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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
181

Essays on State and Local Government Finances

Giesecke, Oliver January 2022 (has links)
This thesis explores several aspects of state and local governments' finances and its interaction with the real economy. The first chapter explores the question of what the fiscal position of local governments is and how the financial market assesses it. I find that a large share of municipalities operate with a negative net position-akin to a negative book equity position in the corporate context. I find that most of the decline in the fiscal position originates from the accumulation of legacy obligations, i.e. pensions and other post-employment benefits (OPEBs); this is recognized by municipal bond markets through higher credit spreads. While accounting values from the annual comprehensive financial reports are informative, they are based on book valuations which potentially convey limited information about the economic value of assets and liabilities. Thus, I turn to the market valuation of local governments' equity by estimating an stochastic discount factor that matches the valuation of a wide range of assets in the economy to prices future tax and expenditure claims. Using market prices for tax and expenditure claims, and market valuations of liability positions I find that the market values of equity are highly correlated with the book values. The negative equity position-in terms of book and market values-for some local governments suggests the presence of implicit insurance by state and federal governments. In the second chapter I utilize quasi-experimental variation in Connecticut to causally estimate the policy response of local governments and the migration response of residents to a large fiscal shock. I find that local governments adjust tax rates to maintain stable tax revenues; there is no change in public employment levels and limited adjustments of public services. The micro data on people's location further allows me to causally estimate the migration elasticity to a change in property tax rates. I find evidence of inter-state migration in response to an increase in property tax rates; and no statistically significant response of intra-state migration. Detailed property and location choice data reveal the elasticity of migration with regard to the property tax bill. An increase in the property tax bill by ten percent leads to an average increase in the migration propensity by about 1.5%. In the third chapter I explore the contribution of the local fiscal constraint channel on the local economy. I show that the observed general equilibrium response to local labor market shocks contains an economically important amplification effect through local financial constraints. At the center of the local fiscal constraint channel is the housing market. Local governments in the United States receive a median share of 63.13% of own source revenues from property taxes. I show that exogenous shocks to local labor markets affect the housing market and exerts fiscal pressure on local government finances. Local governments-on average-increase property taxes and cut amenities. Both policy responses affect the relative attractiveness of a location which amplifies the initial shock. I estimate a multiplier of 1.7x through this local financial constraint channel for employment.
182

Democratic Voices Speaking Loudly: Does Public Participation Yield Accountability In Special Purpose Governments?

Beitsch, Owen M 01 January 2005 (has links)
The American system of governance includes a network of state and local units identified as either general purpose or special purpose governments. The latter are often aligned with, but operate independently of, general purpose governments. Even as these special purpose or special district governments have shown extraordinary growth relative to their general purpose counterparts, there has been little interest in them or the structural characteristics that distinguish their systems for maintaining order and assuring accountable behaviors. In the meanwhile, the literature regarding accountability has been expanded materially in the last several years leading to debates about its form, component parts, objectives, and the preferred means for achieving accountability as an end state. While these concepts may have application to special districts, inquiry has yet to extend to the particular devices required to monitor or control these governments. This research effort closes the knowledge gap by linking this little studied form of government with recent ideas about accountability and the role that citizen participation plays in developing or advancing accountable behaviors. The analysis applies an adaptation of the well known model developed by Romzek and Dubnick (1987) to create an accountability framework and documents the role that public participation plays in influencing accountable behaviors. The analysis culminates in a multivariate model that examines the role of pubic participation in the context of competing influences that might also force accountable behaviors. The research concludes that participation can be an important influence in shaping specific forms of accountable behavior but that other factors are also essential to sustaining accountability. Most notable among these other factors is the role of the workplace environment, defined here in terns of employee interaction, ethics training, purpose, overall sense of commitment and other attributes.
183

Policy conflicts among local government officials: How does officials' engagement with regional governance relate to their position divergence on sustainability policy?

Talukdar, Shahidur Rashid 18 August 2023 (has links)
Policy conflict plays an important role in shaping public policy—both as a process and as a product. The policy conflict framework—a theoretical framework, developed by Christopher Weible and Tanya Heikkila in 2017—considers position divergence among policymakers a key characteristic of policy conflict, which can be affected several factors including organizational and network affiliation of policymakers. This dissertation analyzes position divergence among local and regional officials over community sustainability policy, with a focus on affordable housing, which is a major concern of community sustainability. This research examines if, and how, local government officials' engagement with regional governance can play a role in shaping their policy positions. Understanding what influences officials' policy positions is essential in managing conflicts that arise in the making of sustainability policies in general and affordable housing policies, in particular. This study argues that local government officials' engagement with regional governance can lower policy position divergence among them by influencing their policy core beliefs and policy relevant knowledge. This analysis includes testing several hypotheses using data from a state-wide survey of local and regional policymakers. Employing cross-tabulation, multivariate regression, and ordered logit analysis, this study finds that (a) policymakers share a wide range of policy positions on community sustainability policies and (b) for local government officials engaged with regional governance, position divergence on community sustainability is lower than that among those who are not engaged with regional governance. Although position divergence on affordable housing among those engaged with regional governance is generally lower than those who are not engaged with regional governance, this finding is not robust. In some regions and localities, the relationship between position divergence and engagement with regional governance does not hold. Furthermore, this study finds that local government officials' engagement with regional governance is associated with higher levels of policy relevant knowledge, which can influence the policymakers' policy positions. The relationship, if any, between policymakers' core beliefs and their engagement with regional governance is weak and statistically insignificant. This cross-sectional analysis based on limited data suggests that local government officials' policy core beliefs are not related to their engagement with regional governance. However, future studies with better data may yield different results. / Doctor of Philosophy / Policy conflicts can impede the policymaking process; they usually influence and shape policy goals. Metropolitan governance is rife with policy conflicts. Especially in substantive policy areas such as community sustainability and affordable housing, policy conflicts are quite common. Policy conflicts emerge because of policy actors' divergent views, beliefs, priorities, preferences, and aspirations. To ensure a smoother policymaking process, mechanisms to handle conflicts are imperative. Regional governance can offer one such mechanism to handle policy conflicts that arise due to divergent policy positions of local government officials. This dissertation examines policy conflicts focusing on community sustainability policies. Analyzing survey data from Maryland, this study finds that (a) local government officials share a wide range of policy positions on community sustainability policies, (b) local government officials engaged with regional governance take policy positions that are more homogeneous compared to those who are not engaged with regional governance, and (c) officials engaged regional governance tend to have better policy relevant knowledge than others.
184

Legitimacy in Contested Spaces: Three Papers on Southeast Asia

Toh, Norashiqin January 2023 (has links)
Legitimacy is arguably one of the most salient concepts in the political science discipline, affecting all forms of political life. In this dissertation, I explore how legitimacy influences the behavior of state and non-state actors in violent and non-violent contested spaces in three separate cases. The first paper examines the mechanisms through which structural factors and micro-level conditions translate into civilian support for insurgents. While the literature has largely assumed that civilians are rational actors driven by interests, immediate utility calculations represent only one of the mechanisms through which civilian support can be reached. Evidence from the interviews I conducted during my fieldwork in Thailand demonstrate that weak insurgents who have limited capacity can still leverage shared ethnic identity to build support through trust and legitimacy. Building off these findings, I propose that utility, trust, and legitimacy constitute three mechanisms that exist along a continuum, with utility being purely interest-based driven, trust being a combination of interest and moral calculations, and legitimacy being rooted in moral obligation. The second paper identifies the various conditions that lead to ASEAN taking action in response to domestic crises within its member states. Through elite interviews with top ASEAN bureaucrats and diplomats, I first identify four conditions that motivate ASEAN action, two of which are tied to its internal legitimacy concerns, while the other two are derived from its desire to maintain external legitimacy in the eyes of the international community. Combing through thousands of official ASEAN documents, I then build an original dataset on ASEAN action and inaction, and run a qualitative comparative analysis to further determine how these conditions relate to each other. I find that ASEAN is ultimately more concerned with maintaining its internal legitimacy. The two pathways leading to the organization taking action are 1) when they have grounds to justify their action, and 2) when there is a threat of external interference and the member state does not feel like its domestic interests are being threatened. In the third paper, I rely on interviews, participation in two consultation processes, and both manual and automated text analysis to map out the causes and consequences of regime complexity in the Mekong subregion, where nine informal institutions and one treaty-based organization operate with similar member states and functional scopes. I find that the institutions including an external partner as a member state were established as vehicles to legitimate the external state’s influence in the region. These institutions therefore engage in competition with each other, which leads to functional repetition. Meanwhile, the Mekong-led institutions seek institutional legitimacy by establishing niche areas, and thus avoid competition with each other. However, the most effective way for an institution to gain legitimacy appears to be through the availability of large amounts of funding, as these financial considerations determine which institution the Mekong member states prioritize in their engagement.
185

Legitimation and legitimacy in Canadian federal communications policies and practices

Kurnitzki-West, Vera January 1985 (has links)
No description available.
186

Transition to violence: an evaluation of political parties and their move to terror

Danzell, Orlandrew E. January 1900 (has links)
Doctor of Philosophy / Security Studies Interdepartmental Program / Emizet Kisangani / The goals of this dissertation are two-fold. First is to investigate and explain the key variables responsible for the process whereby political parties form alliances with or create terrorist organizations. Second is to fill an important gap in the literature by offering a more precise conceptualization of the issues and a different theoretical view. Extant literature argues that institutional structural constraints, such as electoral systems, are more likely to lead political parties to create terrorist organizations. However, this dissertation hypothesizes that regime ideology is also an important factor explaining the creation of terrorist organizations by political parties regardless of structural institutional constraints. This dissertation seeks to illuminate existing fears and concerns about alliances between terrorist groups and political parties in states whose ruling party platform is based on leftist, rightist, centrist, or religious ideology. Using empirical methods, which includes both quantitative and case study approaches, this dissertation intends to show that particular kinds of party ideology is positively correlated with the formation of terrorist organizations even after controlling for institutional structural constraints. The implication of these findings is important for policymakers eager to create stable polities.
187

Epistemic theories of democracy, constitutionalism and the procedural legitimacy of fundamental rights

Allard-Tremblay, Yann January 2012 (has links)
The overall aim of this thesis is to assess the legitimacy of constitutional laws and bills of rights within the framework of procedural epistemic democracy. The thesis is divided into three sections. In the first section, I discuss the relevance of an epistemic argument for democracy under the circumstances of politics: I provide an account of reasonable disagreement and explain how usual approaches to the authority of decision-making procedures fail to take it seriously. In the second part of the thesis, I provide an account of the epistemic features of democracy and of the requirements of democratic legitimacy. I develop a revised pragmatist argument for democracy which relies on three presumptive aims of decision-making: justice, sustainability and concord. In the third and last section, I first argue for the desirability of constitutionalism. I then explain why constitutionalism, as it is usually understood, is incompatible with my procedural epistemic account of democratic legitimacy. In the last chapter, I offer a two-pronged solution to the apparent incompatibility of constitutionalism and epistemic democracy. I first argue for the appropriateness of political constitutionalism, as opposed to legal constitutionalism, in understanding the relationship between rights and democracy. I then provide an account of rights protection and judicial review compatible with epistemic democratic legitimacy. Finally, I use the notion of pragmatic encroachment to explain how constitutional laws can achieve normative supremacy through the increased epistemic credentials of the procedure.
188

Potencial de adaptação dos municípios paulistas aos efeitos das mudanças climáticas: aplicação do índice de adaptação urbana no Estado de São Paulo / Adaptive potential of São Paulo\'s municipalities to climate change effects: application of the urban adaptation index in the State of São Paulo

Neder, Eduardo Alves 12 June 2019 (has links)
Pesquisadores apontam que a ação antrópica é responsável pelo aquecimento de aproximadamente 1°C na temperatura do planeta e que, se esse ritmo for mantido, a meta do Acordo de Paris de restringir o aquecimento global em 1,5ºC deverá ser ultrapassada por volta do ano de 2040. Os impactos deste aquecimento afetarão com maior intensidade populações social, ambiental e economicamente mais vulneráveis, trazendo especiais desafios para as cidades, que concentrarão 66% da população mundial até a metade do século. No Brasil, alguns fatores dificultam a ampliação da capacidade de adaptação dos governos locais aos efeitos das mudanças climáticas. Dentre estes fatores, destacam-se uma taxa de urbanização acima da média mundial, a desigualdade social, a maneira que as cidades foram planejadas e o baixo domínio da questão climática pelos gestores públicos. Para superar estes problemas, diversos instrumentos de planejamento poderiam ser implantados ou aprimorados, entretanto, muitos municípios necessitam de auxílio para sua tomada de decisão. Nesse sentido, o Índice de Adaptação Urbana (UAI) propõe uma sistematização de indicadores, que verifica a existência ou não de instrumentos de desenvolvimento urbano e de políticas públicas, vinculados às temáticas de habitação, mobilidade urbana, agricultura sustentável, gestão ambiental e resposta aos impactos climáticos que visam a ampliação do potencial adaptativo municipal. Este projeto discute os resultados da aplicação do UAI nos 645 municípios do Estado de São Paulo, fornecendo um diagnóstico do potencial adaptativo dos municípios paulistas. A correlação desses resultados com as características socioambientais de cada região poderá ser utilizada para subsidiar um planejamento local e regional mais adaptado aos efeitos das mudanças climáticas. / Researchers indicate that anthropic action is responsible for the warming of approximately 1°C in the planet\'s temperature and that, if this pace is maintained, the goal of the Paris Agreement to restrict global warming by 1.5°C should be exceeded by the year 2040. The impacts of this warming will affect with greater intensity social, environmental and economically more vulnerable populations, bringing special challenges to cities, which will concentrate 66% of the world\'s population by the middle of the century. In Brazil, some factors make it difficult for local governments to increase their capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change. Among these factors, there is a rate of urbanization above the world average, social inequality, the way cities have been planned, and the low level of climate issues by public administrators. In order to overcome these problems, several planning instruments could be implemented or improved, however, many municipalities need assistance for their decision-making. In this sense, the Urban Adaptation Index (UAI) proposes a systematization of indicators, which verifies the existence or not of urban development and public policy instruments, linked to the themes of housing, urban mobility, sustainable agriculture, environmental management and response to climate impacts that aim to increase the municipal adaptive potential. This project discusses the results of the application of UAI in the 645 municipalities of the State of São Paulo, providing a diagnosis on the adaptive potential of these cities. The correlation of the results with the socio-environmental characteristics of each region can be used to support local and regional planning more adapted to the effects of climate change.
189

Cinema sob mulheres. Experiência feminina no cinema brasileiro durante a ditadura militar / Cinema under women: the feminine experience in Brazilian cinema during military dictatorship

Girardi, Luísa Reami Vieira 27 September 2018 (has links)
A presente pesquisa destina-se a compreender o lugar da autoria e da experiência feminina na linguagem cinematográfica dentro de um recorte temporal conturbado da história brasileira: a ditadura militar (1964-1989). O ponto de partida para tal objetivo é a análise de dois filmes brasileiros realizados por duas diretoras: Os Homens que Eu Tive (1973), de Teresa Trautman, e Mar de Rosas (1977), de Ana Carolina. Levando-se em consideração a recepção das obras, a análise dos discursos, as mudanças sociais e culturais que ocorriam no período - concomitantemente à intensificação do autoritarismo político e econômico -, o gênero emana como uma categoria de análise para se pensar nas intersecções, contradições e rupturas experienciadas por mulheres que desestabilizam as hierarquias de gênero a partir da criação artística. Apesar de trabalharem dentro de gêneros fílmicos distintos - Teresa Trautman com a \"comédia erótica séria\" e Ana Carolina com a narrativa ficcional -, ambos os filmes permitem uma reflexão não convencional sobre as relações de poder ao incentivar leituras que trazem para o centro do debate estratégias de resistência cultural. / The present research aims to understand the place of female authorship and experience in cinematographic language within a troubled temporal cut of Brazilian history: the military dictatorship (1964-1989). The starting point for this goal is the analysis of two Brazilian films made by two women directors: Os Homens que Eu Tive (1973) by Teresa Trautman and Mar de Rosas (1977) by Ana Carolina. Taking into account the reception of the movies, the analysis of the discourses, the social and cultural changes that have been occurring during the period - concomitantly with the intensification of political and economic authoritarianism, the genre emanates as a category of analysis to think about the intersections, contradictions and ruptures experienced by women that destabilize the hierarchies of gender with their artistic creation. Although they work within distinct film genres - Teresa Trautman with erotic comedy and Ana Carolina with the fictional narrative - both films allow an unconventional reflection on power relations by encouraging understandings that center around cultural resistance strategies.
190

INSERÇÃO DOS ATORES SUBNACIONAIS NO PROCESSO DE INTEGRAÇÃO REGIONAL: O CASO DO MERCOSUL

Prado, Henrique Sartori de Almeida 02 July 2010 (has links)
Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T10:46:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 HENRIQUE SARTORI DE ALMEIDA PRADO.pdf: 1393843 bytes, checksum: 65740b84b25a2695bc9be330a0b0e775 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-07-02 / This dissertation deals with the subject "The insertion of subnational actors in the process of regional integration: the case of MERCOSUL." This study aims to examine the involvement of subnational actors in the process of regional integration, through the paradiplomacy, based on the integrative experience of the Southern area of South America. The research deals with the historical development, characteristics and development of the regional integration process and outlines a comparative study on the constitutional limitations of foreign participation of subnational entities of Member States of MERCOSUL. Finally, this work describes the experiences of subnational integration within MERCOSUL and the concern to justify the action of these actors in the international sphere. / A presente dissertação dispõe sobre o tema A inserção dos atores subnacionais no processo de integração regional: o caso do MERCOSUL . Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar a participação dos atores subnacionais no processo de integração regional, através do instituto da paradiplomacia, tendo como base a experiência integrativa do Cone Sul da América do Sul. A pesquisa dispõe sobre a evolução histórica, características e desenvolvimento do processo de integração regional e traça um estudo comparativo sobre as limitações constitucionais da participação externa dos entes subnacionais dos Estados Parte do MERCOSUL. Por fim, este trabalho descreve as experiências de integração subnacional no âmbito do MERCOSUL e a preocupação em legitimar a ação desses atores na esfera internacional.

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