Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-112).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Minnesota, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 293-307).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Uppsala University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 260-278).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-78) Also available in print.

Mexico's cultural norms have been the subject of repeated inquiries because democratic and authoritarian patterns appear concomitantly. However, few have focused on the potential demographic and contextual sources of these divergent results. This study attempts to clarify the sources of Mexico's political culture, and then determine the extent to which these factors affect political participation. Statistical analysis of a LAPOP dataset from 2006 makes limited progress to this end. The sources of Mexican political culture remain somewhat a mystery, although some intriguing results were found. Most notably, demographic traits appear to have little influence on political culture variables and political participation rates in Mexico. In fact, political culture norms and political participation appears consistent across Mexico's infamous social and economic lines.

The following premise is based on the ideas of social theorists who have contributed to understanding the importance of image in society. This proposal argues that political participation is susceptible to exploitation in the form of conspicuous consumption as defined by Thorstein Veblen. The analyses that follow will test the degree to which Americans who demonstrate more traditional forms of conspicuous consumption also tend to show more activity in political venues. While the correlation of these two variables is not sufficient to demonstrate cause and effect, it may be significant enough to attract more researchers to this question: are Americans using political involvement to positively influence the way that their social status is perceived by others?

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of budget management and planning in the · Mafikeng Local Municipality with a view to determining the implementation of performance budgeting. Structured interviews in the form of self-administered questionnaires were utilised as the measuring instrument. Information on the annual reports was also utilised to understand the situation at the Mafikeng Local Municipality. The municipal manager, the chief financial officer and the members of the municipal council were the selected participants in the study. Representatives of the labour unions were also selected to participate in the study. The study employed two methods of data analysis, the quantitative and qualitative data to determine the empirical and theoretical findings of the study. The findings of both the qualitative and quantitative analyses were similar as they revealed that the municipality had plans and budget in place. However, what was lacking was the alignment of the budgeting with the planning. The non-alignment of the budgets with the plans resulted in the municipality under-performing in terms of planned activities as well as spending patterns. Gaps in the planning and budgeting systems of the municipality were evident, as the findings indicated that budgeting was done separately at the finance department and planning was done elsewhere. Comparative studies of international countries indicate that with proper implementation of performance budgeting, organisations are in a better position to plan and budget at the same time. The recommendations from the study indicated that there was a lot that needed to be done by the Mafikeng Local Municipality to ensure that plans are aligned with the budget. The key recommendation of the study is that further research be conducted beyond 2011 in order to examine how far performance budgeting has progressed and to establish the opinion of the auditor general since the time of the study. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of budget management and planning in the Mafikeng Local Municipality with a view to determining the implementation of performance budgeting. Structured interviews in the form of self-administered questionnaires were utilised as the measuring instrument. Information on the annual reports was also utilised to understand the situation at the Mafikeng Local Municipality. The municipal manager, the chief financial officer and the members of the municipal council were the selected participants in the study. Representatives of the labour unions were also selected to participate in the study. The study employed two methods of data analysis, the quantitative and qualitative data to determine the empirical and theoretical findings of the study. The findings of both the qualitative and quantitative analyses were similar as they revealed that the municipality had plans and budget in place. However, what was lacking was the alignment of the budgeting with the planning. The non-alignment of the budgets with the plans resulted in the municipality under-performing in terms of planned activities as well as spending patterns. Gaps in the planning and budgeting systems of the municipality were evident, as the findings indicated that budgeting was done separately at the finance department and planning was done elsewhere. Comparative studies of international countries indicate that with proper implementation of performance budgeting, organisations are in a better position to plan and budget at the same time. The recommendations from the study indicated that there was a lot that needed to be done by the Mafikeng Local Municipality to ensure that plans are aligned with the budget. The key recommendation of the study is that further research be conducted beyond 2011 in order to examine how far performance budgeting has progressed and to establish the opinion of the auditor general since the time of the study. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012

This mini-dissertation examines the role of community participation in the Integrated Development Planning (lDP) Process in the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality; and to establish how the Municipality seek to facilitate community participation. Furthermore, the study examines whether citizens are provided with genuine opportunities to influence decision-making at the local level from the stages of prioritizing, allocation of operational expenditure and implementation of developmental projects in their municipality. In addition, constraints hindering community participation in the lDP process are also examined. Finally, the study concludes that the nature and extent of community participation in the Integrated Development Planning Process of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality is that of consulting and informing the community but lacks effective bottom-up input from the citizens. Even though the municipality holds frequent public hearings and neighbourhood meetings with various stakeholders, the councillors and community representatives are just co-opted in the lDP Forums without any power to influence the council, while the officials retain the right to make final decisions . / Thesis (Soc.Sc.(Developmental Studies) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012