Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-192).

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

The hosting of mega events encapsulates different opportunities and benefits for host countries or regions. Event management constitutes one of the most exciting and fastest growing forms of leisure, business and tourism-related phenomena. Their special appeal stems from the limited duration and innate uniqueness of each event, which distinguishes them from permanent institutions and built attractions. Events and festivals have the ability to attract a large number of visitors for a specific time period to a specific destination. The frequency of events is evident for the success of a tourism destination. The hosting of mega events requires a detailed process of bidding for international events. This study focused on the bidding process for hosting such events, with specific reference to the role of government in the bidding process. The value of this study lies in the key success factors that were identified by a comparative analysis that was done between the FlFA 2006 Soccer Bid between Germany and South Africa. Although South Africa's bid was unsuccessful, the country still delivered an outstanding technical bid and is regarded as a serious competitor for future events. South Africa already proved itself, through hosting the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Two major recommendations were made, including a FlFA World Cup Information Centre and a checklist for successful bidding. The FlFA World Cup Information Centre's aim must be to provide and disseminate information to communities. This will not only encourage community involvement. but also create support for the event. The marketing programme, staff information, maintenance plans, ecological balance, budget concerns, event evaluation process, the role of the organising committee and security matters are the key factors in developing such a centre. The checklist for creating a successful bid cover a number of issues regarding operational planning and management. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

As we near the 60th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, questions still remain about its salience and our ability to provide equal educational opportunities to students of all races and ethnicities. Additionally, scholars and observers alike note the continual shift toward resegregation in American schools, but few have probed exactly why this occurs and the empirical implications of this shift. As such, this dissertation project explores the “new” political domain of school desegregation policy to understand why some school districts are resegregating while others maintain their racial balance, and the substantive implications of this divide for minority students. The goal of this research is two-fold. First, I investigate the determinants of desegregation policy, arguing that a set of institutional (representation), structural, and management factors best predict a district’s level of racial balance as an indicator of the active pursuit of desegregation. Second, I examine student outcomes and performance under both educational settings—racially balanced and imbalanced—to determine where students fare better and how much the racial context matters to student outcomes. I frame this question theoretically in the organizational theory research on external control, in which I argue that the policy environment, in this case, the racial context as denoted by the level of racial balance, influences the extent to which structure, representation, and management affect outcomes. I compare outcomes under the two policy environments, racially balanced and imbalanced districts, to see their effect on the noted factors and where students fare better. The general results show that the broad assumption and desegregation literature finding that racially balanced schools are better for minority students is not supported. Minority students can also gain the same if not better outcomes in racially imbalanced districts. I also find that while the tested predictors play an important role, the policy environment significantly contributes to their role and outcomes. For policy makers and practitioners this means that one way to gain the equality that the Brown decision sought is to shift the focus on improving board and teacher representation or management strategies and practices. The dissertation challenges assumptions of political decisions and outcomes that fail to consider the external policy environment.

No description available.

The Brazilian state apparatus consists of a patchwork built upon a cascade of reform attempts over a span of sixty years. Multiple layers of legislation have produced a complex and inconsistent institutional landscape that has made policy change a difficult task. Four major public management policy reforms resulted in significant constitutional changes in the form of constitutional provisions, and they reshaped the modus operandi of the federal administration. The approach adopted here is comparative because it is oriented towards identifying similarities and differences among four different cases that occurred in Brazil during the 20th century. The pattern of these cases is intriguing because the frequency, variety, and speed of the reforms followed a zigzag course, and thus do not correspond to the gradual long-term and cumulative transformations that took place in many developed countries. Each case study corresponds to a specific historical episode. The material is organised and analytically narrated around interconnected events that took place within the episode. The events were significant in themselves and they clearly highlighted aspects of the means-ends chains. The framework adopted for the analysis was developed by Kingdon to explain pre-decisional and decisional stages of the policy-making process. The reason for this is the Brazilian context, characterised by fluidity, unclear technologies, chance, temporal sorting, and attention allocation. Policy change effectively took place when events in the political, problematic and policy streams converged to generate windows of opportunity, during which times public entrepreneurs pushed their policy solutions through the upper echelons of decision-making arenas. The investigation is centred on the dynamics of policy processes. The main conclusion of the thesis refers to the essential role played by entrepreneurs in getting the reforms approved. The reformers' influence in establishing the default implementation model varied in the four cases because of problems of political feasibility, rotation of reformers, policy discontinuities, inconsistencies in transitory legislation, and lack of top-down political support.

No description available.

The hosting of mega events encapsulates different opportunities and benefits for host countries or regions. Event management constitutes one of the most exciting and fastest growing forms of leisure, business and tourism-related phenomena. Their special appeal stems from the limited duration and innate uniqueness of each event, which distinguishes them from permanent institutions and built attractions. Events and festivals have the ability to attract a large number of visitors for a specific time period to a specific destination. The frequency of events is evident for the success of a tourism destination. The hosting of mega events requires a detailed process of bidding for international events. This study focused on the bidding process for hosting such events, with specific reference to the role of government in the bidding process. The value of this study lies in the key success factors that were identified by a comparative analysis that was done between the FlFA 2006 Soccer Bid between Germany and South Africa. Although South Africa's bid was unsuccessful, the country still delivered an outstanding technical bid and is regarded as a serious competitor for future events. South Africa already proved itself, through hosting the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Two major recommendations were made, including a FlFA World Cup Information Centre and a checklist for successful bidding. The FlFA World Cup Information Centre's aim must be to provide and disseminate information to communities. This will not only encourage community involvement. but also create support for the event. The marketing programme, staff information, maintenance plans, ecological balance, budget concerns, event evaluation process, the role of the organising committee and security matters are the key factors in developing such a centre. The checklist for creating a successful bid cover a number of issues regarding operational planning and management. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Syracuse University, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-198).

Thesis (PH.D.) -- Syracuse University, 2002. / "Publication number AAT 3065177 "