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Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-117). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf i-vi).

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves i-vi). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2004. / Advisor: Tony Porter. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-238) Also available via World Wide Web.

The negotiation process in South Africa did, by 1993, lead to change in inputs in policy-making, and led to change in political relations with specific reference to norms of equality and respect for human rights. Significantly, these changes imposed obligations on the public service on issues of transformation, amongst others: service delivery, restructuring, democratisation of the policy-making process, and representativity and equity. This study was undertaken to examine the latter two namely, to determine the policy-making mechanisms by which the public service seeks to legitimise the policy-making process by involving a wider populace in participation; and to examine legislation that exists on representativity and equity and their consequent implementation. In support of the empirical research, use and analysis of a theoretical study of public policy in Public Administration were undertaken. The analysis showed that the theoretical distinction in the roles of political office-bearers and appointed public officials in the policy-making process, was incorrect. Rather, the empirical study supported a close co-operation of the functionaries in the process, including implementation. Further, it was found that the various models for analysing public policy had all been applicable at different periods in the South African political system. For the purpose of this study, the hypotheses are formulated that the new political dispensation that ushered South Africa into a popular constitutional democracy impacted on the functioning of the public service, amongst others: • an obligation to involve a wider population in the policy-making process to achieve legitimacy; and • an obligation to enforce norms of representativity and equity through legislation and the implementation thereof. In the study of the policy-making process, it was empirically established that the public service does possess comprehensive mechanisms to engage the wider populace in consultation and negotiation on public policy-making. Yet, public participation was found to be thin. Further, it was established that elaborate legislation exists to change the demographic face of the public setvice, and there is progress on implementation of representativity and equity legislation with reference to target quotas, time frames and the control thereof. Proposals for further study on effects of change, are made. / Public Administration / D. Litt et Phil (Public Administration)

Thesis (PhD (School of Public Management and Planning ))—University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / This dissertation critically assesses and analyzes the institutional and political settings of public policymaking in Ethiopia in a space of three decades, from circa 1974. Based on data and/or information generated through a range of sources and instruments, it attempts to uncover the prominent actors in public policymaking in Ethiopia far beyond the official assertions that have formally been claimed in the statutory provisions. It appraises the institutions, their roles and leverage in the policymaking process, and the extent to which the profound institutional and political changes that have transpired over the past thirty years impacted on public policymaking, and with what effect. It examines the emergence and ascendance of a couple of closely linked institutions, namely the ruling party and the top echelon of the executive leadership, and the disproportionate influence they have on government, non-government institutions and overall public policymaking. The supremacy of the executive and its claims on policymaking had been pervasive during Haileselassie’s years, with absolute executive powers vested in the monarchy and the person of the emperor. The combined forces of party and executive leadership and their overwhelming dominance in public policymaking are relatively new conventions, phenomena and constructs which featured prominently in the aftermath of 1974. Ideology (Marxism- Leninism and revolutionary democracy) has since been a critical element guiding and as well as justifying policy elites’ claims on the choice of public policies and the institutional and structural mechanisms of implementing them. Wedged between staggering financial, managerial and organizational capacity, on the one hand, and an inhospitable politicoadministrative and legal milieu on the other, the civil society, a network of civil society institutions and the public over three decades appeared to have remained at the peripheral end in the continuum of public policymaking. The most formidable challenges that the Ethiopian public policymaking process has over the past thirty years experienced can therefore be thematically crystallized into three issues. Firstly, the emergence and consolidation of party and executive leadership (policy elites) has been the dominant phenomena over the last thirty years, with the ruling party institutions invariably overlapping with the formally constituted policymaking government structures. Secondly, not only ideology played a critical role in the choice of public policies and institutional instruments for implementing them, but also provided policy elites with the latitude to justify their claims on policy actions, although ideological values served to preclude the non-state players from making legitimate claims on policymaking. Lastly, the expansion of the powers of the party and the executive seemed to have taken place without a corresponding development of extra-bureaucratic institutions (i.e. elections and functioning legislatures) and civil societal associations, and which in turn boils down to the exclusion of the bulk of the Ethiopian public from playing its legitimate role in the policymaking process. The public policymaking process in Ethiopia has, therefore, witnessed imbalances at two levels: first, between the executive and the legislature, and second, between policy elites (the party-fused-with-executive structures/institutions), on the one hand, and ordinary citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs) representing various interests, on the other. At both levels the party and the executive exact enormous power leverage. On the other hand, the ordinary citizens are highly disorganized, and tied up with attending to daily survival needs. Hence, they have little time to become fully and actively involved in holding government institutions accountable and responsive, articulating policy demands to policymaking institutions aside. The legislatures appear to have become a façade of legitimacy for party and executive decisions and are detached from the society. ` Finally, the dissertation puts forward proposals for more opportunities to give Ethiopian citizens of all walks of life a chance to influence policies and implementation outcomes. It suggests a range of options for greater and genuine public participation in the policymaking process, which would result in as much representative policy-making as enhancing the quality of services provided by policies and actual control of decisions by citizens. It also indicates Ethiopian academics’ charge in the new endeavor to launch independent think-tank and policy study institutions to foster professionalizing policymaking in Ethiopia.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

M.A. / The central problem this research addresses is to establish if the Presidential Public Participation Programme (izimbizo/imbizo) constitutes a form of participatory policy analysis and policy evaluation as proposed in the general policy literature. The izimbizo programme is uniquely suited to meet the requirements of the (South) African context. Post-positivism provides a different approach through policy analysis, especially in relation to valuative and normative approaches. The research is furthermore applied, as it seeks to improve the application and existing practice around organising the izimbizo. The research proposes the extension of the use of the programme beyond that of merely a communication tool, into the realm of the policy process. The objectives of this dissertation were to provide an overview of the concept of izimbizo as a deliberative approach to policy making, focusing particularly on the evaluation process. The research systematically explores how the izimbizo is operationalised. It provides an overview of the international trends and international examples of successful participatory methods. Consideration is given as to how information at different stages of the policy cycle may be used for improving policy making. The research further explores existing research on public participation as well as the theory regarding deliberative approaches as a more recent mechanism for policy analysis in a democratic milieu. The benefits as well as limitations to using the izimbizo as a deliberative approach in the policy process as well as in policy monitoring and evaluation in general are explored. The study also provided a strong case for developing a clear social contract through the use of participatory programmes such as the izimbizo in order to develop citizenship and to create a positive role for sophisticated accountability.