Thesis (Ph. D.)--George Mason University, 1997. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis deals with the essential aspects of the local referendum as a widely used complement of representative democracy and with the particular forms it appears in the Czech and Slovenian legal orders. The main objectives of this thesis are following: describing Czech and Slovenian legal regulations concerning the local referendum in detail, exploring certain areas of its practical use and finally concluding whether there is any significant difference in the way these two countries, that share similar experience historically and of the recent years too, approach direct democracy and the institute of the local referendum in particular. The body of the thesis is made up of nine chapters. In the first chapter Introduction I clarify what led me to focus on the respective issues. The second chapter Idea of Direct Democracy tackles the origins and the essence of direct democracy, its potential to be used in the modern world and also briefly describes those institutes of direct democracy that are used in the Czech and Slovenian practice. The third chapter Referendum in general classifies individual types of referendums. In the fourth chapter Local referendum in the Czech Republic, we can find an exhaustive description of the Czech legal regulation of the local referendum, analysis of the data...

55 Abstract This diploma thesis gives an insight into the system of control and supervision procedures applied to local self-governments. The aim of this work is to evaluate possible problematic aspects of established supervisory procedures applied to budgetary management and to assess whether it is needed to extend the Supreme Audit Office's competence by enable it to control the budgetary management of local self-governing units with their own assets. The introductory chapter briefly summarizes the issue of budgetary management of local governments, while a more detailed interpretation is devoted to the duty of the local self-goverments to comply with the rules of budgetary responsibility, which was brought by Act No. 23/2017 Coll., On rules of budgetary responsibility, as amended. The following chapters are devoted to the various supervisory procedures and their systematics. First of all, Act No. 321/2001 Coll., On financial control in public administration, as amended, is provided, which provides a legal framework for public control and imposes internal obligations on territorial units in connection with the conduct of monetary operations. The next section describes the performance of the management review, which is carried out under Act No. 420/2004 Coll., On the review of local self-governing units,...

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地球環境学) / 甲第20537号 / 地環博第158号 / 新制||地環||32(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院地球環境学舎地球環境学専攻 / (主査)教授 渡邉 紹裕, 教授 宇佐美 誠, 准教授 SINGER JANE / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Global Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

The relationship between the government and the governed is transforming into a digital collaboration of operations. The level of intensity for this collaboration between government and citizens have fallen behind that of the private sector. Web 2.0 tools, otherwise known as social media, internet search engines, and e-Government are now a stimulant for citizens to become informed about their government actions and to also interact with government in order to provide input to elected officials and appointed officials from citizens to the government concerning public policy making and other public concerns. This research seeks to examine the question of whether forms of local government and their hiring practices have any effect on the way local municipalities conduct their background checks using social media and search engines as supplemental information to traditional background checks. The author examines a representative sample of 871 municipalities within the U.S. having a population of 2,500 or greater. The local form of government hiring procedures characteristics of these 871 municipalities are measured using two separate independent variables. The effects of the forms of local government hiring procedures are measured using independent T-tests and Z-tests for regions selected by the U.S. Census Bureau and population size of these municipalities, municipalities that offer e-Government, and the total forms of e-Government offered. The first four hypotheses, which are especially central to this dissertation, were all rejected. Local government form, population, and region are not correlated with use of social media and search engines to obtain supplemental information about applicants. There were 448 out of 871 hiring managers in municipalities responding to this survey, 51 percent, that confirm searching social media to find supplemental information about applicants. Characteristics of the hiring managers for this study show a correlation between social media and search engines being used to obtain supplemental information about applicants, however, statistical significance was not obtained for these core hypotheses. Minor hypotheses in this study did prove to show significance between hiring managers and the use of social media and search engines to obtain supplemental information about applicants.

The thesis explores the effect of fiscal decentralization on local governments budgeting and fiscal autonomy in selected transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The implications of legislative changes on local budgets and revenue authority are analyzed. Discrepancies between legal provisions and actual fiscal practices are identified on the basis of case studies of four countries: Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, and Lithuania. The study explores some specific approaches to dealing with local finances based on the respective countries' fiscal legislation. An attempt is made to evaluate local revenue authority based on both comparable statistical data and legal provisions of the selected countries. Following a comparative conceptual framework, the thesis reveals both unique and common patterns of budget policy and local revenue raising authority in each of the four countries. The results of the inquiry indicate that despite the greater fiscal authority and independence which local authorities gained during the transition, local governments in many CEE countries continue to operate within old centralized fiscal structures and budget policies. The right balance between the need for decentralization of governance and the ability and desire of local authorities to control and steer the local revenue policies is still to be found. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

The aim of this study is to describe the view of the Sweden Democrats, the Moderates, the Social Democrats and the Green Party on local self-government associated with the establishment of the Settlement Act and how the view of local self-government associated with the Settlement Act has changed over time. A descriptive idea analysis was conducted over two parliamentary debates regarding the Settlement Act from 2016 and 2022, and by applying Strandberg's (1998) analytical framework with six different dimensions on how to study ideas about local self government in the analysis, different ideas about local self-government could be identified in the debates. The results show that the Sweden Democrats, the Moderates, the Social Democrats and the Green party both expressed different and similar ideas about local-self government regarding the establishment of the Settlement Act. Furthermore, the results also showed that the Green party's ideas about localself-government regarding the Settlement Act had undergone more changes compared to the other three parties from 2016 to 2022.

The aim is to answer the question of whether effective control mechanisms exist in the Czech Republic which would guarantee the fulfilment of legal regulations by municipalities and regional authorities dealing with public property. It is also my aim to explore whether such control mechanisms result from the constitutionally guaranteed rights to local government and, if they do, to what extent they may be incorporated in the Czech legislation. My diploma thesis is based on specific case studies, the case law of general courts and the current jurisprudence of the Czech Constitutional Court. After the description of the current state of affairs in the Czech Republic, I further focus on the definition of the control mechanisms of local governments in Czechoslovakia between the two world wars (1918 - 1938) and partly also during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This diversion leading to this era has been selected to reflect the efforts to resume the local government traditions in the context of the renewal of the local government scheme in the Czech Republic after 1989. It is proven towards the end of the historical survey that unlike today, there were effective control mechanisms available before World War II, with several alternatives. The thesis also compares the legal regulations beyond the control...

An antinomy is a contradiction between a principle and its opposite, where there is a compelling case for accepting both. This thesis adopts the antinomy of local-state government in Australia as its central conceptual theme, describing it with the following defensible, but contradictory principles that:¶ · Australian local governments are statutory agencies of Australia’s state governments, with no power or authority beyond that which is ascribed to them by the states (the outside-in principle); and¶ · Local governments in Australia are independent agencies whose authority and interests transcend their regulatory powers by nature of their attachment to their local area (the inside-out principle).¶ The central conceptual theme of the antinomy of local-state government shapes the overall thesis, as well as providing the focus for its introduction and conclusion. The thesis induces elements of the antinomy and structures much of its discussion around these key issues. It does not try to prove or resolve the antinomy. Instead the thesis uses the concept to explore and develop its second complex theme - the practical and applied experience of Australian local governments (LGs) as they attempt to deliver beneficial environmental outcomes. The great bulk of the substantive work presented in the thesis focuses on descriptions and analyses of LGs’ environmental work and the contexts within which they do it. The thesis contends that the local-state antinomy underpins many problems facing Australian LGs as they attempt to deliver beneficial environmental outcomes. Four research questions are addressed. They are:¶ · How can Australian LG capacity to deliver beneficial environmental outcomes be understood?¶ · Within this capacity, what are the environmental outcomes now being achieved by Australian LGs?¶ · How can Australian local government extend its capacity to deliver beneficial environmental outcomes? And¶ · What are the implications of the local-state antinomy on Australian LG capacity to deliver beneficial environmental outcomes?¶ This thesis reviews literature on Australian LG, LG environmental work, and the methods that are appropriate in investigating these questions. The overall thesis uses scientific, grounded theory and action research methods and draws on ideas from symbolic interactionism. Parts of the thesis also use environmental risk assessment, gap analysis techniques, case study and comparative analysis. The goal of generating grounded theories led to a strong focus on the development and exploration of analytical categories and the relationships between them. One such category summarises the relationship between LG and state government (SG), whereby LGs are identified as the inside sphere of government, while the SG is one of several outside spheres. Environmental efforts that impact between the spheres are described in relation to their source and impact, using this terminology, so that inside-out initiatives are driven by LGs but impact more broadly, and outside-in initiatives are driven by states but impact on local areas.¶ Two extensive studies are presented, each stemming primarily from one side of the local-state antinomy. The first is a quantitative, statewide study of local (and state) government implementation of the Queensland Environmental Protection Act. That process is considered a predominantly outside-in environmental initiative, in that LG interest and authority for that work stem directly from a SG statute. For simplicity, this is referred to as an outside-in study. That study involved the development and application of the Comparative Environmental Risk Assessment Method, that enabled the assessment of the environmental and other outcomes from the Queensland legislation.¶ The outside-in study is complimented by comparative case studies that mostly reflect inside-out environmental initiatives as they are defined and described by LGs. Again, this required the development of innovative research methods, specifically a comparative case study method. 34 case studies gathered from different types of LGs across Australia are presented, each representing an attempt by LG to deliver beneficial environmental outcomes.¶ In answer to the research questions, LG capacity to deliver environmental outcomes can be understood when the antinomy is examined through the research methods and analytical categories developed and presented here. LGs are delivering significant beneficial environmental outcomes, both as agents of SGs and through their own initiatives. Improving LG capacity to deliver environmental outcomes primarily requires a respect for LG perspectives, and for LG priorities, which inherently include a focus on their own local areas. State governments can build effective partnerships between the spheres and enhance LG environmental capacity by recognising and supporting LG’s own priorities, while assisting their engagement with broader strategic objectives.

published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning