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The East African Community (EAC) states recently adopted a policy on utilising the WTO-TRIPS flexibilities on public health. The policy spells out a number of flexibilities and the minimum standards thereof to be enacted in domestic legislation. This study critically reviews this policy. In doing this, the study notes that the EAC member states, like most developing states, have very low per capita income levels. The people are too poor to afford expensive medicines. At the same time, these countries are faced with peculiar, region-specific diseases, the so-called ‘African diseases.’ Already, these diseases have been neglected by foreign pharmaceuticals reluctant to invest in developing medicines for poor markets. There are no established pharmaceuticals in the EAC states. It is against this background that this research makes an argument against the aforementioned policy. It will be demonstrated that the policy is biased towards ensuring access to medicines through price-reduction, at the expense of patent protection. This approach is inappropriate because: first, given the absence of market incentives to invest in developing medicines for African diseases, the policy will only worsen the already bad situation since it undermines the strongest alternative incentive (patent protection); and second, such a policy will not only discourage foreign pharmaceuticals further but also suppress domestic pharmaceutical activity, which is undoubtedly necessary in view of the growing neglect of African diseases by foreign pharmaceuticals. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014 / gm2015 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

This thesis deals with ways of sustainability measurement at the regional level. In the theoretical part apart from definition and evolution of the concept related fields and different approaches to sustainable development are presented. Further, data sources and suitable characteristics of ideal indicators are discussed. In the application part methods applicable to measuring sustainable development along with restraints and possible problematic areas are introduced. Subsequently, these methods are applied to individual regional levels according to CZ-NUTS classification (NUTS 1 to NUTS 3 levels and LAU 1 and LAU 2 levels). At the end of the thesis, the most suitable techniques of results' presentation are introduced. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate and assess the ways of practical use of mainly quantitative methods (statistical methods and modelling techniques) for analysis and measurement of regional development sustainability and to suggest the most convenient methods for individual regional levels. The thesis answers three research questions: if one method is useful for all "regional" levels; if it is better to assess sustainability from the point of view of pillar or capital approach; and finally, if it is for measuring of sustainability more proper one summarizing (composite) indicator or indicators' set including more indicators.

Conventional wisdom is that fiscal policy at the regional level is ineffective. Recent concern about stability of bond-financed fiscal policy imposes an additional constraint on the effectiveness of interregional fiscal policy. In the conventional macroeconomic model, regional public sectors are ignored, or are at most a subset of the national model. Fiscal and financial interrelationships among different levels of government have not been investigated thoroughly in the literature. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a theoretical framework for the analysis of interregional fiscal policy. We argue that all government budget constraints must be explicitly included in the model, and regions become the major building blocks of the system. Stability of the system then defends on the fiscal and financial interrelationships among different levels of government. We examine a once-and-for-all fiscal policy change in the interregional model with and without the federal sector. The simulated results based on an acceptable range of parameter values show that the system cannot generate a stable long-run equilibrium. At best, a quasi-equilibrium is attainable in that only the overall government budget constraint is satisfied. A once-and-for-all policy change is not only irrelevant in reality since public sectors react to actual economic situations, but also becomes a source of instability in an interregional model. The final version of the interregional model incorporates an endogenous fiscal policy. Government expenditure becomes an endogenous variable and fiscal policies are target-oriented. The income level and balanced-budget are the main targets. A system of government expenditure reaction functions is built into the model with each governnent adopting an active fiscal policy in order to achieve income and balanced-budget targets. The public sector adjusts its fiscal policy according to the last period' s economic situation. The extent of these government expenditure changes is governed by the target-adjustment parameters. Each government has its own priority or objective in determining the target-adjustment parameter values. The simulated results show that the interregional model can generate a stable long-run equilibrium, regardless of the mode of federal financing policy. The effectiveness of an active fiscal policy and the critical limits of these target-adjustment parameters are investigated. Of prime importance is the finding that an independent regional fiscal policy cannot generate a stable long-run equilibrium. Only when all governments cooperate actively in fiscal managanent can the system achieve the targets. Thus, the final version of the interregional model not only rejects independent regional fiscal policies, but requires coordination and cooperation among all governments in devising a viable fiscal policy. Our simulation findings therefore strengthen the case for fiscal federalism. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>Att bevarandet av biologisk mångfald är en grundpelare för att nå en hållbar utveckling enades världens länder om i Konventionen om biologisk mångfald (CBD) som upprättades under toppmötet i Rio de Janeiro 1992. I konventionen förespråkas den s.k. ekosystemansatsen (EA), vilket är en strategi som innebär en helhetssyn på ekosystem. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka i vilken grad EA tillämpas på nationell och regional nivå. Frågan är också om EA är en bra utgångspunkt för att upprätthålla biologisk mångfald på landskapsnivå samt vad som kan öka tillämpningen av EA på regional nivå. På nationell nivå analyserades två delar i miljömålspropositionen och på regional nivå analyserades de landskapsstrategier som sju län har fått i uppdrag av regeringen att upprätta i ett pilotprojekt. Min teoretiska utgångspunkt har varit ekosystemansatsen och dess principer och vägledande punkter. Metoden bestod av främst en kvantitativ innehållsanalys med kvalitativa inslag och som komplement utfördes fyra intervjuer.</p><p>Resultatet visade att de delar av miljömålspropositionen som analyserades i hög grad följde ekosystemansatsen. En brist i propositionen var dock att det saknades riktlinjer om att det behövdes involvering av olika aktörer när den ursprungliga definitionen av landskapsavsnittet i strategierna skulle bestämmas. Att denna aspekt var implicit ledde troligtvis till det faktum att den även var implicit i landskapsstrategierna. Tillämpningen av EA i landskapsstrategierna skedde, trots att länsstyrelserna endast tillämpade den indirekt, i ganska hög grad och särskilt togs hänsyn till sociala aspekter som involvering av olika aktörer i själva processen och kontakt med vetenskapliga discipliner. Det som däremot var bristfälligt gällde tillämpningen av komplexa aspekter, vilka inte klart hade uttryckts i riktlinjerna till länsstyrelserna från regeringen. Dessa faktorer var beaktande av förvaltning av ekosystem inom ramen för dess funktion, processer i ekosystem samt adaptiv förvaltning. Alla intervjupersoner var överens om att EA är övergripande och ganska luddig, men det måste den vara för att gälla globalt. Av vikt är att konkretisera den på nationell och regional nivå. Ett förslag är att Naturvårdsverket i detta projekt ger tydliga riktlinjer angående tillämpningen av EA i landskapsstrategierna och att det är en tvåvägskommunikation mellan Naturvårdsverket och länsstyrelserna så att det blir en iterativ process. Genom en konkretisering kan tillämpningen av EA öka och därmed ett steg tas mot en hållbar utveckling.</p> / <p>The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) promotes the Ecosystem Approach (EA), which is a strategy that endeavours to take a comprehensive approach to managing ecosystems. The aim of this report is to study to what degree the EA is being followed on a national and regional level. A key question of the research is whether EA is conceptually sound and whether it has been operationalised effectively at both national and regional scale. Using articulated EA principles and operational guidelines from the CBD this study analyzed the Government's national environmental directive concerning biodiversity. The same approach was also applied to an analysis of several regional landscape strategies that are being developed as part of a pilot project. The results show that the national biodiversity directive is largely consistent with an EA. Although one area of inadequacy was the level of involvement by different stakeholders in the original decision about defining the landscape area in the pilot studies. This was also a weakness in the landscape strategies- perhaps because communication on this issue was not explicit in the directive from the government.</p><p>The implementation of EA in the landscape strategies at the regional level was also found to be good, especially the participation from different stakeholders (especially local stakeholders) in the process and scientific institutions. However inadequate factors not represented in these strategies were complex ecological aspects such as principle 6 (ecosystem must be managed within the limits of their functioning) and operational guideline 1 (focus on the functional relationships and processes within ecosystems). Adaptive management (operational guideline 3), a relatively new approach in Sweden, was also found to be deficient. All the respondents agreed that the EA needed to be made more concrete on a national and regional level. A suggestion from the research to improve the development and adoption of the EA would be to develop iterative mechanisms between regional and national authorities to ensure national guiding principles are informed by more concrete regional experience. When the EA is implemented more effectively we will take one step further on the way to reaching a sustainable development.</p>

Att bevarandet av biologisk mångfald är en grundpelare för att nå en hållbar utveckling enades världens länder om i Konventionen om biologisk mångfald (CBD) som upprättades under toppmötet i Rio de Janeiro 1992. I konventionen förespråkas den s.k. ekosystemansatsen (EA), vilket är en strategi som innebär en helhetssyn på ekosystem. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka i vilken grad EA tillämpas på nationell och regional nivå. Frågan är också om EA är en bra utgångspunkt för att upprätthålla biologisk mångfald på landskapsnivå samt vad som kan öka tillämpningen av EA på regional nivå. På nationell nivå analyserades två delar i miljömålspropositionen och på regional nivå analyserades de landskapsstrategier som sju län har fått i uppdrag av regeringen att upprätta i ett pilotprojekt. Min teoretiska utgångspunkt har varit ekosystemansatsen och dess principer och vägledande punkter. Metoden bestod av främst en kvantitativ innehållsanalys med kvalitativa inslag och som komplement utfördes fyra intervjuer. Resultatet visade att de delar av miljömålspropositionen som analyserades i hög grad följde ekosystemansatsen. En brist i propositionen var dock att det saknades riktlinjer om att det behövdes involvering av olika aktörer när den ursprungliga definitionen av landskapsavsnittet i strategierna skulle bestämmas. Att denna aspekt var implicit ledde troligtvis till det faktum att den även var implicit i landskapsstrategierna. Tillämpningen av EA i landskapsstrategierna skedde, trots att länsstyrelserna endast tillämpade den indirekt, i ganska hög grad och särskilt togs hänsyn till sociala aspekter som involvering av olika aktörer i själva processen och kontakt med vetenskapliga discipliner. Det som däremot var bristfälligt gällde tillämpningen av komplexa aspekter, vilka inte klart hade uttryckts i riktlinjerna till länsstyrelserna från regeringen. Dessa faktorer var beaktande av förvaltning av ekosystem inom ramen för dess funktion, processer i ekosystem samt adaptiv förvaltning. Alla intervjupersoner var överens om att EA är övergripande och ganska luddig, men det måste den vara för att gälla globalt. Av vikt är att konkretisera den på nationell och regional nivå. Ett förslag är att Naturvårdsverket i detta projekt ger tydliga riktlinjer angående tillämpningen av EA i landskapsstrategierna och att det är en tvåvägskommunikation mellan Naturvårdsverket och länsstyrelserna så att det blir en iterativ process. Genom en konkretisering kan tillämpningen av EA öka och därmed ett steg tas mot en hållbar utveckling. / The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) promotes the Ecosystem Approach (EA), which is a strategy that endeavours to take a comprehensive approach to managing ecosystems. The aim of this report is to study to what degree the EA is being followed on a national and regional level. A key question of the research is whether EA is conceptually sound and whether it has been operationalised effectively at both national and regional scale. Using articulated EA principles and operational guidelines from the CBD this study analyzed the Government's national environmental directive concerning biodiversity. The same approach was also applied to an analysis of several regional landscape strategies that are being developed as part of a pilot project. The results show that the national biodiversity directive is largely consistent with an EA. Although one area of inadequacy was the level of involvement by different stakeholders in the original decision about defining the landscape area in the pilot studies. This was also a weakness in the landscape strategies- perhaps because communication on this issue was not explicit in the directive from the government. The implementation of EA in the landscape strategies at the regional level was also found to be good, especially the participation from different stakeholders (especially local stakeholders) in the process and scientific institutions. However inadequate factors not represented in these strategies were complex ecological aspects such as principle 6 (ecosystem must be managed within the limits of their functioning) and operational guideline 1 (focus on the functional relationships and processes within ecosystems). Adaptive management (operational guideline 3), a relatively new approach in Sweden, was also found to be deficient. All the respondents agreed that the EA needed to be made more concrete on a national and regional level. A suggestion from the research to improve the development and adoption of the EA would be to develop iterative mechanisms between regional and national authorities to ensure national guiding principles are informed by more concrete regional experience. When the EA is implemented more effectively we will take one step further on the way to reaching a sustainable development.

La région Souss Massa Drâa fait l'objet d'une première expérience d'aménagement touristique du territoire durant les années 1970. Cet aménagement repositionne l'espace de cette région, jusque-là pauvre en activités économiques, par rapport à une logique de marché et de rentabilité des investissements et non pas par rapport à un souci d'aménagement touristique équilibré du territoire, qui prend en considération les différentes potentialités qu'offre le Sud du pays. Il en résulte que les efforts d'aménagement se concentrent dans les zones balnéaires pour répondre à une demande de tourisme de masse, toujours de plus en plus excédentaire de l'offre. Cette situation ouvre largement les portes aux spéculations. foncières et financières qui prolifèrent un peu partout, obligeant l'État à introduire une législation de plus en plus hostile à l'égard d'un secteur privé qui souffre déjà des séquelles de la crise économique, et des formations-recompositions qui résultent du programme d'ajustement structurel, de la politique de privatisation et de la suppression des avantages octroyés au secteur touristique. L'objectif premier de ce travail de recherche est d'analyser et d'évaluer les politiques et les systèmes d'organisation qui sont mis en place et qui sont responsables des difficultés de développement du secteur touristique au niveau de la région Souss Massa Drâa. La radioscopie du tourisme au niveau de ce territoire durant les quatre dernières décennies s'avère un passage obligé pour l'analyse et l'appréhension des voies et des moyens de faire de ce secteur un pilier de développement économique de ce territoire. / The Souss Massa Drâa region witnessed the first experience in territory touristic development during the 1970's. This development repositioned the space of this region, until then short of economic activities, in relation to the demands of the market and the profitability of the investment, and not in relation to any concern regarding some balanced territory touristic development, which takes into consideration the different potentialities that the South of the country offers. The result is that the efforts for development have been concentrated around the coastal resorts in order to respond to mass tourism needs, continuously exceeding the offer at band. This situation leaves the doors wide open to real estate and financial speculations which are proliferating everywhere, forcing the State to introduce a legislation which is more and more hostile toward a private sector which already suffers from the aftermath of the economic crisis, the remake-up formations resulting from the structural adjustment program, the policy of privatization, and the removal of the several benefits granted to the touristic sector. The primary objective of this research work is to evaluate the policies and systems of organization which have been put in place and which are responsible for the difficulties in the development of the touristic sector in the Souss Massa Drâa region. The fluoroscopy of tourism at the level of this territory during the past four decades has proved that tourism is an essential passage for the analysis and the apprehension of the ways and means required to make this sector a pillar of territory economic development.

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / The research investigation explores the topic from the point of view of intergovernmental institutions and the regional (departmental) decision-making process in Santa Cruz- Bolivia. The purpose was to determine if these institutions influence the decision-making process of actors in the area of road infrastructure. The topic is explored from the viewpoint of Actor-Centered Institutionalism from Scharpf. It states that the solutions to solve social problems can be explained as the outcome of interactions among intentional actors, but that these interactions are structured and outcomes are influenced by the characteristics of the institutional setting in which they occur. For that purpose, the study identifies the actor constellations participating in the process, their modes of interaction and the constraints they face as a result of the institutional setting. The research starts by distinguishing the formal, informal and fiscal lOR institutions and determine their importance; for this purpose, the classification by Agranoff is used. Afterwards, the investigation portrays the decision-making process in the area and analyzes the final decisions of actors as a result of the institutions shaping them. It is argued that mostly fiscal arrangements are shaping the decision-making process in the area. The formal and informal arrangements are determining the actor constellations participating in the process and how they interact, as well as which institutional constraints they face. It is concluded that there are missing channels of intergovernmental cooperation between the national and the departmental level, and it generates misunderstandings and uncertainty. The channels of cooperation between the department and the provinces exist, but training and technical advice is needed to enhance actors' capacities at this level. The mini-thesis concludes with the policy implications derived from the dynamics at the regional level and identifying other factors influencing the decision-making process.

The goal of master thesis Afghanistan as an insulator of regional complexes? Sectoral analysis of Afghan security was to analyze security of Afghanistan based on sectors and from the viewpoint of Regional security complex theory developed by Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver. The purpose of the thesis was to review categorization of Afghanistan as an insulator and identify factors which undermine his status as such. Afghanistan's location is very much unique because it lies among three different regional security complexes - Central Asia, The Middle East, and South Asia. The analysis was conducted through combination of a) discourse analysis of statements and speeches of president Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah (2014 - ) and added with information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and b) material relations in regions, such as trade routes, military aid etc. and c) history. Analysis is based on military, political, and economic sectors. The discursive analysis pays attention to the perception of Afghanistan on itself with focus on institutional discourse and broader debate in the English-speaking afghan media.

Recently, downtown shopping areas have faced a number of challenges, which have undermined their vitality and viability. Some scholars argue that the coincidence of long-term shifts in policies, demographic recomposition and mobility increase and medium- and short-term impacts of changes in business and consumers’ behavior has had negative impact on the economic performance of city center shopping areas. There is an increasing interest in retail vacancy in city centers as it reflects the declining performance of the shopping areas.Retail vacancy is a complex and extensive problem. It is associated with numerous issues such as neglect and under-utilization of space, and is often considered undesirable. Vacancy can lead to decay and dilapidation of the area, but also attracts crime and can thereby result in disadvantaged neighborhoods. In addition, vacancy is also undesirable in the context of a sustainable and efficient use of space. Due to the fact that retail vacancy affects not only economic performance of retailers, but also the area itself, the public space, and, therefore has a spatial characteristics, local and regional authorities are involved in the process of addressing the issue.The thesis aims at identifying different policy arrangements for addressing retail vacancy in Antwerpen province (Belgium) and analyzing their transferability to the institutional settings of the Gelderland province (the Netherlands). This research contributes to the existing academic literature on the retail vacancy by filling the existing gap and giving insights in policy arrangements and institutional environment of the issue in international comparative perspective.