This research explores the challenges the Namibian government faces in the planning process when implementing policies for strategic spatial planning (SSP). The study considers the entire Namibian planning process which primarily is governed top-down but has since independence adopted policies to decentralize power. Thus, this process has been slow and resulted in constant changes in governance settings and responsibilities. The aim of the research is, therefore, to assess the evolving nature of the governance structure in Namibia’s SSP system, and to enhance its impact on postcolonial planning strategies against urban sprawl. The rapid development of urban sprawl has been selected because it is one of the major contemporary issues for SSP practices, extending across multiple jurisdictions and demanding stakeholder coordination. The support question focuses on the nature of Namibia's governance structure in SSP and how it has evolved from the colonial to postcolonial eras. The following research questions explore the effectiveness of spatial strategies for urban sprawl and the communication links within the governance system, as well as the impact of statutory plans for SSP. Together they aim to answer if Namibia is facing challenges in the implementation of SSP, and if so, what can be done to improve the situation.  The methods for data collection consist of semi-structured interviews and a document study. The data enables a comprehensive understanding of the Namibian planning system related to the research questions. The results are analyzed through a theoretical framework with three main themes: land use intentions, governance processes, and external conditions. Identifying relevant planning strategies, hierarchies, and power relations. The empirical material consists of 11 interviews. Six of these are made with officials from all planning levels; the national, regional, and local, and the others by key informants. Key informants are experts on Namibia’s planning system and political climate. This is complemented by an analysis of public planning documents used for spatial planning, referred to by the respondents.  The result shows that decentralization from the national to subnational planning levels has taken place to a certain extent, although the autonomy among local and regional planning authorities is limited. This is because of the national government's reluctance to surrender control over the economy as well as due to a local lack of knowledge about strategy-making for land use. Furthermore, the main issues are the lack of strategic plans that coordinates and guides SSP, weak communication links between government levels, and the gap between political initiatives for decentralization and the subnational demand. The lack of communication links affects the governance process between planning levels as well as the coordination inside each government. This prolongs decision-making and connects to the gap between the national intentions for decentralization and the weak local demand for it. Moreover, the partial decentralization has confused stakeholders by delegating responsibility without the actual mandate to act, leading to limited strategies and poor execution of actions against urban sprawl. External pressures from international agencies influencing the governance process also add to the challenges for postcolonial planning. The thesis suggests several improvement opportunities to increase the implementation rate of spatial strategies. These include strengthened support systems from the national to the subnational level, alignment among strategic plans, and stronger communication links to improve governance processes. External pressures could become a more rewarding asset if international involvement began to support local knowledge instead of channeling Western ideals. These understandings matter because they provide theories of the urban with a global south narrative instead of the dominant Western perspective of governance, decentralization, and SSP.

The study explores pausing in action is, within the ambit of Strategy-as-practice (s-ap) as an emergent school of thought. Pausing is thus discerned during the implementation phase of the strategy of a credit risk system within a South African bank, as strategy is known to take shape during implementation. Different sites of the bank’s systems – change, strategy practitioners, and their times of pausing, form the unit of analysis. Strategy-making and engagement are explored by understanding the influence of pausing on enabling or disenabling the strategic outcome of the risk system. Pausing is situated in an applied and theoretical gap as an intangible under-theorised strategy practice. Practitioners, as champions or non-champions of strategy, pause in various ways, and attribute meaning to this ‘action’. Their account of pausing is recognised for its value-adding or diminishing dimensions to strategy-making. The study follows a comprehensive literature review which shows limited theoretical positions on embodied, latent practices, such as pausing, as strategic practices. The body of knowledge provides a challenge for scholars to consider perceived ‘silences’ or the ‘receding’ of strategists as un-remarked dimensions of strategy, which could nevertheless be instrumental in the nature of the strategic outcome. The contribution of the current study identifies pausing as a strategic practice, especially when considered within the structure of engagement and social learning / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)