Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1988. / Also available in print.

This dissertation is mainly anchored in police administrative neutrality. First of all, according to political literature, it analyzes the role of the police when they execute the governance power in a state. Secondly, from police science literature, it explores the reasons the police involve with politics. Thirdly, based on legislative procedure, it analyzes the different opinions a government and legislature have regarding to ¡§civil service administrative neutrality.¡¨ This dissertation also, according to the study of administrative neutrality from foreign administrative law and professors, seeks the criterion of police administrative neutrality. Finally, throughout the previous media reports, it sorts out the police administrative bias and turns it into study material and judgmental source for this thesis. The author discovers three steps to examine police administrative neutrality, and delivers a case study: mass media expose police administrative bias during the police enforcement tasks of the 11th presidential election. 1. Rule of law: to analyze if the police achieves tasks based on law, and due process of law or standard operating procedures. 2. Execution Neutrality: to analyze if administrative discretion is proper and impartial according to administrative principles. 3. Administration Neutrality: to analyze if politics interferes with police duties. If this occurs, it may result in a partial administration. The police symbolize the governance power of a state, and play different roles as government changes. In an authoritarian state, the police are a tool to suppress people against the ruler; in a democratic state, police authority is restricted to a certain level. Lately, political environment and political party change has become normal. The police ought to acknowledge a truth; governments change but administrations remain. To strengthen democratic functions as the police performs duties, they should prioritize public interest, follow rule of law, adopt political policies, assure legality of human rights, maintain equality of political parties, and present the appropriate assistance to people in the specialization area of public order maintenance.

Thesis (S.J.D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: David Dyzenhaus. Includes bibliographical rererences.

This dissertation examines the historical development of judicial and executive discretion in successive extradition treaties, statutes and cases in Canada and the United States, and the ways in which extradition law has shifted from an initial emphasis on judicial discretion to a marked emphasis in recent years on executive discretion. In particular, Canada's Extradition Act (1999) delineates a relationship between the executive and judiciary in which most discretionary decision-making powers are assigned to the Minister of Justice rather than to the courts. Under the new legislation, which is largely a codification of the several opinions of LaForest J. of the Supreme Court of Canada, superior court judges, despite all their experience and training in the law, are put in the position of administrative clerks with little or no significant judicial discretion. It is argued that by granting increased powers to the Minister, the Act compels both the Minister and the courts of appeal to exercise their discretion more often, more carefully and more fairly than they have used it in the past in considering whether to order surrender for extradition from Canada to the United States. Judicial review should be considered an automatic part of the extradition process. Indeed, where the Minister fails to exercise discretion with respect to areas that traditionally have fallen under his domain - such as the discretion to refuse extradition without assurances that the death penalty will not be sought, or to refuse extradition in light of abuse of process - the Supreme Court of Canada has of late shown a willingness to use judicial review to halt extradition. Given the recalcitrance of the Minister to use his expanded discretion, the Act may need to be redrafted to grant back to extradition judges discretionary powers that they traditionally enjoyed, including the power to assess whether the conduct underlying charges brought in an extradition request are of a political character. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

This dissertation explores both the evolving nature of the public encounter--where state and citizen meet--and the virtual civic space in which the meeting occurs through an examination of selected state and federal web sites. The examination uses multiple qualitative measures and an architectural perspective to bridge the gap between traditional physical-space based government and the virtual-space of e-government. The research focuses on identifying salient e-government issues and explicating their implications for public encounters, public administration practitioners and scholars, and traditional government institutions. The implications of e-government on the exercise of administrative discretion, the digital divide, and policy making are explored. Select prescriptions are offered for public administration education, practitioners and scholars. E-government architecture is conceptualized along two dimensions: the normative and the aesthetic. The normative dimension refers to the extent to which certain key norms or values are fulfilled or emphasized in web site architecture while the aesthetic dimension refers to whether certain technical features of what is considered good message design or high message quality are present. The normative tradition of public administration in combination with prior e-government research is used to construct evaluation criteria for assessing latent public values contained in government web site features and content. Information architecture, information presentation, and instructional message design literature are used to construct aesthetic criteria for determining the message character of web sites. Focus groups and a survey questionnaire are used to both challenge and triangulate the web site data analysis. An argument is made for eliminating the distinction or dichotomy between the two modes of government action--traditional and that of e-government. A unification of the two is proposed as part of an overall strategy for addressing the restructuring and reorganization of extant institutional arrangements necessary to support an integrated approach to e-government and traditional service delivery. Caution is urged with respect to proposals for embedding government services and information within existing commercial and entertainment web sites lest democratic values be subordinated to financial interests. / Ph. D.

Controversies surrounding issues related to eminent domain remain in the forefront of academic and public debate, largely attributed to the United States Supreme Court's landmark 2005 ruling on the subject. Much of the academic discourse on eminent domain centers on constitutional dimensions of public use and just compensation or procedural components of transaction costs and regulation v. flexibility. Noticeably absent from the scholarly conversation, however, is the study of how public administrators actually involved in the process of eminent domain understand relevant issues. This silence has resulted in significant gaps between the study of the purpose and mechanics of eminent domain. How these public administrators understand eminent domain and where they search for guidance are significant questions that may inform and extend existing research on eminent domain. Particularly important to this research are the ways in which administrators' professionalism affects their administrative discretion in the implementation of a legal case, Kelo. Relying on survey and elite interview analysis with public administrators in the state of Connecticut, the birthplace of the Kelo case, this research seeks to answer the following four questions: How do administrators understand eminent domain, where do they turn for guidance, how do they interpret and understand takings law post-Kelo, and how do they understand "public" post-Kelo? This study finds support that administrators are generally unaccepting of eminent domain when used under the Kelo conditions, that they favor a notion of public use incorporating some degree of use by the public, and that they are most likely to turn to statutory and constitutional resources for eminent domain guidance. Further, the interviews were particularly useful in developing a four-part typology of administrators' understanding of eminent domain. / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Although immigration is considered the responsibility and authority of the federal government, there is no clear federal policy regarding undocumented students and higher education. This leaves the power to regulate undocumented students in higher education to state governments. In Virginia, there is no specific, state-wide policy that addresses undocumented students and admission and enrollment in public higher education. Because of this, policies and practices related to the admission and enrollment of undocumented students are created at the university level. There is, however, state policy in Virginia related to legal immigration status and eligibility for in-state tuition. This creates a complex dynamic in which immigration-related practices, which are legally regulated on the federal level, are actually determined on the state and institutional level. Through interviews with admissions professionals at 12 Virginia, public 4-year colleges and universities, this research study uses a descriptive qualitative case study to explore the application of institution level undergraduate policies and practices related to undocumented students. The findings suggest that of the 12 institutions, five knowingly enroll undocumented students; six admit undocumented students but do not knowingly enroll undocumented students; and one institution does not admit or enroll undocumented students. None of the schools offers in-state tuition to undocumented students. Seven themes emerged from the 12 interviews, and these themes are grouped into two categories. The themes in the first category relate to the experiences of undocumented students and include funding challenges, fear, lack of knowledge of higher education processes, and post-graduation challenges. The themes in the second category are related to policy and practice, and the professionals who create and implement those policies and practices. The themes that emerged in this category are changing demographics, ambiguity, and professional and personal values. These themes are interpreted and discussed through the theoretical frameworks of administrative discretion and wicked problems. Recommendations for future research are provided.

1 Abstract This diploma thesis deals with the issue of administrative discretion and vague legal concepts, as legal institutes, which the public administration needs in order to fulfil its targets in the ever-changing social relationships, while simultaneously not committing illegal interventions into the rights and freedoms of individuals. The first and most extensive chapter defines administrative discretion and describes the need for its inclusion into the legislation. This chapter then briefly goes into the history, which intends to remind us of the ground-breaking moments associated with the development of administrative discretion, in order to acquire a complex understanding of this institute. The following text demonstrates the extent of this legal phenomenon's possible application, deals with its embodiment into legal regulations and defines the possibility of discovering its existence, using characteristic terminology. The author further describes the basic conceptual feature of administrative discretion in the form of relative freedom in decision making process, when the administrative authority does not solely work based on a programmed machine, which mindlessly adheres to the law and spontaneously ranks specific facts under the provisions of a general regulation. The conclusion of the first part...