Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / After decades of seeking answers, without much success, to the development challenges facing third world countries, agencies such as the IMF and World Bank have turned increasingly in recent years to issues governance and accountability. In Africa especially, the failure of most development strategies has been attributed to governance issues such as democratic deficits, corruption and lack of political accountability among others. Uganda like several other African countries has been criticised for corruption - a sign that the country has a problem with the functioning of accountability and governance in general. In an attempt to find out whether the local government institutional mechanisms in Uganda embody possible explanations for weaknesses in political accountability, this study hypothesizes that institutional arrangements impact on downward accountability. While concentrating on the anatomy of institutions and the dimensions of accountability to which they relate, as well as on how the formal and informal institutions relate to each other, the study gives an insight into how institutions impact on downward answerability and enforceability at the local level in Uganda. Based on a thorough consideration of both the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of the concept of accountability, the study develops relevance criteria upon which an assessment of both formal and informal institutions' relevance for each of the dimensions of accountability is based. In both cases, formal institutions are found to be more relevant for accountability than informal ones. Critical issues about the capabilities of informal institutions are however raised, culminating in a discussion on the relationship between formal and informal institutions in the study area. While also considering other variables that interact with institutions in affecting accountability, the study calls for a re examination in the concepts under investigation namely 'institutions' and 'accountability'. The study concludes that problems of accountability can be accounted for by weaknesses in institutional design, conceptual weaknesses in the definition of accountability, as well as contextual factors such as resource constraints. In the light of this recognition, the study offers theoretical as well as policy level recommendation

This thesis argues that a Bakhtinian dialogic approach holds possibilities for reconceptualising and re-enacting teacher–child dialogue interactions in early years education. It accepts education as open-ended, with children as active participants and frames teacher–child dialogues as unique encounters, which can go beyond children’s neoliberal enculturation in the world. Neoliberal discourses have exerted an important influence on early years education, emphasising universal “best evidence” strategies and narrowly defined learning “outcomes” which can lead to technicist approaches to teaching and learning. The study explores the dialogic interactions between children aged from 3½ to 5 years and their teachers in two early childhood settings. In a dialogic methodological approach, two of the teachers and myself as a researcher critically engaged in collaborative discussions of selected video recordings of the teacher–child interactions. A Bakhtinian concept of moral answerability applies to the collaborative dialogic approach between teachers and researcher. It goes beyond teaching as a technical approach with universal strategies, to provide guidance for teachers in the unique lived experiences with their students. A dialogic reflexivity, which is employed both pedagogically and as a methodological approach in the study, is aligned with Bakhtin’s philosophy of praxis in everyday life experiences. A second Bakhtinian notion of polyphony explains how each person accesses multiple voices in response, which are shaped simultaneously by unique previous experiences and the encounter itself. In educational dialogue, polyphony can open up a view of dialogue as open-ended and providing different possibilities; it can allow for more meaningful responses by students and more respectful listening from teachers. Furthermore, young children’s carnivalesque utterances are viewed as challenging authoritative, monologic discourses when analysed through a Bakhtinian lens. For Bakhtin, subjectivity is not only shaped in and through dialogue; it also in turn shapes present and future dialogue. Dialogue is therefore inevitably intertwined with subjectivity. Findings show that teaching in early childhood settings involves a complex mix of both monologic and dialogic acts. Dialogic processes can provide alternative understandings of children and teachers as agentic and unfinalised. At times, children were engaged in carnivalesque acts, resisting authoritative teaching through their play, chanting and non-verbal communication, thereby making visible the institutionalisation of children and teachers in early childhood settings. It is suggested that children who are active participants in their education need to be given opportunities for carnivalesque responses. Furthermore, when early childhood teachers have opportunities to critically reflect on children’s utterances in a collaborative dialogue with colleagues, they can gain a more complex understanding of teacher–child dialogue, enabling them to answer morally to the children in their care. Ongoing dialogic encounters with the teachers provided multiple perspectives of the data, resulting in changes to their teaching practices and routines. The findings of the study hold important implications for teaching and for in-service and pre-service teacher education. I suggest that respectful dialogic approaches between teachers and researchers hold pedagogical and methodological potential and, when used thoughtfully, can counteract neoliberal, technicist interventions. In relation to both pre-service and in-service teacher education, the study speaks to the importance of teachers being equipped to engage in open-ended dialogue with children and collaborative dialogues with peers. Drawing on Bakhtin’s concept of moral answerability, this thesis is an utterance asking for an active response not only in everyday teacher-child dialogues, but also in the ongoing, open-ended dialogue about early childhood education and, in particular, teacher–child dialogue. It leaves unfinalised not only children and adults, but also the subject of teacher- child dialogue. There is no first utterance and no last word; Bakhtinian dialogue views both children and adults as becoming.

A presente pesquisa busca identificar, a partir de noções formuladas pelo Círculo de Bakhtin (como dialogismo, responsividade, esfera, gênero, enunciado etc), mecanismos e processos pelos quais o discurso da SBPC (Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência) materializado nos editoriais da revista Ciência Hoje se constitui (dialógica e responsivamente) pela interação com outros discursos em circulação no contexto em que ela é criada e produzida. Focalizando os editoriais na qualidade de enunciados e, portanto, como unidades da comunicação discursiva em que se dá o encontro entre a língua e a realidade históricosocial, o trabalho explora a hipótese de que a revista, criada no início dos anos 80 em um contexto discursivo marcado por intensa politização, corresponde a um ato responsivo por meio do qual a SBPC procura afirmar sua posição diante das questões em pauta no grande diálogo travado na sociedade brasileira. Nessas condições, os editoriais refletem e refratam as mais importantes posições ideológico-discursivas em interação e disputa no panorama discursivo do país, as quais, sob diferentes acentos apreciativos, vão se incorporar aos elementos que compõem a arquitetura desses editoriais. Entre as principais posições refletidas e refratadas no território desses editoriais estão aquelas que se manifestam nos discursos da democratização e da cidadania. / This research intends to identify, using notions formulated by the Bakhtin Circle (such as dialogism, answerability, sphere, genre, utterance etc), mechanisms and processes through which the speech of the SBPC-Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência (Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science), materialized in editorials of the Ciência Hoje magazine, is constituted (dialogically and responsively) by the interaction with other speeches in circulation in the context where it is created and produced. Focusing on editorials in its condition of utterances and, therefore, as units of the discursive communication in which occurs the encounter between language and social reality, this study explores the hypothesis that the magazine, created at the beginning of 80\'s in a discursive context marked by intense politicalization, corresponds to a responsive act by which SBPC attempts to affirm its position on the issues in discussion in the great dialogue in Brazilian society, reflecting and refracting, in its utterances, the most important ideological-discursive positions in interaction and dispute in the discursive panorama of the country, which, under different appreciative accents, will integrate the elements that compose the architecture of the magazine editorials. Among the main positions reflected and refracted in the territory of these editorials are those revealed in the speeches of democratization and citizenship.

A presente pesquisa busca identificar, a partir de noções formuladas pelo Círculo de Bakhtin (como dialogismo, responsividade, esfera, gênero, enunciado etc), mecanismos e processos pelos quais o discurso da SBPC (Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência) materializado nos editoriais da revista Ciência Hoje se constitui (dialógica e responsivamente) pela interação com outros discursos em circulação no contexto em que ela é criada e produzida. Focalizando os editoriais na qualidade de enunciados e, portanto, como unidades da comunicação discursiva em que se dá o encontro entre a língua e a realidade históricosocial, o trabalho explora a hipótese de que a revista, criada no início dos anos 80 em um contexto discursivo marcado por intensa politização, corresponde a um ato responsivo por meio do qual a SBPC procura afirmar sua posição diante das questões em pauta no grande diálogo travado na sociedade brasileira. Nessas condições, os editoriais refletem e refratam as mais importantes posições ideológico-discursivas em interação e disputa no panorama discursivo do país, as quais, sob diferentes acentos apreciativos, vão se incorporar aos elementos que compõem a arquitetura desses editoriais. Entre as principais posições refletidas e refratadas no território desses editoriais estão aquelas que se manifestam nos discursos da democratização e da cidadania. / This research intends to identify, using notions formulated by the Bakhtin Circle (such as dialogism, answerability, sphere, genre, utterance etc), mechanisms and processes through which the speech of the SBPC-Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência (Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science), materialized in editorials of the Ciência Hoje magazine, is constituted (dialogically and responsively) by the interaction with other speeches in circulation in the context where it is created and produced. Focusing on editorials in its condition of utterances and, therefore, as units of the discursive communication in which occurs the encounter between language and social reality, this study explores the hypothesis that the magazine, created at the beginning of 80\'s in a discursive context marked by intense politicalization, corresponds to a responsive act by which SBPC attempts to affirm its position on the issues in discussion in the great dialogue in Brazilian society, reflecting and refracting, in its utterances, the most important ideological-discursive positions in interaction and dispute in the discursive panorama of the country, which, under different appreciative accents, will integrate the elements that compose the architecture of the magazine editorials. Among the main positions reflected and refracted in the territory of these editorials are those revealed in the speeches of democratization and citizenship.

Philosophical zombies are beings that look exactly like humans and behave in the same way as humans do. The only difference between humans and philosophical zombies is that philosophical zombies lack consciousness. This means that they can complain, cry, laugh and say that they are in pain. However, emotionally, they will never experience these feelings. Philosophical zombies have no desires, no values, and no empathy. Despite philosophical zombies lacking all these qualities, the question can be raised whether, if they were to exist in our world, would they have any moral responsibility? This question becomes pressing because even though philosophical zombies feel nothing and lack consciousness, they are still capable of doing harm and able to act immorally. By using David Shoemaker's (2015) 'Tripartite Theory of Responsibility', I will in this essay analyse whether philosophical zombies are eligible for moral responsibility, and if so what type of moral responsibility they would be eligible for, i.e., whether it would be attributability, answerability or accountability. Furthermore, this essay will discuss if philosophical zombies and psychopaths are similar, and whether they are meant to be qualified for the same moral responsibility types, and if so, which type that would be. Additionally, this essay will discuss the dilemma that might arise if philosophical zombies are not suitable of being moral agents and bring up the debate of the moral agency of AI's. Thereby coming to the point if philosophical zombies are not fit to be held morally responsible.

p. 1-193 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-05-02T19:00:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 6666666666.pdf: 1056027 bytes, checksum: 5a7ecc180de241b0bc5053b1c42454a6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Creuza Silva(mariakreuza@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-05-04T17:43:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 6666666666.pdf: 1056027 bytes, checksum: 5a7ecc180de241b0bc5053b1c42454a6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-04T17:43:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6666666666.pdf: 1056027 bytes, checksum: 5a7ecc180de241b0bc5053b1c42454a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / O presente estudo destaca a relação entre violência e trabalho, enfocando a vitimização do trabalhador no ambiente de trabalho. Contempla a categoria dos motoboys, trabalhadores que executam serviços de entrega mediante a utilização de motocicletas, para vencer distâncias, economizando tempo e superando o congestionamento das vias públicas. Compreender as percepções e práticas dos motoboys acerca da própria vitimização por atos de violência no trabalho é o principal objetivo deste estudo. A pesquisa possui caráter exploratório, e foi desenvolvida através de metodologia qualitativa, utilizando técnicas de observação direta e de entrevista. Foram entrevistadas 59 pessoas, subdivididas em trabalhadores (53), donos de empresa de moto-entrega (03), o comandante do Esquadrão Águia (01), um instrutor de motociclistas (01), e o presidente do Sindicato dos Motociclistas, Motoboys e Mototaxistas do Estado da Bahia (01). As observações diretas foram realizadas em audiências públicas e eventos sócio-culturais do segmento. A categoria está representada predominantemente por homens jovens, com idade entre 30 e 38 anos, negros-mestiços, 2º grau completo, casados e com filhos. Na percepção destes trabalhadores, o comportamento desrespeitoso e agressivo dos motoristas nas vias públicas, os assaltos, os acidentes, e especialmente a violência policial, são as principais formas de vitimização a que estão expostos. O deslocamento em serviço por zonas de alta criminalidade expõe os trabalhadores à ação dos delinqüentes locais, levando-os a desenvolverem suas próprias formas de proteção. A acomodação, o comportamento de evitação e a adoção de atitudes agressivas, são recursos comumente utilizados pelos motoboys em resposta a comportamentos percebidos como violentos. Na perspectiva organizacional, os motoboys são culpabilizados pelos delitos de que são vítimas, sendo apontados como autores ou cúmplices das ocorrências criminosas, e tendo que assumir total responsabilidade pelos prejuízos decorrentes dos referidos eventos. Ter a moto tomada de assalto, assumir o prejuízo total, perder o emprego, e ainda ficar marcado negativamente pelo ocorrido, são situações de responsabilização extrema que fazem parte do dia-a-dia do motoboy. Urgente se faz que a categoria seja reconhecida legalmente em todo o país, que seja desmistificada a associação dos trabalhadores ao crime, e que políticas públicas sejam instituídas e/ou implementadas para enfrentamento do problema e proteção ao segmento. / Salvador

No description available.

The widening of access to Higher Education (HE) with a concomitant call for more accountability in the HE sector locally and globally, has altered the former elitist status of the university and impacted the professional standing, autonomy, and working conditions of lecturers negatively. Lecturers are increasingly held to account for providing quality teaching and delivering employable graduates. Yet their work environment has been characterised by poor support, dwindling resources, lack of recognition and reward for teaching efforts and excellence, and absence of legal protection when failing to fulfil the undefined yet high accountability expectations in their teaching-related work. This state of affairs has had an inevitable influence on lecturers’ perceived security in their labour environment. The overarching purpose of this study was therefore to generate guidelines to improve the existing juridical foundation for accountability of South African (SA) HE lecturers with a view to enhance their security in their employment context. In order to assist in the fulfilment of this central purpose, the study aimed to develop understanding of how lecturers perceive their accountability and security in light of diverse teaching-related responsibilities and vagueness in terms of expected conduct; and the protection (or lack of protection) of their rights and professional status. An international perspective on these issues was imperative to shed some light on how regulation elsewhere could improve practices in the SA context. While SA lecturers are equally entitled to all the rights stipulated in the Bill of Rights, they are also subject to and accountable for upholding the provisions of the SA Constitution and derived labour legislation relevant within the HE environment. The founding values of the Constitution, namely equality, human dignity and the protection of human rights and related freedoms, form not only the basic standard for measuring lecturer conduct, but also the legal basis for challenging policy, system or conduct that might threaten constitutional or labour rights. Yet, despite the existing juridical foundation for the regulation of accountability and rights protection of SA lecturers, comprising the SA Constitution, general labour and HE legislation, there is an absence of HE-specific teaching-related accountability regulation, resulting in lecturer insecurity regarding expected conduct, professional recognition and support, and accountability expectations in their teaching-related work. In comparison, a number of Australian legal imperatives, including the Commonwealth of Australia Learning and Teaching Council’s standard for quality teaching with corresponding quality indicators, provide for more clearly defined teaching-related accountability regulation. In addition, the Mission Based Compacts, the Threshold Standards, and the national Modern Award for the Higher Education Industry, afford Australian lecturers the protection of HE-specific rights relevant to enhance security in their unique work environment. These legal imperatives proved to be significant for informing the improved juridical foundation for lecturer teaching-related accountability in the SA context to enhance the security of the SA lecturer. With a focus on the development of in-depth understanding of the phenomena of lecturer accountability and security via the perspectives and interpretations of lecturers themselves, the empirical study was grounded in an inductive qualitative methodology from an interpretive-phenomenological perspective. To ensure richness of descriptive data, lecturers actively involved in undergraduate teaching at three different local, and one Australian university, were purposively selected to participate in semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. The analysis and interpretation of the interview data included a comparative component to explore perceptions of lecturer accountability regulation and security protection in an Australian context with a view to identify inadequate legal provisioning for these phenomena in the SA HE environment. From the data analysis and interpretation, seven meaningful themes were identified, associated with either lecturer accountability or lecturer security. The findings offered not only a clear delineation of internal and external lecturer teaching-related accountability, but also a comprehensive definition of lecturer professional security that was found wanting in all legal sources and other literature studied for this thesis. Moreover, in realisation of the primary aim of this study, twelve significant guidelines are presented to establish an improved juridical foundation for lecturer accountability that will enhance lecturer security in the SA Higher Education context. Amongst these are: the development of a clear delineation of teaching-related roles and responsibilities articulated for different academic post levels; the establishment of a professional HE teaching-oriented career path affording professional recognition via a professional body for lecturers, and requiring continuous professional teaching development; and the development of minimum conditions of employment unique to the work of the HE lecturer. / PhD (Education Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The widening of access to Higher Education (HE) with a concomitant call for more accountability in the HE sector locally and globally, has altered the former elitist status of the university and impacted the professional standing, autonomy, and working conditions of lecturers negatively. Lecturers are increasingly held to account for providing quality teaching and delivering employable graduates. Yet their work environment has been characterised by poor support, dwindling resources, lack of recognition and reward for teaching efforts and excellence, and absence of legal protection when failing to fulfil the undefined yet high accountability expectations in their teaching-related work. This state of affairs has had an inevitable influence on lecturers’ perceived security in their labour environment. The overarching purpose of this study was therefore to generate guidelines to improve the existing juridical foundation for accountability of South African (SA) HE lecturers with a view to enhance their security in their employment context. In order to assist in the fulfilment of this central purpose, the study aimed to develop understanding of how lecturers perceive their accountability and security in light of diverse teaching-related responsibilities and vagueness in terms of expected conduct; and the protection (or lack of protection) of their rights and professional status. An international perspective on these issues was imperative to shed some light on how regulation elsewhere could improve practices in the SA context. While SA lecturers are equally entitled to all the rights stipulated in the Bill of Rights, they are also subject to and accountable for upholding the provisions of the SA Constitution and derived labour legislation relevant within the HE environment. The founding values of the Constitution, namely equality, human dignity and the protection of human rights and related freedoms, form not only the basic standard for measuring lecturer conduct, but also the legal basis for challenging policy, system or conduct that might threaten constitutional or labour rights. Yet, despite the existing juridical foundation for the regulation of accountability and rights protection of SA lecturers, comprising the SA Constitution, general labour and HE legislation, there is an absence of HE-specific teaching-related accountability regulation, resulting in lecturer insecurity regarding expected conduct, professional recognition and support, and accountability expectations in their teaching-related work. In comparison, a number of Australian legal imperatives, including the Commonwealth of Australia Learning and Teaching Council’s standard for quality teaching with corresponding quality indicators, provide for more clearly defined teaching-related accountability regulation. In addition, the Mission Based Compacts, the Threshold Standards, and the national Modern Award for the Higher Education Industry, afford Australian lecturers the protection of HE-specific rights relevant to enhance security in their unique work environment. These legal imperatives proved to be significant for informing the improved juridical foundation for lecturer teaching-related accountability in the SA context to enhance the security of the SA lecturer. With a focus on the development of in-depth understanding of the phenomena of lecturer accountability and security via the perspectives and interpretations of lecturers themselves, the empirical study was grounded in an inductive qualitative methodology from an interpretive-phenomenological perspective. To ensure richness of descriptive data, lecturers actively involved in undergraduate teaching at three different local, and one Australian university, were purposively selected to participate in semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. The analysis and interpretation of the interview data included a comparative component to explore perceptions of lecturer accountability regulation and security protection in an Australian context with a view to identify inadequate legal provisioning for these phenomena in the SA HE environment. From the data analysis and interpretation, seven meaningful themes were identified, associated with either lecturer accountability or lecturer security. The findings offered not only a clear delineation of internal and external lecturer teaching-related accountability, but also a comprehensive definition of lecturer professional security that was found wanting in all legal sources and other literature studied for this thesis. Moreover, in realisation of the primary aim of this study, twelve significant guidelines are presented to establish an improved juridical foundation for lecturer accountability that will enhance lecturer security in the SA Higher Education context. Amongst these are: the development of a clear delineation of teaching-related roles and responsibilities articulated for different academic post levels; the establishment of a professional HE teaching-oriented career path affording professional recognition via a professional body for lecturers, and requiring continuous professional teaching development; and the development of minimum conditions of employment unique to the work of the HE lecturer. / PhD (Education Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015