Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 56 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 40-43).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 338-369). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 390-421).

Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1995. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2953. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 84).

Through an analysis of the political structure, fiscal system, and financing mechanisms at the local level in China, this study seeks to investigate the incentives that prompted local Chinese governments to overinvest in the solar photovoltaics (PV) industry. I find that local governments have several incentives to promote economic development by supporting local industries; their support of China’s PV industry illustrates these incentives. Specifically, we find that there are three major incentives for local governments in China to overinvest in the solar PV industry. First, due to the nature of China’s tax policy, local governments have supported the PV sector to increase local revenue. Second, as these industries have become significant sources of local employment, it is hard to stop supporting them now that PV companies are having difficulties. Third, local officials seek promotions under the economic indicator system by gaining higher GDP. PV companies have been very helpful in contributing to local economic growth, thereby advancing the careers of government officials. Farsighted provinces like Jiangsu used the strength of their existing industrial base and favorable geographical location (proximity to ports) to attract visionary innovators and investors for building their PV manufacturing bases. Thanks to the distorted local political and economic incentives in China, this early wave of PV industry investments preceded a flood of imitating local governments that sought to expand their own PV manufacturing. This uncoordinated, irrational exuberance stemming from distorted, bottom-up local incentives has led to the massive PV manufacturing overcapacity in China. / text

The use of the internet and related information and communication technologies (ICT) in public administration (known as 'e-government') has gained notable space within the processes of public sector reform. Arguably, ICT provide an attractive strategy to reorganize internal government tasks, routines and processes and to make them more efficient, responsive as well as accountable to citizens. Yet, the linkages between public values and e-government programmes remain understudies or taken for granted. My research focuses on this particular aspect of public sector reforms and organising. It engages with the debates towards modernisation of central government services while contributing to discussion of the relation between technologically induced programmes and public values over time. Using critical discourse analysis, I trace the discourses on public values and technology within a longitudinal case of a technology-enabled platform to facilitate foreign trade regulations in Mexico - the Mexican Single Window for Foreign Trade. In my empirical analysis, I examine a combination of key government texts and extensive data from fieldwork to address two related questions: what public values are presented, enacted or marginalised during the trajectory of the case, and how these values are enacted and operationalised into technology over time. The analysis reveals four distinctive discourses on public values and technology: 'technical efficiency', 'legality and honesty', 'robustness' and '(forced) cooperation'. The analysis shows that while the technical efficiency cluster - commonly associated to the new public management ethos - is dominating, it cohabits with and is reinforced by other values more broadly related to traditional public administration and the bureaucratic ethos - that is, legality and honesty. In addition, the analysis shows that these four distinctive discourses have been materialised in technology in different degrees, giving rise to tensions and contestation over time. In light of the findings, I draw implications for theorizing public values and technology innovation within public sector reforms in a given context.

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This dissertation examines the possible impact of direct political participation by urban popular movements at the level of local government. It is argued that these movements harbour a democratic potential, which is contained in their social, cultural, and political practices, as well as in the collective identities of their participants. The relevance of this democratic potential derives from the fact that it could serve to democratize other political actors, particularly political parties, and to render local political institutions more democratic and efficient, depending on three conditions. First, effective political decentralization has to result in the creation of institutional openings for popular participation at the local level. Second, in order to overcome their various limitations and to project their potential for change into the political arena, urban popular movements have to form alliances with other actors, particularly political parties. Third, since such alliances often result in cooptive pressures, urban popular movements should strive to form multiple alliances with more than one actor in order to better preserve their autonomy. In the second part of the dissertation, this theoretical framework is applied to a study of popular participation at different levels of local government in Lima, Peru. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

In this dissertation, a study is undertaken of the administration of the valuation of property at the local government level with special reference to the Durban Municipality. The establishment of local authorities is a direct result of the Government's policy to provide goods and services for local communities. Consequently, it is significant to locate the place of local authorities in the constellation of public institutions, and to examine their rapidly increasing number of functions. Past legislation, authorising the establishment of local authorities, coupled with a discussion of the Regional Services Councils Act, 1985 (Act 109 of 1985), provide the necessary insight required for the understanding of the property valuation function by local authorities. The principles pertaining to the theory of valuation are explored, with particular emphasis on the impact of supply and demand on the valuation of property. The valuer, who performs numerous functions, is an important cog in the valuation process. Since the valuation of property is a prerequisite to the rating of property, it is also useful to examine the latter aspect to appreciate the interaction between valuation and rating. Legislation pertaining to valuation is voluminous. At the Central Government level, the Department of Public Works and Land Affairs is responsible for the valuation of property. The Expropriation Act, 1975 (Act 63 of 1975), has played a significant role over the judicial influence of property valuation. The valuation profession has taken a significant step forward since 1982, with the promulgation of the Valuers' Act, 1982 (Act 23 of 1982), which emphasizes the necessity of raising the standard of the valuation of immovable property throughout the Republic of South Africa. At the provincial level, separate ordinances, pertaining to property valuation, exist for each province. Finally, local authorities promulgate bylaws to regulate the property industry. There is an abundance of literature on the methods of property valuation. The different methods of valuation are the Direct Sales Comparison Method, the Income Method, the Land Residual Method and the Cost Method. The aforementioned Methods of valuation are particularly suitable to the estimation of the value of vacant land, flats, townships and schools, respectively. The scope of the functions o f the Durban Municipality's Estates Department has grown so vastly since 1914 that there are ten clearly demarcated valuation zones presently. The aforementioned Department's intricate organisational structure, with clearly defined functions delegated to the divisions, sections and subsections, ensure that tasks pertaining to property valuation are concluded efficiently and effectively. The degree of subjectivity in the valuation of residential properties has been drastically reduced with the introduction of the computer at the Estates Department. The work procedures pertaining to the drawing up of the Valuation Roll and the functioning of the Valuation Appeal Board, respectively, ensure efficient and effective control in property valuation. In the light of the aforementioned observations, the following recommendations are made: (i) amend the Valuers' Act, 1982 (Act 23 of 1982), to reserve specific valuation tasks for valuers; (ii) that the valuer should persevere in his studies on property valuation; (iii) that the valuer should adhere rigidly, at all times, to the guidelines of public administration; (iv) the designation of 'building valuer' should be changed; (v) the Durban City Council's rate of investment in property should be accelerated; (vi) the training and orientation of valuers should be an ongoing process. (vii) separate terms of reference should be assigned to the Estates Department; (viii) separate departments should be created for valuations and estates, respectively; (ix) a simply worded and uniform valuation ordinance should be implemented in the Republic of South Africa; (x) a uniform method of valuation, for a particular type of property, should be introduced; (xi) land and buildings should be estimated at market value; (xii) the services of a full-time Senior Legal Adviser are essential; (xiii) the unearned increment of the capital value of land should also be taxed; (xiv) the frequency of valuations should increase during periods of accelerated expansion; (xv) a uniform rating system should be implemented throughout the Republic of South Africa; (xvi) the negotiation process should be used as a cross-check to enhance the validity of valuations; (xvii) the fees paid to the members of the Valuation Appeal Board should be increased; and (xviii) larger pieces of vacant land should be taxed at a higher rate. / Thesis (MPA)-University of Durban-Westville, 1987.

Most research on Chinese protests’ outcomes focuses on aspects such as the strength, resources, and strategy choices of these protests. Although studies on Chinese contentious politics have taken great consideration of the significant role played by the state in the political process, little attention has been paid to the state itself which is actually the provider of “political opportunity”. With a state-centered perspective, this thesis examines how elite division within the authority shapes the Chinese local governments’ policy responses to popular protests. Based on a case of protest in Shifang, an environmental protest targeting the Shifang local government on its construction of a chemical plant, this study shows an elite division between the Shifang local government and the police force who were dispatched to Shifang to maintain stability by its vertical professional leadership and how this division has contributed to a successful policy outcome of this protest. To further understand the Shifang case in a larger institutional background of China’s modern political climate, this chapter provides a possible explanation that the elite division in the Shifang case is an embodiment of the structural division between Chinese local governments and the stability maintenance system which has grown into a powerful interests group as a result of the policy priority of maintaining rigid social stability in the last decade.