This study is about the place of traditional authorities in local level land administration and rural governance in contemporary Mozambique. It came about as a result of the publication of the Decree 15/2000 that recognised traditional authorities after their abolition more than 20 years earlier. This study seeks to examine four inter-related themes: the role of traditional authorities in local level land administration in Mozambique / why the government recognised traditional authorities in the year 2000 after having abolished them more than 20 years earlier / whether the recognition of hereditary traditional authorities is consistent with principles of democracy / and lastly to investigate whether the practices taking place on the ground are an expression of democracy as envisaged by the country&rsquo / s constitution.<br /> <br /> The study is based on documental research on the subject, as well as on fieldwork in the community of Chirindzene, Gaza Province in Southern Mozambique. It argues that generalisations about the role of traditional authorities in local level land administration may be misleading. Drawing from the case study in Chirindzene, it shows that it was only the lowest level of the traditional authority structure (the lineage level) that continued having influence in land allocation and distribution after independence in this area. With regard to the recognition of traditional authorities, the study argues that an appreciation of the changing global context is important to understand this dramatic shift. The study argues that the Decree 15/2000 and its regulations are weakening the democratic experience initiated in 1970s by allowing rural populations be ruled by hereditary rulers who are not elected. For this reason, the rural population does not enjoy full citizenship rights because they are ruled by both elected structures and appointed ones.

M.A. / The study deals with the nature and problems of traditional leadership and the variables that influence the interface between traditional leadership in shared rural local governance within the context of an interactive government framework. Due to South Africa’s specific history and the power that the Apartheid regime instilled on traditional leaders, the country has somewhat of a unique situation. Therefore, the emphasis falls on the South African context. The general aim of the study is, therefore, to analyse the concepts and legislative requirements related to traditional leadership. Furthermore, it aims to determine how traditional leaders could help Government in its rural development effort to deliver more effective services to rural people. This enquiry is premised on the view that the institutionalisation of traditional leaders has been constitutionally and statutorily recognised and can make an important contribution to shared rural local governance on a political, economic, social and cultural level. It remains an important link between the local government and rural communities. As such, traditional leaders play a vital role in the development process. Furthermore, traditional leaders are important with regard to resource mobilisation, political stability and policy implementation in shared rural governance. In general, the study reveals that, despite modernisation, traditional leaders are still influential actors in the rural life of communities in South Africa. Furthermore, attempts to strip them of their formal powers, such as the allocation of land and jurisdiction in criminal cases, have not reduced their influence. In the light of the above argument, the institution of traditional leaders remains influential because it has been able and continues to adapt itself to the changing modern environment.

From pre-colonial leadership through to the Apartheid regime, local traditional authorities played an essential role in natural resource management throughout rural South Africa. The advent of democracy in 1994, however, generated much confusion over the modern function of traditional leaders in many rural communities, specifically regarding natural resource regulation. By understanding local perceptions of governance regimes, resource use initiatives can use and enhance institutions already in place to combat further over-harvesting. The aim of this study was therefore to determine the perceived functions of traditional and democratically elected community leaders in the governance of firewood harvesting and compare perceptions between interviewed leaders and their community members. The study was conducted in six villages spanning two chieftaincies and four municipal wards in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, Mpumalanga Province. In-depth interviews were conducted with the following local leaders: the chiefs from the two chieftaincies, the nduna (headman) from each village, the ward councillor from each ward and three members of the Community Development Forum from each village. Five community focus group sessions were also run in each village to determine local community perspectives on wood availability and governance regimes. It was found that the majority of respondents, from both individual interviews and focus groups, believed that firewood availability had decreased in recent years. In addition, 21 of the 30 focus groups (across both chieftaincies) suggested that there was insufficient firewood to meet the needs of their village now. While all interviewed parties across both chieftaincies regarded the chief as the ultimate authority in firewood management, his actual system of regulation as well as the perceived roles and responsibilities of subsidiary leaders appears highly differentiated between the chieftaincies. Results also indicate that although there is some ambiguity around community-level firewood regulation, these instances of uncertainty are village-specific and could indicate diminished village-level enforcement of regulation. Overall, however, other lines of evidence evince a general weakening of traditional local control across all the villages. Some authors maintain that this deterioration of village firewood management stems from community confusion and/or contestation over the roles of local leaders. However, I argue that reduced government budgets as well as leader’s empathy for poor firewood-dependent households have also contributed to the increasingly relaxed implementation of strict firewood systems. With this in mind, future policy decisions need to consider ways in which to reduce rural over-harvesting, either by increasing the affordability of alternate energies or by implementing strategies that allow for continued firewood harvesting but in more sustainable ways. Recommendations that detail such approaches are presented for the study region.

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to focus attention upon selected community leaders in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who influenced the formulation of educational decisions in the Fort Wayne Community Schools from January 1, 1,964 to December 31, 1972. Three other purposes of the study included: (1) clarification of influence patterns by interviewing in depth selected community leaders identified by educational leaders in the Fort Wayne Community Schools as influencing educational decisions; (2) to clarify influence patterns by interviewing in depth selected community leaders identified by other community leaders as persons influencing educational decisions in the Fort Wayne Community Schools; and (3) to identify a profile of specific traits of community leaders most influential in the process of formulation of educational decisions in the Fort Wayne Community Schools.

This study is about the place of traditional authorities in local level land administration and rural governance in contemporary Mozambique. It came about as a result of the publication of the Decree 15/2000 that recognised traditional authorities after their abolition more than 20 years earlier. This study seeks to examine four inter-related themes: the role of traditional authorities in local level land administration in Mozambique / why the government recognised traditional authorities in the year 2000 after having abolished them more than 20 years earlier / whether the recognition of hereditary traditional authorities is consistent with principles of democracy / and lastly to investigate whether the practices taking place on the ground are an expression of democracy as envisaged by the country&rsquo / s constitution.<br /> <br /> The study is based on documental research on the subject, as well as on fieldwork in the community of Chirindzene, Gaza Province in Southern Mozambique. It argues that generalisations about the role of traditional authorities in local level land administration may be misleading. Drawing from the case study in Chirindzene, it shows that it was only the lowest level of the traditional authority structure (the lineage level) that continued having influence in land allocation and distribution after independence in this area. With regard to the recognition of traditional authorities, the study argues that an appreciation of the changing global context is important to understand this dramatic shift. The study argues that the Decree 15/2000 and its regulations are weakening the democratic experience initiated in 1970s by allowing rural populations be ruled by hereditary rulers who are not elected. For this reason, the rural population does not enjoy full citizenship rights because they are ruled by both elected structures and appointed ones.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Anthropology, 1983. / Map on lining papers. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 425-435).

Thesis--Brandeis. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Feminist researchers have noted the invisibility of women in power structure studies to date and have suggested that it is the methods of main-stream social science research that systematically obscure women's political activities. The primary objective of this study is to identify and describe the women who participate in the public decision-making process at the community level, as a test of the suggestion that there is a bias in the methods, and as a way of beginning to correct the present lack of knowledge about women's contributions to community politics. There is, however, no accepted theory of community power, and the organization and distribution of power in a Canadian suburban community, a previously unstudied setting, could not be taken for granted. Therefore, the research has been designed to determine both the structure of power in the community and the location of women in that structure. Variations on standard research methods are used to identify men and women active in community politics, and interviews with elected and other community leaders provide data about the leaders, their memberships in key organizations, and their political activities and strategies. Fictitious names are given to the community, some of the local organizations, and the community leaders in order to protect the anonymity of the informants. The distribution of power in the community is found to conform to the elite power structure model. An organized opposition somewhat limits the power of the dominant clique, but this does not constitute evidence of the mutual control that some researchers state is the case in pluralistic societies. A comparison of the data in this and other studies indicates that individuals active in sectors such as business, government and the independent professions, are predominant in all the communities in the comparative survey, no matter what type of community or what methods are used to identify the community leaders. It is suggested that this finding lends weight to the stratification theorists' assessment of the distribution of power in the community. It is concluded that the methods of power structure research are designed to focus on the most powerful members of the community, and active women will be under-reported because, although they are similar to influential men in personal characteristics, women are not often elected to positions of power, they are less likely than men to be members of the associations and institutions through which political power is organized, and they are less often active in the issues that are important to the dominant men. However, main-stream social science research has been designed by men to focus mainly on men's experiences. Women have been classified only in terms of the men in their lives, their political behaviour has been defined in different ways than men's, and researchers and informants alike have not thought of women as influential in public decision-making. By using methods which draw attention to the women who are active in community politics, it is shown that women participate in many ways to shape public policy, from activities that are designed to influence economic issues and land use decisions, to those which influence the type of educational and welfare programs available to the community. Women bring many personal resources to the decision-making process, but lack the organizational resource bases that men use to exert influence and gain political power. Women, like less powerful men in the community, exercise influence in different ways than the men in the dominant clique. It is recommended that the study of women's political experiences be used as a starting point in studying the organization, exercise and distribution of power at the community level from the perspective of relatively powerless individuals and groups. It is hoped that apart from offering women a way to validate their political experiences and to understand the nature of the limitations on their power, such studies will provide the impetus to renew efforts in developing a comprehensive theory of community power. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

The problem explored in this study was the effectiveness of a community leadership development program in training identified emerging community leaders to develop networks of communication and understanding between the governmental, economic, and educational elements of the city and to use these contacts in community organizations that address the problems of the city. Attention was given to what networks were in place before, during, and after a short leadership program. Contact type was addressed. Secondly, the study analyzed the use of network structure by participants in community organizations. The association of race and gender was considered. Finally, the use of network analysis as a method of evaluating the outcomes of a community leadership program was researched. Findings on interpersonal contacts were similar in four classes. Prior to the program contacts were minimal. By June 1984 contacts among participants in all four classes increased from a range of 70% to 392%. Another finding was that contacts among participants prior to the program were with those of the same race. Contacts changed during and after the class. By June 1984 black participants In three of the four classes surveyed had more contacts with whites than with blacks. White participants continued to have most contacts with whites. Race seems to be a more important factor In the selection and maintenance of contact than does gender. These findings were generally borne out by LMR II Interviews who said that the networking process with persons of a different race, gender, and residence was the single most important outcome of the program. Findings on contact type suggest that gender is more important than race In contact type. Black females' contacts with fellow participants were usually work contacts; male contacts were community contacts. Neither race nor gender was significant in community organizational memberships of participants. However, participant memberships shifted busIness/professional memberships to civic/ government memberships, a desired program outcome, in three out of four classes. Black females joined more political/government organizations both before and after the program as well as business/ professional organizations. White females, on the other hand, joined more civic/community organizations and black males joined more educational/religious organizations. Program outcomes suggest that the leadership development model of Leadership Metro Richmond seems to be an appropriate model to bring about the desired outcomes of the program. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata