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.

This research was inspired by a particular business problem – the search for an optimal model of strategy-making process in Severstal, a major Russian metals and mining company going through a period of rapid growth and transformation. The research reports on the results of a longitudinal explorative case study based on two distinct empirical projects. The first project addressed strategy process nature, participants, roles of corporate centre, time perspective and impact of the external environment. Its results highlighted the importance of CEO leadership and personal traits, which became the principal focus of the second empirical project. The key empirical contribution of the research was definition of "leader-focused decentralisation" as a particular approach to strategy-making in a multi-business group. This approach combines decentralized, bottom-up, business units-led generation of strategic proposals and initiatives with a crucial role of a company leader as a deeply involved decision-maker, presiding over a small and lean corporate centre with minimal corporate rules and bureaucracy. In Severstal’s case, the "leader-focused decentralisation" approach to strategy was a good match to its volatile yet rewarding external environment. The suggested model can be seen as an empirically-derived step towards a theoretical synthesis of "activist" vs. "detached" views of corporate centre roles in relation to strategy process in multi-business firms. It exhibited some distinctive features which were not yet described in other contexts, including co-existence of strong entrepreneurial leadership and organisational decentralisation. From a practical standpoint, the research highlighted weaknesses and limitations of existing strategy-making model and offered a background for the discussion of ways to develop it in the future.

Cette thèse a pour objectif de comprendre le sens d'une action publique majeure pour la société française à travers l'observation et l'analyse des pratiques professionnelles des acteurs concernés, de la façon dont ils appréhendent et reconstruisent les outils mis à disposition pour leur action au quotidien ainsi que du contexte socio-historique dans lequel ils évoluent. La mise en oeuvre des lois sur le RMI et son évolution à travers le prisme de l'employabilité sert d'angle d'attaque privilégié à cette recherche. La massification du chômage, accompagnée d'une volonté politique de plus en plus affirmée de gérer rigoureusement les fonds publics dans un contexte sociétal marqué par une critique mettant en doute l'efficacité et, au-delà, la légitimité de l'intervention publique, engendre une « métamorphose » de l'action publique en matière sociale. Cette dernière tend à s'articuler alors autour d'une logique d'offre et de demande qui s'apparente à une régulation marchande. La volonté d'agir sur l'employabilité des bénéficiaires du RMI témoigne de ces profondes évolutions. La relation entre les usagers (bénéficiaires du RMI) et l'institution (technique/le département et politique/le Conseil général) appelée à les prendre en charge, symbolisée par le contrat d'insertion, est supposée favoriser la constitution d'une demande sur le mode d'un projet individuel à laquelle le dispositif doit répondre par une offre de services. / This thesis seeks to understand one of France's major social welfare programmes by observing and analysing the professional practices and the way in which the players conceive and reconstruct their tools for their daily work. This study looks at the implementation of laws about the RMI benefit (minimum integration income), primarily focusing on the issue of employability. Increasing unemployment and a growing political desire to rigorously manage public finances has utterly transformed the social welfare; social welfare is increasingly organised on the basis of supply and demand, resembling a market-driven operation. The desire to improve the employability of those receiving RMI is proof of these profound changes. The relationship between users and the benefit-giving institution is symbolised by a reintegration contract. This approach aims at fostering “demand” in the form of an individual plan that should be matched by the “supply” of a service offer. The unbalanced relationship between users and the support system that has not only a market-driven approach, but also an industrialised set-up in terms of accountancy and bureaucratic requirements, is expressed by an explicit aim of standardising the demand to match the supply of services. In order to implement its new responsibilities and its policies of combating exclusion, the Bouches du Rhône Council relies on a circle of organisations: its own services, voluntary sector bodies, and local government organisations. The decentralisation of government action has generated a “local centralisation of powers”, creating top-down practices that run contrary to the independent and bottom-up practices it was supposed to promote.

La gouvernance se définit comme étant une organisation sociale élaborée par la société elle-même. Autrement dit, cette notion suppose la reconnaissance de la suprématie de la volonté des membres de chaque société qui peut être civile, commerciale, ou politique qui évolue selon l’intérêt général de chaque société. Elle se présente sous différentes formes, entres autres, la démocratie, la décentralisation ou la centralisation, la solidarité internationale ou nationale, l’État de droit. Cependant, parmi les pays membres de la Commission de l’océan Indien, notamment La France (Réunion et Mayotte), Madagascar, Comores, île Maurice, les ex-colonies anglophones ou francophones ont reconnu juridiquement des organisations sociales héritées de génération en génération comme les traditions (les us et coutumes, les lois divines), et les droits coloniaux. En se basant sur la lutte anti vectorielle, une des mesures de la police administrative, qui est un concept nouveau issu du progrès de la médecine. Le droit comparé des États membres de la Commission de l’océan Indien régissant cette filière, nous permet à élucider si la défaillance de certains États dans ce domaine est-elle liée au conflit entre les traditions et les droits modernes, apports des ex colons ? / Governance is defined as a social organization established by itself society. In other words, the concept means recognition of the willingness supremacy each society member, may be civil, commercial, policy, change according to the general interest. The different forms of governance are democracy, centralization and decentralization, international or national solidarity. However, the member of the Committee on the Indian Ocean State, especially, France, Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, the former French or English colonies recognized legally the social organization inherited from generation to generation as traditions (customs, divine laws), colonial rights. Based on the vector control, one of the administrative police measures, which is a new concept from the advances in medicine science. The comparative law of the member of the Committee on the Indian Ocean State help to elucidate if did the failure of some States relate to the conflict between tradition and modern law?

The diploma thesis deals with the taxation of real estates in the Czech and Slovak Republic from 1993 to the present. An important starting point is the former common state and a similar system of property tax. Submitted thesis tries to highlight the most significant differences in taxation, which were noticeable in the beginning of independent states. Differences were deepened due to force of new Slovak law. The attention is focused on local self-government, i.e. municipality and its authority in determining the property tax revenue. The range of authorities can be understood as reflect of fiscal decentralisation, which is qualitatively and quantitatively described in the analytical part of the thesis.

Cette thèse porte sur la vie théâtrale en Algérie entre 1946 et 1962 et répond à la problématique suivante : Quelle société théâtrale s’est déployée en Algérie dans un contexte marqué par le délitement progressif de l’emprise coloniale française et dans quelle mesure a-t-elle été façonnée par les enjeux politiques et identitaires qui caractérisaient les circulations transméditerranéennes des lendemains de la Seconde Guerre mondiale à l’indépendance algérienne ? À la libération, la vie culturelle française entre dans une phase de renouveau. Le mouvement de décentralisation mené par Jeanne Laurent, sous-directrice des spectacles et de la musique au ministère de l'Éducation nationale, est lancé pour répondre à des objectifs de popularisation et de démocratisation du théâtre. L'outre-mer français et plus particulièrement l'Algérie sont cependant tenus à l'écart de ces réformes. Entre 1946 et 1962, l'Algérie passe brutalement du statut de colonie-refuge, hôte de la souveraineté française sous l'occupation, à celui de territoire impérial séditieux. La vie culturelle et les évènements politiques et militaires s'imbriquent sur ce territoire qui subit les contradictions de son statut hybride d'espace à la fois national et colonial. Cette thèse se situe donc au croisement de trois histoires, politique, coloniale et culturelle et s'organise autour de trois axes de recherche : une description du paysage théâtral de l’Algérie coloniale, une interrogation sur l’existence d’une politique culturelle pour le territoire algérien et enfin une analyse de la politisation du théâtre en Algérie dans les dernières années de la domination coloniale française. / This Ph.D dissertation about the theatrical life in Algeria between 1946 and 1962 aims at answering the following questions: what sort of theatrical community managed to develop in Algeria in the context of the gradual disintegration of France’s colonial power? To what extent was it shaped by the political issues and national identity stakes which characterised cross-Mediterranean flows in the aftermath of World War II until Algeria’s independence? After the Liberation, France’s cultural life started renewing. A project of decentralisation was launched to democratise drama and bring it to the general public, led by deputy director of Performing Arts and Music at the Ministry of Education Jeanne Laurent. However France’s overseas territories, and more specifically Algeria, were kept aside of this set of reforms. Between 1946 and 1962, Algeria moved from the status of a colony of refuge – which hosted the French sovereignty during the Occupation – to that of an insurrectionary imperial territory. Cultural life and political and military events were interwoven in this territory which was subjected to the contradictions inherent to its hybrid position as both a national and a colonial space. Therefore this dissertation lies at the heart of three facets of history – political, colonial and cultural history. It is thus organised around three axes of research, aiming at depicting colonial Algeria’s theatrical scene, questioning the existence of a cultural policy dedicated to the Algerian territory, and analysing the politicisation of drama in Algeria in the final years of France’s colonial domination.

We study risk pooling via unidirectional lateral transshipments between two locations under local decision-making. Unidirectional transshipments can be applicable when cost structures and/or capabilities differ between locations, and it is also a common practice in dual channel supply chains with online and offline sales channels. We show that such a system cannot be coordinated only with varying transshipment prices. The transshipment receiver orders more and the transshipment giver orders less than the respective optimal centralised order quantities. In order to remove this discrepancy, we suggest horizontal coordinationmechanisms by introducing a leftover subsidy for the location providing the transshipments or a shortage subsidy for the location receiving transshipments as well as a combination of shortage and leftover subsidy. Further, we evaluate the impact of network structure by comparing the equilibrium order quantities and profits under the uni- and bidirectional systems as well as a system without transshipments. Since demand correlation is a critical aspect in risk pooling we provide a detailed numerical study to discuss its impact on our findings.

Following a series of profound conflicts in the early 21st century, Bolivia became the world’s first pluri-national state in 2009. The idea of the pluri-national state goes beyond the (uni-)national state; imagining a state that allows peoples’ coexistence on an equal footing in a state that facilitates their autonomy (Garcés, 2011). However, recent research indicates that, in practice, the Bolivian state transformation is full of tensions. Based on a framework that brings together Open Marxism (Holloway and Picciotto, 1977; Clarke, 1991c; Bonefeld et al., 1992b, a; Bonefeld et al., 1995b) and the 'de-colonial option' (Quijano, 2006), I offer in-depth insights into contemporary Bolivia. In this, I understand the state as the political form of the social relations of capital, which is marked by modernity and its 'darker side' - coloniality (Mignolo, 2011). This thesis offers tools for studying how the state 'translates' indigenous- and non-indigenous struggles into policies, law and polity (Dinerstein, 2015) while also mediating external pressures. After embedding the pluri-national state in its historical context, covering the emergence and development of the Bolivian state form, I look in depth at the pluri-national state. In this, I unpack the multifaceted struggles for autonomy and find that when mediating autonomy into the pluri-national state, something essential to the definition of plurinationality is lost in translation. First, struggles for autonomy as peoples’ self-determination and deepened decentralisation became subordinated to, yet not annihilated by the government’s social-communitarian model that is advocated in the name of the pueblo’s self-determination and ensures the state’s material basis. Secondly, state-recognised autonomy comes at the cost of submission to a state which continuously operates pre-dominantly according to modern/colonial ideas of law, order and organisation. The contradictions found in the pluri-national autonomy regime and the state are inherent in it and hence, cannot be resolved through reform.

Bakgrund: Livsmedelsförsäljningen online befinner sig i den mest expansiva fasen i branschens historia. Det är svårt att hitta en prisnivå som täcker de tillkommande kostnaderna som onlinehandeln medför och som kunderna är villiga att betala. Den decentraliserade styrningen och det självständiga ägandet som ICA innehar står i konflikt med hur en effektiv e-handel bedrivs. Det råder således många frågetecken kring hur onlinehandeln för dagligvaror ska bli ekonomiskt hållbar. Syfte: Studien syftar till att genom en fallstudie undersöka och förklara upplevda möjligheter och utmaningar som har uppstått vid implementeringen av e- handeln inom dagligvaruhandeln. Vidare syftar studien till att undersöka och förklara hur den decentraliserade styrningen har påverkat upplevda möjligheter och utmaningar samt hur organisationen arbetar för att skapa en ekonomiskt hållbar affärsmodell. Genomförande: Studien är en fallstudie av kvalitativ karaktär där empirin har samlats in genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer med representanter från ICA-butiker och ICA Sverige. Den abduktiva ansatsen har möjliggjort en djupare förståelse av fenomenet då empirin och teorin har utvecklats och bearbetats under studiens gång. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar på flertalet möjligheter och utmaningar som är relaterade till organisation, internt nätverk samt kundrelation. Möjligheter som har uppstått är bland annat; nya marknadsandelar, ökad kundkännedom samt ökat kundvärde. Utmaningar som har uppstått är bland annat; ökad konkurrens, prissättningsproblematik, ineffektiv plockningsprocess och en enhetlig bild av företaget. Vissa av dessa är specifikt relaterade till den decentraliserade styrningen och franchiseägandet och andra är oberoende av organisations- och distributionsstruktur. En ekonomiskt hållbar affärsmodell skapas genom bland annat; motiverade medarbetare; nyttjande av lastbilens fulla kapacitet samt en framåtanda som genomsyrar hela organisationen. / Background: Online grocery shopping is in its most expansive phase in history. It is difficult to find a price level that covers the additional costs related to e-commerce and the customer’s willingness to pay. The decentralised control and the franchise ownership ICA possesses is in conflict with an effective e- commerce. Therefore, there are several questions about how e-commerce for groceries can be economic sustainable. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine and explain perceived opportunities and challenges that have emerged by the implementation of e-commerce. Furthermore, the study aims to examine and explain how the decentralised control has affected perceived opportunities and challenges and how the organisation works with creating an economic sustainable business model. Completion: This is a case study based on a qualitative method and the data has been gathered through semi structured interviews with representatives from ICA stores and ICA Sverige. The abductive research approach has enabled a deeper understanding of the phenomenon by allowing the data and theory to adapt during the process. Conclusion: The result of the study displays several opportunities and challenges related to organisation, internal network and customer relationship. Opportunities that have emerged are for example; new market shares, increased customer knowledge and increased customer value. Challenges that have emerged are for example; increased competition, pricing problems, ineffective picking process and a homogenous picture of the company. Some of these challenges are specifically related to the decentralised control and the franchise ownership while other are neither affected by the organisation- nor distribution structure. An economic sustainable business model is created by, for example, motivated employees, usage of the truck’s full capacity and a forward thinking that influences the entire organisation.

This diploma thesis deals with the process of political and administrative decentralisation in the Kingdom of Lesotho. Although decentralization in itself does not automatically lead to development it became an integral part of reform processes in many developing countries. Governments and international donors consider efficient decentralized political and administrative structures as essential elements of “good governance” and a prerequisite for structural poverty alleviation. This paper seeks to analyse how the given decentralization strategy and its implementation is affecting different features of good governance in the case of Lesotho. <br><br> The results of the analysis confirm that the decentralisation process significantly improved political participation of the local population. However, the second objective of enhancing efficiency through decentralisation was not achieved. To the contrary, in the institutional design of the newly created local authorities and in the civil service recruitment policy efficiency considerations did not matter. Additionally, the created mechanisms for political participation generate relevant costs. Thus it is impossible to judge unambiguously on the contribution of decentralisation to the achievement of good governance. Different subtargets of good governance are influenced contrarily. Consequently, the adequacy of the concept of good governance as a guiding concept for decentralisation policies can be questioned. The assessment of the success of decentralisation policies requires a normative framework that takes into account the relations between both participation and efficiency. <br><br> Despite the partly reduced administrative efficiency the author’s overall impression of the decentralisation process in Lesotho is positive. The establishment of democratically legitimised and participatory local governments justifies certain additional expenditure. However, mistakes in the design and the implementation of the decentralisation strategy would have been avoidable. / Die vorliegende Diplomarbeit befasst sich mit dem Prozess der politischen und administrativen Dezentralisierung im Königreich Lesotho, einem Entwicklungsland im Südlichen Afrika. Orientierung für die Dezentralisierungsstrategie bietet das in der internationalen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit anerkannte Leitbild der „Good Governance“. Die Arbeit untersucht, wie die Umsetzung der Dezentralisierung im Falle Lesothos konkret zur Annäherung an das Leitbild der Good Governance beiträgt. <br><br> Die Ergebnisse bestätigen, dass sich die Beteiligungsmöglichkeiten der Bevölkerung an den lokalen politischen Prozessen durch die Dezentralisierung erheblich verbessert haben. Das gleichzeitig verfolgte Ziel, durch dezentrale Strukturen die Effizienz zu steigern, konnte nicht erreicht werden. Es ist, im Gegenteil, von geringerer Effizienz auszugehen. Grund hierfür sind sowohl die Kosten der Partizipation, als auch ein institutionelles Design und eine Personalpolitik, die Effizienzgesichtspunkte weitgehend vernachlässigen. Ein pauschales Urteil, ob der Dezentralisierungsprozess in Lesotho Good Governance befördert, ist somit nicht möglich. Die Auswirkungen auf verschiedene Unterziele von Good Governance sind sowohl positiv als auch negativ. Damit zeigt sich, dass Good Governance im Falle Lesothos nur bedingt als Leitbild und Zielsystem für Dezentralisierung geeignet ist. Um den Erfolg der Dezentralisierung einzuschätzen ist ein normativer Rahmen erforderlich, der die Beziehung beider Ziele nicht ausblendet. <br><br> Der Autor plädiert im Falle Lesothos für eine bedingt positive Gesamteinschätzung des Dezentralisierungsprozesses, trotz der verringerten Effizienz. Der Aufbau von demokratisch legitimierten und beteiligungsintensiven kommunalen Strukturen rechtfertigt bestimmte Aufwendungen. Fehler bei Planung und Umsetzung der Dezentralisierungsstrategie wären jedoch vermeidbar gewesen.