The main achievement of this thesis has been the development of an operational system dynamics model of the Indonesian energy system. This model attempts to integrate a wide range of data so that policy-makers can understand the connections between economic, environmental and energy policy objectives. This is the first such model to be developed for Indonesia, building on previous modelling efforts that have been restricted to regression-based forecasting and optimisation modelling. The first part of the thesis provides a systematic analysis of background data, information and the context for the model development. These chapters review the historical and political context of energy developments in Indonesia; review past energy policies as well as emerging energy policy objectives; analyse the determinants of energy demand (by regression and divisia decomposition methods) and review energy supply options. The regression analysis concluded that GDP and household income had the most significant effect on energy demand. The effect of fuel price rises, on the other hand, did not exert a significant effect on energy demand. The divisia decomposition method found that, over the entire Indonesian economy, technical change was found to give a greater contribution to energy efficiency improvements (as measured by the energy:GDP ratio) than structural changes. The system dynamics model was developed and validated using the extensive data collected, refined and analysed in the first part of the thesis. The model consisted of an economic module (17 sector input-output model), energy demand module, electric power module, heat and transport fuel module, primary energy supply module and an environmental module. Five scenarios were developed from this model in order to analyse possible energy development pathways for Indonesia, over the 1998-2020 period. These scenarios reflected five themes Business-as-Usual, Environmentally Beneficial, Economic Efficiency, Self-Sufficiency and Balancing Trade-Offs. These scenarios were assessed using a number of policy evaluation criteria to measure various energy, economic and environmental policy objectives. All of these scenarios indicated that Indonesia's energy demand and hence CO2 emissions will grow significantly over the scenario period, even if Indonesia introduces some quite stringent polices to restrict these trends - eg, CO2 emissions are expected to increase by 189% under the 'Business-as-Usual' scenario; and even though they can be reduced to a 85% increase under the 'Environmentally Beneficial' scenario, this is still a significant and somewhat alarming increase in CO2 emissions. The scenarios also highlighted the trade-offs between different sets of policy objectives as an aid to energy planning and policy-making. Finally, further areas of research that could improve the model and its use were identified: improving the data on energy supply and demand (particularly the end-use characterisation), endogenise the economic growth dynamics into the model rather than depending on regression analysis, possibly converting the input-output structure into a computable general equilibrium model, including more sectoral detail, making the model at least partly spatially-specific, and investigating more participatory approaches for further developing the model so as to enhance its uptake.

This study explores the importance of the minimum wage policy in West Java, Indonesia, within the overall framework of development and in the face of globalisation and decentralisation. A holistic approach to the minimum wage policy is applied. Generally, the study assesses the impact of decentralized minimum wage fixing processes on employment and participation of trade unions. In addition, it explores whether the minimum wage policy assists workers in coping with the negative effects of globalisation. It also explores the link between minimum wages and decent work. This study reveals that while there is some evidence of employment losses due to increases in wage levels in West Java, it did not find conclusive evidence that minimum wage levels were the main factor responsible for the employment decline. It is likely that a combination of factors such as a decrease in global demand for Indonesian manufacturing products and the current macro-economic conditions in the country, are also responsible for the employment decline. This study finds that the process of minimum wage fixing at local level has a positive impact on trade union participation in wage bargaining. The empowerment of trade unions through new legislation has enabled independent trade unions to flourish, which allows workers to join any trade unions. Consequently, minimum wage bargaining at district/city level is more dynamic than the centralized system of minimum wage bargaining in the past. Trade unions are able to express their views on what the minimum wage levels should be. Moreover, the minimum wage fixing processes at local level have the potential to promote decent work. The minimum wage fixing processes are an alternative to wage bargaining and can accommodate even sectors where trade unions are least active or non-existent. The minimum wage processes at district/city level are already established and they are in position to expand to a wider framework of providing welfare for workers. However, decent work objectives will not be achieved without the full cooperation of both central and local governments. Under the current decentralisation process, where central and local government views are still not in agreement, it is difficult to see how decent work can be applied nationally. Thus, the minimum wage policy and trade union development are important in the overall development paradigm. Both ensure the existence of a rights based approach to development where workers are given rights to organize as well as earn a basic living. Nevertheless, the development of trade unions in developing countries is under threat from flexibilisation of the workplace in which jobs have become less and less secure. The minimum wage policy, however, is still viable because it covers all types of workers. At the very least, minimum wages provide a safety net wage that can prevent real wages from falling. The writer suggests that more studies should be conducted on the extent and effectiveness of trade union participation in minimum wage bargaining. In addition, further studies should be conducted on the effect of minimum wages and trade unions on non-standard or flexible workers. Flexible workers, whether they are fixed-term contract and outsourced workers, are becoming an important part of the global labour market and increasingly pose a challenge to the increasingly important role of trade unions in developing countries.

This thesis is a study of EU migrant citizens' substantive social rights. Much research has concerned itself with the expansion of freedom of movement and cross-border social rights in the EU. However, most of this research has analysed only formal rights, overlooking substantive rights. In the multilevel setting that is the EU, social rights are being adjudicated at a supra-national level, but realised at the national and sub-national level. Numerous different regulations, actors and practices thus shape the substantive social rights of EU migrant citizens, making their rights especially prone to distortion in the process of practical implementation. Examining how formal rights translate into substantive ones is important to understand how and where the lines of exclusion and inclusion of European social citizenship are drawn. Specifically, the thesis looks as how formal social rights translate into substantive rights with a focus on the local level. This is where any pressures from internal EU-migration on social provision are felt, where gaps in the social protection of EU migrant citizens make themselves evident, and where many social rights are exercised. The central research question of the thesis is thus: how are EU migrant citizens' social rights governed at the local level? The thesis adopts a qualitative and explorative method. More specifically, it examines barriers that EU migrant citizens face when trying to access social benefits and services. The study also takes a comparative approach, and contrasts localities across two member states that can be seen as critical cases: Germany and Sweden. In two cities in each country (Berlin and Hamburg, Gothenburg and Stockholm), interviews were conducted with local public administrators, welfare providers and advocacy organisations. The interviews were later related to relevant policy documents in a thematic analysis guided by the overarching research question. The main contribution of the thesis lies in identifying certain direct and indirect factors that shape EU migrant citizens' access to social benefits and services - and thus their substantive social rights. Specifically, the thesis argues that (1) certain structures of welfare systems (which become evident through a bottom-up study of supra-national social rights), and (2) the entrepreneurship of local actors, are crucial to understanding how formal rights of EU migrant citizens translate into substantive ones.

The political economic pressures of development contribute to unsustainable environmental practices in developing countries, and marginalize civil society participation. This dissertation looks at the following countries where policymakers are faced with strong incentives to foster rapid economic growth. In Jamaica, the bauxite industry demands mining rights in sensitive mountainous ecosystems. In Mexico, the tourist industry demands access to construct in vulnerable coastal environments in the southeast. In inland Mexico, unregulated agriculture threatens ecosystems in the Yucatán Peninsula. Finally, tourist and energy industries in Egypt demand access for infrastructure in sensitive ecosystems in the Red Sea region. In all of the cases, the preferences of these sectors threaten to displace local communities, while creating unsustainable pressures on the environment. At the same time, the projected revenues from these sectors justify continued environmental exploitation. In response, transnational networks of environmental advocates and epistemic communities mobilized throughout the 1990s, lobbying the Global Environment Facility for conservationist projects in each country, and then lobbying governments to effectively implement the projects. This research finds that three conditions were necessary for transnational networks to influence policies associated with project implementation. First, networks must generate an internal scientific agreement on the dimensions of the environmental problem. By doing so, they can delegitimate competing arguments, strengthening their own claims. Second, networks must build social ties with policymakers in powerful agencies. Social ties increase the likelihood that policymakers will adopt the norms of the network. Third, networks must reframe the discourse on environmental management. At present, policymakers and industry argue that environmental management should be assessed by its contribution to economic development, validating only those policies that lead to sustained revenue generation. By reframing environmental management as an issue impacting the well-being of domestic populations, networks can argue for the greater participation of actors marginalized by the dominance of privileged productive sectors in resource management. Moreover, by linking sustainable resource use to the interests of domestic populations, networks can generate political capital to oppose the most unsustainable environmental practices. This research thus builds on the epistemic communities approach by highlighting the importance of democracy in knowledge building and environmental governance.

Buildings account for up to a third of total world greenhouse gas GHG emissions, and this pattern is expected to persist. By 2050, cities will be home to 70 % of the world's population, demanding a significant number of buildings to be constructed. Efforts to reduce these emissions in the past had varied performance. However, several examples indicate that well thought and adequately executed mix of building technology coupled with environmental policies may reduce emissions. Therefore, cities worldwide are joining the race to decarbonize their buildings to become net-zero carbon and support green economies through a diversified bundle of policies. However, designing and selecting the appropriate mix of building technology and environmental policies is challenging to generate the most outlast net-zero carbon impacts. This research aims to uncover the intersection between science and policy's role in achieving a global net-zero energy building sector. First, an urban comparative analysis for ten environment-leading cities has been made to understand the latest progress in the building sector and draw on future recommendations. The findings are thematically grouped into five themes a) Building's energy efficiency (energy demand sector). (b) Electrified renewable grids (energy supply sector). (c) Green fiscal incentives (d) Education and capacity building. (e) Governance and collaboration. Second, the University of Ottawa has been utilized as a part of the campus as a living lab initiative to examine installing photovoltaic panels over the campus buildings as part of the university expansion program to achieve net-zero operations by 2040. The following parameters have been considered to address the PV systems viability, 1) the expected electricity output. 2) the initial and operational costs. 3) the GHG reductions in operational energy. 4) the PV system embodied carbons. RETScreen Expert software has been used to perform the Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) to assess PV system output and financial viability. One Click-LCA software to carry-out Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to assess embodied carbons. The results indicate from analyzing 31 buildings that 20% - 107% of electricity can be offset depending on each building's energy use and solar collector area. Additionally, the 31 buildings analyzed for electricity generation collectively have the potential to save around 23% of the total campus electricity consumption with a production capacity of 18 million units (kWh) annually, including 21,108 solar panels. Also, the project shows financial viability only if the PV systems are installed as part of the whole campus with a Net Present Value (NPV) of $4,985,89 and an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 11.4%. The analysis shows 24% and 18% maximum sensitivity to increased initial cost and decreased electricity generation/rate. Finally, the GHG estimated reductions over 25 years from generated electricity are 14,445 tCO2, and the estimated increased embodied carbons from the Life Cycle Assessment are set to be 1,023 tCO2. Additionally, drawing upon urban analysis and the case study, the research highlights the dynamic nature of the building sector emissions reduction and city initiatives. Thirdly, a detailed analysis was carried out in the System Advisor Model (SAM) software to integrate the solar system with energy storage in the Advanced Research Complex (ARC) Building at the University of Ottawa. The study assesses the system viability and helps the university to reduce its monthly electricity bill and help Ontario to maintain its grid reliability by keeping the electricity demand low at peak times. The findings show that using an integrated solar system with an energy storage system by mitigating 100%, 90%, 75%, and 50% of the building electricity demand during the Ontario gird peak could lead to a Net Present Value of $2,01, $1.70, $1.30, and $0.864 million over 25 years the lifetime of the project through the Ontario Global Adjustment Program. The study also shows that with the absence of the Ontario Global Adjustment Program as a fiscal reform tool and relying only on the time of use electricity rates, the solar panels with an energy storage system could lead to a negative Net Present Value of $-550 thousand.

The thesis examines the political dynamics behind the contemporary trend towards pension privatization in Europe. Its aim is to develop a theoretical model that can explain not only why governments have increasingly replaced their public pay-as-you-go systems with private fully-funded schemes, but also why there is considerable diversity both in the extent and in the content of pension privatization. Private pension funds can indeed be governed by a variety of institutional arrangements and can have very different types of links with the financial system. They do not necessarily contribute to a financialization of the economy. The thesis takes issue with the idea that pension privatization would be primarily the result of a new pensions orthodoxy promoted by international organizations such as the World Bank or of an electoral strategy that consists in attracting the votes of the middle class. I argue that the driving force behind the more or less dramatic rise of funded pensions in Europe is a series of lobbying campaigns launched by the financial industry, and their varying influence. Financial firms have a vested interest in the development of a market in private pensions, which should profit them as an industry. However, pension reform is an issue that matters to voters and can therefore prove dangerous for party politicians. Moreover, it involves complex changes that directly affect key material interests of employers and workers. In this context, the success of financial firms’ campaign for pension privatization depends on their capacity to forge alliances with a variety of actors. This in turn contributes to limit the influence financiers can exert. The argument is tested using a comparative historical analysis of pension debates in the United Kingdom, France and Poland since the beginning of the 1980s.

Historically, public ownership of telecommunications, railways, ports, and energy, amongst other infrastructure, has been important in New Zealand. In the electricity sector local authorities generated and supplied electricity from the early 1900s. Thus in a sense electricity generation was in the hands of community owned and operated trading enterprises. However, the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s brought significant restructuring of this infrastructure based on the market model of privatisation. Since 1992 energy companies have been required to operate as successful businesses despite being ultimately owned by community trusts which, in effect, hold the assets of the energy company in trust for the community. However, it is arguable as to whether this model actually pursues social and community objectives. Community ownership of wind turbines is common in some European countries, but there are currently no examples of this form of ownership in New Zealand. This thesis defines community ownership and by examining case studies in Scotland, Denmark and Australia, proposes a model of community ownership appropriate to wind turbine ownership in New Zealand. Specifically, this thesis seeks to identify community ownership models that are capable of promoting holistic environmental justice by reconciling social justice with ecological justice. A number of forms of community ownership are identified in the various case study countries and a comparative analysis is carried out of these exemplars. On the basis of these studies it is found to be possible for a form of community ownership of wind turbines to exist in New Zealand that incorporates both social justice and ecological justice principles as holistic environmental justice.

Republic Act No. 9173, or the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002 enunciates a bevy of incentives under its Health Human Resource Production, Utilization and Development provisions, intended to stem the rising tide of Filipino nurses leaving the country to work overseas. Under Sections 30 to 34 of the Nursing Act, these incentives include the following: (1) upgrading the minimum base salary of nurses from salary grade 10 to 15; (2) establishing a nurse specialty program in government hospitals to upgrade the nurses’ skills whereby recipients of the program are required to work in government hospitals for two years; and (3) the provision of other benefits such as scholarship grants, free medical care, etc. These provisions are the government’s policy response to mitigate the impact of nurses’ migration and retain an adequate supply of skilled Filipino nurses in the country: This research is a qualitative study that seeks to assess the health human resource development provisions and their implementation and aims to help improve them. This study examines the responsiveness of the provisions to the needs of nurses, and identifies the deficiencies of the provisions by looking into the working conditions of nurses in two Philippine government hospitals. It also examines the processes and the factors affecting the implementation of the provisions. This study employed a combination of four data collection methods: (1) focus group interviews of nurses working in two Philippine government hospitals, (2) key informant interviews of officials of government agencies and private organizations tasked to implement the health human resource development provisions, (3) document analyses, and (4) researcher’s field notes/journal. The researcher conducted five focus group interviews with a total of 15 nurse participants and 12 key informant interviews. The nurses are working under conditions of low salaries and heavy workload, that is characterized by low nurse-to-patient ratios in the National and LGU Hospitals. The problems of inadequate nurse staffing, large number iii of patients and inadequate supplies in the two government hospitals are identified as causes for the heavy workload of nurses. The nurses want a salary increase that is commensurate to their heavy workload, their professional qualifications and long years of service. For the nurses, a salary increase signifies the government’s recognition of their dedication, hard work, and commitment to provide health care to Filipinos despite working under dire circumstances. The nurse specialty training program in areas such as oncology, nephrology, critical care, etc. has not been implemented because of the limited capacities of government hospitals to provide this kind of training and the lack of regulatory framework for the practice of nurse specialists in the Philippines. The other benefits have not been implemented as well. The provisions of the Nursing Act are deficient because they do not address the causes of the heavy workload of nurses. To improve the work conditions of nurses, the Philippine government needs to prioritize to the long neglected health sector by increasing the budgetary allocation in order to create more nurse positions in government hospitals, to provide adequate supplies and equipment for government hospitals and to improve the facilities for nurses.

Policy makers in the Southeast Asian region are faced with many challenges in national policy taxation from globalization, in particular the increasing cross-border mobility of capital. One of the challenges is the competition to attract a mobile capital base which leads to a trend towards declining statutory corporate taxation rates and a pressure to harmonize taxation policy. This study explores taxation literature and uses empirical evidence from the period of 1996-2006 to examine tax competition and tax harmonization in the region. The study seeks evidence for the existence of tax competition by analyzing recent trends in two groups of measures of taxation: tax rates and tax revenues. This begins with looking at the trends of statutory corporate tax rate. Evidence is found for a decline in statutory corporate tax rates, developments commensurate with the existence of tax competition. On the contrary, the tax revenue data presented here, show that the expected decline in total tax revenues has not occurred; indeed, a significant increase has been recorded. It is also supported by empirical evidence of the ratio of corporate tax revenue either relative to GDP or to total tax revenue. The strengthening of these revenues has meant that the expected shift in the tax burden away from mobile to immobile factors has also failed to materialize. The two groups of measures of taxation thus provide apparently inconsistent views of the impact of tax competition. There follows an analysis of the elements of tax competition according to literature, in an attempt to draw out its implications for the experience within the Southeast Asian region. This study also examines the case for tax harmonisation and the Southeast Asian experience and it is concluded that the progress of tax harmonisation between countries has tended to be difficult to achieve because of the differences among the countries in terms of the tax structures and level of economies.

This is a Case Study Research done inside a poor community in Brazil. The main goal of the research is to facilitate this community to understand their problems and to overcome it. Therefore the researcher and the researched developed the following question ‘why NovaMosanta is not achieving its goals? The researcher wanted to work as a facilitator throughout the whole process of dialogue that aims to empower the community. Departing from that question and based on Freire’s ideas of education the research aims to build new knowledge from the interaction of academic and community knowledge. To implement this case study field research the researcher decided to use Participant observation and questionnaires. Surprisingly during the research the NGO called NovaMosanta faced the challenge of remodeling a public school without government help; otherwise the school would be closed. This NGO succeeded with the help of the New Zealand Government that gave NZ$15,000 to build two new classrooms in the school. Community members helped working in the remodeling and local commerce gave discounts to enable the remodeling. As a result the school will not be closed and the students will continue to study there. It also helped to increase community support and participation. Although not designed as a Participant Action Research, this thesis evolved to produce action and to change the community reality. It was an empowering process to the researcher and the researched. The community support increased and it also served s a catalytic event in the process of transformation and inclusion. Finally it clarifies the importance of producing fast results to maintain community support. You can check the research results in the links below that contain two local network reports about it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz_FItXp3nM) & (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py5emCNXRlo)