This report has established that women in leadership positions in local government experience similar barriers as other women leaders in the corporate sector despite the legislative, academic and political support provided by key stakeholders. As stated in Chapter 5, women in leadership positions managed and lead faced with prejudism emanating from social customs, informal institutional values, norms and cultures like in the private sector. This means that the findings on the study –Assessment of support by key stakeholders was note effective as it was envisaged. The study drew four key challenges that affected women in local government including limited support provided by the key stakeholders. Some recommended on possible interventions along these obstacles were outlined in chapter 5. These include: I) Legislation and training which were perceived to be non effective since “Attitudinal changes cannot be dictated, mandated and legislated” van der Colff (2004). II) Lack of Networks and Mentorships. III) Negative Attitude based on patriarchy and, IV) The need for Political Parties’ to reengineer that strategy in addressing women challenges.

CHDS State/Local / Responders at the Federal, state, and local level are critical to Homeland Defense and Security (HLDS). Building from the recently published RAND and National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report on responder safety, this thesis explores the issues associated with creating a safety risk management capability that will enable HLDS responders to better protect themselves from harm and enhance their readiness. Risk management experiences within the military were benchmarked with emphasis upon lessons learned from the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy. This revealed that Operational Risk Management (ORM), a risk-based decision-making tool that systematically balances risk and mission completion, and Crew Resource Management (CRM), a human factors-based team coordination training, should be the primary components focused upon to build the safety risk management capability. Development of ORM and CRM capabilities for HLDS responders will require strong national and local leadership, innovative measurement tools, clear accountability, and should be implemented via the national preparedness model outlined in Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 (HSPD- 5) and HSPD-8. ORM and CRM, if successfully established, can provide HLDS responders with the safety risk management capability that enables them to safely and effectively provide their vital services to the Nation. / Chief - Afloat & Marine Safety, US Coast Guard (USCG)

CHDS State/Local / As the Department of Homeland Security continues to develop plans and strategies to guide our government agencies towards a safer environment, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies are struggling to define their role in the Homeland Security Mission. This paper proposes the creation of a National Law Enforcement Network made up of the state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies throughout the country. The network design will allow local agencies to reach beyond the traditional law enforcement approach by establishing formal networks that facilitate local, regional, national and eventually global coordination of an effective strategy aimed at preventing future terror attacks in the homeland. The creation of this network will ensure that every police officer in the United States understands their role in preventing future terror attacks. Drilling down to the lowest local level to include businesses, industry and the private sector, the formation of the network expands our detection and prevention capabilities well beyond our current level. / Commander - Special Operations Division, Metropolitan Police Department

M.Com. (Business Management) / The Central Government's White Paper on Privatisation proved to a be a major stimulation to privatisation. The possibility exists that privatisation can be applied effectively to local government. This research was initiated to investigate the possibility. The research comprises literature research, covering a vast applicable area. Sources dealing with privatisation particularly in local government, were reviewed. Firstly the study was concentrated on the United Kingdom, known to be the origin of privatisation. The United States of America boasts the most comprehensive application of privatisation, particularly at local government level, therefore extensive sources from this country were reviewed. On the South African scene the White Paper, the Syncom Privatisation Position Paper on privatisation at local authorities, as well as numerous local publications, periodical and newspaper articles were reviewed. The following hypothesis was stated: 'That there are innumerable possibilities of privatisation at local government level' Consequently the possibilities of privatisation at the Vanderbijlpark Municipality were studied. In this regard research was done on Council reports and information was gathered personally from heads of departments and senior officials. From this information a schedule was composed to categorise tasks in what technically cannot be privatised, what technically can be privatised but preferably should not and what can be privatised. Tasks already privatised, are pointed out...

Chapter 2 compares government consultation via an opinion poll and a citizens' jury". In a jury, about fiffteen volunteers spend several days learning about a policy choice before voting. If the public is ill-informed, the government trades-off "information" against participation". Jurors have better information than poll respondents, but constitute a smaller sample. More- over, participation costs may bias the jury sample. Indeed, the literature suggests that costs might induce "neutrality": over-representation of the minority to the extent that the result is uninformative. I show that although the minority will often be over-represented, "neutrality" is a knife-edge result here so juries may be worthwhile. Extensions consider compensating jurors and excluding "special interests". Chapter 3 uses evidence from the allocation of regeneration funding to motivate a model in which central government may ask councils to compile apparently pointless dossiers to ap- ply for money, because the dossiers provide information about councils' competence. I then consider when the government might prefer a simpler but less flexible auction-type process. The UK government's ability to "ring-fence" money, obliging councils to spend it on its priority, is central to chapter 3. Chapter 4 develops the analysis of auctions in this context. With variations in competence, ring-fencing effectively imposes type-specific minimum bids. I characterise equilibrium bidding and show that the ring-fencing constraint may not only increase bids, but actually induce councils to contribute resources. Continuing the themes of participation and competence in the policy process, chapter 5 examines parish councils' use of a general spending power. I find parishes with more well-educated and older citizens (groups with generally higher political participation) are more likely to use their powers. Further investigation suggests that these citizens matter because they are involved in governance, rather than because they exert democratic pressure. This has impli- cations for wider neighbourhood governance policy.

Sustainable development is generally accepted as a policy imperative. However, it can be interpreted in very different ways and is perhaps best regarded as a discourse rather than as a precisely defined term. It is also generally accepted that `sustainable development' requires actions at all spatial scales and by all levels of government, including the local. However, parish and town councils, which are the most local level of local government in rural England, are given no responsibilities in relation to sustainability. This thesis is intended to investigate the potential of parish and town councils to take a leadership role in increasing the sustainability of their communities. A casestudy approach is used, involving the study of five larger local councils in the county of Gloucestershire, in the context of larger-scale sustainable development discourses. Two case-study projects are also analysed to study how different discourses come together at the local level. We find that the concept of `sustainable development' has been adapted by UK government to conform to wider political discourses. However, government interpretations are not necessarily reproduced at the local level, where inherent contradictions become more apparent. Although parish and town councillors may express commitment to `sustainable development', they tend to interpret it in terms of the local and the relatively short- term. A discourse of local council legitimation is identified by which councillors see their role as caring for their parish, with the benefit of local knowledge and holistic thinking. The thesis concludes that if parish and town councils are to contribute to sustainable development, they must be given specific powers encompassing the global and long-term effects of local activities, and other local groups must see the local council as a leader of the community and `sustainability arbiter', rather than as just another interest group.

This thesis investigates Local Area Agreements as a tool for the effective delivery of local public services focusing on three main areas: - Centre-Local Relations and the Vertical Governance of LAAs - Intra Local Relations and the Horizontal Governance of LAAs - Learning from LAAs to improve the future practice of local public service delivery. In exploring these areas, the thesis draws upon several academic theories; principally the Strategic Relational Approach and New Institutionalism. These themes are explored in a two-tiered methodology. The first is a national overview survey of LAA practitioners which then informed the second stage; detailed interviews across two case study areas (Liverpool and St Helens) as well as with civil servants and elected politicians from national government. In relation to vertical-governance, the thesis discusses the national indicator dataset and the ability for areas to adequately focus on local policy priorities, the top-down governance of LAAs and a discussion about the role of Government Office for the regions in negotiating and delivering LAAs. In relation to horizontal governance, the research identifies both stronger and weaker actors within the local governance process, discusses the value of differing actor approaches, investigates how internal accountability affects the relationship with a wider partnership and discusses the role of elected members. The final section discusses how practitioners feel that LAAs could be improved, before discussing how current Coalition policy addresses these concerns, before drawing some final conclusions about the relative success of the LAA project. The findings show that despite initial overtures of greater local discretion over setting priorities, strong central control remained. In particular, this was seen through the indicator selection process, with areas adopting indicators that were not seen as local priorities. At the local level it is shown that a long or short term operating horizon affected how actors worked with the LAA and that those actors that traditionally operated on shorter time scales (i.e. police, fire and rescue service) were more likely to register frustration with longer term bureaucratic processes. It was also found that those actors that viewed partnership working on LAA targets as an investment for long term results were viewed as being more effective than those which simply saw it as a cost. In terms of Coalition policy in the post LAA period, it appears that many lessons have gone unheeded, particularly around the components of effective partnership working. However, the new City Deal programme presents a renewed sense of optimism for effective (and locally responsive) local public service delivery.

In the last thirty years, European local authorities have played a pro-active role in the realm of sustainable development, taking part in several European initiatives and projects and setting up municipal networks. The latter, which connect cities scattered across Member States, may focus on specific environmental issues, such as sustainable mobility or energy, or include sustainable development in a wide range of policy priorities. These socio-ecological urban networks (hereafter SEUNs) have attracted growing academic attention. However, the bulk of the literature is located within Geography and Urban Studies, and it is more focused on the structure of the networks, the process of decision-making, and the policy outcomes than on the drivers of cities’ membership of SEUNs. Within this debate, the contribution of Political Science has been scant, and the political and economic drivers of cities’ engagement in European socio-ecological municipal networks have been overlooked. Understanding why local governments decide to participate in these networks is important for two main reasons: firstly, it contributes to shedding light on how contemporary local political elites govern cities within the European context; secondly, it allows us to understand why European cooperation for sustainable development has become a dominant discourse in urban politics. Conversely, this thesis adopts an urban approach to isolate the urban-level economic, political and institutional factors that impact on local authorities’ participations in European socio-ecological urban networks. Using a nested research design that combines a quantitative and qualitative analysis, the thesis seeks to shed light on the factors and motivations underlying the choice of cities to participate in European networks for sustainability. The results show that cities’ European commitment to sustainable development is part of a broad strategy to achieve urban regeneration. Therefore, participation in SEUNs is not necessarily motivated by environmental preoccupations but is functional to achieve economic and political objectives.

M.A. (History) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Comm. (Economics) / The aim of this study is to investigate the possibility of privatising local government functions, with special reference to the Johannesburg City Council. Privatisation is defined as the systematic transfer of appropriate functions, activities or property from the public to the private sector, where services, production and consumption can be regulated more efficiently by die market and price mechanisms. The purpose of privatisation is to improve the performance of the economy through the effective use of production factors, optimising market forces and by increasing the percentage of net fixed investment in the private sector. The study was carried out in two stages. In the first, the theory of the firm, namely perfect competition; monopoly; monopolistic competition; oligopoly; duopoly; price discrimination; monopsony and bilateral monopoly was discussed. Consequently a function evaluation programme was activated to determine which functions and activities of the Johannesburg City Council could possibly be privatised. In the second part of the study, the methods for privatisation, namely the 'Sale of public sector enterprises and assets; leasing of business rights and contracting out, were empirically analysed by discussing three case studies in the Johannesburg City Council.