This study examines the process of the distribution of residential land in Greater Khartoum, Sudan, and inquires into the processes which constrain the access of the urban population to residential plots. The main objective is to analyse the constraints which bear upon the implementation of urban housing policy, and to develop an adequate explanation of their sources and underlying mechanisms. The study employs a broad framework of analysis that combines a structural analysis of the political economy with an institutional analysis of policy and organisational process. It will be argued that the limitations inherent in the urban housing policy in Sudan can be explained in terms of the prevailing policy planning model and the underlying structural constraints which arise from the nature of the political economy. The study consists of seven chapters. Chapter One provides an overview of perspectives of policy implementation in the Third World. The relevance of some of these perspectives to an approach that relates policy problems to social structure will be considered. Chapter Two presents an exposition of the Sudanese economy and highlights the question of how dominant economic interests influence public policy. Chapter Three addresses the links between social structure and public policy by analysing the prevalent model of policy planning in Sudan. It will be argued that there is a correspondence between the social content of the policy model and the interests of dominant economic classes identified in Chapter Two. Chapter Four focuses on the effect of the policy model on urban social policy. Two policy areas will be examined: the policy of regional development and its impact on housing problems in the capital; and the policy of urban land development. Chapter Five investigates the concrete limits on access to residential land at the level of housing agencies. Their organisational patterns, rules of allocation and operational processes will be examined. Chapter Six narrows the focus on the limits on access by examining the upgrading process in one of the capital's illegal settlements. Chapter Seven concludes the argument on the source and the incidence of constraints on policy implementation. We will synthesise the processes underlying the constraints identified in the preceding chapters, and advance a broad explanation of the nature and the incidence of these constraints.

The search for enhanced rationality in the governance and management of UK public services is an enduring theme of reform programmes. Three modes of rationality had a significant impact during the period 1977-1997: the rationality of disengagement, which suggests that there are benefits to be derived from the governance of public services by boards of appointed individuals operating at arm's-length to the democratic process; the rationality of integration, which concerns the advantages to be gained from the development of interrelationships between agencies around particular public policy objectives; and the rationality of congruence, which stresses the need for local authorities' policies and service delivery processes to reflect the views and preferences of their communities. The origins and characteristics of these three themes are examined and their effect on public services assessed. Together, they have produced a significant transformation of the management and governance of UK public services. The analysis suggests that, at a macro level, the underlying problems of governance and management each rationality seeks to address recycles over a period of time. Reform strategies materialise through a 'garbage-can' model in which current problems are attached to the prevailing fashionable solutions. However, there is also a developmental process in operation. The intersection of the three rationalities offers an agenda for future research.

The study seeks to clarify why donors such as the World Bank still insist on the use of their financial management system rather than the recipient country’s financial management system, despite the intention under the Paris Declaration 2005 to use the respective government’s systems. The study then explores the reasons why the financial management system used by the World Bank is more effective in managing risks related to public financial management and aid as compared to the Government of Malaysia approach. The study compares financial management by the World Bank and Ministry of Education, Government of Malaysia, in their parallel implementation of Educational Sector Support Projects (ESSP) under the Eighth Malaysian Plan, 2001-2005. The quality of financial management of projects in two systems is compared using established criteria of good financial management practice. Findings are based on evidence from interviews, documentation and direct observations. The study demonstrates the significant roles in reducing risks played in the World Bank approach by the Project Management Reports (PMR), the high quality of Project Implementation Unit (PIU) staff and the better procurement procedures. The implication is that more effective risk management and financial management reporting were needed by the Ministry of Education in implementing the ESSP under the Eighth Malaysian Plan 2001 - 2005.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s partnership has come to be the accepted mechanisms for the delivery of regeneration initiatives. The widespread evidence of partnership working across all spheres of government activity suggests that it now represents the new economic orthodoxy in the approach to co-ordination. During the same period there has been considerable attention drawn to the emergence of new forms of co-ordination based upon networking. The growth of partnership and networking has however proliferated in the absence of any systematic evaluation of their efficacy as an organisational form. Throughout this period a major objective of regeneration partnerships has been to alter the internal dynamics of partnership by broadening the range of participants involved. Partnership and network forms of working have thus become significant channels through which a range of actors have been incorporated into regeneration initiatives. In light of the growth of partnership and networking a major lacuna in our understanding arises from the absence of any theoretical framework which might describe the specific characteristics of these organisational forms of co-ordination. This thesis seeks to fill that vacuum by postulating a theoretical model of both partnership and network forms of co-ordination. The key attributes of the two models are identified, with common characteristics and key differentiating qualities discussed. This approach generated a set of analytical tools (a partnership checklist) designed in the first instance to be of practical use to the community and voluntary sectors as they engage in partnership but also to be of use to practitioners and participants generally. The checklist was tested on the Single Regeneration Budget partnership formed by the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership, however, the insights developed have wider application for our understanding of partnership and networks in general.

Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, including Cuban scholarship which has been overlooked by other non-Cuban scholars, this thesis traces the evolution of local government and popular participation from the overthrow of the Batista regime in 1959 to the present day, and in so doing, it exposes multiple sites for participation in the business of local governance which are available to the average Cuban citizen. By examining the municipal election process, mechanisms for close contact between citizens and their elected delegates, and the relationship between the mass organisations and the Communist Party, this study illuminates the interface between state and populace, and demonstrates that popular participation at the level of the community is linked to domestic national policy-making. Furthermore, evidence is presented which demonstrates that the evolution of local Cuban polity is affected though continuous review of local government practice and is itself a participatory process. Decades of popular participation in local affairs have developed and strengthened the capacity for collective action, and this thesis assesses its contribution to the remarkable survival of Cuba’s socialist project after the collapse of the Soviet bloc. As the revolutionary leadership expanded opportunities for popular participation whilst continuing to maintain control over decisions it considered were necessary for economic development, for the maintenance of national unity, and for the development of Che Guevara’s New Man (and Woman), tensions were generated between localism and centralism, and between pragmatism and ideology. Responses to these tensions can be seen in the contemporary Cuban scholarship presented in the final chapter of the thesis. This thesis makes a sustained case for the importance of local government to the revolutionary leadership and argues that no assessment of the Cuban polity can claim to be comprehensive without taking local government into account.

This thesis examines the particular sphere of gender equality working in UK local government in relation to feminist ideas and activism. In doing so it addresses questions about the nature and legacy of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), as well as how we should understand those engaged with feminist issues but organised in apparently non-traditional ways and locations. It also considers the significance of national legislation in shaping how this area of work has developed, with reference to the most recent Equality Acts. Taking as my starting point classic debates about organising for social change within the WLM, I undertook a qualitative comparative analysis of local government gender equality working. This examined three councils during the period in which they first created municipal feminist women's initiatives, and the present day. To do this I undertook interviews with those working during both time periods, and gathered contemporary and archival texts relating to the councils' work on gender equality. I suggest that the council gender equality initiatives, and those working within them, present an interesting way to complicate several boundaries; those usually defining the feminist movement and its organising; social movements in relation to the state; and feminist activity in relation to professionalism. I argue for the significance of the municipal feminist initiatives for present day work on gender equality, particularly in terms of their organisational position and form. I explore the utility of, and problems with, recent legislative developments in relation to gender equality, suggesting they have played an important role in standardising the work that takes place. I also examine the processes through which the concepts and practices of local government gender equality working have developed. In doing so I argue for the non-linear way this takes place and the importance of individual workers in shaping this arena. Finally, I present the idea of the ‘professional feminist' as a way to understand the workers who identify as feminists. This challenges the terms of the early WLM but does so through drawing out and reconciling professionalism with feminist ideas.

This study explores the role of boundary-spanning individuals in the development of Strategic Service Partnerships (SSPs). SSPs are the latest manifestation of Public- Private Partnerships (PPPs). However, these partnerships are remarkably underresearched. Furthermore, the role of key boundary-spanning individuals in developing and maintaining PPPs and other partnership forms is poorly understood. This study closes these gaps in the literature by examining the development of SSPs and showing how the role and contribution of boundary-spanning individuals can be understood. Boundary-spanners are shown to exist as dynamic, structurally contextualised agents whose actions are shaped by a combination of organisational and contingency pressures and their own individual psychology. To understand the development of an SSP and the role of boundary-spanners, the study develops and tests a conceptual framework. This framework combines a sequential account of emergent interorganisational relationships with a policy process model. The thesis presents case study evidence from an in depth qualitative investigation of an emergent SSP in an English Local Authority to show that interaction between public and private sector organisations is critical to development of an SSP. It is also shown that boundaryspanning individuals are of critical importance in managing and shaping these interactions. This study represents an advance in understanding both PPPs and boundary-spanning individuals.

The implementation of the Education Reform Act (DES 1988) saw fundamental changes in the structure of education in England; in the relationship between schools and local education authorities and in the establishment of the private sector as a competitor to local education authorities in delivering services. Further legislation introduced by both the then Conservative Government and after 1997 by a Labour Government saw these changes further embedded. This research seeks through a review of literature to find out why those legislative changes were implemented and by investigating four local education authorities review how those changes impacted on their performance. This is a qualitative study that gathered data through the use of semi-structured interviews to create four case studies. Against a background of successive governments seeing the use of the market place, competition and the private sector as a means of delivering their aim of improving public sector performance this research provides an insight into how four local authorities worked with the private sector following their Ofsted inspections.

The public's trust in government is a subject that arouses interest and debate among researchers and politicians alike. This thesis is concerned with public trust in government in China and particularly in local government. It provides insights both on the patterns of public trust in different levels of government and explores the key factors that account for variance in this respect. In light of the findings in this respect, the thesis also makes suggestions about measures that might be taken to improve public trust in local government particularly in the China context. A mixed methods research design has been employed that has included analysis of responses to a major trans-China quantitative survey of public opinions and the conduct of a series of semi-structured interviews with local government officials operating at different governmental levels within one municipal city. The research examines the commonalities and differences between the perspectives of citizens and of officials with regard to the scale, nature and causes of public distrust in local government. The thesis considers the implications of the findings and makes suggestions as to the kinds of policy and practice responses that would seem necessary to improve Chinese's citizens' trust levels in their local government.

In recent years, ‘agencification’ and ‘autonomisation’ seem to have emerged as the new orthodoxy in the reform of public administration, fuelling a lively academic debate on bureaucratic autonomy and political control - on whether these two phenomena are diametrically opposed or can co-exist alongside each other. Using as its empirical basis two case studies of revenue administrations in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, this cross-jurisdictional, interdisciplinary piece of research seeks to advance current understanding of bureaucratic autonomy on two fronts. First, it explores the under-researched issue of factors which may condition the exercise of bureaucratic discretion. Second, it is distinct from current works because of its comparative analysis of bureaucratic manoeuvrability within differing legal traditions and systems of government. Notwithstanding the cases’ historical and cultural differences, findings revealed a number of common functional realities. The more influential macro-institutional constraints fed through to impact on internal operational functioning in areas such as the establishment of tax priorities and revenue targets. No support was found for the hypothesis that different legal traditions have a differential impact on bureaucratic functioning. In both jurisdictions, a detailed ‘fussy’ style of drafting revenue laws aims towards certainty and predictability, with no particular stakeholder biases. Legal drafting style may be a function of the specific policy area.