Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collection

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 10 of 26
  • Item
    A Comparative Perspective on "Public Participation" in Environmental Protection in the United States and China
    (2021) Zhang, Ran
    Increasingly, severe pollution in China is drawing more and more attention in recent years. We are seeing rampant incidents of pollution, such as the Beijing smog, due to heavy industrialization. It is in everyone’s interest to develop environmental management approaches especially those related to laws and to their use for pollution reduction. Since technology, along with the desire for rapid economic growth, is occurring at a rapid pace, China has been very active in addressing pollution by means of legislation and management. But still much has to be done. As long as pollution is primarily considered as something that the government alone should manage, the basic motivation and incentives for public participation in environmental management will remain lacking in China. It is also necessary to recognize that the government (by means of administration), at times, is not the sole and only effective player when “government failure” occurs in environmental battle. Better legal constructions of environmental protection in China will help ensure that non-administrative powers can be brought to bear on pollution. This dissertation compares and analyzes “public participation” in environmental protection in China and the U.S. It showcases the effectiveness and importance of public participation in the U.S. This dissertation concludes by proposing measures to strengthen public participation in environmental protection in China.
  • Item
    Human Rights and the Environment in Prisons: A Case Study of Persons Deprived of Liberty in Porto Alegre Central Prison, Brazil, Before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
    (2019-12) Pereira, Daniel Neves
    Human rights and the Environment are in the process of an ongoing approximation that started in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration and had its heyday in 2018 when the Inter-American Court of Human Rights recognized an autonomous right to a healthy environment under the American Convention. The interdependence of both regimes shapes legal effects either of the civil and political rights or economic and social rights. Yet the ongoing approximation between the regime over the years, environmental rights are still neglected in prisons, even when hazards to the environment create poor conditions of detention, affecting life, health, dignity, and welfare of the inmates. This thesis will address the topic of human rights and the environment in prisons, studying the case Persons Deprived of Liberty in Porto Alegre Central Prison, Brazil, before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The study will focus on the differences of natures between human rights and environmental rights and their effects on the use of the machinery of the Inter-American system of protection of human rights. The objective of this study is to propose a new interpretation of the international human rights documents in the Inter-American system based on the approximation of both regimes and to bring new perspectives to the issues of justiciability and enforceability of the environmental rights in prisons in the regional system.
  • Item
    The Reason Why Ethiopia's First Filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) Violated the Equitable and Reasonable Utilization Principle and Two Lessons From the Mekong and Indus River Basins
    (2021-01) Teklu, Daniel Teshome; Emmert, Frank
    This thesis addresses the legal issues around Ethiopia’s first filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The construction of the dam on the Blue Nile river raises concerns among Egypt and Sudan, the other riparian states on the river. Ethiopia contributes all the waters of the Blue Nile river but had not benefited from the river, whereas Sudan and Egypt utilize the river for hydroelectric power generation, irrigation and consumption. Recently, Ethiopia built what is projected to be the largest hydroelectric dam on the African continent. Egypt and Sudan worry that the dam will give Ethiopia control over the waters of the Blue Nile. This thesis explores the development of international water law principles from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Those principles have gained acceptance by the Blue Nile riparian states and are incorporated into the most recent agreement they signed in 2015. One of the principles of international water law Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia agreed on is the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization. This principle requires all riparian states to take into account the interests of the other riparian states. This thesis argues, Ethiopia violated the equitable and reasonable utilization principle during the first filling of the GERD because it failed to take into account the existing uses of the Blue Nile river which allocates all the waters to Egypt and Sudan.
  • Item
    ASEAN Economic Community
    (2019) Sangsuvan, Kitsuron
  • Item
    Islamic Banking in the United States
    (2018-04-05) Altower, Alhadi Abdallah
  • Item
    Reforming Saudi Arabian Intellectual Property Law
    (2018) Alkhalaf, Abdulrahman Abdullah
    Intellectual property refers to the creativity and valuable creations of the mind. Intellectual property is like other property in terms of the right to own and benefits from it, as well as to prevent others from dealing with it without prior permission. However, intellectual property has a unique character since it is considered as an intangible asset. The most prominent areas of intellectual property are Copyright, Trademark, Trade Secret and Patent. It is important to have a law that protects intellectual property rights so as not to waste the rightful owners’ efforts and investments of time and money in vain. However, more important than the existence of the law is the effective application of it that produces positive results. Saudi Arabia renewed its intellectual property laws at the beginning of the twenty-first century; Law of Trademarks (2002), Copyright Law (2003) and Law of Patents, Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits, Plant Varieties, and Industrial Designs (2004) to comply with international standards for the Protection of Intellectual Property. This thesis studies intellectual property law in Saudi Arabia by highlighting the position of Shariah on intellectual property rights as the basic rule of governance in Saudi Arabia, current intellectual property laws, international intellectual property conventions which Saudi Arabia is a signatory for, and the extent to which intellectual property laws are applied in Saudi Arabia.