Incorrect and inaccurate municipal billing system poses a challenge in the local government system in South Africa. The communities in the various municipalities were dissatisfied with the incorrect and inaccurate municipal bills that were being issued. Consequently public confidence in terms of the billing system dwindled, communities were unwilling to pay for the bills issued and as such debt accumulated and the municipalities could not recover the debt. The research question, therefore, is that the municipal bills sent to customers were incorrect or inaccurate and revenue was lost. Public confidence with regard to municipal billings system declined and communities were unwilling to pay for the incorrect or inaccurate bills issued. Debts accumulated and seemingly the municipal billing system had an impact on revenue collection in selected South African cities. There is currently no scientific research which has been conducted at academic level to determine the core problem as reported in newspapers, public domain and municipal areas to share the information nationally and internationally regarding the state of municipal billing system, debt and revenue management challenges. The research suggests that in order to improve the efficiency of the collection of service charges, the billing and collection systems must be decentralised, accessible to the consumer, matched with the income cycle and paying capacity of the consumer. The study covers an analysis of the municipal billing system and revenue collection in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and suggests measures for financial sustainability in the three cities. The study used both the qualitative case study and the quantitative approach to effectively collect and analyse the data needed. The research problem which informs this study is incorrect, inaccurate municipal bills sent to customers and lost revenue. The result of incorrect and inaccurate bills was that public confidence declined and communities protested to pay for the incorrect, inaccurate bills issued and thus debt accumulated. In examining this problem, the research begins with a description of the context of empirical analysis, of the local government system, municipal billing system and revenue collection in South Africa. The study analysed profound issues regarding local governance systems namely: legislation, policies, procedures, public administration and its environmental factors, spheres of government, financial administration and standards, intergovernmental relations functions, municipal structure and functions, elements of municipal billing systems, sources of revenue, municipal billing systems challenges in the three metropolitan municipalities, debts accumulation and deficiency in municipal billing systems and information technology. The study recommends the need for a sound municipal billing and collection system essentially regarding the taxes levied and collected by these metropolitan municipalities. A sound municipal billing system should be configured with a short turnaround strategy to serve demand notices and the collection of dues from individual customers, thereby enabling efficient cash recycling. An efficient billing system is essential for taxes levied by municipalities and their collection from consumers. The study also provides an opportunity for further academic research in the field of municipal billing systems and revenue collection. Hopefully, this study will become a catalyst for future research, policy alternatives and planning for local government and academic institutions nationally and internationally regarding the municipal billing system and revenue collection fields. / Dissertation (MAdmin)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / School of Public Management and Administration / unrestricted

Mesmo após ter completado 25 anos, a Constituinte de 1987/88 suscitou até agora, no campo da Ciência Política, relativamente poucos trabalhos acadêmicos de fôlego. Apesar de alguns estudos evidenciarem a importância e centralidade do debate entre presidencialismo e parlamentarismo na Constituinte, nenhum deles se aprofundou no tema, evidenciando como se deu o processo decisório em torno da questão, quais grupos defenderam certas posições, quais eram seus interesses, quais propostas foram feitas e porque uma delas sagrou-se vitoriosa ao final. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo o estudo do processo decisório da Assembleia Nacional Constituinte brasileira de 1987/1988, no que diz respeito a escolha do sistema de governo, questão central do debate institucional na época. A pretensão e analisar quais as linhas de força que, ao longo do processo constituinte, manifestaram-se a esse respeito, e quais os meios que foram vislumbrados para torná-los efetivos. Para isso, torna-se necessário identificar e analisar os atores relevantes, a natureza de suas preferências políticas, a interação desenvolvida e as opções por eles gestadas e postas em prática, em meio a um processo deliberativo de tipo especial, aquele que geralmente marca as assembleias constituintes. / Even after 25 years, the Brazilian Constituent Assembly of 1987-88, as of late, was the object of relatively few important academic studies in the eld of Political Science. Although some studies demonstrate the importance and centrality of the debate between presidentialism and parliamentarism in the Assembly, none of them has studied the topic in depth, showing how was the decision making process around the issue , which groups advocated certain positions, which were their interests, which proposed were made and the reason why one of them was victorious at the end. This work\'s goal is the study of the decision-making process of the Brazilian National Constituent Assembly of 1987-1988, with respect to the choice of the government system, the central issue of the institutional debate at the time. The intention is to analyze which lines of force emerged in this regard along the constituent process, and what means were envisioned to make them eective. For this, it is necessary to identify and analyze the relevant actors, the nature of their political preferences, how the interaction between actors took place and the developed and implemented options in the midst of a deliberative process of a special kind, one that often marks the constituent assemblies.

Patrimonialer Sozialismus Clan-Herrschaft in Turkmenistan Polizei in Georgien Zentralasiens Präsidenten Organisiertes Verbrechen in Bulgarien Albanien als Familienstaat Hybride Staaten im Südkaukasus Entwicklungspolitik von NGOs Afrika ad portas? Die T-Frage im Bundestag Vom Sein und Schein der Transformation

Mesmo após ter completado 25 anos, a Constituinte de 1987/88 suscitou até agora, no campo da Ciência Política, relativamente poucos trabalhos acadêmicos de fôlego. Apesar de alguns estudos evidenciarem a importância e centralidade do debate entre presidencialismo e parlamentarismo na Constituinte, nenhum deles se aprofundou no tema, evidenciando como se deu o processo decisório em torno da questão, quais grupos defenderam certas posições, quais eram seus interesses, quais propostas foram feitas e porque uma delas sagrou-se vitoriosa ao final. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo o estudo do processo decisório da Assembleia Nacional Constituinte brasileira de 1987/1988, no que diz respeito a escolha do sistema de governo, questão central do debate institucional na época. A pretensão e analisar quais as linhas de força que, ao longo do processo constituinte, manifestaram-se a esse respeito, e quais os meios que foram vislumbrados para torná-los efetivos. Para isso, torna-se necessário identificar e analisar os atores relevantes, a natureza de suas preferências políticas, a interação desenvolvida e as opções por eles gestadas e postas em prática, em meio a um processo deliberativo de tipo especial, aquele que geralmente marca as assembleias constituintes. / Even after 25 years, the Brazilian Constituent Assembly of 1987-88, as of late, was the object of relatively few important academic studies in the eld of Political Science. Although some studies demonstrate the importance and centrality of the debate between presidentialism and parliamentarism in the Assembly, none of them has studied the topic in depth, showing how was the decision making process around the issue , which groups advocated certain positions, which were their interests, which proposed were made and the reason why one of them was victorious at the end. This work\'s goal is the study of the decision-making process of the Brazilian National Constituent Assembly of 1987-1988, with respect to the choice of the government system, the central issue of the institutional debate at the time. The intention is to analyze which lines of force emerged in this regard along the constituent process, and what means were envisioned to make them eective. For this, it is necessary to identify and analyze the relevant actors, the nature of their political preferences, how the interaction between actors took place and the developed and implemented options in the midst of a deliberative process of a special kind, one that often marks the constituent assemblies.

South Korea has been one of the most successful newborn republics since 1948, and yet, since the new millennium, it has been embroiled in a controversy over the issues of constitutionalism and successful government, with the public expressing concerns about transparency, democracy, and competitiveness. Of particular concern is the public's perception of constitutional government. The purpose of this study was to better understand the elements of governmental success and best practices for constitutionalism in the country's framework of democratic experimentalism. Three prongs of inquiry rooted in the democratic experimentalist tradition (lessons learned from private governance, national institutions, and new concepts of rights) were examined. Dorf and Sabel's theory of constitution of democratic experimentalism was used to help answer the research question, which was, how democratic experimentalism supports constitutional government in South Korea. Data were collected through interviews with 16 legal/government professionals under the age of 40, and then coded and thematically analyzed. Findings identified 9 identified key themes as vital for the success of constitutional government in South Korea. Results suggest that constitutionalism and democratic experimentation need to be considered together when seeking to understand the South Korean constitutional government. Implications for positive social change include helping future investigators to better interpret the Korean constitutional system and supporting decision makers and public servants in making better informed decisions to further more democratic and transparent government.

¡iabract¡j From the past to the present, we can find no matter mass media, public opinion, and even the government party and opposition party is in support of neutrality of the Speaker, nevertheless, it had been unable to accomplish the purpose in past decade. What we see is endless arguments, as often as there is election of the premier of legislative yuan or bill battle. Hence, the author thinks there is a gap between our subjective expectation and objective reality about neutrality of the premier of legislative yuan, otherwise why we can¡¦t put neutrality of the premier of legislative yuan into practice for a long time. So this text thinks whether the premier of legislative yuan should be development toward neutralization, it is worth to discuss. It is necessary to inspect the possibility of neutral development for the premier of legislative yuan. In this article, we define the meaning of neutrality of the Speaker includes three levels, such as neutrality of agenda, neutrality of political party and neutrality of electoral district, etc., and under the prerequisite of these three meaning, the Speaker acted multiple roles including congress chairman, legislative chief, representatives of political party, representatives of electoral district and coordinator, etc. And some of them are useful to neutrality; some of them are conflict and contradictive to neutrality. Further, these roles would be influenced by the historical background, political culture, constitutional government system, political party, electoral system, and parliamentary norm and convention. So from this point of view, we observe experience of foreign the Speaker and inspect key factor influencing role of the Speaker. At the same time, we also explored key factor influencing role of the premier of legislative yuan, and compared with both, to present useful and unfavorable conditions about neutrality. Eventually, according to these conditions, we analyze the possibility of neutral development for the premier of legislative yuan, and make the relevant suggestions. We find out something in the course of studying. At first, our government trends towards presidential government in constitutional government system, the administration and legislation is split, it is useful to strengthen orientation of representatives of political party of the premier of legislative yuan. Secondly, if the premier of legislative yuan wants to be the Speaker, he has to rely on the strength of the political party in election, it makes the premier of legislative yuan cant¡¦t keep neutrality. Finally, the establishment of legislative yuan is very short, norm and conventions that it is useful to neutrality is not formed, such as the Speaker withdrawing from the political party or setting up several vice speakers to share agenda resources. And this also makes neutral development of the premier of legislative yuan more and more difficult. So we get a clear understanding of our current institutional reality, it is unfavorable to neutrality of the premier of legislative yuan. Consequently, we should develop towards the American type of the Speaker, to strengthen authority of the premier of legislative yuan, to make him lead the political party and integrate the legislative to restrict the executive power, to improve the entity of the whole legislative yuan. Key word: the premier of legislative yuan, the Speaker , neutrality of the Speaker , neutrality of agenda , neutrality of political party , neutrality of electoral district, Constitutional government system , political party , electoral system , parliamentary norm and convention

"Montesquieu, in L'Esprit des Lois, 1748, divided the functions of state into: the legislative power, the executive power, and the power of judging. Indeed, three constitutional organs have invariably dominated state power. These are: the executive, the leigslative and the judiciary. According to Montesquieu, the state is said to be at 'equilibrium' when the three organs are independent of each other, with each carrying out its functions without interference. Ideally, the legislative organ ought to make laws, the executive to implement them, and the judiciary to adjudicate over disputes arising out of the day-to-day operations of the state. This attempt at dispersing state power is not arbitrary. It has got ends. One cardinal end in this regrad is the protection of fundamental human rights. It has been argued that where the three organs of state are allowed operatational autonomy, individuals stand to enjoy relatively profound liberty. Where state functions are entrusted with one person or organ, the tyranny of that person or organ is certain to overwhelm the realisation of fundamental freedoms and liberties. ... Both Montesquieu and Lock had tremendous faith in the tripartite government structure in so far as the protection of liberties was concerned. Informed by this philosophy, most democratic constitutions have weaved state power in almost similar terms envisioned by Montesquieu. Thus far, the 1787 Constitution of the United States of America (USA) could be ranked as one with the clearest distinction of state functions. Contemporary practice, however, appears to be in favour of complementing these traditional state organs, a sign, perhaps, that the conventional three organs of state per se have increasingly proved inadequate; at least in the sphere of human rights protection. There is a move, or rather, wave towards the establishment of independent national human rights institutions (NHRIs) to reinforce the bulwark of human rights protection mechanisms at state level, and the wave, arguably, is most pronounced in Africa. ... The current investigation will be completed in four distinct chapters. The current chapter serves well to introduce the study. The second chapter constitutes a comprehensive study of the conceptual foundations of national human rights institutions (NHRIs). The essence, structure and nature of NHRIs is also explored. The third chapter proposes to analyse the doctrine of separation of powers from a philosophical and later, from a practical point of view as it manifests itself in the Commonwealth tradition. The tripartite government configuration is discussed with the ramification of NHRIs in mind. It is instructive that without assessing the parent concept (the rule of law) a discussion on separation of powers remains orphaned. The fourth chapter shall first allude to the new challenges to human rights enforcement. It shall then discuss how these challenges and the development of NHRIs cry for a new thinking on the original tripartite system. The final section is an attempt at supplying a panacea to the challenges accentuated by the preceding part." -- Introduction. / Prepared under the supervision of Prof. Nii Ashie Kotey at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon / LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa) -- University of Pretoria, 2006. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM