Variable plutôt ignorée au niveau de la littérature portant sur l’analyse du parti au gouvernement, les élites exécutives, leurs trajectoires politiques et leurs expériences de socialisation peuvent constituer une explication alternative pour l’articulation de l’activité des exécutifs. Par le biais d’une étude de cas, portant sur les élites politiques en Roumanie postcommuniste, la recherche procède à une interrogation concernant l’impact des acteurs individuels sur la formulation des politiques publiques et la coordination de l’activité gouvernementale. <p><p>De la sorte, menée d’une manière constructiviste, la recherche suscite la délimitation d’une série de réponses à la question :Comment les trajectoires politiques des ministres et des secrétaires d’Etat influent-elles sur la prise de décision gouvernementale en Roumanie postcommuniste ?L’influence des élites gouvernementales est analysée sur deux grands axes de recherche :(1) une dimension qui vise les relations qui se forgent entre les acteurs au niveau organisationnel –institutionnel et (2) une dimension qui porte sur le contenu même des politiques entamées. D’une manière compréhensive, intégrant plusieurs approches centrées sur les élites, le cadre analytique imbrique les effets estimés au niveau du parti et les effets établis au niveau du fonctionnement des exécutifs. <p><p>Les conclusions de la thèse soulignent l’importance du profil des acteurs gouvernementaux dans la coordination de l’activité des exécutifs durant la période 1989-2007. L’expérience politique des acteurs, tout comme leur position dans le parti sont des facteurs essentiels dans la définition des degrés d’autonomie décisionnelle et des marges de liberté dont les gouvernants disposent dans la création des politiques. L’étude met en exergue le fait que cette caractéristique décrivant l'existence d'un impact direct des acteurs individuels sur le caractère collégial, consensuel ou conflictuel de l’activité du cabinet, tout comme leur influence sur la réalisation du programme gouvernemental ne constituent pas une idiosyncrasie de la transition démocratique, mais un modèle de comportement consolidé dans le cas des exécutifs roumains.<p> / Doctorat en sciences politiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In terms of the South African Government Structure, Local Government is entrusted with the service delivery mandate. Furthermore, Local Government, being the closest sphere of government to the people, is expected to enhance service delivery to the communities within its jurisdiction. Local Government has for the past four years, undergone numerous transformation processes, ranging from Local Authorities, to Transitional Local Councils and to Municipalities. Having mentioned that, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, in particular, has recently acquired metropolitan status, which requires another transformation protocol. At the same time this automatically raises the bar on the service delivery expectations by the communities. In general, Local Government has been extensively supported by the National and Provincial Governments to deliver superior services to communities. This has happened through numerous pieces of legislations such as the Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998, the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000, the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 and the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, act 108 of 1996. In 1997, the South African Government introduced a White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service. This was to re-emphasis on the performance enhancing role of both the political and administrative leadership in the implementation of service delivery mandates. The need was identified that communities require an assurance that their needs are taken care of by the leadership of the municipalities. It is therefore the role of leadership to ensure effective implementation of service delivery initiatives and to promote a culture of performance among the administrative officials of the municipality. The aim of this study is to critically investigate the role of leadership: A case study of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM), with the view that BCMM is considered one of the high capacity municipalities within the Eastern Cape Province. During the literature review, it became evident that different people and scholars, dating back in the early 90’s, view leadership in different forms. In sourcing the information for this research, structured interviews were conducted with five Directors, five Executive Mayoral Councillors and five Ward Councillors. The interviews were an extensive consultation process which resulted in over 30 hours of engagement with research participants, with an average of 2 hours per structured interview. A four week period was allocated and effectively utilised for this exercise. The research provides recommendations for further research on other related components of the subject such as the intended role as compared to the current role fulfilled by both administrative and political leadership, and suggested solutions to the current problems in Municipalities, in order to ensure their sustainability within Local Government. The research findings identified the need for the leadership to take the leading role in service delivery initiatives in order to address the service delivery challenges in local government. Political leadership need to enhance the public participation process to ensure the community is on board regarding the progress of their respective projects and planning processes.

In South Africa, the right to protest is under constant threat as a result of the state response. Increasing cases of forceful policing and sometimes unlawful procedural prohibitions of protest attest to this. This study aims to firstly describe this situation through securitisation theory, essentially arguing that South Africa has become a securitised state. It also aims to understand how this is sustained by the state and why the state needs to use a securitised response to maintain power. Interviews were conducted with members of different communities and organisations. Their responses helped to illustrate the frustration of the right to protest or brutal policing during a protest. This provided primary evidence to support the claims of the study. The research shows that claims to protest are being delegitimised under the guise of security as protestors are being constructed as threats to the state. This is further substantiated by looking at how the reorganisation and remililtarisation of the South African Police perpetuates the criminalisation of protestors which necessitates a forceful response from the state. Furthermore, it shows that there is a distinct relationship between the prohibition of protest and the recent increase in ‘violent’ protests which legitimate forceful policing thereby creating a state sustained cycle of violence. The larger implication of this treatment is that these protestors are treated as non- citizens who are definitively excluded from participating in governance. In understanding why this is taking place, it is clear that a securtitised response is an attempt to maintain power by dispelling any threats to power, a response which is seen to have a long history in the African National Congress (ANC) when examining the politics of the ANC during exile. Maintaining power in this way distracts from the larger agenda of the state, which this thesis argues, is to mask the unraveling of the ANC’s hegemony and inability to maintain national unity. In other words, the increasing dissatisfaction of some of the citizenry which has manifested through protest greatly undermines the legitimacy of the government to provide for its people.

This thesis aims to open up the realm of what counts as political in the context of the Marikana strikes and subsequent massacre. It does primarily by taking into account the social, political and cultural context of Mpondo workers on the mines. Many narrow Marxist and liberal frameworks have circumscribed the conception of the ‘modern’ and the ‘political’ so much so that political organisation which falls outside of this conceptualisation is often regarded as ‘backward’ or ‘archaic’. It will provide an examination of the history, culture and custom of men, who have, for almost a hundred years migrated back and forth between South African mines and Mpondoland. This not only reveals differing modes of organising and engaging in political action, but also that the praxis of democracy takes many forms, some of which are different and opposed to what counts as democratic in Western liberal democracy. By considering what I argue, following some of the insights from the Subaltern Studies collective in India, to be a subaltern sphere of politics and history, it is possible to better understand the way workers organised and acted. The thesis also argues that most labour and nationalist historiography has been silent on the political contributions of women because of how Marxist/liberal analysis frames struggles through disciplined notions of work and resistance. Rather than objectifying workers as representatives of a homogenous and universal class of people devoid of context, the thesis has linked ‘the worker’ to the community from which s/he comes and community specific struggles, which are supported and sustained, often, by the parallel struggles of women in the community.

The participation of communities and community organizations in Municipal governance is set in terms of the law as a mechanism to deepen democracy. Municipalities are required to develop a culture of governance that complements representative democracy with community participation. However the participation of communities in local governance has not translated to the strengthening of governance and the deepening of democracy as municipalities have not done enough to involve communities in municipal affaires. Lack of human resources, and financial capacity have been cited as some of the reasons that beset municipalities and undermine citizen participation. Municipalities have taken steps to encourage community participation and these include establishment of structures to enable participation, however without the guidance and financial support of the municipalities these structures are not able to perform their functions. In spite of all the efforts made by municipalities to encourage participation, a culture of community participation has not yet taken root in local government. While the legislative framework provides for communities to participate, practice shows that the implementation of legislation is complex and requires dedicated capacities within the councils to be effective. This can be achieved when municipalities develop their own community participation policies which address their special circumstances, which must be reviewed on a regular basis. Unless communities are empowered with knowledge on the available participation mechanisms, the dream of a culture of participation will remain just that, a dream. Thus civic education coupled with capacity building of officials will assist in ensuring the development of a culture of participation. Council must also develop mechanisms to evaluate the effectiveness of community participation processes and procedures, to avoid a one size fits all approach. It is imperative that councils as the legislative arm of municipalities must lead the process and not leave everything to the executive arm.

Statistics from Freedom House show that 2018 is the thirteenth consecutive year with democratic decline. This paper examines underlying causes to this democratic decline. This is done through literature review of current research in the field of democracy development. By using descriptive idea analysis of selected research literature, the paper aims to clarify the current debate on the challenges of democracy. The study somewhat supports that long-term liberal democracy creates conditions that potentially cause its own retreat. This is because long-term liberal democracy provides peace and growth, which is unequally distributed in society and leads to increased social divisions. As a result, large groups of people no longer feel included in society, which in turn will pave the way for populist movements and potential autocratic leaders. The study also somewhat supports that there has been a weakening in the functioning of the democratic institutions to act as gatekeepers, keeping potential autocrats out of power. Increased democracy and transparency in the democratic processes has made it easier for potential autocrats to come to power. All in all, there is some support for the hypothesis of the essay: The more democracy the greater the risk that the democratic system will weaken.

This research incorporates a decision-making theory which defines the linkage between the public, the media, the president and the Congress. Specifically, I argue that the public holds widely shared domestic and international goals and responds to a number of external cues provided by the president and the media in its evaluation of presidential policies. Although most studies examine overall presidential popularity, there are important differences in the public's evaluations of the president's handling of foreign and domestic policies. Additionally, I am concerned with how the Congress responds to these specific policy evaluations, the president's public activities, and the electoral policy goals of its members when determining whether or not to support the president. Finally, I link together the theoretical assumptions, to examine the influence of varying levels of support among the Congress and the public, and the president's own personal power goals on the type, quantity, and the quality of activities the president will choose. Ultimately, the primary focus of this dissertation is on the sources and consequences of presidential support and the influence of such support on presidential decision-making.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Undocumented immigration from Latin America is a heated and divisive topic in United States' politics. Politicians in Washington, D.C. are debating new legislation which would provide a pathway to citizenship for some 11 million undocumented immigrants. While several federal immigration reform bills were debated in the early 2000s, each one failed in either the House of Representatives or in the Senate. The Indianapolis Congregation Action Network (IndyCAN), a grassroots activist group in Indianapolis, is organizing the Latino community through faith and shared political goals. Undocumented Latino immigrants are utilizing IndyCAN as a method to influence progressive policy change. However, anti-immigrant groups challenge these efforts by attempting to define who can be considered an "American" and are attempting to block legislation due to their negative perceptions of Latinos. Debates about citizenship have racial discourses and reveal the embeddedness of race and ethnicity. Despite this, many Latino immigrants are forging their own identities in the United States and are engaging in a political system that refuses to grant them a legal status. Through an enactment of activism called la fe en acción [faith in action], these immigrants ground their political organizing with IndyCAN and attempt to appeal to the religious faith of politicians. I explore issues of race, political engagement, and religion in the lives of Indianapolis’ Latino community. In this case study, I demonstrate that IndyCAN is acting as a vehicle through which undocumented Latino immigrants are engaging in the political process. This political involvement occurs through religious strategies that seem apolitical yet are implicitly an enactment of activism. Ultimately, I reveal how undocumented Latino immigrants in Indianapolis are impacting the political process regardless of their legal status.