The process by which ideas, designs, and plans are formulated has an influence on whether or not they will be implemented. Consensus-based planning is a tool which is being incorporated more and more in planning efforts in order to create broad-based goals and objectives. However, many times it is used in the comprehensive planning process where it is more difficult to gauge the amount of implementation being done. There is a large amount of information on how consensus-based planning creates stronger decisions, goals, etc. based in the public interest but there is little information on how these decisions or goals impacted their communities. The study looks at obstacles to implementation and what would have helped to eliminate them. It also questions whether, if consensus-building techniques had been used during the planning process, it would have helped to eliminate these obstacles to implementation. In order to answer these questions, three charrettes conducted by Community Based Projects of Ball State University in the years between 1990 and 1992 are evaluated. / Department of Urban Planning

Kandidatuppsatsens syfte är att undersöka och analysera hur kommuner kan stötta och utveckla sina chefer och hur cheferna har upplevt den satsning som har gjorts. Inom ramen för syftet fokuserar jag på uppfattningar av hur formell ledarutbildning respektive informellt lärande påverkar ledarutvecklingen i kommunen. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär med inspiration av hermeneutisk ansats då studien inriktas på att tolka och förstå en helhet genom dokumentanalys och intervjuer. Kvalitativa, semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts för att få en insikt i vad det är cheferna skulle vilja utveckla och hur detta skall gå till. Resultatet visar att det finns positiva erfarenheter av det ledarprogram som genomförts i en kommun och att respondenterna upplever att de fått en gemensam värdegrund att arbeta med och för att utvecklas vidare som ledare. Lärdomarna beskrivs som kunskap om arbetsuppgifter och teorier, reflektion, nätverkande, erfarenhetsutbyte med och stöd av andra deltagare. Respondenterna upplever även att programmet kan utvecklas bland annat genom personlig utveckling, återkoppling, olika forum och att avsätta mer tid för reflektion. Utifrån deltagarnas upplevelser och det utsnitt av litteratur som granskats presenteras avslutningsvis positiva aspekter med Ledarprogrammet och hur kommunen kan utveckla sitt Ledarprogram. / Thiscandidatepaperspurpose is to examine and analyze how a municipalityscan support and develop their managers and how managers have experienced the effort that has been made. Within the framework of purpose, I focus on perceptions of how formal management training and informal learning affects leadership development in the municipality. The study is qualitative in nature, inspired by the hermeneutical approach when the study focuses on interpreting and understanding a whole through document analysis and interviews. Qualitative, semi-structured interviewswere conducted to get an insight into what managers would like to develop and how this should be done. The result shows that there are positive experiences of the leadership program implemented in the municipality and that the respondents feel that they have a common set of values to work with and to develop further as leaders. The lessons described as knowledge about tasks and theories, reflection, networking, exchange of experiences with and support of other participants. Respondents also feel that theprogram can be developed including personal development, feedback, forums, and to allow more time for reflection. Based on participants' experiences and the section of the literature examined are presented in conclusion positive aspects of leadership program and how municipalities can develop their leadership programs.

This thesis investigates two contemporary theories of radical democracy, Jürgen Habermas’s deliberative and Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic democracy. By bringing the two scholars together and constructing a debate between them, their respective strengths and weaknesses are highlighted and the similarities and differences are pointed out. Habermas and Mouffe are seldom dealt with simultaneously as they represent different theoretical traditions, critical theory and post-structuralism respectively. This thesis argues that we can learn from both of them. The aim of the thesis is to clarify and critically assess Chantal Mouffe’s and Jürgen Habermas’s versions of radical democracy, their disparate visions of democratic politics and subjectivity, in order to clear the ground for a third position that draws inspiration from both of them. The methodological inspiration comes from the deconstructive approach to interpretation, and thus the study aspires to a ‘just reading’ while being conscious of the elements of violence inherent to any instances of reading. The main bulk of the thesis is dedicated to an analysis of the two authors’ theories of democracy and subjectivity, which leads on to the third position situated beyond the two. From Habermas I take the stress on political communication and intersubjectivity, while both these concepts are extensively reformulated. The elements I reject from his position are the orientation to consensus and the strong requirements of coherence and transparency of the subject. From Mouffe I take the accent on the agonistic spirit of democracy, while setting aside the ontological status of antagonism. Her conception of split subjectivity is included, but supplemented with a more explicit theorization of the unity of the subject in the element of intersubjective meetings. The third position on radical democracy embraces the fundamental status of undecidability, which calls for an ethos of questioning.

Governing agencies increasingly employ collaborative forms of decision-making in fisheries management to improve decision quality and legitimacy. However, crafting fair and effective collaborative processes which will achieve these benefits is often difficult. In an effort to identify keys and obstacles to success, this research evaluated the Commercial Groundfish Initiative, a collaborative planning process tasked with reforming the management of Canada's Pacific groundfish fisheries. Using semi-structured interviews, I gathered the perspectives of participants from the two committees within the process: a consensus-based committee of commercial representatives and a committee broadly representative of other interest groups for which consensus was encouraged but not mandated. Control over the design of a proposal for management reform was asymmetrically divided between the two committees, giving the commercial committee the primary role. Participants from the commercial committee expressed high levels of support for their consensus process. Keys to this committee’s success in reaching a high quality agreement were (i) a strong incentive to cooperate, (ii) consensus decision-making, and (iii) independent process facilitation. The latter two functioned as security measures against the potential for process manipulation by participants or governing agencies. Results from an examination of the broader committee indicate non-commercial respondents were largely accepting of an “oversight” role provided that the scope for their input remained sufficient, which it did not. Early involvement in tasks such as designing the process and defining objectives were particularly critical to non-commercial respondents’ perceptions of procedural fairness and their ability to participate effectively. Several participants also raised concerns that the process was not appropriately representative of groups with an interest in groundfish management. The poor performance of the process in these respects overshadowed positive aspects of broadening participation beyond commercial users. Consensus approaches have gained currency among commercial participants as a result of their positive experience and made some of them more willing to consider meaningful collaboration with a broader range of interest groups. The ineffectiveness of the broader committee suggests there is still work to do in designing processes that will actually achieve this meaningful, broad collaboration.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: David N. Wilson.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2004. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of Medicine, Division of Experimental Medicine. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/05/09). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-106). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-178).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-178).