My research provides a historical, geographical reading of land enclosure in the context of economic and agrarian crises in late imperial Russia. Using original records of Russian land deals that I obtained in the federal and provincial archives, I explore how the coalitions of landed nobility, land surveyors, landless serfs, and peasant proprietors used land enclosure as a conduit for coercive governance, accumulation of landed capital, or, in contrary, as a means of resistance. Through critical discourse analysis, I illustrate how the Russian imperial state and territories in the periphery were dialectically co-produced not only through institutional manipulations, resettlement plans, and husbandry manuals, but also through political and public discourses. I argue that land enclosure exploited practices of autonomous land management in the commune and furthered growing agrarian and economic crises in the countryside. The urban periphery became a strategic territory used for the accumulation of new wealth and displacement of two million peasant households, which accommodated capitalist development under the Russian Tsarist and, later, Soviet political regimes. Through this example, my research reexamines predominant assumptions about the land, territory, and crisis triad in Russia by positioning the rural politics of the late imperial period within the global context of land enclosure. At the same time, by focusing on the historical reading of territory from the Russian perspective, this study introduces a more nuanced alternative to the traditional colonial territory discourse often found in Western interpretations. / PHD / My research provides a historical, geographical analysis of land enclosure in the context of economic and agrarian crises in late imperial Russia. Using original records of Russian land deals that I obtained in the federal and municipal archives, I explore how the coalitions of landed nobility, land surveyors, landless serfs, and peasant proprietors used land enclosure as a conduit for coercive governance, accumulation of landed capital, or, in contrary, as a means of resistance. Through critical discourse analysis, I illustrate how the Russian imperial state and territories in the periphery were dialectically co-produced not only through institutional manipulations, resettlement plans, and husbandry manuals, but also through political and public discourses. I argue that land enclosure exploited practices of autonomous land management in the commune and furthered growing agrarian and economic crises in the countryside. The urban periphery became a strategic territory used for the accumulation of new wealth and displacement of two million peasant households, which accommodated capitalist development under the Russian Tsarist and, later, Soviet political regimes. Through this example, my research reexamines predominant assumptions about the land, territory, and crisis triad in Russia by positioning the rural politics of the late imperial period within the global context of land enclosure. At the same time, by focusing on the historical reading of territory from a Russian perspective, this study introduces a more nuanced alternative to the traditional territory discourse often found in Western interpretations.

No / The Chinese idiom ‘riding a tiger’ relates to being stuck in a difficult position with no way out. Bruce Sheppy, Paul Evans and Bryan McIntosh discuss why this might apply to political leadership in education.

This thesis examines factors that underscored higher education reforms in Central and Eastern Europe during the transition period from 1990 to 2005. The study explores higher education reforms in three national settings – Hungary, Romania and the Republic of Moldova, and presents a detailed analysis of the Moldovan case. Rooted in critical approaches to development, transition reforms and policy analysis in higher education, it addresses the new realities of global capitalism, inequitable distribution of power between the industrialized nations and the rest of the world, and the ways in which this power distribution impacts higher education systems in Central and Eastern Europe. Historical analyses, a qualitative cross-national analysis of HE systems in three nations, and interviews with Moldovan higher education policymakers provided rich data on higher education reforms in the region and selected nations. Higher education evolved from institutions serving very select elite in the Middle Ages to universities driving modernization in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, and to diverse institutional types - universities, colleges, institutes - underscoring the massification of higher education after WWII. Policies pursued by Hungarian, Romanian and Moldovan leaders to expand higher education were informed by the national socio-economic, political and demographic contexts, the dominant global development agenda, and international institutional practices. The capacity of national leaders to carry out higher education reforms was limited by the colonial and post-colonial relationships that were established over centuries between each of these nations and stronger regional powers, such as the Habsburg, Ottoman and Russian Empires, the Soviet Union, and the European Union. Major regional powers had a significant role in the formation of nation states, educational institutions and higher education politics. At the same time, national elites used language and ethnic policies to shape social and higher education developments and build national identities. By bringing an international perspective to the analysis of reforms in Central and Eastern Europe, by focusing on Hungary, Romania and Moldova, and by drawing on critical theory and post-colonial studies, this research study contributes to the international scholarly discussion of higher education and development reforms, enriches methodological developments in the field of higher education, and advances the discourse of comparative higher education.

Reform ideas, such as results measurement and management, tend to come and go in different ‘tides of reforms’. The purpose of this thesis is to increase our understanding of tides of reforms by identifying and discussing mechanisms that drive the rise, as well as the fall, of management reforms. This is done by studying four so-called ‘results initiatives’ launched at Sida, the Swedish International Development Agency in 1971, 1981, 1998 and 2012. The thesis tries to understand what happened both in Sida’s external environment as well as within the agency prior to the initiation, during implementation and when the four results initiatives fell out of favor. The life of each of the four results initiatives can be understood as having taken place in five phases: 1) the pressure phase, 2) the launch, 3) implementation, 4) point of re-do or die, 5) phase of opening up for something new. During these five phases different internal and external mechanisms contributed to either further institutionalization or to de-institutionalization of the results measurement and management ideas and technologies. It is argued that the need to gain legitimacy can be seen as the main mechanism that has driven the initiation of the results initiatives. During implementation, problems and difficulties arise. It is argued that whilst resistance towards the initiatives, as well as changed external demands, accelerates de-institutionalization, these mechanisms do not explain why the initiatives fall. In turn, the failure to find a standardized reporting category for “results”, the non-use of the results information produced and the fact that the initiatives no longer fulfill the function of providing legitimacy, are mechanisms that lead to the final death of the initiatives. The study concludes that whilst different external pressures can be considered important in initiating reforms, it is mainly internal mechanisms, within the organization, that explain the reason why the initiatives fall. Earlier literature has argued that tides of reforms are driven by hope and optimism to be and to be seen as effective. The findings in this study show that also the solidarity rationale, i.e. the wish to do good for someone else, and the feeling of doing so, drives the reforms. It is moreover argued that the reforms are also driven by fear and other emotions. In general, the occurrence of tides of reforms can be understood by the tension between the two rationales in development aid: solidarity and effectiveness. The study contributes with insights to what happens within an organization and over a longer time perspective when public agencies are faced with conflicting demands. It provides a broader understanding of reasons behind the quest to report on results and also what happens when results are not reportable. Since new and similar reforms will most probably arise in the future, findings from this study ought to be interesting not only in development aid but in all public policy sectors, for any policy maker or practitioner involved in the implementation of such reforms. / <p>Degree: Fil Dr in Economics </p><p>Research funder: Sida, Swedish International Development Agency </p> / The results agenda in Swedish Development Cooperation /SCORE

This thesis examines factors that underscored higher education reforms in Central and Eastern Europe during the transition period from 1990 to 2005. The study explores higher education reforms in three national settings – Hungary, Romania and the Republic of Moldova, and presents a detailed analysis of the Moldovan case. Rooted in critical approaches to development, transition reforms and policy analysis in higher education, it addresses the new realities of global capitalism, inequitable distribution of power between the industrialized nations and the rest of the world, and the ways in which this power distribution impacts higher education systems in Central and Eastern Europe. Historical analyses, a qualitative cross-national analysis of HE systems in three nations, and interviews with Moldovan higher education policymakers provided rich data on higher education reforms in the region and selected nations. Higher education evolved from institutions serving very select elite in the Middle Ages to universities driving modernization in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, and to diverse institutional types - universities, colleges, institutes - underscoring the massification of higher education after WWII. Policies pursued by Hungarian, Romanian and Moldovan leaders to expand higher education were informed by the national socio-economic, political and demographic contexts, the dominant global development agenda, and international institutional practices. The capacity of national leaders to carry out higher education reforms was limited by the colonial and post-colonial relationships that were established over centuries between each of these nations and stronger regional powers, such as the Habsburg, Ottoman and Russian Empires, the Soviet Union, and the European Union. Major regional powers had a significant role in the formation of nation states, educational institutions and higher education politics. At the same time, national elites used language and ethnic policies to shape social and higher education developments and build national identities. By bringing an international perspective to the analysis of reforms in Central and Eastern Europe, by focusing on Hungary, Romania and Moldova, and by drawing on critical theory and post-colonial studies, this research study contributes to the international scholarly discussion of higher education and development reforms, enriches methodological developments in the field of higher education, and advances the discourse of comparative higher education.

Le but de cette thèse est d'examiner les réformes politiques qui sont intervenues sous le règne de Charles III. La chronologie (1765-1787) se confond avec la visite générale de José de Gálvez en Nouvelle Espagne, puis avec sa nomination, en 1776, au secrétariat d’État des Indes. Au cours de cette période furent créées de nouvelles juridictions : une vice-royauté, deux capitaineries générales, trois audiencias et desintendances presque partout aux Indes. Ce moment est unique dans l'histoire de la monarchie espagnole par l'ampleur des réformes adoptées. Mais plus que les réformes elles-mêmes, c'est leur genèse et les moyens mis en œuvre pour les adopter qui ont attiré notre attention. À travers l'étude du réseau de José de Gálvez, nous avons pu observer une véritable politique de prise de contrôle du gouvernement des Indes. Le clientélisme du secrétaire d’État est alors mis au service de ses projets politiques. Ces réformes engagent une fragmentation du superior gobierno et un affaiblissement de l'autorité des vice-rois. Un nouveau système de gouvernement des Indes estalors expérimenté. / This dissertation examines the political reforms under the rule of Charles III and, especially, under José de Gálvez, first, as Visitador General of New Spain and, later, as Secretary of State of the Indies. Between 1765 and 1787, Gálvez undertook several profound changes in the Indies’ government, including the creation of new administrative territories: a viceroyalty, two capitanías generales, three audiencias, and numerous intendencias in almost all the Indies. This period was unique for the Spanish monarchy not only for the large-scale reforms, but also for the means to achieve them, which is the focus of our research. By studying the José de Gálvez’s network, we argued that it succeeded in taking control of the Indies’ government. In fact, the goal of the Secretary of State’s clientelism was to serve his political projects. Furthermore, Gálvez’s reforms caused the fragmentation of the Superior Gobierno and the weakness of viceroys’ authority, which resulted in a new government system in the Indies.

Labor reform and counter-reform in Argentina, simple chronic of a pendulum processAfter placing it in the context of the processes of labor reforms produced in Latin America in the early 90’s (its inspiration, its dynamics, its actors), the article considers in particular the case of Argentina. Inthat assignment, it examines the labor reforms that took place there from dominant perspectives - external flexibility, internal flexibility, reduction and variation of costs, collective labor relations - confirming a strong deregulated activism in the field of individual relations, while it was verified a high administrative interventionism of decentralized bias with a limited institutional transformation in collective relations.At the end of that decade, it had already been clear that those strategies haven’t had a virtuous effect on the social labor situation or the labor market. In this context, a new government that comes into power in 2003, leaves without effect a good part of those reforms and instead it undertakes a process of institutional reconfiguration of the legal system of labor protection: a systematic increase of the Living Wage, strengthening of the collective wage bargaining - with the consequent tendential improvement of wages of workers in the formal sector - and, by virtue of parliamentary initiatives, a sequence of introduction of micro-reforms always oriented to increase the protection of workers, which as a whole would have to involve a remarkable recovery of the tutelary bias of labor regulations. / El artículo analiza la reforma argentina en el contexto de los procesos de las reformas laborales producidas en América Latina en la década de los noventa (su inspiración, su dinámica, sus actores). En ese cometido, examina las reformas laborales que tuvieron lugar allí desde las perspectivasdominantes —la flexibilidad externa, la flexibilidad interna, la reducción y variabilización de los costos, las relaciones colectivas del trabajo— constatándose un fuerte activismo desregulador en el campo de las relaciones individuales, en tanto se verificaba un alto intervencionismo administrativo de sesgo descentralizador con escasa transformación institucional en el de las relaciones colectivas.Al final de aquella década había quedado ya en evidencia que esas estrategias no habían tenido un efecto virtuoso sobre la situación socio-laboral ni sobre el mercado de trabajo. En ese contexto, un nuevo Gobierno, que accede al poder en 2003, deja sin efecto buena parte de aquellas reformas y emprende en cambio un proceso de reconfiguración institucional del sistema legal de protección del trabajo: incremento sistemático del Salario Mínimo Vital, fortalecimiento de la negociación colectiva salarial —con la consiguiente tendencial mejora de los salarios de los trabajadores del sector formal– y, envirtud de iniciativas parlamentarias, una secuencia de introducción de microreformas siempre orientadas a intensificar la protección de los trabajadores que en su conjunto habrían de implicar una notable recuperación del sesgo tutelar del ordenamiento laboral.

The main aim of this diploma thesis is to analyse the economic and political development in the United Kingdom under Margaret Thatcher and to judge, to which degree the measures applied by the government of Margaret Thatcher were applicable to the Czech Republic, respectively, to which degree the government of Václav Klaus (1992 -- 1997) was inspired by the British approach and which the practical results of this inspiration were.

'Climate change is the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen' Stern (2006 p. xvii). This vigorous description highlights one of the most important and frustrating realizations of the last decades. The main reason of that market failure stems from the fact that climate change is a complex global externality. This makes the design of appropriate measures to mitigate the problem and the identification of their effects on economic activity of paramount importance. The transboundary nature of pollution combined with the skewed distribution of the origin and impact of emissions among countries reveals the need for international cooperation in the direction of multilateral agreements among countries. The characterization of Pareto-efficient environmental and trade policies has been a key issue (and continues to be) in the literature. Predominantly, however, the literature has focused on the role of taxes (trade and pollution) in achieving the first-best paying no attention to the role (if there is any) of non-tradeable goods. Chapter 4 deals with this issue. A key issue in mitigating climate change is with the appropriate extent of harmonization of environmental policies. This thesis (Chapters 2) addresses this within a general equilibrium model of international trade with endogenous pollution discharges, paying particular attention to the allocation of tax revenues. It argues that there indeed exist instances in which pollution tax harmonization (that moves the initial pollution taxes towards an appropriately weighted pollution tax vector) can deliver potential Pareto improvements. The difficulty with the achievement of global environmental agreements should not be, however, ignored. Chapter 3 deals with the possibility that governments may act unilaterally in order to mitigate the social cost of pollution. It shows that (under certain conditions) there exist unilateral Pareto improving trade policy reforms. Chapter 5 discusses the welfare implication of environmental policy reforms within a subset of countries. It shows that environmental policy coordination has opposing effect on the welfare of the coordinating and non-coordinating countries.

Teacher education occupies a position between the school system and higher education. It is expected to both have an impact on the school system and to be influenced by it. Compared to other higher education programs, teacher education has more often been subject to government control and detailed regulation. This thesis deals with the various roles and functions ascribed to teacher education in its complex position within the educational system, and above all its relationship with the school system. The objective of the thesis is to increase knowledge on government policy, with regard to teacher education, and frames within which the policy is developed, that in turn creates the framework for teacher education.    The issues outlined above are processed through two sub-studies. The first sub-study deals with these issues in a general and historical perspective. The second sub-study is focused on a specific content (ICT) in initiatives for teacher education reforms. By analyzing arguments put forward in government policy from a curriculum theory perspective the thesis shows that teacher education throughout the whole review period was considered to mainly benefit and serve the school system. However, the significance attached to this service varies. Generally two trails are highlighted. The first involves the teacher education service of delivering the teachers that the school system requires in order to live up to expectations of today. The other definition of working in the service of the school system is to contribute to a future-oriented development of the current school system. In many cases these perspectives are combined but the trend in the period reviewed in this study is that the first definition, to work in the service of the contemporary school system, has been accorded ever greater prominence.