This study aims to explore the relationship between the Transitional Local Council of Pietermaritzburg, and various arts and culture bodies in the Pietermaritzburg area. It has seemed that there is a power differential in this relationship, with a very high concentration of power in the hands of the TLC, while very little of it resides with the arts and culture organizations. The findings of this study have shown that the relationship is, in all cases, built on funding. However, secondly, the problem with this is that the TLC has no real policy on the allocation of funding to arts and culture. There is some informal policy, but nothing concrete. Thirdly, the study shows that the TLC does in fact have a power base from which to work - the finances it controls. And, finally, the study has shown that the transition to democracy in 1994 has not substantively changed the situation in which arts and culture organizations find themselves. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

This work considers the potential contribution of rational actor and behaviouralist models of political and participatory culture, in understanding specific contemporary issues within the topic of public participation in the decision making activities of UK local authorities. The basis for the research was a range of disruptive or confounding phenomena reported in various literatures, that either generate antipathy during schemes or create negative pre-conceptions that could affect future projects. It is suggested that an appreciation of these confounding factors, when viewed in the context of streamlining local authorities and a rationally acting public, can help us understand issues such as non-participation, apparent apathy in public involvement and certain participatory dynamics. It is argued that understanding these issues is vital, especially given the emergence of the Modernisation Agenda in the UK which places a great deal of importance on the consultative activities of local authorities. The research draws upon Almond and Verba’s Civic Culture theory (1963) and the work of the Public Choice school of political economics, especially the work of James Buchannan and Gordon Tullock, to address issues of political culture and rationalised political activity among both the public and authorities. These provided a framework for a multiple case study research design, looking at public involvement policies and schemes in two English local authorities, against a particularly dynamic policy background. The thesis identifies a range of issues that are linked to the public’s inclination to participate, that are additional to the traditionally quoted issues of apathy or unequal access to democracy. These issues are linked to the perceived effectiveness of participation and its methods, to individuals who are already acting subjectively on the basis of their values and material interests. This work offers and discusses the term ‘Civic Rationality’ to describe this mix of rationales in a participatory culture.

The City of Radcliff is presently without a Recreational Department and without local recreational planning. Therefore, it was desirable to establish a plan for the development of recreation in the city – a Recreational Master Plan. The master plan is divided into four areas: Organization and Administration of Recreation; Financing of Recreation; Facilities of Recreation; and Programming of Recreation. The standards set by the National Recreation and Park Association, NRPA, was the basis for evaluation of these areas. It was found that Radcliff’s organizational chart needed to be reconstructed to include a recreation director, recreation department, and preferably an advisory council made up of representatives from different ethnic, social, and age groups. Radcliff is without a recreation budget but money is allocated throughout the cities’ budget and this was compared to the standards set by NRPA. For a city of 11,000, it was concluded Radcliff needs an additional $21,995.00. Recommendations were made on how to produce this money. Radcliff was also without the majority of facilities required by NRPA standars to support a population of 11,000 persons. The most emphasized recommendations were to build a community center and swimming pool. Survey results reveal that to provide adequate programming the city is in need of professional recreational help, a recreation director, to develop, provide and improve programming for the city. Although the master plan was, in actuality divided into four areas of organization and administration, financing, facilities and programming, each is dependent upon the other in order to be effective. Radcliff’s program would be greatly enhanced by hiring a director, building a community center, a swimming pool, and by searching out the revenue resources available for financing a recreational program.

During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the City of Ottawa implemented a program to disseminate vaccination clinic information using the microblogging tool Twitter. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and evaluate whether this program constitutes a communicative model. The challenge for crisis communicators has been to convince a confused and skeptical public to be vaccinated against the virus. Drawing on Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Rousseau’s The Social Contract, the theoretical framework of this thesis feeds from Heidegger’s (1977) views on technology, new media, Web 2.0 technologies, Eid’s (2008) Crisis Decision-Making Model for Media Rational Responsibility, Rowan, Botan, Krepes, Samoilenko and Farnsworth’s (2008) CAUSE model, Crozier’s (1967) Theory of Bureaucratic Dysfunction and New Public Management. The thesis employs a case study approach and utilizes a qualitative research design to analyze the Twitter messages and internal City of Ottawa documents, and to conduct in-depth interviews with employees. Findings reveal and explain that the City of Ottawa’s program constitutes a flawed communicative model. A recommended communicative model is put forth in order to improve the areas of planning, human resources and message design. This model contributes to the emerging field of social media, and is intended to help health crisis decision-makers communicate their messages effectively.

This thesis attempted to examine the enabling conditions of existing South African water law and its implementation by the appropriate authorities. The Cape Town Municipality's management over water supply and services is included in this study. The research attempted to expose any shortcomings that might be prevalent in the new water law. The water allocation mechanism of the transformed water legislation and the water demands within various competing water user sectors of the community, such as those pertaining to agriculture and industry, was also explored.

No abstract available.

Zugl.: Oxford, University, Diss. - Bibliogr. S. (511)--548.

Albeit in its infancy, South Africa’s LED practice is a benchmark of a large number of African countries in general and Sub-Saharan African countries in particular. The LED practice stands out, for widespread decentralisation of powers, massive and growing LED budgets, robust legal frameworks that govern its implementation and development of LED structures, amongst others. This study seeks to answer three critical questions: What theoretical LED facets (particular aspects) are available in literature? Are these facets being implemented in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) and Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM)? Besides the effort and monies invested in ingraining LED in South Africa, are the levels of LED practices of the two municipalities deeply embedded in literature? The study utilises a purpose-built tool to measure the level at which LED practice of respective municipalities is ingrained in LED literature. The thesis employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods in order to provide scientifically adequate answers to this research. The former method was employed in identifying available LED facets while, the latter was useful in measuring the level at which LED practice in the two metros is embedded in LED theory. The research findings reveal presence of 6 LED facets, namely, enterprise development, locality development, livelihoods development, workforce development, community development and LED Governance. However, this study discovered that the aforementioned facets fail to cover other general items like the availability or unavailability of LED strategy, functional location of LED within municipal directorates and availability of a budget to drive the LED functions. In light of this, the researcher decided to group all the other key LED functions that he felt were not finding expression under the 6 facets identified in LED literature. This, then, led to the introduction of “General LED” facets. This facet, besides presenting a pre-cursor to the 6 other facets, manages to capture some key factors that are equally behind the success or failure of LED e.g. the LED strategy factor, a factor which a number of sources name “The heart” or “guiding compass” of successful LED implementation. The “General LED” facet contained other factors like: other plans that aided LED, experience of LED practitioners, budget allocation of the LED function, amongst others. The research found that all the 7 facets are being implemented in both municipalities, albeit to varying degrees. The two metropolitan municipalities’ LED practice, with respect to all the identified LED facets, provided some measure of their respective levels of embeddedness in LED theory using a purpose built tool. The embedded (ness) outcome proved that Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s LED practice was embedded in the LED theory across all the 7 facets, namely: general LED, enterprise development, locality development, community development, livelihood development, workforce development, and LED governance. The same analysis proved that Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality’s LED practice was embedded in LED theory in all the other facets bar community development. The survey results revealed that there are inadequate or limited initiatives in Buffalo.

Naturalisation procedures through which states symbolically and legally recognise noncitizens as citizens offer the most secure legal status for migrants and a means for them to evade global inequalities in the world system of nation-states. This study critically examines contemporary citizenship admission procedures in the UK and Germany following the introduction of citizenship tests, courses and ceremonies in the early 2000s. Based on a multi-sited state ethnography of both countries, this thesis argues that naturalisation does not simply separate citizens by discretionary application from citizens by automatic right of birth. Rather, citizenship admission procedures suggest a specific subjectivity, the Super Citizen, insofar as ‘new’ German and British citizens are expected to become a political, economic and cultural asset to the state. This study thus conceptualises naturalisation processes as a specific subject-formation regime created through particular problematisations, rationalities, authorities and techniques as institutionalised by the state. The analysis begins with a brief reconstruction of the genealogy of naturalisation in Britain and Germany, focussing on the emergence of the distinction between nationals and ‘aliens’ or ‘foreigners’, respectively, as well as on the legal mechanisms put in place to differentiate their access to full membership. Using a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews, observations and official documents, the study then tracks contemporary citizenship applications in four research locations in the two countries. It visits ceremony halls, classrooms and naturalisation offices and considers the perspective of a range of actors involved in citizenship admission procedures. This includes those who implement naturalisation on behalf of the state such as officials, legal advisers, teachers, politicians, and guest speakers, as well as the lived experience of the citizenship applicants themselves. The thesis concludes that naturalisation procedures in both the UK and in Germany produce the Super Citizen as a particular, neoliberal and neonational subjectivity that holds newly naturalized citizens responsible for developing a new nationalism.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Local Economic Development (LED) in alleviating poverty in Nkonkobe Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province, a municipality that is predominantly rural in nature and also stricken by poverty. The research objectives were; to explore the implementation of LED strategies, to assess the degree to which various spheres of government work collaboratively to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in development planning; and to evaluate the extent to which job opportunities have been created as a result of LED practices in the municipality. To achieve these objectives, a qualitative research approach was utilised. The sample was selected using a purposive sampling technique whereby individuals who are directly involved in integrated development planning and LED planning were targeted. Those who met this criterion were considered suitable for providing relevant information regarding the implementation of LED in Nkonkobe Local Municipality. Based on the literature review presented in chapter 2, LED can be perceived as an integrated, multidisciplinary approach that seeks to alleviate poverty through pro-poor economic growth by promoting economic development initiatives in municipalities. Moreover, the legislative framework presented in the same chapter reveals that the South African government has employed various strategies in the implementation of LED in local communities. The study showed that the Nkonkobe Local Municipality LED strategy has limited impact on poverty alleviation due to a myriad of factors which reinforce and interact with each other, thereby limiting development and thus trapping residents in poverty. The findings suggest that there is significant room for a paradigm shift from predominantly pro-growth LED to pro-poor LED, and the need to adopt a comprehensive LED strategy that seeks to include both pro-growth and pro-poor strategies.