This study explored the political-economic dimension of corporate governance reform in South Africa. Such reform in South Africa is especially significant in view of the history of South African society. This study investigated the relationship between corporate governance institutions and systems on the one hand and the political, economic and historical context of South African society that produced these corporate governance institutions and systems on the other. The purpose of the study was to establish the political, economic and historical determinants of corporate governance reform, as they evolved in the course of South African corporate history. A literature review was done in order to provide a backdrop for the study, after which a number of documents in the public domain were observed, in particular, a number of historical sources, newspaper reports, internet resources, and analyses of selected statutes and South African case law. The study concluded that South African corporate governance reform and such reform in the Commonwealth economic systems have a lot in common in terms of their historical evolution. The outcome of the political process in South Africa, for very specific reasons, was that a specific shareholder model of corporate governance became the corporate governance system in South Africa. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Administrative reform is a challenging endeavor for both developed and developing countries alike. For developing countries, the challenge is greater because numerous reforms are implemented concurrently sometimes under conditions of resource scarcity and political instability. So far there is no consensus as to what makes some reforms succeed and others fail. The current study seeks to fill that gap by offering an empirical comparative analysis of the administrative reforms initiated in Uganda and Tanzania since the early 1990s. The purpose of the study is to explain the similarities and differences, and give reasons for the successes and failures of the reform programs in the two countries. It focuses on four major areas; the size of the civil service, pay reform, capacity building, and ethics and accountability. Data were collected via in-depth face to face interviews with 35 key government officials and the content analysis of various documents. The results indicate that the reforms generated initial substantial reduction in the size of the public services in both countries. In Uganda, the traditional civil service was reduced from 140,500 in 1990 to 41,730 in 2004; while in Tanzania Ministries, Departments, and Agencies were reduced by 25%. Pay reform has generated substantial increases in civil servants’ salaries in both countries but in Uganda, the government has not been able to abide by the pay strategy while in Tanzania the strategy guides the increments. Civil Service capacity building efforts have focused on enhancing the skills of the personnel. Training needs assessments were undertaken in all ministries in Uganda and a training policy was formulated. In Tanzania, the training needs assessments are still under way and a training policy has not yet been developed. Ethics and accountability are great challenges in both countries, but in Tanzania, there is more political will and commitment to improve the integrity of the civil service. The findings reveal that although Uganda started the reform with much more rigor and initial success, Tanzania has surpassed it and has a more stable, consistent, and promising reform record. This is because Uganda’s leadership lacks political legitimacy. The country has since the late 1990s experienced a civil war in the northern and western parts of the country while Tanzania has benefitted from relative peace and high level political legitimacy.

Mexican Land Reform, conceived during the civil war and initiated in the Revolutionary Code of 1917, is responsible for the existence today of three different farming groups. These are the particulares, the private farmers, the ejidatarios, the peasant farmers, and the colonos, the colonist farmers. This study is concerned with the relative fortunes of the three, and especially with the largest numerically, the ejidatarios. This last group has been regarded, and is still so considered, as the worst off. The plight of the ejidatarios seems to be even more acute in modernized areas according to State and national statistics. It is hypothesized here that certain aspects of the Mexican Land Reform work against the better interests of the ejidatarios, particularly in areas where modernized agricultural practices have become the norm. The hypothesis is tested in one of the agriculturally most advanced areas in all Mexico, the Rio Fuerte Irrigation District of Northern Sinaloa. Within this District the performance of the Mexican ejido, peasant holding, is compared with that of the private property farm. The comparison begins with an investigation of all cropping activities in the District, designed to establish the broad differences in performance between the ejidal and private farm groups (Chapter III). It is found:- that the ejidal sector operates its cropland less intensively than the private sector; that the ejidatarios do not compensate for their poorer resource use by obtaining crop yields and prices markedly superior to those of the private sector; and that the ejidatarios obtain a much lower gross income per hectare than the private farmers. In the second stage of comparison, a sample of farms is taken from the most productive sub-area in the District, in order to test the hypothesis and to try to isolate the primary factors hindering the ejidal sector (Chapter IV). The farms selected consist of the ejidal plots where wheat is cultivated in the main crop rotation; and for the purposes of comparing net incomes, wheat-growing private and colono farms are also sampled. It is found that the mean net income per hectare is much lower in the ejidal than in the other two sectors. This cannot be entirely explained by poorer quality land resources, ineptitude, lack of hybrid seed or fertilizer, or by shortage of irrigation water. Nor can it be entirely explained by its somewhat poorer overall yield. Rather is the problem found to be in the nature of the ejidatarios' credit source, the Ejidal Banks, and the operational constraints associated with that source's loan policy. It is shown that the cost of ejidal farm operation is unnecessarily high, because the ejidatarios are not permitted efficient use of their own labour resources; hired labour and machinery are supplied by the Banks to the ejidatarios to cultivate their land and these inappropriated high-cost inputs are charged within the loans given., It is concluded that overmuch modernization is being forced upon the peasant farmers, to the ultimate detriment of their farm's viability, their personal income and living levels, and also that the hypothesis is correct:- The Agrarian Reform Laws have indeed led to operational difficulties and considerable depression of the peasant farmer's net income, though the particular credit system evolved was actually created to benefit him. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

This paper examines the nature of support for the Reform Party of Canada in the 1993 federal election. First, a general hypothesis of the typical Reform voter is established. This profile is based on an investigation of the party’s historical precedents, the political beliefs of the leader, policies and platforms, and the media portrayal of the Reform party. After establishing the Reform profile, the hypothesis is then compared with data from the 1993 National Election Study (NES). The NES data reflects a wide range of public sentiments, reporting the structure of opinion on many salient public issues. By using the crosstabulation procedure, the extent to which voting Reform is linked with particular sentiments is revealed. The result of this exercise is a confirmation of the Reform profile. Voting Reform was linked to economic liberalism: Reformers are likely to be concerned about the deficit and high taxation, favour freer trade flows, and are likely to cut rather than maintain social programs. Socially and morally, the data confirmed that Reformers are likely to maintain a traditional or conservative position. An exception to this forecast was that one’s position on abortion was irrelevant to voting Reform. As predicted, Reformers are more likely than not to be hostile toward differential treatment for ethnic minorities, and to want decreased levels of immigration. True to the Reform profile, voting Reform was linked to political alienation, but it was also linked to high levels of political interest. In a few areas, the data on demographic variables contradicted the Reform profile: voting Reform was not linked with church membership, nor with a belief in the importance of God. As well, older voters are not more likely to vote Reform, as projected. Overall, the NES data confirms the initial profile of the study and it is concluded that the Reform vote in the 1993 election substantiates the popular image of the party. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

This study examines whether beneficiaries of Zimbabwe's Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) of 2000 in resettlement areas maintain linkages with communal areas of origin. Present studies about the FTLRP provide limited in-depth attention to the importance of understanding linkages with places of origin. The study sought to explore the extent to which beneficiaries of the FTLRP are connected to their communal areas of origin, as well as the implications of the ties. Analysis of linkages is through social relationships and labour exchanges between people in resettlement areas and communal areas. This was done through a conceptual framework of belonging, which helped explain the various attachments to places of origin. The study was guided by a qualitative research approach. A case study of Machiroli Farm, an A1 villagised settlement, and Zvimba communal areas (Ward 6), Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe was utilised. The study's main finding is that beneficiaries of the FTLRP in the A1 model on Machiroli Farm retain linkages with communal areas of origin; beneficiaries of the FTLRP acquired new land without discarding ties and relations with places of origin. Most respondents attached clear importance to maintaining linkages with places of origin. Some respondents did not maintain ties with places of origin because of conflicts and breakdowns in family ties, highlighting that belonging is not static. Evidence from this case study shows that maintenance of linkages assists with agricultural production and enhancing social relations. Another important finding is that belonging enforced the maintenance of relations through factors, such as familial relations, burial sites, clubs, ceremonies and labour exchanges with communal areas of origin. The study argues that belonging is an aspect that ties people together despite physical translocation. Thus, this study's contribution is that, within land reform debates, physical translocation does not break the bonds with, or ties to, places of origin. Belonging enables several functions, such as access to labour, mitigation of economic challenges and enhancement of social relations, as demonstrated by this case study. For scholarship, the study contributes to land reform debates by applying the concept of belonging, which has mostly been applied to border and migration studies policy. The framework of belonging within land reform reveals the importance of social, cultural, religious and economic effects in accessing labour and enhancing agricultural production in agrarian settings. The study draws the conclusion that beneficiaries of land reform desire to remain relevant to a host of political, economic, spiritual and social aspects anchored in places of origin. Therefore, resettlement does not break ties which people have with places of origin, people embrace the new without discarding the old relations.

China is a modernizing agrarian society. As such, it pursued certain goals within an environment of resource scarcity. This research analyzes Chinese public policies for agrarian development within a framework of political economy. It begins with the hypothesis that resources, (material output, infrastructure, political legitimacy, etc.), can be politicized such that their values becane relative within a single costs/benefits framework". The exchange of resources between the regime and social sectors is reflected in public policy. The hypothesis is tested in a longitudinal case study of Chinese agrarian policies, extending from 1949 through 1964. During this period, Chinese decision makers focused on the agrarian sector and its role in the attainment of national goals. Therefore, within this time frame, the dynamics of resource creation, investment and exchange can be traced through the agrarian policy matrix to demonstrate the utility of this model. When resources are politicized they are brought into a "political market" where they become available for use. The first step toward the creation of this market is the politicization of existing resources. In China, this was effected by land reform and by the creation of infrastructure to penetrate and control the rural marketplace itself. As the political market expands, it also becomes more complex, generating greater demands for all types of resources. Chinese collectivization policies reorganized the internal resources of the agrarian sector -- land and labor -- in order to increase their productivity. However, internal resources proved insufficient for agrarian modernization and the collective infrastructure proved costly in terms of political and social resources. Therefore, communization was adopted as an alternative pattern of resource use and investment. The size, functional scope and structural efficiency of the commune were designed to maximize the use-value of internal agrarian resources. But its high risk component was the introduction of a division of labor into the rural environment. Differentiation and specialization in the production process would destroy traditional socio-economic units which were functionally integrated. In terms of the political market, these policies would secure and control the availability and value of agrarian resources. The immediate costs of rapid, qualitative change quickly surpassed long-term benefits. During' the crisis period of 1959-1961, the division of labor was withdrawn, along with all but the, administrative functions of the commune. However, political inflation, followed by a drastic deflation, resulted in the collapse of the political market. Still seeking workable alternatives for resource utilization, the regime combined agrarian "self-reliance" with selective technological and capital investments. This strategy promised differentiated development within the sector and a perpetual rural/urban dichotomy. As such, it was opposed by the "Maoist" faction. Reconsolidation policies -- rebuilding the political market -- became infused with an ideological debate. Out of this struggle there emerged a workable and essentially Maoist approach -- the Dazhai model -- which created a supportive environment for long term agrarian development. The political economy of agrarian development energes when these policies are viewed within a single costs/benefits framework. Long range goals were held constant by ideology while intermediate aims were pursued by evaluating and exchanging resources, and by choosing among options for resource utilization and investment. The agrarian policy matrix between 1949 and 1964 thus emerges as complex and non-linear. But it is developmental, in that the aggregate level of resource availability and political productivity was increased.

This study investigates the role of social capital towards the realisation of the positive benefits of land through the A1 crop-based villagised model of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), which has been largely viewed as successful in academic literature. The study emerges out of a large gap in scholarly literature, which largely side-lines social outcomes of the FTLRP while focusing mostly on material outcomes. The study contributes to limited research on the non-material outcomes in the Matabeleland North Province, an under researched area in the subject of land reform in Zimbabwe. Thus, social capital was selected to investigate these non-visible outcomes of FTLRP. A qualitative research design was used, with semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, observation, archives and secondary literature being the main sources of data. The study focused on a single case study, beneficiaries of Rouxdale (R/E) farm in Bubi District. The study brings the following insights: first, social capital played a pivotal role in accessing land. Second, ordinary people acquired land. Third, women were empowered through access to land. Fourth, land is an asset whose benefits far surpass livelihood creation. Fifth, land reform models have an impact on social capital. The main contribution of the study is that social capital promotes solidarity and the tackling of collective problems in land reform models with a communal component. The study illustrates that social capital creates a conducive environment for the attainment of the benefits of land. This is facilitated by beneficiaries’ effort to maintain healthy social network relationships. The study demonstrates that various decisions of the state have a potential of hindering social capital in resettlement areas through the destruction of social network relationships, such that its positive impact becomes limited. This portrays the fragile nature of social capital, which can easily be destroyed by external negative factors, regardless of the length of time taken in establishing it. Social capital can be applied in different spheres. However, its outcomes are directly informed by different contexts, thus making it context specific in nature. The study stresses that governments that use social capital in land reform should be conscious of local contextual dynamics before developing programmes that affect beneficiaries, in order to preserve existing social network relationships. The fragility and context specific nature of social capital is missing in the conceptualisation of its main scholars, yet they emerge as important aspects in this study. The study points to the need for these to be incorporated into the core elements of the concept of social capital to create a more holistic framework of analysis. The study therefore argues that social capital is vital in land reform and the post-settlement phase.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Curricular reform in medical education is a process that has been ongoing for quite some time. Major revision of medical curricula has been occurring since the early eighteenth century. In recent decades, curricular reform has had a monumental impact on the anatomical science subjects. This research investigated how specifically the anatomical science disciplines were impacted by curricular reform at various allopathic medical schools within the United States. The goal of this research was to discover curricular variations in medical schools and to examine the perceptions of those curricular programs by faculty and students alike. Four research questions were addressed to explore the role of curricular reform in medical education using a mixed methods study design. Medical curricular websites were qualitatively analyzed to discover common trends used to describe medical curricula and content organization. Perceptions about the medical curriculum were gathered through surveys and interviews of anatomical science faculty across the country and first year medical students at Indiana University School of Medicine-Bloomington. Finally, a case study of curricular changes at Indiana University School of Medicine was documented. Results from this research demonstrated that curricular reform has had a major impact on the anatomical disciplines. Didactic lectures have been supplemented or replaced by non-didactic teaching tools. Hours dedicated to the teaching of the anatomical sciences have greatly decreased, and most anatomical disciplines are no longer taught as stand-alone courses. Qualitative results discovered that there is an overall administrative control of the medical curriculum. Additional perceptual data demonstrated the need for measuring student success past the licensing exam scores. There’s a need for future studies to further analyze student success regarding lifelong learning, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.

In Indianola, Mississippi the past and present remain inextricably linked. Unresolved racial issues proved this point in 1986 as tension exploded within Indianola’s public education and economic sectors. Lingering segregation and socioeconomic inequalities brought outside scrutiny to Indianola’s white elites. To counter this negative image, Indianola leaders turned to Delta Blues tourism. Supported by state and federal agencies, they expanded the blues industry over the next two decades. They promised its institutions would alleviate the problems which caused the 1986 crisis: the economy, education, and racial inequality. Officials structured Indianola’s blues market around native B.B. King. They incorporated King’s rags-to-riches life into the creation of Indianola’s own success story. Using sociological analyses, anthropological studies, and an array of primary sources, this thesis reveals how the endeavor largely failed. Indianola society still struggles with its past. Racial inequalities continue, and this study urges for other ideas and reforms.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study examined the relationship that exists between the processes that are employed when establishing and implementing higher education-business partnerships and the impact that these partnerships have on technology-supported education reform. The concept of technology-supported reform refers to educational initiatives that are designed to generate technological innovations and skills as the key outcomes of the reform process. While earlier studies (Antelo & Henderson, 1990; Powers & Powers; 1988; Meister, 1998) showed links between the implementation of the core partnership processes and the eflectiveness of partnerships, there was insufficient evidence in the literature to support the concept that higher education-business partnerships have an impact on higher education reform. Consequently, investigating the relationships between the core processes that lead to effective partnerships and those that contribute to education reform was a primary goal of this study. The case study method was selected as the method of evaluation. Four cases that represent different contextual and operational environments were selected for the purpose of impact evaluation. A benchmarking framework was applied to the evaluation so that the investigation was consistent. The prediction was that each participating case would yield similar outcomes or replications with regard to the five theoretical assumptions, and the key research questions that bounded this study. Such replications would provide evidence to support a view held by South Africa's Ministry of Education (White Paper on Education 3, 1997), that business-education partnerships are a strategic policy approach for improving educational outcomes. This study assessed the extent to which the four cases addressed South Africa's post-apartheid educational transformation needs and challenges. Two sets of findings emerged: findings related to partnerships, and findings related to education reform. The main finding relating to partnership was that successful higher educationbusiness partnerships engaged key processes and procedures for planning, implementing, and evaluating their work. A key finding related to education reform was that higher education-business partnerships make an impact on education reform. The most significant areas of impact were: teaching and learning, human resources development, technology transfer and research. The study concluded by developing a proposed benchmarking framework which can be used to plan, implement and evaluate higher education-business partnerships. / 2031-01-01