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<p> <p>&nbsp / </p> </p> <p align="left">In this thesis I argue that by taking account of economic disparities and backlogs in intergovernmental infrastructure grants to municipalities in South Africa, government will effectively meet its constitutional obligation to equitably allocate infrastructure grants to local government according to the principles of parity, proportionality and priority (Young, 1994). Municipalities will thus be able to provide basic services to households in keeping with the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of South Africa (1996). Adapting the Petchey et al (2004) provincial capital expenditure grant model to the provision of municipal services using secondary data and information from local municipalities in the Cape Winelands District, I evaluate whether government&rsquo / s existing municipal grants are allocated equitably and, whether they account for disparities that differentiate municipalities from each other. The findings from my analysis show that the current approach to financing municipal infrastructure does not sufficiently account for disparities and thus, undermines the requirement for equitability, adequacy and efficiency of intergovernmental allocations. Consequently, the right of citizens to basic municipal services is compromised and the macroeconomic structure is weakened. Furthermore the institutional arrangements for local government autonomy is undermined because municipalities cannot ensure stability, predictability, flexibility and economic efficiency of infrastructure budgets. As municipalities receive part of their finance from national government through infrastructure grants, I used data from five local municipalities to examine the extent to which there is equitability and efficiency in the way this finance is allocated. To this end I constructed and applied a composite disparity index for each municipality to my adapted municipal infrastructure grant model to analyze and observe the impact of economic disparities in grant allocations. The findings show that a grant model that accounts for economic disparities satisfies the constitutional, economic and institutional considerations that should inform municipal grant allocation decisions. I conclude the thesis by highlighting the limitations and possibilities of using a municipal infrastructure grant model that accounts for economic disparities and, I propose some recommendations for applying such a model in South Africa.</p>

<p> <p>&nbsp / </p> </p> <p align="left">In this thesis I argue that by taking account of economic disparities and backlogs in intergovernmental infrastructure grants to municipalities in South Africa, government will effectively meet its constitutional obligation to equitably allocate infrastructure grants to local government according to the principles of parity, proportionality and priority (Young, 1994). Municipalities will thus be able to provide basic services to households in keeping with the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of South Africa (1996). Adapting the Petchey et al (2004) provincial capital expenditure grant model to the provision of municipal services using secondary data and information from local municipalities in the Cape Winelands District, I evaluate whether government&rsquo / s existing municipal grants are allocated equitably and, whether they account for disparities that differentiate municipalities from each other. The findings from my analysis show that the current approach to financing municipal infrastructure does not sufficiently account for disparities and thus, undermines the requirement for equitability, adequacy and efficiency of intergovernmental allocations. Consequently, the right of citizens to basic municipal services is compromised and the macroeconomic structure is weakened. Furthermore the institutional arrangements for local government autonomy is undermined because municipalities cannot ensure stability, predictability, flexibility and economic efficiency of infrastructure budgets. As municipalities receive part of their finance from national government through infrastructure grants, I used data from five local municipalities to examine the extent to which there is equitability and efficiency in the way this finance is allocated. To this end I constructed and applied a composite disparity index for each municipality to my adapted municipal infrastructure grant model to analyze and observe the impact of economic disparities in grant allocations. The findings show that a grant model that accounts for economic disparities satisfies the constitutional, economic and institutional considerations that should inform municipal grant allocation decisions. I conclude the thesis by highlighting the limitations and possibilities of using a municipal infrastructure grant model that accounts for economic disparities and, I propose some recommendations for applying such a model in South Africa.</p>

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In this thesis I argue that by taking account of economic disparities and backlogs in intergovernmental infrastructure grants to municipalities in South Africa, government will effectively meet its constitutional obligation to equitably allocate infrastructure grants to local government according to the principles of parity, proportionality and priority (Young, 1994). Municipalities will thus be able to provide basic services to households in keeping with the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of South Africa (1996). Adapting the Petchey et al (2004) provincial capital expenditure grant model to the provision of municipal services using secondary data and information from local municipalities in the Cape Winelands District, I evaluate whether government’s existing municipal grants are allocated equitably and, whether they account for disparities that differentiate municipalities from each other. The findings from my analysis show that the current approach to financing municipal infrastructure does not sufficiently account for disparities and thus, undermines the requirement for equitability, adequacy and efficiency of intergovernmental allocations. Consequently, the right of citizens to basic municipal services is compromised and the macroeconomic structure is weakened. Furthermore the institutional arrangements for local government autonomy is undermined because municipalities cannot ensure stability, predictability, flexibility and economic efficiency of infrastructure budgets. As municipalities receive part of their finance from national government through infrastructure grants, I used data from five local municipalities to examine the extent to which there is equitability and efficiency in the way this finance is allocated. To this end I constructed and applied a composite disparity index for each municipality to my adapted municipal infrastructure grant model to analyze and observe the impact of economic disparities in grant allocations. The findings show that a grant model that accounts for economic disparities satisfies the constitutional, economic and institutional considerations that should inform municipal grant allocation decisions. I conclude the thesis by highlighting the limitations and possibilities of using a municipal infrastructure grant model that accounts for economic disparities and, I propose some recommendations for applying such a model in South Africa.

Diese Dissertation demonstriert, inwiefern historisch gewachsene Strukturen sozialer Hierarchie in einer Gemeinschaft aufrechterhalten werden, während sie zugleich unterschiedliche legalisierende Rechtfertigungen und rechtlich vertretbare Erscheinungsbilder angenommen haben. Im ersten Kapitel zeige ich, dass das zeitgenössische egalitäre Prinzip der Chancengleichheit (FEO) und seine Anwendung, im Zusammenspiel mit Meritokratie, dazu führt, dass aufgrund sozialer Hierarchien existierende Unterschiede über die Zeit hinweg in politisch legitimierbare sozioökonomische Ungleichheiten übersetzt werden. Ich nähere mich dem zugrunde liegenden Mechanismus der weiterbestehenden Ungleichheit durch die Verwendung von Bourdieus Theorie der symbolischen Herrschaft und Gewalt. Er erklärt, dass auf der Grundlage der Meritokratie individuelle soziale Positionen als direkte Folgen individueller Leistungen missverstanden werden und so die Existenz sozialer Ungleichheit gerechtfertigt wird. Der Glaube an fairen sozialen Wettbewerb kann demnach dazu beitragen, existierende Strukturen sozialer Hierarchien hinter der Logik von Gleichheit und Freiheit zu verdecken. Ein Fischerdof in Japan stellt die empirische Grundlage meiner Thesis dar. Die alles überspannende Forschungsfrage lautet: Ist das Konzept vom Leben, eingebettet in FEO internalisiert und wird es von Individuen befolgt, um die existierenden Strukturen sozialer Ungleichheit der Gesellschaft zu bewahren, in der sie leben? Meine empirische Studie zeigt, dass die schon in der feudalen Ära mächtigsten Familien auch jetzt die höchsten sozialen Positionen innerhalb des Gemeinschaftsbildungsprojekts innehaben. Zudem verkennen sowohl die mächtigsten als auch die marginalisiertesten Bewohner des Dorfes ihre soziale Position innerhalb der Gemeinschaft als direkte Resultate ihres individuellen Handelns und ihrer daraus entstehenden Leistungen, haben dabei aber keinerlei bewusste Intention die feudale Machthierarchie aufrecht zu erhalten. / This doctoral research demonstrates how the structures of social hierarchy of the past have been perpetuated while acquiring different justifications and appearances in a legally justifiable manner. In the first chapter, I demonstrate that the commonly used egalitarian principle in today’s society, namely Fair Equality of Opportunity, hand in hand with meritocracy, functions as a translator of the existing structures of social hierarchy into politically justifiable disparities between individuals. I approach the un-derlying mechanism of persisting inequality by using the theory of symbolic domination proposed by Pierre Bourdieu. He explains that the existence of social inequality is justified because individual social positions are misrecognised as being the direct results of individual achievements via meritocracy. Widespread belief in fair social competition can thus contribute to concealing existing structures of social hierarchy behind the logic of equality and freedom. My thesis is empirically based on a rural fishing village in Japan. The overarching research question is: Is a concept of life as being the direct result of personal achievements internalised and acted upon by individuals to perpetuate the existing structure of social inequality in the society in which they live? My empirical study shows that the families that were powerful during the feudal era now occupy the highest social positions in the community-building project. Furthermore, both the powerful and the marginalised members of the local society accept their social positions in the community as being the direct results of their own individual achievements, without any conscious intention to perpetuate the feudal hierarchy of power. Given these affirmative answers to my research question, hermeneutically, I establish the explanatory power of my theoretical framework.

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