Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Internal Auditing in the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of risk management systems within municipalities in the Overberg district of South Africa. The value of effective risk management systems in any organisation cannot be underestimated as it is responsible for appropriately identifying, assessing, and treating risks that may adversely influence the achievement of organisational objectives. The Overberg district municipalities were used as case studies to identify and evaluate the factors that could affect implementation of risk management systems at a local government level in a specific geographical area. The primary research question was what factors affect the effective implementation of risk management systems at the Overberg district municipalities. To answer this research question, sub-questions and research objectives were formulated to determine the relevant factors. The research employed descriptive statistics, as well as inferential analysis to analyse the data. Lack of sufficient funding for risk mitigation seemed to be the main factor that affects the implementation of risk management systems within the municipalities. In addition, the research highlighted the current gaps in the implementation of risk management processes. This made municipalities aware of the risks within their organisation and identified the benefits of implementing sound risk management initiatives. The contribution of the research will empower the Overberg district municipalities to manage their key organisational risks proactively. This will lead to sustainable local governments that will be able to continue to perform their primary functions effectively. From the results, it was evident that although the Overberg district municipalities had risk management systems in place, insufficient funding posed a challenge to effective risk mitigation. Municipal management should therefore allocate sufficient funding to ensure effective implementation of risk management systems.

A educação de jovens e adultos é um campo de políticas, práticas e reflexões que está para além dos limites da escolarização, sentido estrito. É considerada como parte integrante da história da educação em nosso país, na verdade, um dos maiores problemas da educação e que envolve milhões de brasileiros. Este trabalho tem como foco programas, projetos e ações concebidos e implementados, nos últimos anos, pelos governos locais dos municípios que compõem o ABC Paulista, em parcerias com a sociedade civil. As políticas analisadas foram desenvolvidas pelas administrações municipais no período 1987-2003, quando foi possível ver o surgimento e a coexistência de duas gerações de políticas: a primeira baseada na idéia de um estado de bem estar social e a segunda, ancorada no princípio da participação social objetivando a ampliação das esferas públicas, local e regional. No conjunto das municipalidades do ABC, este estudo recaiu sobre Diadema, Santo André e Mauá. Foram realizadas entrevistas com gestores públicos, dirigentes sindicais, representantes de entidades parceiras, coordenadores, professores; grupos focais com alfabetizandos, sendo os dados analisados à luz de extensa documentação atos legais, estatísticas oficiais, produção das secretarias municipais de educação e centros de memória locais. O estudo sobre os MOVA(s) (Movimento de Alfabetização) locais e Regional evidenciou a concretização das lutas por direitos e pela garantia à participação social dos jovens e adultos, o estabelecimento de novos atores (individuais e coletivos) a ampliação e o fortalecimento da esfera pública. / The young and adult education is a field of public policies, practices and reflections which are beyond the limits of schooling, in a strict sense. It is considered as an integrated part of the Brazils educational history. Actually, this is one of the biggest problems of education that involves millions of Brazilian people. This work focus on programs, projects and actions designed and implemented, in the last years, by the local governments of the cities from ABC Paulista, in partnership with the civil society. The analyzed public policies were developed by the municipal administrations from 1987 to 2003, when it was possible to see the appearance and the coexistence of two public policy generations: the first is based on the idea of a state of social welfare and the second is based on the principle of the social participation aiming at the expansion of the local and regional public spheres. Among the set of municipalities of the ABC, this study was made about Diadema, Santo André and Mauá. Interviews were conducted with public administrators, labor union leaders, representatives from partner agencies, coordinators, teachers and with focused groups in the process of literacy. This data was examined in the light of extensive documentation - legal acts, official statistics, production from the municipal secretariats of education and local memory centers. The study about the local and regional MOVA(s) (Literacy Movement) evidenced the concretion of the fights for the rights and for the guarantee of the social participation of the young and adults, the establishment of new actors (individual and public) the expansion and the strengthening of the public sphere.

Le Vietnam est un Etat-Parti administrativement centralisé. Fruit de l'Histoire du pays, cette centralisation administrative se conjugue pourtant malaisément avec l'urbanisation exponentielle des villes vietnamiennes. Moteurs de la croissance du pays et cœur de son attractivité économique depuis la politique du Đổi mới à la fin des années 80, les villes vietnamiennes connaissent pourtant d’importantes difficultés, liées au manque de décentralisation (administrative et financière) et au maintien d'une forte présence de l'Etat central. Cette décentralisation, inaboutie, est pourtant nécessaire pour, d'une part, gérer les phénomènes complexes découlant d'une urbanisation rapide et peu maitrisée (exode rural, gentrification, périurbanisation, extension des limites administratives des villes, gestion du foncier, accès aux services publics de base en milieu urbain, déplacements et transports, préservation des biens publics, qualité de l'air, logement, préservation de l'environnement, du patrimoine historique et culture, lutte contre les effets du changement climatique) et, d'autre part, le financement des infrastructures urbaines nécessaires au développement du pays et à son attractivité économique, pour lequel les besoins sont colossaux. Nous partons du principe que les collectivités locales, au Vietnam (en ce compris gouvernements locaux, sections locales du Parti communiste, sociétés publiques locales, opérateurs d’aménagement urbain publics) doivent constituer le support de la prise de décision, de l’action et du financement du développement urbain. Nous chercherons donc à répondre aux questions suivantes : Quel degré de décentralisation les collectivités locales vietnamiennes nécessitent-elles pour appréhender au mieux les phénomènes urbains ? Quel cadre juridique de gouvernance locale est nécessaire ? Quelle organisation administrative et quelle articulation entre échelons centraux et locaux en matière de développement urbain ?Notre étude cherchera à traduire juridiquement la place que les collectivités locales ont prise économiquement et socialement. Le but du présent travail de recherche est donc d’abord de démontrer en quoi les phénomènes urbains nécessitent des réponses avant tout locales puis d’analyser le cadre juridique qui entoure la prise de décision et le financement en matière de développement urbain. Ce travail s’inscrit donc dans une vision à la fois juridique et extra-juridique puisque des rapports incessants seront établis entre des phénomènes non juridiques (le développement urbain) et la réponse qui leur est apportée par le droit. / Vietnam is a one-party state, centrally administered. This centralization stems from Vietnam's History and does not fit to the increasing urbanization of Vietnamese cities. As drivers of Vietnam's growth (since the early years of Đổi mới policy, at the end of the 80's), Vietnamese cities still suffer from serious impediments related to excessive administrative centralization. Although insufficient, greater decentralization is required to address the phenomenon generated by a fast and uncontrolled urbanization (rural exodus, cities extension, land management, access to core services, transports, preservation of public goods, air quality, access to housing, environment, etc.) and to allow local governments to gain greater financial autonomy (the need for urban infrastructure is constantly increasing). Our main hypothesis is that the local governments (comprising People's Committees, Local sections of the Communist Party of Vietnam, local state-owned enterprises) should be the financial focal point and decision-making center of urban development in Vietnam. Which decentralization do Vietnamese local governments need to address urban-related phenomenon? Which legal background for local governments autonomy in Vietnam? Our PhD research will seek to answer those interrogations.

This dissertation examines the relationship between economic resilience, disaster experience, and smart growth policies at the local government level. The study is based upon three research questions that examine spatial distribution of economic resilience in Florida cities, and examines the impact of disaster experience, and smart growth policies adopted by local governments on economic resilience. Based upon the bounce-forward approach (Cowell, 2013; Klein et al. 2003), economic resilience is defined using three dimensions—economic stability, economic equity, and economic diversity. The spatial analysis is conducted by mapping economic resilience scores across 780 Census Designated Places in Florida through standard deviation method of classification, and conducting cluster-outlier analysis. Results suggest difference in economic resilience within coastal and inland communities—with higher scores mostly situated inland. East Central Florida, Tampa Bay, and South Florida were identified as high economic resilience clusters, and Northwest Florida was identified as low resilience cluster. Impact of disaster experience, and smart growth policies on economic resilience was examined based upon logic of focusing events by Birkland (1997, 2010). Data was collected from the U.S. Census, the National Climatic Data Center, and the Energy Sustainable Florida Communities Survey conducted by Florida State University in 2009. Results suggest significant association between disaster experience of communities and their level of economic resilience, highlighting the importance of community learning in building capacity for resilience after disasters. The results also highlight the need of balancing mitigation and adaptation strategies. Mixed-use development policies, green building certification, and energy savings policies were found to have a significant positive impact on economic resilience.

Policy conflict plays an important role in shaping public policy—both as a process and as a product. The policy conflict framework—a theoretical framework, developed by Christopher Weible and Tanya Heikkila in 2017—considers position divergence among policymakers a key characteristic of policy conflict, which can be affected several factors including organizational and network affiliation of policymakers. This dissertation analyzes position divergence among local and regional officials over community sustainability policy, with a focus on affordable housing, which is a major concern of community sustainability. This research examines if, and how, local government officials' engagement with regional governance can play a role in shaping their policy positions. Understanding what influences officials' policy positions is essential in managing conflicts that arise in the making of sustainability policies in general and affordable housing policies, in particular. This study argues that local government officials' engagement with regional governance can lower policy position divergence among them by influencing their policy core beliefs and policy relevant knowledge. This analysis includes testing several hypotheses using data from a state-wide survey of local and regional policymakers. Employing cross-tabulation, multivariate regression, and ordered logit analysis, this study finds that (a) policymakers share a wide range of policy positions on community sustainability policies and (b) for local government officials engaged with regional governance, position divergence on community sustainability is lower than that among those who are not engaged with regional governance. Although position divergence on affordable housing among those engaged with regional governance is generally lower than those who are not engaged with regional governance, this finding is not robust. In some regions and localities, the relationship between position divergence and engagement with regional governance does not hold. Furthermore, this study finds that local government officials' engagement with regional governance is associated with higher levels of policy relevant knowledge, which can influence the policymakers' policy positions. The relationship, if any, between policymakers' core beliefs and their engagement with regional governance is weak and statistically insignificant. This cross-sectional analysis based on limited data suggests that local government officials' policy core beliefs are not related to their engagement with regional governance. However, future studies with better data may yield different results. / Doctor of Philosophy / Policy conflicts can impede the policymaking process; they usually influence and shape policy goals. Metropolitan governance is rife with policy conflicts. Especially in substantive policy areas such as community sustainability and affordable housing, policy conflicts are quite common. Policy conflicts emerge because of policy actors' divergent views, beliefs, priorities, preferences, and aspirations. To ensure a smoother policymaking process, mechanisms to handle conflicts are imperative. Regional governance can offer one such mechanism to handle policy conflicts that arise due to divergent policy positions of local government officials. This dissertation examines policy conflicts focusing on community sustainability policies. Analyzing survey data from Maryland, this study finds that (a) local government officials share a wide range of policy positions on community sustainability policies, (b) local government officials engaged with regional governance take policy positions that are more homogeneous compared to those who are not engaged with regional governance, and (c) officials engaged regional governance tend to have better policy relevant knowledge than others.

Pesquisadores apontam que a ação antrópica é responsável pelo aquecimento de aproximadamente 1°C na temperatura do planeta e que, se esse ritmo for mantido, a meta do Acordo de Paris de restringir o aquecimento global em 1,5ºC deverá ser ultrapassada por volta do ano de 2040. Os impactos deste aquecimento afetarão com maior intensidade populações social, ambiental e economicamente mais vulneráveis, trazendo especiais desafios para as cidades, que concentrarão 66% da população mundial até a metade do século. No Brasil, alguns fatores dificultam a ampliação da capacidade de adaptação dos governos locais aos efeitos das mudanças climáticas. Dentre estes fatores, destacam-se uma taxa de urbanização acima da média mundial, a desigualdade social, a maneira que as cidades foram planejadas e o baixo domínio da questão climática pelos gestores públicos. Para superar estes problemas, diversos instrumentos de planejamento poderiam ser implantados ou aprimorados, entretanto, muitos municípios necessitam de auxílio para sua tomada de decisão. Nesse sentido, o Índice de Adaptação Urbana (UAI) propõe uma sistematização de indicadores, que verifica a existência ou não de instrumentos de desenvolvimento urbano e de políticas públicas, vinculados às temáticas de habitação, mobilidade urbana, agricultura sustentável, gestão ambiental e resposta aos impactos climáticos que visam a ampliação do potencial adaptativo municipal. Este projeto discute os resultados da aplicação do UAI nos 645 municípios do Estado de São Paulo, fornecendo um diagnóstico do potencial adaptativo dos municípios paulistas. A correlação desses resultados com as características socioambientais de cada região poderá ser utilizada para subsidiar um planejamento local e regional mais adaptado aos efeitos das mudanças climáticas. / Researchers indicate that anthropic action is responsible for the warming of approximately 1°C in the planet\'s temperature and that, if this pace is maintained, the goal of the Paris Agreement to restrict global warming by 1.5°C should be exceeded by the year 2040. The impacts of this warming will affect with greater intensity social, environmental and economically more vulnerable populations, bringing special challenges to cities, which will concentrate 66% of the world\'s population by the middle of the century. In Brazil, some factors make it difficult for local governments to increase their capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change. Among these factors, there is a rate of urbanization above the world average, social inequality, the way cities have been planned, and the low level of climate issues by public administrators. In order to overcome these problems, several planning instruments could be implemented or improved, however, many municipalities need assistance for their decision-making. In this sense, the Urban Adaptation Index (UAI) proposes a systematization of indicators, which verifies the existence or not of urban development and public policy instruments, linked to the themes of housing, urban mobility, sustainable agriculture, environmental management and response to climate impacts that aim to increase the municipal adaptive potential. This project discusses the results of the application of UAI in the 645 municipalities of the State of São Paulo, providing a diagnosis on the adaptive potential of these cities. The correlation of the results with the socio-environmental characteristics of each region can be used to support local and regional planning more adapted to the effects of climate change.

A despeito da crescente literatura sobre a atuação internacional dos governos locais, permanece a percepção de que faltam perspectivas teóricas e empíricas que abordem os fatores que influenciam na formação das estruturas e estratégias internacionais na gestão pública local. Tendo em vista tais carências, a presente tese tem por objetivos apresentar (i) uma discussão teórica e conceitual sobre o tema, propondo a utilização do termo \"relações externas subnacionais\" como conceito mais adequado à descrição do fenômeno em estudo; (ii) um instrumento de análise que relaciona os principais fatores impulsionadores das relações externas subnacionais propostos por Kuznetsov (2015) aos três níveis da paradiplomacia propostos por Lecours (2008) - econômico, político e de cooperação; e (iii) uma análise comparativa dos casos de São Paulo e Toronto, explorando os respectivos processos de institucionalização das relações externas destas duas cidades. Analisando-se o processo de institucionalização das relações externas na gestão local das duas cidades, verificou-se a existência de três principais aspectos que influenciaram tal processo: (i) o contexto econômico, político e social de cada cidade; (ii) a relação entre o tipo de federalismo existente no Brasil e Canadá e o estabelecimento de relações externas no nível local; e (iii) o perfil de atuação do gestor público local. / Despite a growing literature on the subject of the international insertion of local governments, there is still a lack of theoretical and empirical perspectives that appropriately approach the several factors that influence the formation of the structures that deal with the international strategies within local public management. Due to this shortage, this thesis is focused on offering (i) a conceptual and theoretical discussion on the subject, proposing the adoption of the term \"subnational foreign relations\" as a more adequate concept to describe the phenomenon in analysis; (ii) an analytical framework that connect the main causes for boosting subnational foreign relations, according to Kuznetsov (2015) to the three layers of paradiplomacy according to Lecours (2008) - economic, cooperation and political; and (iii) a comparative analysis between the cases of São Paulo and Toronto, exploring the processes of institutionalization of foreign relations in the public management of both cities. By describing and analyzing these processes, this thesis encountered the existence of three main causes for a deepening institutionalization of the foreign relations in the local public apparatus on both cities: (i) the economic, political and social context of each city; (ii) the relationship between the type of federalism of Brazil and Canada and the establishment of foreign relations in the local level; and (iii) the performance profile the mayor.

This two-part study was conducted as part of a larger project exploring leadership, organizational processes, and performance in local governments. In Study 1, we conducted interviews with exemplary leaders in local governments across a medium sized southeastern state. Results of these interviews suggested leadership and organizational processes consistent with organizational mindfulness. In Study 2, we created a survey instrument based on existing work in organizational mindfulness. Responses from 96 local governments provided evidence suggesting that organizational mindfulness is related to self reports of organizational performance. We end with a discussion of these results, study limitations, and opportunities for future research.

Background: From the beginning of the 60´s until the beginning of the 80´s the swedish local government has expand enourmously. The expansion didn´t lead to any discussions about how the local government should be controlled or organized. The local government should instead be organized and controlled as administrations. Lately it has became more usual to have these discussions about how local government should be controlled and organized. Nowadys it´s not unusual that local governments imitate private companies. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how local governments have had the possibility to use Balanced Scorecard. Limitations: We have only analyzed how local governments have had the opportunity to use Kaplan&Nortons original model about Balanced Scorecard. Method: We have performed a case study, where we have carried out eight interviews with a total of ten respondents from four local governments and Svenska Kommunförbundet. We have also used internal documents, Internet and already written literature concerning Balanced Scorecard. We have also used local governments respective private companies characteristics. Results: Local governments characteristics result in that the original model about Balanced Scorecard, can´t be used in local governments as it is performed by Kaplan&Norton. It´s still possible to use the basic idea of the model, but it has to be adapted to local governments conditions.

The main objective of this dissertation is to seek answers to three questions: 1) Why did it take so much longer for women than men to win the vote? 2) Why did it take women so long to be elected in any numbers to national legislatures?, and 3) What has been the political significance of women's entry into national legislatures? The answers are sought by examining an aspect of the development of parties ignored by most political scientists, namely the relationship between women's suffrage, party politics and patriarchal power. An empirical study on Iceland is used to examine this aspect in detail. In the period 1908- 1926, women in Iceland ran separate lists at local and national elections. The fate of the women's lists in Reykjavik is explored and so are the policies of women councillors. Iceland was not the only country to see the emergence of separate women's political organizations that ran candidates at elections. The outcome was nowhere as successful as in Iceland. Through the rise, and decline, of the women's lists and women's policies in Reykjavik, the factors that allowed women to carry out their own maternalistic politics within a male-run system are illuminated. The dissertation draws on numerous theories and postulations within political science. It also challenges many of them. Theda Skocpol's structured policy approach proves highly useful in examining the larger political environment and factors that stimulated or hindered women's politics and policies in Reykjavik. The approach does not, however, account for male power as a force on its own. The structured policy approach is challenged by providing another important factor, the role of individuals and their ideas as a political force. The conclusion is that patriarchal theories are needed within political science, and it is suggested that political parties, their origin and working methods, provide excellent starting points from which to examine male power, or patriarchy, as a political force of its own. / digitalisering@umu