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The problem of this thesis is to evaluate the democracy of the practices and organization of certain school councils. As the problem is thus stated, it is necessarily two-fold in scope. The first approach is to devise some method of evaluating the practices and organization of school council work. The second approach is to apply these evaluative criteria to the practices and organization of the above mentioned school councils.

Venezuela began a process of decentralization in the late 1980s as part of a major period of institutional reform designed to restore legitimacy to the discredited political system of the time. The first efforts towards this end did not complete the process of decentralizing political power, since they did not open more spaces or channels for citizen participation in public affairs. With the adoption of a new National Constitution in 1999, however, new channels for citizen participation were opened through the creation, amongst other mechanisms, of the State Councils of Public Policy Planning, the Local Councils of Public Planning and later, the Community Councils. The primary objectives of this thesis were to analyze the degree to which this decentralization process has improved local governance in Venezuela. More specifically, the investigation focused on exploring the effectiveness of the measures introduced to enhance civil society participation in public affairs. The analysis draws upon and attempts to integrate insights from a range of academic literatures including those dealing with: the debates surrounding good governance , organizational and institutional theory, decentralization and civil society participation in public affairs. Rich empirical research into the degree to which the decentralization process has promoted citizen involvement in decision making involved the exploration of a wide range of secondary materials and the conducting of interviews with key actors and participants within the programmes under investigation. Key findings include the observation that the creation and operation of the Local Councils of Public Planning and Community Councils have led to the evolution of a participatory process that has been marred by a lack of legal continuity, institutional disorganization and a lack of awareness of the existence of the mechanisms (and some suspicion regarding their intentions amongst the general population). Outcomes have also been heavily influenced by the political polarization that exists in contemporary Venezuela. The community councils in particular have been the subject of considerable debate within the country with opinion sharply divided along political lines as to whether they represent a radical new vision of decentralization or another way to further centralize power within the hands of President Hugo Chávez.

<p>This study focuses on the impact on service provision arising from uncertainties in the UC Act. There are serious problems with the delivery of basic services in urban areas: including frequent interruptions in water supply, persistent power cuts, uncollected refuse, poor health services and dilapidated infrastructure. The purpose of this study is to highlight specific weaknesses in the UC Act and examine how these contribute to poor service delivery. The specific weaknesses to be examined are the unfettered powers of the minister, lack of legal certainty on powers and functions of UCs, limited revenue generating powers and lack of autonomy in recruiting senior council administration. First, UCs exercise delegated powers from central government. The minister has powers to give directions on matters of policy, suspend, reverse, or rescind council resolutions. There is no legal authority to check and balance the unfettered powers of the minister. Poor service delivery may be attributed in part to the unfettered powers of the minister. Secondly, UCs do not have devolved fiscal powers. As agents of central government, UCs can only levy those taxes and borrow money as authorised by the minister. The limited capacities of UCs to generate own revenue impacts negatively on the capacity of UCs to respond to the needs of the communities they serve.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 292-296). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (J.C.L.)--Catholic University of America, 2008. / Description based on Microfiche version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-60).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 292-296). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 383-408). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

<p>This study focuses on the impact on service provision arising from uncertainties in the UC Act. There are serious problems with the delivery of basic services in urban areas: including frequent interruptions in water supply, persistent power cuts, uncollected refuse, poor health services and dilapidated infrastructure. The purpose of this study is to highlight specific weaknesses in the UC Act and examine how these contribute to poor service delivery. The specific weaknesses to be examined are the unfettered powers of the minister, lack of legal certainty on powers and functions of UCs, limited revenue generating powers and lack of autonomy in recruiting senior council administration. First, UCs exercise delegated powers from central government. The minister has powers to give directions on matters of policy, suspend, reverse, or rescind council resolutions. There is no legal authority to check and balance the unfettered powers of the minister. Poor service delivery may be attributed in part to the unfettered powers of the minister. Secondly, UCs do not have devolved fiscal powers. As agents of central government, UCs can only levy those taxes and borrow money as authorised by the minister. The limited capacities of UCs to generate own revenue impacts negatively on the capacity of UCs to respond to the needs of the communities they serve.</p>

The aim of this thesis is to examine the fostering of democracy in the form of pupils’ influence and participation in decision processes.  The main focus is on pupils’ formal influence in lower secondary education, forms 7-9, in particular class councils and pupil councils, although informal influence is also studied. The study is ethnographic and based on observations, informal conversations and formal interviews with pupils and school staff in three Swedish schools during one school year (2007/2008). The analysis draws on theories focusing on democracy and gender (Pateman, 1970; Young, 1990, 1997, 2000a,b, 2005), and institutional aspects of education (Bernstein, 2000). The results show that the activity among the participating pupils is low, and that the councils deal with what the pupils mostly judge as unimportant and uninteresting issues. Issues related to teaching are generally seldom dealt with in the councils. A clear majority of the pupils also state that they cannot exert influence to the extent they would like, and that they find the representative systems both coercive and excluding. Still, pupils’ formal influence shows to be important as a means for democracy fostering. In particular positive participation effects are expressed in councils/groups characterised by pupil autonomy and collective community, a result that emphasises the importance of supporting pupil-governed councils and providing collective influence forms. But, the fact that a great deal of the pupils’ criticism against pupils’ influence in practice and the organization of pupils’ influence is connected to representation,  indicates that alternative collective forms to a greater extent than the representative systems can promote interest and active participation among the pupils. The results also show that only a minor proportion of the pupils take active part in influence processes, both formally and informally, and that a predominant majority of the participating pupils are girls. In sum, the results lend support to the idea that active participation in some contexts and in some conditions yields certain positive participation effects. But the fact that a large group of pupils, a majority of them boys, do not participate, proves lacking achievement and inequality when it comes to democracy fostering in the form of pupils’ influence. In view of the results more groups of pupils need to be strengthened as regards influence and participation in decision processes.