government across departments and between levels of government. The relationship and collaboration with industry is also examined as a supplementary consideration. The second objective is to look at how and whether climate change policy can be more closely integrated with transport policy and the barriers to this integration. This investigation is underpinned by cross-disciplinary governance theory, as well as notions from socio-political governance and applies the concept of institutional interplay in this context between levels of government. It develops the concept of sub-national governance which argues that relationships between levels are distinct and non-hierarchical in terms of policy development and implementation.

<p> This thesis sought to narrow some of the knowledge gaps in political communication and advertising. By examining the content of local newspapers about U.S. Senate candidates, this research determined female candidates receive just as much, if not more, newspaper coverage than male candidates. There were few endorsements given to candidates, especially from national and state office holders. Additionally, this thesis found that many of the newspaper articles were focused on non-issues. Previous studies on women in politics suggested female candidates often face more media hurdles than their male counterparts, specifically receiving less print media coverage. In contrast, this thesis found that women may no longer face the same barriers as they once did.</p>

<p> Water quality has evolved legislatively from protection of navigation routes and quantity of sources to more emphasis on impairments on water quality for surface and groundwater sources. Nonpoint or diffuse sources of impairments represents a major challenge for management due to the complexity of its sources and difficulty in tracking.</p><p> The most cited sections on public policy analysis focuses on the overall process agencies employ to understand the results the program yields. Often overlooked are finer details and mechanisms, such as decision-making and priority setting, which have a great impact on the overall process. To investigate these factors, we need to analyze the decision-making process used by managers.</p><p> This study focuses on using information from those with direct involvement in the establishment and implementation of the Total Maximum Daily Load program for the state of Florida. This study used decision-making analysis models from Rational-Decision-Making and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis concepts to construct questionnaires that looks to develop priorities as seen by managers&rsquo; preferences for several presented options. This methodology allowed us to structure the viewpoints and processes water quality managers use to breakdown decisions.</p><p> The analyzed results show water quality managers prefer strong management options, involvement from stakeholders with scientific knowledge, and data collected from the source or point of impact. Interestingly, opinions in the group show that urban best management practices are considered more effective than their agriculture counterparts with a disfavor for volunteer derived data.</p><p> Ultimately, the survey highlights the need for more robust enforcement and reliable measurement of non-point source of impairments. Continued public outreach and education, especially through workshops, are denoted as important tasks to completing successful TMDLs and should be expanded and strengthened by both the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and its boundary programs.</p>

<p> Multi-stakeholder initiatives (i.e., partnerships between governments, civil society, and the private sector) are an increasingly prevalent strategy promoted by multilateral, bilateral, and nongovernmental development organizations for addressing weaknesses in public sector governance. Global public sector governance MSIs seek to make national governments more transparent and accountable by setting shared standards for information disclosure and multi-stakeholder collaboration. However, research on similar interventions implemented at the national or subnational level suggests that the effectiveness of these initiatives is likely to be mediated by a variety of socio-political factors.</p><p> This dissertation examines the transnational evidence base for three global public sector governance MSIs&mdash;the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative, and the Open Government Partnership&mdash;and investigates their implementation within and across three shared national contexts&mdash;Guatemala, the Philippines, and Tanzania&mdash;in order to determine whether and how these initiatives lead to improvements in proactive transparency (i.e., discretionary release of government data), demand-driven transparency (i.e., reforms that increase access to government information upon request), and accountability (i.e., the extent to which government officials are compelled to publicly explain their actions and/or face penalties or sanction for them), as well as the extent to which they provide participating governments with an opportunity to project a public image of transparency and accountability, while maintaining questionable practices in these areas (i.e., openwashing).</p><p> The evidence suggests that global public sector governance MSIs often facilitate gains in proactive transparency by national governments, but that improvements in demand-driven transparency and accountability remain relatively rare. Qualitative comparative analysis reveals that a combination of multi-stakeholder power sharing and civil society capacity is sufficient to drive improvements in proactive transparency, while the absence of visible, high-level political support is sufficient to impede such reforms. The lack of demand-driven transparency or accountability gains suggests that national-level coalitions forged by global MSIs are often too narrow to successfully advocate for broader improvements to public sector governance. Moreover, evidence for openwashing was found in one-third of cases, suggesting that national governments sometimes use global MSIs to deliberately mislead international observers and domestic stakeholders about their commitment to reform.</p>