Essays on the determinants of private investment: The effects of relative price uncertainty and political instability

The objective of this study was to provide empirical evidence on the effects of relative price uncertainty and political instability on private investment. My effort is expressed in a single-equation model using macroeconomic and socio-political data from eight Latin American countries for the period 1970–1996. Relative price uncertainty is measured by the implied volatility of the exchange rate and political instability is measured by using indicators of social unrest and political violence. ^ I found that, after controlling for other variables, relative price uncertainty and political instability are negatively associated with private investment. Macroeconomic and political stability are key ingredients for the achievement of a strong investment response. This highlights the need to develop the state and build a civil society in which citizens can participate in decision-making and express consent without generating social turmoil. At the same time the government needs to implement structural policies along with relative price adjustments to eliminate excess volatility in price movements in order to provide a stable environment for investment. ^

Foreign aid and the national interest : the cases of the United States and Japan

Developed countries give foreign assistance for many reasons, one of which is the protection of national interests. Foreign aid gives a donor country leverage in international relations and is used as a tool of foreign policy. The United States and Japan are the two largest aid donors in the world. Each of these countries exert influence over specific regions through foreign assistance. Although the national interests of each country are different, both use foreign aid to protect these interests. This thesis discusses the means by which the United States and Japan use foreign aid in foreign policy. It looks specifically at U.S. food aid to Central America and Japanese aid to Asia.

From stability to insurgency: The root and proximate causes of the September 2002 civil war in Côte d'Ivoire

This dissertation was an analysis of the root and proximate causes of the September 2002 civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. The central question of this study was: Why did Côte d’Ivoire, which was relatively stable under President Houphouët-Boigny, suddenly begin to experience political violence in the 1990s and an explosion in 2002? Côte d’Ivoire was an interesting case because it was stable for a long period of time, apparently making it an infertile ground for conflict. It was also interesting for comparative purposes because of the fact that several states in West Africa (for instance, Benin, Togo, and Ghana) have experienced military coups but not have civil wars. Finally, this case was an opportunity to revisit the debate on the causes of civil wars in the African context. Chapter one has outlined the entire dissertation project and contextualized the analysis that follows in the subsequent chapters. Chapter two has reviewed the literature on civil wars in general, identified the different types of civil wars, and the type the Ivoiran war is. Chapter three has examined the domestic and international political economy as a source of the civil violence in Côte d’Ivoire. Chapter four has examined the role of ethnicity and region as identities of the war, while chapter five has analyzed the role of the foreign relations in the civil war, as well as the regional political context. Chapter six has distinguished between the root and proximate causes of the Ivoirian civil war, made judgments about the relative weight of the various causes, and the extent to which the weight of the causes can be measured. The study found that the “Ivoirité” was the most important trigger of the civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. The overall conclusion of my dissertation was that the September 2002 crisis in that country was a political crisis which occured in the context of a political reform. It first started with succession problems in 1993 followed by the controversial elections in 1995 and 2000. Later, this electoral politics spread beyond electoral issues, namely citizenship matters.

From Stability to Insurgency: The Root and Proximate Causes of the September 2002 Civil War in Cote d'Ivoire

This dissertation was an analysis of the root and proximate causes of the September 2002 civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. The central question of this study was: Why did Côte d’Ivoire, which was relatively stable under President Houphouët-Boigny, suddenly begin to experience political violence in the 1990s and an explosion in 2002? Côte d’Ivoire was an interesting case because it was stable for a long period of time, apparently making it an infertile ground for conflict. It was also interesting for comparative purposes because of the fact that several states in West Africa (for instance, Benin, Togo, and Ghana) have experienced military coups but not have civil wars. Finally, this case was an opportunity to revisit the debate on the causes of civil wars in the African context. Chapter one has outlined the entire dissertation project and contextualized the analysis that follows in the subsequent chapters. Chapter two has reviewed the literature on civil wars in general, identified the different types of civil wars, and the type the Ivoiran war is. Chapter three has examined the domestic and international political economy as a source of the civil violence in Côte d’Ivoire. Chapter four has examined the role of ethnicity and region as identities of the war, while chapter five has analyzed the role of the foreign relations in the civil war, as well as the regional political context. Chapter six has distinguished between the root and proximate causes of the Ivoirian civil war, made judgments about the relative weight of the various causes, and the extent to which the weight of the causes can be measured. The study found that the “Ivoirité” was the most important trigger of the civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. The overall conclusion of my dissertation was that the September 2002 crisis in that country was a political crisis which occured in the context of a political reform. It first started with succession problems in 1993 followed by the controversial elections in 1995 and 2000. Later, this electoral politics spread beyond electoral issues, namely citizenship matters.

The Ghana National Service Scheme: Perceptions of former educational personnel, students and guardians

The purpose of this inquiry was to investigate the perceptions of former service personnel, students and their parents about the organizational effectiveness of the Ghana National Service Scheme (GNSS). The inquiry addressed the following questions: How do the participants perceive the effectiveness of the national service program on the Ghanaian society? What are the perceptions of school administrators who worked with service personnel, parents and students vis-à-vis the over all impact of the GNSS on the educational system? What are the perceptions of former service personnel, students and their parents in regard to the impact of the GNSS on them? ^ The GNSS is a part within the ministry of education, which is also part in the Ghanaian social structure. Hence, a systems theory approach which asks, “How and why a system as a whole functions as it does” (Patton, 1990), was utilized in the study. Methodologies included purposive sampling; interviews; participant observation, and follow-up interviews. The study was conducted over a six-moth period. ^ A cross-sectional survey design was used to generate data. The survey was followed up with an ethnographic study where in-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted together with observations. The results were described and interpreted. ^ The summary of findings concludes that perceptional determinants of the effectiveness of the GNSS were biased by the age and zone of origin but not gender. This partially agrees with Marenin's (1990) except for gender. A significant difference was detected between the responses of those who were officials of the National service Secretariat and of former service personnel. The administrators defended the status quo and demonstrated their deeper knowledge about the scheme. The former personnel and parents freely criticized the program when necessary and did not seem to know much about the GNSS. Respondents mostly stressed the need for the secretariat to focus on the following areas: (1) involvement in the agricultural sector of the economy, (2) involvement in rural mass, civic and health education, (3) adequacy of remuneration and personnel welfare, and (4) ensuring posting of personnel to areas of their expertise. Recommendation for further research concluded the study. ^

The rodent fauna of Long Pine Key, Everglades National Park: a comparison of habitat types

Rodents are often involved at several stages of trophic dynamics. Consequently they often play crucial roles in the structure and function of many complex ecological systems. This study sought to address the lack of baseline data concerning rodents in tropical areas, and south Florida in particular. Live trapping took place in the four major habitat types of the Long Pine Key area of Everglades National Park over the course of one year. I compared population structures and abundance of murid rodents in the four habitat types, and tested multiple weather variables for their effectiveness as predictors of rodent abundance. I found the Long Pine Key area to be depauperate in terms of species diversity. Each of the four species of rodent encountered favored a particular habitat type. The density of the understory vegetation and the avoidance of avian predators in particular appear to be the most important factors in the distribution and abundance of rodents in the Long Pine Key area of Everglades National Park.

A case study of the development of the Argentinean community college system

In the 1980's and 1990's, Argentina was undergoing significant political, social and economic changes as a result of the change over from a military driven government to elected governments. A major aspect of the change was an increased emphasis on privatization, and promotion of foreign and domestic investment in Argentina. Higher education leaders were increasingly drawn into developing a national strategy for changing the educational structure to help facilitate changes in other aspects of the society. Preliminary reviews by the Argentinean higher education leaders indicated that adaptation of the American community college promised to help achieve the national goals. ^ The purpose of this study was to determine: if and how the community college concept, an American invention, could be adapted to function in Argentina, a nation with a significantly different history of political, social, cultural and economic development. Achieving this purpose involved: identifying the key leaders in the movement that developed to apply the community college concept in Argentina; the study of their perspectives regarding the movement as it developed; and tracking the assistance given by selected American community college leaders. ^ The case study method was employed in this research, using interview and historical data collection. Key leaders from higher education in the United States and Argentina were interviewed in-depth, to determine their views. An interview protocol with appropriate sub-questions was followed to ensure complete coverage. The interviewees identified several major areas of education in need of change including, the system, access to the system, new areas of study, integration into the hemisphere and, in general, decentralization. Historical review revealed a steady development of the community college concept in Argentina reflected in documentation of events, conceptual writings and legal structures. ^ It was concluded that there is a community college structure beginning to emerge that, so far, in broad outline, follows the structure developed in the United States. It is anticipated however, that future developments will include conceptual aspects to the model reflective of Argentina. ^

Investing in Hospitality Operations in the People's Republic of China: The Legal Framework

In the late 1970s, the People's Republic of China announced its "Open Door Policy. "After being closed to the outside world for decades, the Western world was not certain what to make of this turnaround. The author looks at a number of questions: Was China sincere in its statements that it wanted foreign investment on its soil? Was it willing to provide the economic and legal framework within which foreign investors could feel secure about placing their investment dollars? What concerns or issues still remain with regard to such investment decisions today?

Conceptualizing American power and security in a post -9/11 security context: Conflict, resistance, and global security, 2001–present

In a post-Cold War, post-9/11 world, the advent of US global supremacy resulted in the installation, perpetuation, and dissemination of an Absolutist Security Agenda (hereinafter, ASA). The US ASA explicitly and aggressively articulates and equates US national security interests with the security of all states in the international system, and replaced the bipolar, Cold War framework that defined international affairs from 1945-1992. Since the collapse of the USSR and the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, the US has unilaterally defined, implemented, and managed systemic security policy. The US ASA is indicative of a systemic category of knowledge (security) anchored in variegated conceptual and material components, such as morality, philosophy, and political rubrics. The US ASA is based on a logic that involves the following security components: (1) hyper militarization, (2) intimidation,(3) coercion, (4) criminalization, (5) panoptic surveillance, (6) plenary security measures, and (7) unabashed US interference in the domestic affairs of select states. Such interference has produced destabilizing tensions and conflicts that have, in turn, produced resistance, revolutions, proliferation, cults of personality, and militarization. This is the case because the US ASA rests on the notion that the international system of states is an extension, instrument of US power, rather than a system and/or society of states comprised of functionally sovereign entities. To analyze the US ASA, this study utilizes: (1) official government statements, legal doctrines, treaties, and policies pertaining to US foreign policy; (2) militarization rationales, budgets, and expenditures; and (3) case studies of rogue states. The data used in this study are drawn from information that is publicly available (academic journals, think-tank publications, government publications, and information provided by international organizations). The data supports the contention that global security is effectuated via a discrete set of hegemonic/imperialistic US values and interests, finding empirical expression in legal acts (USA Patriot ACT 2001) and the concept of rogue states. Rogue states, therefore, provide test cases to clarify the breadth, depth, and consequentialness of the US ASA in world affairs vis-à-vis the relationship between US security and global security.