Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Political Science, August, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Text in Afrikaans / This dissertation is focused on questions on how the metropolitan municipalities, with specific reference to the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (CTMM), originated and developed. Against this background, the study consists of a theoretical exploration of the nature of the metropolis as a feature, as well as specific concepts related to it, an investigation into the most important metropolitan problems and an outline of the historical complications regarding the origin of metropolitan municipalities. In addition to this, personnel matters, financial relations and systems, the integrated development plans, ward committees and the role of councillors within the context of the CTMM were also investigated. / Public Administration and Management / M.P.A.

[pt] Este trabalho buscou analisar a cooperação intergovernamental entre o governo federal e o governo estadual do Rio de Janeiro no período de 2007 a 2016. Tal cooperação foi resultado de um contexto histórico – e de condições políticas específicas - no qual foi possível uma aliança política nacional entre o PMDB e o PT. Desde a mudança da capital para Brasília, em 1960, culminando com a fusão da Guanabara-Estado do Rio de Janeiro, em 1975, foi imperioso para o novo estado se reposicionar no jogo federativo nacional, que ganhou nova dinâmica com a redemocratização e com o ambiente inaugurado pela Constituição de 1988. A ascensão do PMDB ao governo do estado do Rio de Janeiro, nos anos 2000, com o Governo Sérgio Cabral, mobilizou expectativas positivas, diante da possiblidade de tratamento diferenciado por parte do governo federal, com repercussão favorável nos investimentos em infraestrutura, nas áreas sociais e na segurança pública. Entretanto, a cooperação entre os dois níveis federativos mostrou suas limitações ao longo do tempo. No plano político, a parceria deu sinais de esgotamento a partir da eleição de 2014, com a ruptura da aliança estadual entre o PMDB e o PT, e mais efetivamente com o final do Governo Dilma Rousseff, indicando seu caráter conjuntural. Além disso, problemas de improbidade administrativa no âmbito do governo estadual, reveladas nos anos recentes, mostraram a permanência de práticas políticas antigas e condenáveis, e ausência de mecanismos de controle mais efetivos na realização de obras públicas. No plano econômico, a pesquisa mostrou evidências de que a cooperação intergovenamental não construiu, no período de 2007 a 2016, as condições necessárias para que o estado fluminense pudesse tornar sustentável o bom momento de desenvolvimento que vivenciou no início da parceria, e também pouco mudou a reduzida autonomia fiscal do estado do Rio de Janeiro, próxima dos estados mais dependentes do governo federal, o que explica em boa medida o colapso das contas públicas ocorrido em junho de 2016. / [en] This work aims to analyze the intergovernmental cooperation between the federal government and the state government of Rio de Janeiro in the period from 2007 to 2016. Such cooperation was the result of a historical context - and specific political conditions - in which a national political alliance was possible between PMDB and PT. Since the move of the capital to Brasília, in 1960, culminating in the merger of Guanabara-State of Rio de Janeiro, in 1975, it was imperative for the new state to reposition itself in the national federative game, which gained new dynamics with the redemocratization and with the environment inaugurated by the 1988 Constitution. The rise of the PMDB to the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro, in the 2000s, with the Sérgio Cabral Government, mobilized positive expectations, given the possibility of different treatment by the federal government, with favorable repercussions in the investments in infrastructure, social areas and public security. However, cooperation between the two federal levels has shown its limitations over time. On the political level, the partnership showed signs of exhaustion as of the 2014 election, with the rupture of the state alliance between the PMDB and the PT, and more effectively with the end of the Dilma Rousseff government, indicating its cyclical nature. In addition, problems of administrative impropriety within the scope of the state government, revealed in recent years, have shown the permanence of old and reprehensible political practices, and the absence of more effective control mechanisms in carrying out public works. At the economic level, the research showed evidence that intergovernmental cooperation did not build, in the period from 2007 to 2016, the necessary conditions for the state of Rio de Janeiro to make sustainable the good moment of development that it experienced at the beginning of the partnership, and also little has changed the reduced fiscal autonomy of the state of Rio de Janeiro, close to the states most dependent on the federal government, which largely explains the collapse of public accounts in June 2016.

In any given week glance through the nation's leading newspapers and popular magazines and chances are you will find an article on the nation's medically uninsured. In chiding a country that allows 16% of its citizens to suffer the risks associated with that lack of insurance, reference is frequently given to the exemplary coverage provided to federal government employees by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. What of the benefits provided to state government employees? How good is the coverage, and, of particular interest, are there significant variations across states and what factors might contribute to those differences? This study assesses the level of health care benefits afforded to state government employees in all fifty states and considers the potential impact of political ideology, political culture, economic conditions and public employee union membership in influencing variations in those benefits across the states. The state paid portion of a family’s health care premium was adjusted to allow for differences in health care costs across the states resulting in a range of the level of benefits from $318 per month in Mississippi to $1834 per month in New Hampshire. A state’s economic condition, the level of public union membership, and a moralistic political culture were all shown to have a positive association with the level of benefits. Political ideology, defined as the degree of liberalism, was, however, not shown to have a statistical association. Understanding health care benefit differences between states and the factors that drive those differences has the potential of improving lives and the functioning of state governments. Scant information on those differences exist in the current literature; this study has developed a baseline of information and an assessment of driving influences that will, hopefully, stimulate additional approaches and research efforts. Benefits, in general, have been shown in the literature to impact the ability of state governments to attract and maintain employees of merit. Advocates of increased benefits can utilize these study results to place their requests in a broader context.