Within a Gramscian analysis, concepts of hegemony, passive revolution and organic intellectuals are employed to investigate and theorise the New Right think tanks' critique of English local government. Unlike other accounts, it is argued that the New Right think tanks successfully modernised traditional Conservative party concerns that elected local government was susceptible to demands for social welfare and of bureaucrats and politicians self-seeking efforts. The Gramscian analysis further suggests that in a highly centralised state elected local government was never only concerned with locality but was often embroiled in the statecraft strategy if the dominant bloc. Previously when the dominant hegemony had been endangered, elected local government has been usefully deployed to resolve social tensions. This strategy however, has been problematic and has been destructive of the relative independence of elected local government. More generally, elected local government's decisive role in civil society means that it too has become a site where counter hegemonic projects have clustered. During the 1980s, such tensions become critical. The organic intellectuals associated with Thatcherism, the New Right think tanks, acted as a clarion for demands to end elected local government's role in providing social welfare that effectively questioned its existence. Elswhere in a parallel development increased regulation of elected local government by the centre restricted the activities of local authorities, a strategy that also adversly affected those who supported the dominant bloc's hegemony.

The thesis focuses on Local Government duties and powers for enabling energy and sustainability projects in England and Wales. It establishes a theoretical understanding for well-being in international law, European law and a pragmatic approach on how legal and policy instruments should be interpreted when assessing obligations for energy and sustainability. It then illustrates how various objectives are currently delivered across Europe. This leads to a theoretical and legal context for council members and officers working in local government with both mandatory duties and permitted powers available to advance the carbon emissions and fuel poverty agenda in their communities. The thesis evaluates the implications of ultra vires and judicial review on local authority behaviour in hand with the Local Government Act 1999 (Best Value) and suggests the combination has restricted positive action by the majority of local authorities in areas crucial to the well-being of many vulnerable residents. Compounding this, the subsequent Local Government Act 2000 (Powers of Well-Being) is currently underused due to a lack of legal certainty about their interpretation or realisation of their potential to address substantive community issues. To help counter the issue the thesis provides a theoretical context and working definition for energy and sustainability in local government which aligns Aristotelian thought and the principles of sustainable development. Then a practical example illustrates how energy and sustainability projects could be used to achieve wider community well-being. The thesis concludes by offering local government is under an implied duty to promote well-being and it should not defer actions on the grounds of the absence of a mandatory duty in the area. It must look to its history in public health reform in order to recognise the substantive issues of the day involving energy and poverty. It must become more outward looking, exploratory and adventurous in scope and find the political will to address the issues and the moral courage to direct resources to long term solutions.

This study examines the impact of environmental variables and organizational characteristics on minority bureaucratic representation in American municipalities. / A random sample of 111 American municipalities with populations of over 25,000 was chosen from U.S. census data. The base year for the analysis is l977. / After a comprehensive background, definitions of representation bureaucracy and affirmative action are drawn from the literature to provide rather explicit parameters for the analysis. Affirmative action, as a public personnel policy, is viewed as a contemporary means for achieving a representative bureaucracy. / There is first a concern for describing the municipal occupational representation of minorities. This descriptive section of the research addresses such questions as: (1) What is the occupational distribution of minorities? (2) In what occupations are minorities most represented? and (3) How do blacks and white females compare with regards to occupational representation? Second, there is a concern for generalizing these findings to U. S. municipalities. / The study tests hypotheses relating to organizational and environmental variables with the assumption that they would have a significant impact on minority bureaucratic representation in American cities. The relationship between these variables and their respective impact on municipal minority representation constitutes an ecological orientation. / This study shows that minorities tend to be located in lower status jobs. The most significant ecological factor that explains black bureaucratic representation is the percentage of blacks in the municipal population. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-02, Section: A, page: 0801. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This study was undertaken to examine the extent to which web-based transaction technology has diffused in small North Florida nonprofit organizations and to study what, if any, relationship exists between the adoption of web-based transaction technology and the adoption of other technologies in these organizations. The study also examined the nature and frequency of strategic technology planning in these organizations, and their relationship to the adoption of web-based transaction technology. This work is important and necessary as a means of understanding how popular, useful, and potentially powerful technologies are introduced and used in small organizations, to understand what, if any, technological complexities may be associated with the adoption of this potentially powerful technology. We also seek to understand the different formal and informal means by which these nonprofit organizations consider, then move to introduce and set permanently into organizational habit patterns, new technologies. / A Dissertation submitted to the Askew School of Public Administration and Policyin partial fulfillment of therequirements for the degree ofDoctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: April 21, 2008. / Information Technology, Technology, Strategy, Strategic Planning / Includes bibliographical references. / Frances Stokes Berry, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles Barrilleaux, Outside Committee Member; Ralph Brower, Committee Member; William Earle Klay, Committee Member.

One of today's more highly sensitive and controversial areas of human relations in the workplace is sexual harassment. The news media turn charges of sexual harassment into front page sex scandals, which create problems for employers as well as the individuals involved. / The numbers of women in the workforce have been increasing rapidly, and they are entering occupations previously closed to them, providing more opportunities for sexual harassment to occur. Changing attitudes toward sex by both women and men are impacting their relations in the workplace; and the women's movement seeks to sensitize women to problems of unwanted sexual attention at work, establish that it is illegal, and change men's behavior. / This study reviews national information on sexual harassment and analyzes data from a random sample of female employees of the State of Florida, to determine whether sexual harassment of women is a serious problem in the workplace. Determinations are made on how widespread sexual harassment of female employees is, what forms of attention women report are problems, and what personal and work related characteristics result in increased reports of unwanted sexual attention. Hypotheses are empirically tested on women's feelings about their experiences with unwanted sexual attention and the types they have experienced and the relationships between job related and personal characteristics and reports of sexual harassment. / The establishing, through case law and issuance of guidelines by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that sexual harassment is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, is analyzed. The study explores the appropriateness of current national public policy and the needs for action at the state and national levels for changes in law. Consideration is given to the obligations of employers to provide a workplace free of unwanted sexual attention, and recommendations are made for actions by employers to protect themselves from unnecessary complaints, and attendant expenses, and to carry out their legal obligations. The dissertation concludes that the ultimate goal of public policy and employer actions should be a higher level of dignity and respect for all persons. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0543. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of four ecological factors upon the attitudes of Saudi students toward work values. The ecological factors are divided into two types: informational factors consisting of education and mass media consumption, and societal factors consisting of religious commitment and tribal attachment. On the other hand, the work values examined in the study consist of the following: (1) locational mobility, (2) occupational mobility, (3) impartiality, (4) technical skills receptivity, and (5) time importance. / For the purpose of examining the correlation between the two sets of variables, data were collected in the Spring of 1981 utilizing a 54 item questionnaire distributed to 500 respondents, mainly university students. / Nine scales were developed to measure the nine variables examined in this study. A cross-tabulation (Gamma and R) test was employed to determine the strength of correlation, if any, between the ecological factors and the students attitudes toward work values. / The result of this empirical investigation was useful in a sense that it can be utilized as a basis of classification for the four ecological factors. The four ecological factors were divided into three categories based on the nature of correlation they have had upon the attitudes of Saudi students toward work values. They include: (1) passive factors including those which had no correlation with the attitudes of students toward work values. Factors classified under this category included education and mass media consumption. (2) Positive factors including those which were positively correlated with the attitudes toward work values. Religious commitment was found to be the only factor that can be classified under this category. (3) Negative factors including those which were negatively correlated with the attitudes toward work values. Tribal attachment was found to be the only factor that can be classified under this category. / Such findings have led us to emphasize the urgent need of reviewing such useful mechanism as the educational system and the media of mass communication in order to be rearranged utilizing the deeply rooted progressive values of the religion which have been empirically found effective motivators of people to achieve higher standard levels of productivity. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-12, Section: A, page: 5239. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The Iraqi Refugee Crisis began in 2006 as a result of the instability and violence that prevailed in Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion and occupation. Instead of being directed to camps, Iraqis flowed across international borders of Middle Eastern states nearby Iraq to live in urban centers and face varying levels of legal accommodation and deteriorating economic security. The policies of individual states in the Middle East, along with complex demographic factors, have influenced where Iraqis have gone. The role of the United States in affecting the destination choices of Iraqis is examined in this paper because of the powerful position of the US in the Middle East region and its role in creating the refugee crisis. The evidence reveals that the diplomatic relations between Middle East host countries and the United States, and the self-serving political interests of those states has created and maintained a regime in which Iraqi refugees are stuck primarily in host countries along Iraq's western border. The states involved in the Iraqi Refugee Crisis have applied political self-interest to their adherence to mechanisms of international law to which they are subject. A realist perspective of international relations is employed to explain the stability-seeking, risk-averse behavior of the states influencing the direction of migration. The purpose of this paper is to determine the destination choices of Iraqi refugees and explain the factors that dictated those choices. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of International Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2009. / Date of Defense: November 6, 2009. / The 1951 Convention on Refugees, International Affairs, International Refugee Law, Human Rights, UNHCR, Iraq War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, US Refugee Admissions Program, Special Immigrant Visa, Realist Perspective, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Gulf Cooperation Council, US Foreign Policy, US Department of State, Durable Solutions / Includes bibliographical references. / Peter Garretson, Professor Directing Thesis; Elwood Carlson, Committee Member; Mark Souva, Committee Member.

This research builds on the studies of politics-administration relationships at local government level. According to the public administration literature, the politics-administration relationship has dynamically evolved from orthodox dichotomy to modified dichotomy and to partnership models. Accepting the notion that professional administrators are important policy-makers along with elected officials, which is identified in modified dichotomy and partnership models, this study raises three empirical questions: How are elected and appointed executives different as policy-makers? What factors determine their interaction patterns in policy-making? And, do these two types of policy-makers have different policy preferences that account for their policy behavior? To answer these questions, this study systematically identifies incentive structures faced by local elected officials and professional administrators through integrating rational choice and sociological institutional approaches. In this framework three categories of factors that shape local officials' policy behavior are specified: organizational authority, social contexts, and career status, with each indicating authority-based, social-based, and individual-based incentives. This framework not only considers incentive factors that induce certain policy behavior, but also includes constraint factors. The main proposition is that elected officials and appointed administrators, imbedded in different social settings and with different career interest, face distinct incentives to policy-making and hold different policy preferences. Using the data collected though the mayor survey and city manager survey conducted in Florida cities in 2006, three sets of empirical models—mayor-manager difference models, policy leadership model, and policy choice models—are operated to address each empirical question. The purpose for the mayor-manager difference models is to investigate whether the survey data provide empirical validation for the theoretical incentive structure framework. The models of policy leadership and policy choices apply the incentive structure framework to explore policy-making patterns, which examine the usefulness of the framework. The results of these models lend preliminary support for the framework. / A Dissertation submitted to the Reubin O'D. Askew School of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2007. / Date of Defense: June 21, 2007. / Politics-administration Relationship, Local Government, Elected Official, Appointed Administrator, Incentive, Policy-making / Includes bibliographical references. / Richard C. Feiock, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles Barrilleaux, Outside Committee Member; Frances Stokes Berry, Committee Member; Kaifeng Yang, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of Korean public employees about the utilization and effects of computer technology. Particular emphasis is given to the motives which prompt managers to adopt new technology. Possible associations between managerial motivations and behaviors and several variables regarding the use and effects of computer technology are then explored. To contribute to a broader theoretical understanding, the responses of employees of three Korean financial agencies are compared to American employees randomly selected from financial agencies in the State of Florida. / Univariate and bivariate data analysis shows numerous significant findings. Findings from the Korean sample confirm that managerial motivations are multidimensional. Korean managers are motivated by such factors as service improvement, employee well being, cost savings and desire to enhance control. Managers' behaviors, however, are not always helpful. Management often does not give employees enough time to learn computer skills during regular work hours. Respondents in both countries indicated that informal conversation and self-teaching are the most important ways of learning about computers. Improvements in operational performance measures such as service improvement, work speed, accuracy and coordination of service delivery seem to result from the use of computers. Managerial motivations and behaviors were found to be significantly related to the attitudes of employees about computer utilization, the ways in which employees learn to use computers, and operational performance. Multidimensional motivation, and the adoption of several supportive behaviors seem to positively enhance the utilization of computers in both countries. / Similarities seem to greatly outweigh the differences between the two countries. The response patterns suggest the possibility of framing theory about the role of managerial motivations and behaviors associated with adoption of computer technology that might apply to newly industrialized countries as well as to the more maturely developed ones. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2983. / Major Professor: William Earle Klay. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

This study examined the attitudes of senior civil service administrators in the Sudan toward change. From a sample of 400, 205 administrators responded to the questionnaire constructed to collect data for the study. / Respondents' attitudes were tested toward change, friction, communications, responsibility and emigration. The data were analyzed to determine the association between the administrators' attitudes toward the dependent variables (above) and the independent variables of social status, education, work organization and family influence. / The analysis revealed that there is friction between the general public and the civil servants. The public's high expectations put pressure on the civil service. Communications within and among government organizations are difficult due to organizational problems and employee attitudes. Subordinates are reluctant to take responsibility, are afraid to make mistakes, and want to be left alone. The senior administrators themselves are insecure and prefer to work by themselves. Many government employees emigrate to oil producing countries, mainly for economic reasons. The senior administrators themselves are willing to emigrate for a good opportunity, and encourage their children to emigrate in the future. / Analysis showed that senior administrators are conservative toward change irrespective of social status, education, family influence and work organization. There is no significant association between attitudes toward friction, communications, responsibility and emigration when treated with social status, education and work organization. Family influence is the most important independent variable. Sudan is a tribal society and family influence has a major effect on the attitudes of the individual in the society. The association between family influence and attitudes toward friction, communications and responsibility is significant. Attitudes toward emigration have a relatively significant association with family influence; but there is no significant association between attitudes toward change and family influence. / The study results show that the senior administrators are conservative in their attitudes toward change. They are also dissatisfied and lack commitment to their work. In order to pursue social and economic development Sudan must develop its administrative system, its only tool of development administration and management. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-12, Section: A, page: 3804. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.