Thesis (J.C.L.)--Catholic University of America, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-71).

The concept of ‘empowerment’ has been widely used among development practitioners since the early 1990s. This thesis aims to contribute to the literature on empowerment by developing an analytical framework that incorporates: (a) the dialectical nature of power, (b) multiple levels of analysis, and (c) the subjectivities of power that different actors have and that affect the way they respond to policies. The model is applied to the analysis of Mozambique’s transition to peace and the study of a national initiative called District Development Fund, known as the ‘7 Million’, which aims to promote empowerment by reducing poverty and promoting local participation in the rural districts. The analysis focuses, on the one hand, on the ‘7 million’ policy formulation, stressing the power struggles that shaped its final outcome and, on the other hand, the policy implementation in the district of Angoche, where I conducted extensive fieldwork. I argue that, even though the ‘7 million’ had some positive aspects – including providing a discourse that underlines the relevance of the districts and the local community in matters of governance – its effects in promoting local empowerment have been far below its potential. One of the reasons for this is to be found in the dynamics of power-to and power-over that take place at the local level and that partly reflect structural aspects linked to the Mozambique state formation and peacebuilding process. More generally, the case illustrates the limitations and contradictions of policies that aim promoting ‘bottom-up’ empowerment from the ‘top-down’.

The concept of sustainable development is a challenge that demands cooperation from all levels of society for it to be successful. The focus for this thesis is how politicians within the local councils understand the concept of sustainable development and how they implement it in political decision-making. The basis for the study is a questionnaire that was distributed to 303 local politicians in three municipalities of varying size in Southern Sweden. The study concentrates on departments within the local councils that are directly connected to the Swedish environmental law and the Swedish planning and construction law. One of the primary goals with the aforementioned laws is the achievement of sustainable development within one generation. The outcome of the study was that over half of the local politicians could correctly define sustainable development according to the World Commission on Environment and Development’s (WCED) definition. Two thirds of them prioritised the concept and were motivated to take it into serious consideration when making political decisions. With regard to the local councils documentation for decision-making, the respondents were not in agreement as to whether clear associations to sustainable development and the Swedish environmental objectives were present. The study also revealed both statistical differences and correlations in relation to several statements regarding aspects of sustainable development. Further education within sustainable development and clearly defined connections to documentation from the local councils can conceivably increase its acceptance and integration amongst local politicians. / Begreppet hållbar utveckling är en utmaning som kräver samarbete från alla nivåer i samhället för att det ska lyckas. Det innebär tre olika dimensioner som ska samstämmigt och ömsesidigt stödja varandra. Hänsyn måste tas till ekonomiska, miljömässiga och sociala dimensioner för att främja en hållbar utveckling. Många av de slutgiltigt offentliga besluten gällande verksamheter som påverkar medborgarnas vardag ligger hos kommunerna. Dessa kommuner styrs av politiker vars påverkan, genom sina beslut, på samhället är mycket omfattande. Fokus på denna uppsats ligger på hur de kommunala politikerna uppfattar begreppet hållbar utveckling och hur de integrerar begreppet hållbar utveckling i sitt politiska beslutsfattande. Utgångspunkten för studien är en enkät som delades ut till 303 lokala politiker i tre kommuner av varierande storlek i södra Sverige. Studien koncentrerar sig på avdelningar inom kommuner som är direkt kopplade till Miljöbalken (SFS 1998:808) och Plan- och bygglagen (SFS 2010:900). Ett av de primära målen med de ovan nämnda lagar är att uppnå en hållbar utveckling inom en generation. Resultatet av studien visade att över hälften av de undersökta förtroendevalda kunde definiera hållbar utveckling på ett korrekt sätt och enligt världskommissionen för miljö och utvecklings (WCED) definition. Två tredjedels av respondenterna prioriterade begreppet högt och integrerade det i sitt beslutsfattande. När det gäller beslutsunderlagen, framtagna av kommunala tjänstemän, ansåg större delen av respondenterna att tydliga kopplingar till hållbar utveckling eller de nationella miljömålen inte fanns. Vidare visade det sig även att en signifikant statistisk skillnad förekom i hur de olika åldersgrupperna upplevde kopplingar till de ovannämnda aspekterna. Ytterligare statistiskt säkerställda skillnader och samband uppkom i förhållande till påståenden gällande olika dimensioner av hållbar utveckling. Vidareutbildning inom hållbar utveckling och tydligt definierade kopplingar till hållbar utveckling, de nationella miljömålen och kommunala handlingsplaner kan möjligtvis öka begreppens integration och uppfattning bland de förtroendevalda.

This paper analyzes the persistence of bipartidism in Valle del Cauca (Colombia), from the results of the local council elections in the 42 districts of the department, between 1992 and 2015. In order to explain this electoral phenomenon, a classic institutional variable such as the magnitude of the district (MD) is used.Using panel data on a random effects model, this paper seeks to assess the existence of a causal relation between MD and the fragmentation of the party system. Then, it shows in which districts, of specific magnitude, the persistence was stronger. In other words, in which districts the transition process to a multiparty system takes longer and what are the key moments during this process.To analyze the persistence of bipartidism the segmented Nagayama Triangle (Nagayama, 1997; Grofman, Chiaramonte, D’Alimonte & Feld, 2004) is used, which reveals information about the nature of party competition. Results show that in Valle del Cauca the year 2000 represented the key moment in the transition from a two party system to a multiparty one.On synthesis, this paper explains the transition of the numeric format of the party system under a temporal perspective and it shows the difference on the speed of this changes, for districts of different magnitude. The results show that districts of bigger magnitude migrate faster from a two party logic to a format with a larger number of competitors (a multiparty one); in contrast to the districts of smaller magnitude. / El presente trabajo analiza la persistencia del bipartidismo en el departamento del Valle del Cauca (Colombia), a partir de los resultados electorales de los 42 Concejos municipales pertenecientes a él, entre 1992 y 2015. Para lograr nuestro objetivo, se utiliza una variable institucional clásica como es la magnitud de los distritos (MD).Mediante la utilización de datos de panel en un modelo de efectos aleatorios, se pretende evaluar la existencia de una relación causal entre MD y el nivel de fragmentación. Posteriormente se revisará en qué municipios (y en qué magnitud) existe una mayor persistencia de este fenómeno; es decir, en cuáles tarda más el proceso de descongelamiento del sistema de partidos y cuáles son los momentos clave de la transición de un sistema predominantemente bipartidista a uno multipartidista.Para analizar la persistencia del bipartidismo, se utilizó como herramienta gráfica el Triángulo segmentado de Nagayama (Nagayama 1997; Grofman, Chiaramonte, D’Alimonte y Feld 2004), que revela visualmente información sobre la naturaleza de la competencia partidista. Se encontró que, para el caso de este departamento, el año 2000 representó el momento clave de la transición hacia un sistema de partidos competitivo.En síntesis, el trabajo explica el tránsito del formato numérico del sistema bajo una perspectiva temporal, y muestra las diferencias en la velocidad de los cambios para los distritos con distintas magnitudes. Los hallazgos muestran que los municipios de mayor magnitud migran más rápidamente desde distritos con dominio bipartidista hacia distritos con mayor número de contendientes (es decir multipartidistas), en contraste a lo que ocurre con aquellos de menor magnitud.

La tesis supone un exhaustivo análisis acerca de una realidad hasta ahora desconocida: la participación ciudadana en los procesos de construcción de las Políticas Sociales locales de la Región a través de los Consejos e Institutos Municipales de Servicios Sociales. Analiza la realidad de la participación en la vida pública local social desde una posición crítica, pero también optimista respecto a las innumerables posibilidades y mecanismos participativos que se pueden implantar en los Servicios Sociales municipales.Los resultados ofrecen un conocimiento real y actual sobre la situación de la participación ciudadana en los Servicios Sociales en el ámbito geográfico de la Región de Murcia, contrastando y comparando sus resultados con realidades y tendencias observadas en otros estudios y experiencias de ámbito nacional e internacional / This thesis means an exhaustive analysis about a reality unknown up to now: The citizen participation in the construction process of local Social Policy, through the Local Commitees and Institutes. It analyses the reality of participation in the local social public life from a critical position, but also from and optimistic one, with regard to the countless posibilities and parcipative mechanismes that we could introduce. The results offer a real and current knowledge about the situation of citizen participation in Social Services in the geographique Murcia Region, constracting and comparing their results with realities and trends observed in others estudies and experiencies in a national and international frame.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-01T19:11:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 119216.pdf: 1216223 bytes, checksum: 1d7c3b226bed8320f0e37492e88883a1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The study investigated the transparency of local councils in light of Access to Information Act from empirical evidence of the largest brazilian municipalities. This is a descriptive study, conducted through a survey study with predominantly qualitative approach. The information s and data were collected from observations in the websites and registered through an observational protocol. The research reveals that most of the websites assessed partially complies with the indicators of transparency: There are 120 websites (90.22%) that partially fulfilled the obligations imposed by Access to Information Act; 6 websites (4.51%) that showed no instruments of transparency due to the lack of web presence; and only 7 homepages (5.26%) configured high capacity of transparency. The results demonstrate the need to redefine the practices of information management and develop a more transparent organizational culture in these local councils. It is essential to create websites able to comply with legal requirements and to improve transparency quality so as to promote more effective means of accountability in society. / O estudo investigou a transparência de Câmaras Municipais à luz da Lei de Acesso à Informação, a partir de evidências empíricas dos maiores municípios brasileiros. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva, realizada por meio de um estudo de levantamento, com abordagem predominantemente qualitativa. Os dados foram coletados mediante observações nos portais eletrônicos e registrados com auxílio de um protocolo de observação. A investigação dos portais revela que a maioria deles atende parcialmente aos indicadores de instrumentos de transparência das informações públicas. São 120 portais (90,22%) que cumpriram parcialmente com as obrigações impostas pela LAI. Outros 6 portais (4,51%) não apresentaram instrumentos de transparência em decorrência da sua inexistência de presença na web e, somente, 7 portais eletrônicos (5,26%) configuraram alta capacidade de transparência das informações públicas. O resultado da pesquisa evidencia a necessidade de redefinir as práticas de gestão da informação e desenvolver uma cultura organizacional mais transparente nesses legislativos. Para isso, é fundamental que sejam implementados portais eletrônicos capazes de atender aos requisitos legais e, também, aprimorar a qualidade da transparência das informações públicas para a construção de meios de accountability eficazes na sociedade.