Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / E-government should be at the heart of service delivery in developing countries if the life of citizens, especially the socially and economically marginalised, is to be improved. Often in developing contexts, citizens have been treated as recipients of such interventions, in a top-down approach from central governments, resulting in the non-use of such interventions. A situation of non-use of e-services results in wastage of the public fiscus. The extant literature points to a number of underlying causes of the problem. One such problem is the “Design-Reality Gap."

Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of that which is foreign or unknown, especially of strangers or foreign people. It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning "foreigner," "stranger," and φόβος (phobos), meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from oneself.1 On 11 May 2008 foreigners, mainly black people who lived in poor areas were attacked by South African citizens in South Africa; the attacks started in Alexandra, Johannesburg and spread to other areas in the country.2 Due to the occurrence 62 people were officially confirmed dead; 342 foreigners‟ shops were looted and 213 burnt down.3 Forty one foreigners were killed during the incident; such kinds of xenophobic attacks against foreigners had taken place in the country before, having reached their peak in May 2008.4 Further, „at least 670 people were wounded, and over 100 000 displaced.‟ / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2011. / A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Henry Onoria of the Faculty of Law, University of Makerere. 2010. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Samråd har en central roll i samhällsplaneringen och används för att skapa visioner och mål, kommunicera till invånare och påverka beslut. Samråd genomförs av kommunen för att informera medborgare om vad som är planerat att byggas och hur det kommer påverka boende inom området samt hur planen kommer påverka miljön. Under samråd kan berörda medborgare som påverkas/berörs av den nya detaljplanen lämna synpunkter om hur de tror detaljplanen kommer påverka området och hur planen kan förbättras.  Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka i vilken grad medborgarna kan påverka detaljplanprocessen genom att lämna synpunkter under samråd. För att kunna besvara frågeställningar föregås arbetet av litteraturstudier om utvecklingen av plan och bygglagen, utvecklingen av samrådslagstiftningen samt en del om inflytande i planering och hur inflytandet kan mätas samt vem som har rätt att lämna synpunkter vid samråd. Sedan följer en empirisk studie som baseras på fyra bostadsprojekt inom Stockholmsområdet och två bostadsprojekt från Tyskland, Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart för en internationell utblick.  Huvudresultatet, som presenteras i slutsatsen, är att medborgarna har ett inflytande i planeringen, men utan egen beslutsrätt. Kommunen försökte anpassa detaljplanen efter vad som har sagts under samråd, även om det normalt inte betyder att kommunen gör exakt som medborgarna säger. Det visas också att kommunen fortfarande har svårt att tolka lagstiftningen när det kommer till vem som är sakägare och berörd vid framtagande av en ny detaljplan. / Consultation plays a central role in social planning and is used to create visions and communication to residents and influence decisions. Consultations are being carried out by the municipality to inform citizens about what is planned to be built and how it will affect housing in the area and how the plan will affect the environment. During consultations, affected citizens can comment on how they believe that the detailed development plan will affect the area and how it can be improved. The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to investigate the extent to which citizens can influence the detailed development planning process by submitting comments during consultation. In order to answer this, this paper begins with literature studies on the development of the plan and building law, the development of consultation legislations and a part about the influence in planning, how influence can be measured and who has the right to comment on consultations. An empirical study is performed based on four housing projects in the area of Stockholm and two housing projects from Germany, Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart for an international understanding. The main result presented in the conclusion, is that citizens have an influence in planning but without their own right of decision making. The municipality tried to adapt the detailed development plan according to what has been said during consultations but it does not usually mean that the municipality does exactly what citizens say. It is also shown that the municipality still has difficulty interpreting the legislation when it comes to who is a business owner and who is a concerned citizen to the development plan.

No description available.

No description available.

Purpose: The relationship between context and e-governance has been gaining a significant momentum in academic circles due its social and technical complexities. There are many challenges posed by the disparity between the context and the system when it comes to e-governance in developing countries. This research aims to reveal more successful adoption of e-governance initiatives and exposes factors that hinder its implementation. We develop a conceptual framework showing the reciprocity between the context and the system or what is termed “Context-System Gap”. Therefore, this research will study the appropriateness of the context and its influence on the system and the influence of the system on the context. The purpose of this research is to explore the factors that enable successful e-government adoption in Lebanon, where e-governance is still at its initial stage. Most empirical research and theories on the implementation of e-governance in developing countries remain at the macro-level and miss out on the complexities of the context of deployment and the role of the gap between the citizens and the government. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an empirical model differentiating between the electronic context and the electronic system and shed a light over a new gap, government-citizen gap, in the adoption of e-government. Design/methodology/approach: Following previous research on e-government services adoption, this study uses several technology use and acceptance models and literature to examine the elements behind the adoption and use of e-government services in Lebanon from citizen and government perspectives. The research strategy is a quantitative method approach employing questionnaire. Quantitative data will be collected from e-government users (citizens) and statistical tests will be conducted in order to examine the relation between variables. Practical implications: The findings are useful for policy-makers and decision-makers to develop a better understanding of citizens' needs. The proposed model can be used as a guideline for the implementation of e-government services in developing countries. Originality/value: This study is the only one to examine the dimensions influencing citizens’ adoption of e-government technologies in developing countries using a unified model merging context and system elements.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.