Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) are generally seen as countries with enormous problems. These are usually attributed to their small size. limited natural and huma, resources, environmental fragility, and proness to natural disasters. These issues have dominated the relevant intellectual and policy literature. Conversely. there is scant literature about how SIDS manage themselves specifically on matters of public policy. That which does exist is anecdotal and descriptive. This existing literature conveys an impression of the policy process in SIDS as idiosyncratic excessively personalist illogical and marked by incompetence. This thesis looks specifically at the implementation. and management of health policy in SIDS III the Caribbean. It reviews public policy. and health policy theory. the relevant regional literature on health care needs. health policy and administration. and it goes on reports on fieldwork research in Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands. The analysis and exploration was framed by five research questions. and is done with the tools and concepts of public policy and policymaking theory. The fieldwork research takes the form of three contrasting case studies in each island territory. preceded a description of the context of each country.

No description available.

Participatory methods have been deployed in different ways by actors in pursuit of a diverse range of personal, organisational and development objectives. With the rise of globalisation, neoliberalism and new aid delivery systems, so these methods have been adapted, re-branded and deployed to serve the objectives of a new range of actors. From these macro level currents come micro level initiatives which enrol the global poor in new projects of development. Most recently, the Millennium Development Goals have focused the agenda of participatory development on new models of public service delivery. With this new imperative comes an emergent focus on governance as a determinant of improved service provision. The same influential actors that have taken a lead role in redefining the problem have also offered new solutions. Just as many populations in the Global North have historically taken a role in the production of services that are responsive to their needs, so it is proposed that others in the Global South can be supported to claim similar rights, demand similar accountability. This thesis explores the increasingly popular technology of voice and accountability as a solution to inequalities in access to health services. I explore the extent to which the model is constitutive of a broader neoliberal discourse which is coproduced by a range of actors from Washington to village. Using a case study from a maternal health programme in Nepal; I discuss the implications of this social technology, with reference to the range of personal and organisational projects of which it is constitutive. I discuss how these discourses shape the way development is performed, and reflexively reproduce diverse regimes of power. I examine what is produced by such initiatives, and, the ways in which actors gain from this globalised project, or are disenfranchised in new ways.

Šiame magistriniame darbe buvo iškeltas tikslas – atskleisti Viešojo administravimo plėtros strategijos formavimo ir įgyvendinimo privalumus ir trūkumus. Darbą sudaro keturi skyriai. Pirmame ir antrame skyriuose nagrinėjami teoriniai temos klausimai. Trečiame skyriuje analizuojamos viešojo administravimo plėtros strategijos formavimo ir įgyvendinimo procedūros. Ketvirtame skyriuje aptariamas tyrimas, analizuojami jo rezultatai. Darbe naudoti šie tyrimo metodai: dokumentų analizė ir anketa. Gauti tyrimo rezultatai patvirtina darbe iškeltą hipotezę: nors Viešojo administravimo plėtros strategijos įgyvendinimą sąlygoja teisinės, organizacinės, finansinės problemos, tačiau Viešojo administravimo plėtros strategijos objektyvizavimo rezultatai atitinka visuomenės poreikius ir lūkesčius. Atliktas tyrimas atskleidė viešojo administravimo plėtros strategijos įgyvendinimo problemas. Apklausos rezultatai parodė, kad strategijos įgyvendinimo priemonių vykdymą apsunkina netinkamai parinktas priemonės įvykdymo terminas, ilgai trunkančios biurokratinės procedūros, menki bendradarbiavimo ryšiai tarp atsakingų vykdytojų, finansinių lėšų trūkumas. Efektyviausias minėtų ir kitų tyrime nustatytų problemų sprendimo būdas – savalaikis jų identifikavimas. Nepaisant kylančių problemų, jau dabar pastebimi viešojo administravimo plėtros strategijos įgyvendinimo rezultatai - ryškėja viešojo administravimo pažanga, didėja jo efektyvumas, pasiteisina investicijos. / The main goal of this study was to reveal the necessities and deficits of the public administration development strategy formation and implementation. The chapters of this study deal with theoretical issues of the subject analyze the procedures for the formation and implementation of public administration development strategy, discuss the investigation and analyzes the results obtained.

Environmental governance is a challenging topic in development contexts. On the one hand, the traditional development paradigm is based on economic growth through environmental exploitation; on the other, environmental degradation reduces vulnerable populations’ options for development. In the last thirty years numerous attempts to integrate environmental concerns in development policies have proved unsuccessful, raising questions as to whether the current governance system can address the challenge. The literature on environmental management has focused on identifying rules for successful governance, leaving little space to explore the complexities of the interactions between actors and their environments, wherein the reasons for sustained degradation might lie. The questions that this thesis asks are: How do diverse groups of actors rationalize and interact with degraded ecosystems? And what role does the governance system play in codifying these interactions? To answer these questions, the thesis engages in an institutional study of Lake Titicaca, between Peru and Bolivia. The lake has witnessed a degradation of its bay in the last thirty years, as a result of urban and mining development in the region. A complex web of organizations that go from the bi-national to the community level manages Lake Titicaca. The investigation of the questions asked is particularly relevant in the current context, as the countries to which the lake belongs put forward significantly different visions of the environment. By drawing on the strengths of social-ecological systems frameworks proposed by the two mains schools – the Resilience Alliance and Bloomington Workshop – and filling some of their deficiencies using insights from the sociological literatures on negotiation and justification, I hope to have created a composite framework with which to give an insightful account of the complexity and diversity at play in the field. The thesis adopts a broad range of qualitative methods (observation, interviews, document analysis) completed with descriptive statistics for budget analysis. The thesis argues that the actors’ approaches to the ecosystem are complex, diverse and constitutive of social-ecological systems wherein relationships are negotiated between actors, between actors and the ecosystem and ‘within’ actors as they hold competing visions and strategies. Some of the variables shaping these negotiations are crafted through the interaction between social and ecological elements, which also influence the actors’ understanding of the system. Others are determined by parameters crafted in the social sphere, and the ways in which social-ecological interactions fit with those. Policy interventions to improve the condition of Lake Titicaca need a more sophisticated understanding of these social-ecological systems.

為深入瞭解「電子化政府」及ICT應用等相關方案對行政治理之影響，本研究檢視有關ICT應用與社會及公共行政發展之文獻，並以歷史分析之途徑，探討我國推動「電子化政府」之演進，並以「經濟部國際貿易局(以下簡稱國貿局)」為個案研究的對象，探討「電子化政府推動方案」，以及ICT應用方案之實施情形與經驗，以瞭解將ICT運用於公共行政系絡之整體背景與意義；並輔以問卷調查方式，調查行政人員實際運用ICT處理公共事務之現象，以評估公部門所推動之電子化政府計畫之成效，以及ICT應用對行政效能之影響；最後，歸納各項研究發現，陳述本研究之理論及實務意涵，並提供我國未來推動「電子化政府」計畫之建議。 本研究經綜合所獲得的證據後，認為ICT及其應用與當代社會及公共行政發展的關係，並非如「科技決定論」論述所接櫫的單一線性因果關係，認為僅需直接將ICT導入公共事務活動上，即能自動地出現新形態的治理關係與行政實務活動。事實上，ICT及其應用之發展與結果，係一複雜的「社會建構」過程（Bekkers, 1996）。在此一過程中，「ICT應用」與「行動者之認知」及所處之「社會系絡」進行互動；「社會系絡」框架出ICT及其應用的參考架構，並賦與ICT適當的社會意義，：「行動者之認知」則展現其對於ICT之理解與知覺；ICT應用不僅反映出所處系絡的權力、意義與文化價值等社會安排，並成為該體系「維持」及「再生產」的手段。故各類「ICT應用」之態樣，實為在特定社會系絡影響下，行動者之心智模式的一種「再現」。換言之，科技及其應用僅為僅為互動過程之因素之一，並非宰制性的力量。 本文認為ICT應用於公共事務所能產生的影響，係取決於科技應用之社會系絡及其價值與意義。將資訊科技導入公共事務活動上，本身並無法自行出現新型態的治理關係與行政實務，電子化政府的新型態治理與公共行政之發展，仍需透過對於社會正義、民主、自由及人道等價值之反思，役使資訊科技滿足人類與社會發展及成長之需求。