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Thesis or Dissertation The Commons Dilemma: A Quantitative Review(1990) Hine, Donald W."Commons delimmas involve a conflict between individual and group interests with respect to the management of limited shared resources. Many of the most serious problems facing mankind (e.g. the greenhouse effect, the destruction of South American rainforests, ocean pollution etc.) can be recast in commons dilemma terms. Within psychology, the bulk of commons dilemma research has focused on identifying factors that increase cooperation among consumers (and hence resource management efficiency) of shared resources."Thesis or Dissertation Unheard Voices in International Environmental Agreements: Implications of Stakeholder Absence on the Legitimacy and Efficacy of ISO 14001(2002) Raines, Susan Summers"What is the impact on legitimacy and efficacy when key stakeholders are absent during the creation of international agreements? Can these international institutions adequately address the needs of all countries when crafted in the absence of developing countries? While hegemonic powers often provide the leadership necessary to get international initiatives and institutions started, they also run the risk of alienating lesser powers whose cooperation is necessary for their implementation and success. This study examines the process through which one international environmental institution (ISO 14001) was created and analyzes its perceived legitimacy and efficacy among developing country stakeholders relative to developed country stakeholders. Data for this project come from interviews with 42 delegates to the ISO 14000 standards-drafting sessions and 133 surveys from businesses in 16 developed and developing countries. It finds that perceptions of regime legitimacy and efficacy are positively correlated to the level of participation in regime formation. Secondly, while the participation of developing country negotiators may have resulted in the formation of a stronger regime, there is no evidence to suggest that ISO 14001 certified firms in developing countries are receiving fewer benefits from certification than are their peers in wealthier countries. In fact, developing country firms that are able to join into the ISO 14001 regime may be experiencing greater benefits, in terms of regulatory relief and economic savings from reduces resource use. In sum, it appears that the absence of developing country stakeholders has resulted in perceptions of reduced legitimacy and efficacy for the excluded negotiators, but these perceptions have not trickled down to the firm level."Thesis or Dissertation Visions of Democracy in the Information Society: The Theories of Daniel Bell, Manuel Castells, and Yochai Benkler(2020) Katsanevas, Andreas"In this dissertation, I unearth the common threads and subtle evolution of democratic ideals in mainstream theories of the information society that span over thirty years. I apply the lens of democratic theory, with a primary focus on liberal and republican traditions, to perform a close reading of seminal works such as Daniel Bell’s (1973) Post-Industrial Society, Manuel Castells’ (1996; 1997; 1998) Information Age trilogy, and Yochai Benkler’s (2006) Wealth of Networks. Through a comparative analysis, I expose the democratic canvas upon which these scholars paint their images of a rising social organization that is structured around flows of information and knowledge. Two democratic axioms stand at the center of an emergent model of information democracy. The first axiom prescribes the ideal democratic subject with the affective trait of social awareness; this model of democracy, I argue, presumes that its citizens are always ready and willing to understand, to share, and to empathize with others in their community. The second axiom refers to the idea that technologically facilitated communication can help deliver, grow, and sustain the individual citizens’ capacity for social awareness. Flows of information operate as the democratic citizens’ eyes and ears into the lives of others, facilitating mutual understanding. Thus, democracy in the information society realizes the common good through the affective orientation of each and every individual towards the social other, and through flows of information and knowledge that support such an orientation. The presence of these two axioms allows these scholars, in turn, to weld two ideals usually considered antithetical to each other – the liberal ideal of individual freedom and the republican ideal of the common good."Thesis or Dissertation Community-Based Conservation of the Callo de Hacha Fishery by the Comcáac Indians, Sonora, Mexico(2002) Basurto, Xavier"In recent times, fishery management scholars have suggested the need to develop a better suited small-scale fisheries management approach for developing countries, than the one offered by conventional Western fishery science. This alternative approach is based on the development of better resource access controls, community-based management, and an increased use of local traditional fishery knowledge. "In response, this research aimed to understand what are the most important social and ecological elements that contribute to the successful community-based management of the Seri Indians' callo de hacha (pen shell scallops) fishery. Toward this end, Seri controls over access to the fishery, as well as the integration of traditional ecological knowledge into local fishing practices were documented and analyzed. "Results showed that the success of this locally managed fishery originate from a good fit between well-defined property rights, locally designed institutions, and the natural system. "Outside fishers are allowed to fish in Seri waters on a regular basis, in exchange for benefits to the Seri. The integration of Seri communal worldview, fishing norms and beliefs, into local management rules, allows them to achieve low-cost monitoring and successful exclusion from their fishing grounds when necessary. Therefore, this case study suggests that absolute exclusion is not necessary to avoid overexploitation and the attainment of successful local management of coastal fishing resources. "Some of the most important Seri fishing practices that might be responsible for promoting resilience and sustainable use of the callo de hacha fishery are: multi-species management, existence of no-take fishing areas, and rotation of fishing grounds."Thesis or Dissertation Soziale Netzwerke im kollektiven Handeln und Entscheiden: das Allmende-Problem einer Dörfergemeinschaft im Nordwesten Senegals(2013) Faye, Malick"This study investigates the influence of social structures and social networks on collective decision making of a fragmented, heterogeneous committee which is responsible for the extraction and distribution of a common-pool resource, water, in an agro-pastoral village community in Senegal. It shows how self-management of this common good succeeds despite of conflict and distrust between peasants and semi-nomads. The analysis combines, for the first time, the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework with social interaction models of Biased Net Theory and dynamics of committee decision making, thereupon extending the analytical approach. The study reveals that collective action in an institution depends upon the segmented structure of the social interactions, the integrative character of the institution, the representation of the various subgroups in the committee, and the existence of an influential core of decision makers who occupy also central positions in the villages."Thesis or Dissertation Neighborhood Health Centers: An Analysis of Collective Action(1992) Ray, Dixie Wiles"This dissertation examines the factors that contributed to successful collective action in establishing and operating neighborhood health centers in low resource urban areas. Persons involved with the health centers over a twenty year period were identified and focused in depth interviews conducted. Historic documents, including correspondence, reports, minutes and newspaper articles were reviewed. Explanation of collective action in the low resource neighborhoods required the integration resource mobilization theory with expansions of Olson's logic of collective action."Thesis or Dissertation Claiming Reindeer in Norway: Towards a Theory of the Dynamics of Property Regime Formation and Change(2005) Bergstrøm, Cassandra"The study focuses on the formation and change of property regimes with respect to the reindeer of Norway. The aims of the study are to use the Saami-reindeer nexus in Norway: to understand the emergence and change of property regimes; to identify sources of contradiction and conflict in the claims made on resources or goods; to explore how conflicts are played out - regulated or not, resolved or not - and the consequences of these processes; to examine the politics of property, including the role and impact of the politics of non-property issues and policies on property regimes; and to identify other factors that influence and affect property regimes, including unintended consequences of policies, and exogenous events including accidents."Thesis or Dissertation Polycentric Governance: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration(2015) Tarko, Vlad"The dissertation overviews and elaborates the concept of polycentricity, and applies it to two cases. Spontaneous order plays an important role in many non-market systems. But not all spontaneous orders are productive or sustainable. The concept of polycentricity aims to describe the productive subset of spontaneous orders, including both markets and non-market forms of organization. Broadly speaking, a polycentric system of governance is a collection of heterogeneous decision centers acting independently, but under a common system of rules and/or norms limiting negative externalities and free riding. The role of the overarching set of rules or norms is to assure that the spontaneous order is indeed productive and sustainable."Thesis or Dissertation River Landscapes and Land Use: Investigating Patterns and Relationships in Wales(2009) Heenan, Tom William"Policy is beginning to encourage the reversal of fragmentation of the British landscape, and there are many studies now looking at how best to connect habitat, and woodland habitat in particular. Rivers are believed to be important natural linkages in the landscape, and some studies highlight their current contribution to connectivity in Wales. Understanding the patterns of land use between and within rivers can help contribute to plans to increase connectivity, and help understand the implications of such plans. "This study utilised GIS data and software to examine land use patterns in Welsh river catchments, with reference to the longitudinal river slope (patterns between rivers) and the position within the river catchment (patterns within rivers). The cover of different land-uses was calculated from habitat data, and slope was calculated from elevation data. "The cover of 'semi-natural woodland', 'settlement' and 'agriculture' were all found to have a negative relationship to river slope. The reverse was found for 'plantation and felled woodland' and 'other semi-natural habitats' (which included grassland, heath and bog). Within-river, the patterns were much stronger but differed greatly between rivers. To better understand the processes occurring in the Welsh landscape future studies should look to additional landscape characteristics and to look further within rivers. Scale may also be important, as it is predicted that the size of the area examined around a river will have an effect on the relationship found, but it was outside the scope of this study to investigate such effects."Thesis or Dissertation Stigmergic Collaboration: A Theoretical Framework for Mass Collaboration(2007) Elliott, Mark"This thesis presents an application-oriented theoretical framework for generalised and specific collaborative contexts with a special focus on Internet-based mass collaboration. The proposed framework is informed by the author's many years of collaborative arts practice and the design, building and moderation of a number of online collaborative environments across a wide range of contexts and applications. The thesis provides transdisciplinary architecture for describing the underlying mechanisms that have enabled the emergence of mass collaboration and other activities associated with 'Web 2.0' by incorporating a collaboratively developed definition and general framework for collaboration and collective activity, as well as theories of swarm intelligence, stigmergy, and distributed cognition. "Accompanying this creative arts thesis is a DVD-Rom which includes offline versions of the three Internet based collaborative environments designed, built and implemented in accordance with the frameworks for digital stigmergy and mass collaboration developed in the written work. The creative works in conjunction with the written thesis help to explore and more rigorously define the collaborative process in general, while testing the theory that stigmergy is an inherent component of collaborative processes which incorporate collective material production. "Supported by a range of contemporary examples of Internet activity, including the accompanying creative works, it is found that stigmergy is a deeply rooted mechanism inherent in not only traditional material collaborative processes, but a range of emerging online practices which may be broadly categorised as digital stigmergic cooperation and collaboration. This latter class enables the extreme scaling seen in mass collaborative projects such as Wikipedia.org, open source software projects and the massive, multiplayer environment, Second Life. This scaling is achieved through a range of attributes which are examined, such as the provision of a localised site of individualistic engagement which reduces demands placed upon participants by the social negotiation of contributions while increasing capacity for direct and immediate creative participation via digital workspaces. Also examined are a range of cultural, economic and sociopolitical impacts which emerge as a direct result of mass collaboration's highly distributed, non-market based, peer-production processes, all of which are shown to have important implications for the further transformation of our contemporary information and media landscape."