The phenomenon of state dysfunction has, over the last two decades, become a prominent empirical and scholarly concern internationally and, more recently, domestically. This study endeavours to extend and improve the understanding of dysfunctional states in the scientific domain – in the developing world in general, as well as the South African context in particular. Given the dearth of conceptual literature in the field of dysfunctional states, the first part of this study concerns the pursuit of a novel conceptualisation of state dysfunction, premised upon the Weberian state as a comprehensive point of departure. Subsequently, meta-theoretical, theoretical, applicational and operational frameworks are developed through which this concept may be integrated by using a scientific method and ultimately studied empirically in pursuit of valid and reliable knowledge pertaining to the phenomenon. The outcome of the above-mentioned process is a multi-criteria operational framework that enables evaluation and analysis with the purpose of determining the approximation to – and extent of – state dysfunction in a given empirical context. Accordingly, the second part of this study concerns the evaluation and analysis of the South African state. The outcome of this process is an account of South African state dysfunction that is at once comprehensive and thorough. / PhD (Political Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The phenomenon of state dysfunction has, over the last two decades, become a prominent empirical and scholarly concern internationally and, more recently, domestically. This study endeavours to extend and improve the understanding of dysfunctional states in the scientific domain – in the developing world in general, as well as the South African context in particular. Given the dearth of conceptual literature in the field of dysfunctional states, the first part of this study concerns the pursuit of a novel conceptualisation of state dysfunction, premised upon the Weberian state as a comprehensive point of departure. Subsequently, meta-theoretical, theoretical, applicational and operational frameworks are developed through which this concept may be integrated by using a scientific method and ultimately studied empirically in pursuit of valid and reliable knowledge pertaining to the phenomenon. The outcome of the above-mentioned process is a multi-criteria operational framework that enables evaluation and analysis with the purpose of determining the approximation to – and extent of – state dysfunction in a given empirical context. Accordingly, the second part of this study concerns the evaluation and analysis of the South African state. The outcome of this process is an account of South African state dysfunction that is at once comprehensive and thorough. / PhD (Political Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

L’enjeu de cette thèse est de mettre en lumière les transformations institutionnelles observables en Amérique latine à l’aune de la gestion des politiques d’inclusion digitale. Instaurés par certains pays de la région au milieu des années 2000, ces programmes socio-éducatifs s’inspirent de l’initiative promue par la fondation philanthropique nord-américaine One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). Ces politiques publiques ont pour double caractéristique d’être relativement coûteuses en termes financiers et d’être, sur le plan logistique, très contraignantes à administrer. Aussi, selon notre postulat de départ, elles nous permettent non seulement d’illustrer le « retour de l’Etat » en matière d’investissement social, mais encore d’apprécier son efficacité à l’heure de mettre en œuvre des initiatives présentées comme révolutionnaires. D’après notre principale hypothèse, leur concrétisation a été conditionnée par la capacité des pouvoirs publics à innover en matière de gestion administrative. La plus-value académique de ce travail repose sur le concept d’Etat néo-wébérien, lequel se situe à mi-chemin entre le modèle bureaucratique classique et le New Public Management. Nous soutenons que les programmes d’inclusion digitale étudiées (plan Ceibal en Uruguay, plan Conectar Igualdad en Argentine, plan Una Computadora por Niño au Pérou, plan OLPC au Paraguay) ont été couronnés de succès dans les deux pays du Bassin de la Plata (Argentine et Uruguay) qui ont su emprunter le plus aux caractéristiques de cette conception, certes idéal-typique, mais néanmoins éclairante à l’heure d’appréhender la réalité des mutations contemporaines de l’Etat en Amérique latine. / Our ambition is to bring to light the institutional transformations that derive in Latin America from the implementation of digital inclusion policies. These social and educational programs have taken inspiration from the project of the One Laptop Per Child foundation and they have been instituted in some South-American countries during the last decade. We consider that these public policies present two interesting characteristics. On the one hand, being very costly from a financial perspective, they illustrate the “return of the state” in terms of social investment. On the other hand, because they are logistically complex to run, they can be seen as examples of a new and effective policy-making process. Our main hypothesis is that their successful implementation has been triggered by the capacity of public authorities to innovate in the field of administrative management. The academic interest of our dissertation rests on the concept of Neo-weberian State. It designs a new institutional configuration, which borrows some properties from two administrative paradigms: the bureaucratic model of Weber and the New Public Management. Taking into consideration four digital inclusion policies, we argue that the successful implementation of two of them (the programs Ceibal in Uruguay and Conectar Igualdad in Argentina) can be explained by the use of a neo-weberian form of political and administrative management. In our opinion, although it remains an ideal type, the concept of “Neo-Weberian State” is considerably useful for whoever analyses the transformations of public institutions in Latin America.

School segregation in Sweden is increasing and research shows that this may be due to the governance reform that has dominated since the 1990s, New Public Management. In recent years, the government has made statements that Sweden should instead move towards a new form of governance. A governance reform that has emerged from the criticism of New Public Management is New-Weberian State. In the essay, I examine which of these two governance reforms that dominates SOU 2007: 79 and SOU 2020: 28. This is done with a qualitative text analysis and the creation of ideal types that are applied in an analysis scheme. The results show that governance has not changed much over time and that it is New Public Management that dominates the most, even though Neo-Weberian State is also represented.