The issues surrounding the distribution and management of ecosystem resources in local communities in the face of climate change have never been more relevant. This qualitative study seeks to explore the understanding and implications surrounding environmental justice in local communities in the framework of environmental courses provided by organization “A” in northern Tanzania. The environmental justice indicator framework served as a conceptual framework to analyze the stakeholders' understanding and the local communities' experience surrounding different dimensions of environmental justice. Focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews were carried out with a total of 25 participants for data collection and analysis. A thematic analysis methodology provided several findings related to the contrast in substantive, distributive and procedural justices in relation to the environmental courses provided by the organization “A” and the local authorities. The study highlights the dynamics of access, power and control and the implications of intersectionality in relation to the distribution of ecosystem resources in the targeted rural communities. Concludingly, the research study highlights the need for more advocacy, coordination and efforts from the stakeholders, local authorities and local communities in achieving environmental justice for everyone.

This study content analyzed interest group and candidate tweets from the 2020 American presidential election to determine what issues and substantive attributes were most salient on interest group and candidate agendas during the "hot phase" of the campaign. Cross-lagged correlations were conducted during two time periods from Labor Day to Election Day 2020 to measure agenda building effects. These tests were conducted for Democratic nominee and eventual President Joe R. Biden, and Republican nominee and former President Donald J. Trump. These tests were also conducted for two issue-based interest groups: Everytown for Gun Safety and the National Rifle Association. Findings indicate that Biden influenced Trump's campaign agenda, but Trump did not influence Biden's. The interest groups showed reciprocal influence with each other. Given the unprecedented nature of the 2020 election, the candidates were largely talking about the same issues. However, substantive attributes reveal the candidates' true issue agenda. This study offers methodological innovation by utilizing NVivo for content analysis. / Master of Arts / This study examined tweets from 2020 presidential candidates Donald J. Trump and Joseph R. Biden, as well as the National Rifle Association, a gun rights advocacy organization, and Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy organization. These tweets were examined from September 7 to November 3, 2020, from Labor Day until Election Day. For the presidential candidates, it was found that although candidates were talking the same general campaign issues, they were using different substantive attributes when speaking of them. The findings also revealed that Biden was successful at influencing Trump's Twitter focus during the examined time period. Tweets from advocacy organizations were tested for presence of gun-related issues. The advocacy organizations spoke about the same issues as the other, but neither group was successful at influencing what the other said. This study highlights the importance of digital political public relations.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the organization that provides the technical support for the Internet. ICANN is a nonprofit organization based in California and is under contract to the United States Department of Commerce. It has come under attack from many sides because it is contracted through the U.S. government and it is a private entity. One of the main components of the controversy surrounding ICANN is whether it can represent a global society as a private entity and whether that private entity can represent Internet users. I focus my study on ICANN's Board of Directors. I evaluated the Board on the dimensions of descriptive, substantive, and formal representation (Pitkin 1967). Evaluation of ICANN's descriptive representation focused on the Board members' sex, educational backgrounds, and nationalities and compared the geographic representation on the Board to the global distribution of Internet users. The assessment of substantive representation looked at the Board members' votes to determine if patterns could be viewed based on members' descriptive characteristics. Finally, the evaluation of ICANN's formal representation examined its Bylaws, its 2006 contract with the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporations Code. The analysis found that the descriptive representativeness was low. The ICANN Board does not mirror Internet users: few women have served on the Board, those with technical educational backgrounds dominated, and the regions were not represented proportionate to their use of the Internet. Analysis of substantive representativeness was inconclusive and further investigation is needed. The formal representation analysis suggests that the ICANN Board has been formally representative. / Master of Arts

Text in English / This study explores the syntax of the substantive phrase, more especially substantive phrase composed of more than one qualificative, in Sesotho. Adopting interviews, questionnaires and documents, the study seeks to investigate the syntactic sequence of qualificatives, their relation to the modified head word and influence of such ordering pattern in the phrase. Structurally, qualificatives comprise two components, namely the qualificative concord and stem. The qualificative serves to give varied information about the implicit or explicit substantive resulting in seven types of qualificatives in Sesotho, be they the Adjective, Demonstrative, Enumerative, Interrogative, Possessive, Quantifier and Relative. From the Minimalist perspective, the qualificative is recursive. The study established a maximum of five qualificatives in a single phrase. The number is generally achieved by recurrence of the Adjective, the Possessive and the Relative up to a maximum of four of the same qualificative in a single phrase. It is observed that the recurrence of the Demonstrative, Interrogative, Enumerative and Quantifier is proscribed in Sesotho. Regarding the ordering of qualificatives, it is also observed that the Demonstrative, Interrogative, Quantifier and Possessive mostly occupy the position closer to the substantive while the Adjective, Enumerative, Possessive and Quantifier mostly occur in the medial position. The Possessive and Relative occur in the outer-border position of the phrase. Such a sequence is influenced by several factors including focus, emphasis, the nature of the relationship between the head word and the dependent element, the syntactic complexity of the qualificative and the knowledge shared by both the speaker and the hearer about the qualified substantive. It can, therefore, be concluded that there are no strict rules of occurrence of the qualificatives in Sesotho. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

La participation des personnes s’identifiant comme Autochtones aux institutions démocratiques du Canada (que ce soit par le vote ou par le fait de se présenter à des élections) est un sujet peu traité par la littérature scientifique. Longtemps interdite et encore critiquée par un certain nombre d’auteurs influents de la pensée décoloniale, elle connait depuis quelques temps un certain essor. La participation électorale des Autochtones vivant en réserve y est au-dessus de 50% depuis deux élections fédérales. Nous y constatons également une augmentation du nombre de candidats autochtones depuis 2008 et l’élection d’un nombre toujours plus élevé de députés autochtones à chaque élection depuis 2011. Ce renouveau participatif nous donne une occasion sans précédent de dresser un portrait de la relation complexe qu’entretiennent les Autochtones aux institutions démocratiques canadiennes et de s’interroger sur la signification de cette participation. Cette thèse par article propose à la fois une réflexion théorique et une analyse empirique en ce sens. Dans un premier article nous traitons dans une perspective théorique de la tension normative entre la participation au sein des institutions coloniales et la volonté d’autodétermination des peuples autochtones. Nous arguons que l’importance accordée à cette tension dans la littérature dépend de la conception adoptée de l’autodétermination. Dans le deuxième article nous étudions le comportement électoral des Autochtones à partir de données quantitatives. Nous soulignons l’importance du vote affinitaire afin de comprendre les préférences des électeurs autochtones. Dans le troisième article, nous traitons de la représentation des intérêts autochtones par les députés s’identifiant comme Autochtones élus sous la 42ème législature. Une analyse qualitative des interventions en chambre nous permet de souligner qu’au-delà des dimensions partisanes, les députés autochtones mettent davantage de l’avant les enjeux autochtones et le font aussi différemment, ce qui confirme le lien entre la représentation descriptive et substantive des intérêts. Nous concluons cette thèse sur le fait qu’il serait hasardeux de réduire, comme certains le font, ce renouveau de la participation des Autochtones à une forme d’assimilation ou d’acceptation de la citoyenneté canadienne. Notre thèse permet au contraire de souligner le caractère multidimensionnel de cette participation, qui s’inscrit selon nous dans un registre plus large d’activisme politique visant à défendre des identités distinctes et des intérêts propres aux peuples autochtones. / The political participation of those who identify themselves as Indigenous peoples in Canada's democratic institutions (whether through voting or running for election) is a subject that has received little attention in the scientific literature. Long banned and still criticized by many influential authors, today the political participation is a political reality. The electoral turnout of Indigenous peoples living on reserve has been above 50% since three federal elections. We also see an increase in the number of Indigenous people candidates since 2008 and the election of an ever-increasing number of Indigenous people as Members of Parliament (MPs) in each election since 2011. This phenomenon gives us an unprecedented opportunity to draw a portrait of Indigenous people’s complex relationship with Canadian democratic institutions and make sense of its signification for Canadian citizenship. This thesis by articles explores these issues from both a theoretical and an empirical perspectives. In a first article, we theoretically deal with the normative tension between Indigenous individuals’ electoral participation and self-determination. We argue that the normative tension between the two largely depends on one’s conception of self-determination as a political project. In the second article, we use quantitative data to study the electoral behavior of Indigenous peoples. We argue that beyond partisan considerations, the electoral behaviour of Indigenous communities is heavily influenced by affinity voting. In the third article, we deal with the representation of indigenous people’s interests by indigenous MPs elected under the 42nd legislature. Our qualitative analysis of speeches in the House of Commons suggests that Indigenous MPs do tend to address indigenous-related issues more frequently and do so differently than other MPs. We conclude that, contrary to many of its critiques, the participation of Indigenous communities in Canadian democratic institutions cannot be reduced to a form of assimilation or a straightforward acceptance of the rules of Canadian citizenship. This renewed engagement should instead be located within a broader political movement and collective agency in defending and promoting distinct Indigenous peoples identities and interests.

In education a new dimension started after the 1994 elections by implementing new legislation to ensure fair conduct towards all. New labour legislation was promulgated to contribute to fairness in South Africa. This legislation was also implemented in the South African education system to ensure that educators are treated fairly. The Employment of Educators Act (EEA), the Labour Relations Act (LBA), the Equity Act and the South African Schools Act (SASA) were promulgated to protect both the rights of the employer and the educator in education. The purpose of this research was to determine the perception of educators in the Oudtshoorn district regarding fairness in the workplace; how educators understand and experience their right to equality in the workplace; what their perception is regarding disciplinary action in the workplace, and to what extent educators have the basic concept and principle of labour law to prevent frustration in the workplace and ineffective service delivery, and to prevent the pursuit of incorrect procedures. It is crucial that the educator knows his or her rights as an employee, and what his or her obligations towards the employer are. This research was done on the basis of the literature study and the analysis of legislation that is applicable to educators. A qualitative enquiry into educators’ perceptions of fairness in the workplace was conducted amongst participants from the Oudtshoorn district, which included schools from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. This case study was based on interviews with school managers, educators on post level 1 and with union representatives in the Oudtshoorn district. Questionnaires were structured to obtain the participants’ view and perception on fairness in the workplace and to determine their knowledge regarding the law and their rights in education with regards to labour law. The participants didn’t receive guidance because it could have influenced their answers. The data derived from the participants made it possible to compile certain recommendations and conclusions. From the empirical research it was evident that educators in the Oudtshoorn district had but a vague knowledge of their rights as educators and of legislation. Shortcomings that were apparent from this study were addressed, recommendations were made, and possible future research on related topics was indicated. / MEd (Education Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The survival of organizations is dependent upon their legitimacy since legitimacy provides them with access to valuable resources. Organizations do not possess legitimacy, but rather it is ascribed to them by the society they are in when their actions meet societal expectations. Fulfillment of these societal expectations requires the moral and practical obligations of organizations which we call Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). To show their CSR performance, organizations have increasingly adopted the practice of CSR reporting. In CSR reporting, organizations are expected by their stakeholders to disclose both positive and negative aspects. Although disclosing negative aspects can pose a threat to organization’s legitimacy, a third party reporting them may cause more severe damages to the legitimacy of the organization. Therefore, organizations are motivated to legitimize their negative aspects by using legitimation strategies. Using the typology of Coombs and Holladay (1996), in combination with the legitimation strategies by Hahn and Lülfs (2014) as our frameworks, and the non-financial reports of the top ten German chemical companies as our illustrative cases, we investigate and interpret the choice of legitimation strategies used by organizations to report different types of negative aspects in CSR reports. Our findings show that there is a clear pattern in the use of corrective action as a legitimation strategy for all types of negative aspects. Furthermore, we identified instances, where a new type of legitimation strategy, which we called shifting blame legitimation strategy was used. We interpreted our findings using analytical reasoning and theoretical framework such as the concept of symbolic and substantive approach to interpret our findings. Based on the findings, we concluded that the dominant pattern identified falls under the substantive approach, theoretically known for helping companies retain their legitimacy.

A comparison of the legal regulation of relationship between parents and children in the Czech Republic and Italy The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview of the basic differences between legal regulation of the relationship between parents and children in the Czech Republic and Italy. This theme was chosen because of the different historical development and social conditions in both countries, which results in a different concept of parenthood and other relations derived from it. The study is divided into three main parts, that in particular reflect the formation and area of application of relations between parents and children and eventually means of protection of a child as long as he is not provided with proper care in his family environment. These parts are: a) parenthood, b) the content of relationship between parents and children, c) substitute parenthood and substitute education. Each part contains two chapters for a better comparison. The first always briefly outlines the Czech legal regulation and the second chapter is devoted to a deeper explanation of the Italian regulation. Basic differences of both legal systems are explicitly highlighted. Subchapters focus on individual legal institutions of family law relating to the relationship between parents and children or other...

This study aims to understand the Kenyan cross-party parliamentary women’s caucus success at representing women substantively despite ethnic division. The Kenyan case highlights a paradox: the cross-party parliamentary women’s caucus is successful in a country where politics is shaped by ethnic division, which contradicts existing theories suggesting that the many layers of identity politics would make it difficult for the members to cooperate on a common women’s agenda. The material was collected during ten weeks in Nairobi through interviews with women MPs within the caucus and through observation of meetings, events, and the daily work of the caucus. The findings suggest that women’s issues are perceived as non-political, and non-controversial, which makes it possible for the members to cooperate on a common women’s agenda. Kenya seems to be in an initial stage of gender mainstreaming where the caucus’s members cooperate on women’s fundamental rights, on which they can all agree. It is reasonable to believe that the political parties will develop ideological differences concerning women’s issues as Kenya achieves a certain level of gender equality. The cross-party parliamentary women’s caucus will, according to the findings, be essential to improve the substantive representation of women in the Parliament.

[pt] O aumento dos custos sociais, ambientais, e humanos gerados pela atividade econômica vem suscitando um debate na sociedade com um todo, e na academia em particular, acerca da necessidade de uma ação integrada das corporações e dos demais constituintes da sociedade, na restauração dos danos ocorridos e, sobretudo, na prevenção dos potenciais danos futuros. A temática da racionalidade, imperiosa e inerente ao debate suscitado, não vem ocupando uma posição de destaque sendo, em muitos casos, ignorada, sobretudo aquela de natureza substantiva. No âmbito da Ética de Negócios vem ganhando reconhecimento, sobretudo a partir da década de 90, a Teoria dos Stakeholders, cujo ponto central reside na revisão e ampliação das obrigações corporativas, opondo-se à visão neoclássica, baseada no conceito de agência, que sustenta ser a única responsabilidade social dos gestores da companhia a maximização da riqueza dos acionistas. Destacam-se, no âmbito desta teoria, duas vertentes principais: instrumental e normativa. Ao passo que esta defende a revisão das obrigações corporativas incondicionalmente, aquela a sujeita à busca de uma performance superior. A potencial associação da vertente normativa com a racionalidade de natureza substantiva e da instrumental com a racionalidade homônima é um fator fundamental na estruturação desta pesquisa, a qual objetivou descrever, através de um estudo de caso, como se dá a co-existência das duas racionalidades acima em uma empresa cujos objetivos, missão e visão, revestem-se de valores manifestamente substantivos. / [en] The increase in social, environmental and human costs generated by economic activity has brought along a discussion within society as a whole, in the academic environment most particularly, regarding the urge for an integrated action coming from corporations and other society members in the direction of restoration of existing damage and, above all, in the prevention of potential future ones. The Rationality subject, predominant in and inherent to the proposed debate, has not been playing an important role, being in many cases simply ignored - mostly the one of Substantive nature. In the field of Business Ethics, mainly from the 90´s on, the Stakeholder Theory - which core lays on the revision and broadening of corporate obligations, as opposed to the neoclassical vision based on the Agency Theory, defending the maximization of stakeholders´ wealth as the only social responsibility of management - has been gaining acknowledgement. In the heart of this theory, two mainstreams can be highlighted: the Instrumental and the Normative. While the later stands for the unconditional revision of corporate obligations, the former subjects them to the search of a superior performance. The potential association of the Normative stream with the Substantive Rationality and of the Instrumental stream with the Rationality that goes under the same name is the fundamental basis for the structuring of this research, which intends to describe, based on a case study, how the two above mentioned Rationalities coexist in a company which mission and vision are based on typically Substantive values.