Mgr. Josef Bernard Dizertační práce Local politics in small municipalities and its informal aspects Abstract The subject of the thesis is the analysis of political processes in local government of small municipalities in the Czech Republic. The author focuses particularly on the question how do the activities of local government influence the different aspects of local life. The goals of local government, the negotiation of these goals and the role of different local government members in achieving these goals are examined. The thesis is based on three theoretical approaches - on the theories of local communities and their development, on the social capital theory and on theories of local political leadership. Different types of empirical data are used in the thesis: qualitative interviews and non-standardized observation of political processes in selected municipalities, questionnaire data and census data as well as other accessible statistical data on local communities and municipalities in the Czech Republic. The analyses have proved that local governments in small municipalities can be regarded as specific types of community interaction fields. The existence of this field has a significant impact on the situation in the community, including local citizen participation and social capital of the...

This work deals with a phenomenon of party alliances, especially with the alliance of TOP 09 and STAN. This phenomenon is current in the Czech politics. This work concerns other unions of the right-wing or the center parties in the Czech Republic too, and searches an answer for the question, if it is an alliance. Primarily this work deals with the alliance of TOP 09 and STAN, which were established in 2009. It also deals with differencies of this alliance on the state, regional and local level, and searches any cleveages of this alliance on the state, regional or local level. This work also searches the answer for the question, what the perspectives of this alliance in the future are. The first agreement about the alliance was confirmed in 2009. The second agreement was confirmed in 2013. This agreement enables free relationship between TOP 09 and STAN on the regional and local levels.

This work deals with a phenomenon of party alliances, especially with the alliance of TOP 09 and STAN. This phenomenon is current in the Czech politics. This work concerns other unions of the right-wing or the center parties in the Czech Republic too, and searches an answer for the question, if it is an alliance. Primarily this work deals with the alliance of TOP 09 and STAN, which were established in 2009. It also deals with differencies of this alliance on the state, regional and local level, and searches any cleveages of this alliance on the state, regional or local level. This work also searches the answer for the question, what the perspectives of this alliance in the future are. The first agreement about the alliance was confirmed in 2009. The second agreement was confirmed in 2013. This agreement enables free relationship between TOP 09 and STAN on the regional and local levels.

The diploma thesis analyzes the issues of voluntary consolidation of municipal structures in the European countries. The period between the 1990 and 2013 was chosen as the time frame for the thesis because of the possibility to incorporate the countries of the former Soviet bloc to comparison. The text is divided into two main parts, where different perspectives are used. The first part is mainly theoretical using the top-down, state-focused perspective. The European countries are distributed into different categories according to the type and degree of voluntariness in the consolidation process. The cases of the countries are individually analyzed to illustrate the tools and factors that influenced success or failure of the municipal merger processes. The second part of the text, using the bottom-up perspective, is focused on the individual cases of the municipal amalgamation in the Czech Republic. It describes every case alone and analyzes assumptions and factors affecting decisions of small municipalities to merge. The combination of the two perspectives allows creating a basic set of strategies and instructions which, under certain circumstances, may convince small municipalities to merge.

Diploma thesis Municipal Secessions after 1989 in District of Česká Lípa deals with a wave of disintegration of municipalities which took place immediately after a restoration of democracy in the Czech Republic. The thesis discusses the following subjects: the development of municipal administration in the Czech lands, the current position and function of municipality, basic aspects of democratization on a local level, territorial fragmentation, local development, the concept of secession, and legislative conditions for the foundation of new municipalities in the Czech Republic and administrative development in the district of Česká Lípa on which is this paper focused. The work aims to answer the main research question: What are the political aspects of the process of municipal seccesions after 1989 in the district of Česká Lípa? The principal motives of this secession, the major players in the process, how public opinion was measured, the existence of cross- cutting cleavages in public opinion, the present-day situation assessment, a real change of the level of development and formal aspects of the process will be studied. The aim will be achieved through the use of content analysis of historical documents from the district Record Office, and direct interactions with the major players of the...

This dissertation focuses on the rise and fall of “local-level foreign policy” and the local coalitions of leftists and liberals behind these policies. Relying on extensive archival research and interviews, the project shows that, in the decades following 1968, newly elected left-liberal city officials collaborated with leftist, international solidarity activists to use city resources as a means of offering support to social movements in distant parts of the world. In the process, city officials and grassroots activists both aided international movements and drew public attention to the downturn in public funding for social programs in lieu of an expanding military budget. The study refers to these partnerships as “Urban Internationalist Coalitions.” In the 1970s and 1980s, Urban Internationalist Coalitions around the United States passed ballot measures, created sister-city relationships, and organized city-based international delegations designed to challenge and ameliorate the impacts of, what they understood as, the unjust foreign policies of the U.S. federal government towards North Vietnam, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. These initiatives reshaped local politics as strategically capable of tackling problems beyond the city’s borders. By the 1980s, local politicians and grassroots activists’ collaborative engagement around opposing U.S. foreign policy made local-level foreign policy a prevalent aspect of city politics nationwide. As the influence of Urban Internationalist Coalitions and their political strategies expanded, this left-liberal group of collaborators experienced growing pains. By the late 1980s, dozens of cities had replicated local-level foreign policy projects in opposition to the Reagan Administration’s policies towards revolutionary Nicaragua. However, cities’ projects often correlated more with distinct, local political conditions rather than an over-arching, national strategy. Thus, as local-level foreign policies grew in prevalence, a coordinated national strategy became more difficult. When Urban Internationalist Coalitions’ politics did come to inform a national strategy in the form of Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaigns, the increased scale of a national campaign unearthed leftists and liberals’ strategic differences. Organizing across an expanded, national terrain, Urban Internationalist Coalitions confronted the obstacle that neoliberalism’s political and economic impact posed to their political goals and the longevity of their left-liberal alliance. Urban Internationalist Coalitions ultimately experienced Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition organization as a series of political clashes. The political schisms exposed within the Rainbow Coalition frayed at the edges of leftists and liberals’ working relationships locally. Facing substantial political and economic challenges, Urban Internationalist Coalitions unraveled by the early 1990s. / History

Since the mid-20th century demographic and economic changes have left older post-industrial American cities located amidst fragmented metropolitan areas and has resulted in the loss of political power accompanied by loss of economic wealth. This has left urban centers in the Northeast and Midwest United States in various states of decline. Located within the sixth largest metropolitan area in the country, the City of Camden, New Jersey is one of America's most distressed cities. During the longest period of decline and de-industrialization in the 1960s and 1970s, Camden lost nearly half of its industrial job base, more than other de-industrializing American cities and over one-third of its population. Currently, Camden's circumstances related to concentrated poverty, unemployment, failing schools and a crumbling infrastructure typify the worst consequences of urban decline. The Municipal Rehabilitation and Economic Recovery Act ("Camden Recovery Act") passed in 2002 was state-level legislation designed to intervene in Camden's municipal operations and re-structure economic development in the city in a way not seen since the Great Depression. Through the Camden Recovery Act, New Jersey's state government pumped tens of millions of dollars in additional spending into Camden for the purpose of re-positioning the city in the region through large-scale comprehensive redevelopment plans. In the process they took over virtually the entire decision-making apparatus and excluded Camden's municipal government from all but basic day-to-day governing decisions. Largely, the approach was in response to the various agendas and interests that influenced the Recovery Act: state legislators with regional agendas, county public officials seeking to bring more public investment to the city, and institutions in Camden working to revitalize the city. The politics of economic recovery in Camden lends to the discussion around the political future of older postindustrial cities in several ways. Primarily it illustrates political solutions to urban decline found at the state level with the support of a regional political coalition of urban and suburban lawmakers. Indeed, as the national economy in the United States has worsened in recent years, the fiscal health of cities has brought a renewed focus on the relationship between state and local governments. The case of Camden makes several points of comparison with state takeovers in similarly sized and situated cities. Critics of state takeovers point out that they are unconstitutional and call into question the imposition of state-appointed managers to take over control from democratically elected public officials, while proponents say it is the only way to get local government's fiscal house in order. However similar, Camden's takeover was more comprehensive than recent municipal bankruptcies and its redevelopment plans underscore the challenges faced in urban revitalization between the goals of efficiency and the values of democratic accountability. / Political Science

Submitted by Celso Magalhaes (celsomagalhaes@ufrrj.br) on 2018-08-16T12:41:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2017 - Gilmara Gomes da Silva Sarmento.pdf: 3226198 bytes, checksum: a9e31ca9ddfe5109b41c3f49bdb97509 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T12:41:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2017 - Gilmara Gomes da Silva Sarmento.pdf: 3226198 bytes, checksum: a9e31ca9ddfe5109b41c3f49bdb97509 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-01 / CAPES / This thesis presents an ethnographic study on the implications of aid in the political configuration of a municipality in the northern Rio de Janeiro state. As a starting point we find that most local politicians were involved in the provision of informal healthcare. There were different mediations to meet the demands of illness and death. Transporting patients to the doctor, getting places in hospitals, scheduling medical appointments or surgeries, helping in speeding up certain procedures, and paying for funeral expenses were some of the activities developed by these politicians. As the field research progressed, the centrality of the health field as an arena for the production of political capital was even more evident, since it was possible to verify that the electoral success of some of these personalities was associated almost exclusively with the assistance activities in this area. For many of these politicians, the reputation thus achieved was the main social resource mobilized as a form of political legitimation. However, insertion in this universe of "assistance" was not as simple as it seemed, because it demanded a certain ethical conduct. This kind of "assistance" could produce politicians, but it could also demoralize them; for while aid in moments of suffering and pain could generate an unpayable moral debt, at the least sign of interest the politician could have his/her reputation ruined, because these domains of life were conceived as nonnegotiable. Hence, this work tries to understand the moral logics that make it possible for practices of aid, favors, and social work in the health area to conform a modality of political entry and reproduction / Esta tese apresenta um estudo etnogr?fico sobre as implica??es da ajuda na configura??o pol?tica de um munic?pio do norte fluminense. Como ponto de partida a constata??o de que a maioria dos pol?ticos locais estava envolvida na presta??o de assist?ncia informal na ?rea de sa?de. Tratava-se de diferentes media??es para dar resolu??o as demandas de enfermidade e de morte. Transportar enfermos ao m?dico, conseguir vagas em hospitais, marcar consultas ou cirurgias, interceder na agiliza??o de determinados procedimentos e pagar despesas funer?rias eram algumas das atividades desenvolvidas por esses pol?ticos. Na medida em que a pesquisa de campo avan?ava, a centralidade do campo da sa?de como arena de produ??o de capital pol?tico ficava ainda mais evidente, pois foi poss?vel constatar que o ?xito eleitoral de algumas dessas personalidades estava associada quase que exclusivamente ?s atividades de assist?ncia nesta ?rea. Para muitos desses pol?ticos, o prest?gio assim conquistado era o principal recurso social mobilizado como forma de legitima??o pol?tica. No entanto, a inser??o neste universo da ?assist?ncia? n?o era t?o simples como parecia, pois demandava determinada conduta ?tica. Esse tipo de ?assist?ncia? podia produzir pol?ticos, mas tamb?m desmoraliza-los, pois ao mesmo tempo em que a ajuda em momentos de sofrimento e dor podia gerar uma d?vida moral impag?vel, ao menor sinal de interesse o pol?tico podia ter a reputa??o arruinada, porque esses dom?nios da vida eram concebidos como inegoci?veis. Sendo assim, a partir deste trabalho tentou-se apreender as l?gicas morais que possibilitavam que pr?ticas de ajuda, favores e trabalho social na sa?de pudessem conformar uma modalidade de entrada e reprodu??o pol?tica

The concept of sustainable development is a challenge that demands cooperation from all levels of society for it to be successful. The focus for this thesis is how politicians within the local councils understand the concept of sustainable development and how they implement it in political decision-making. The basis for the study is a questionnaire that was distributed to 303 local politicians in three municipalities of varying size in Southern Sweden. The study concentrates on departments within the local councils that are directly connected to the Swedish environmental law and the Swedish planning and construction law. One of the primary goals with the aforementioned laws is the achievement of sustainable development within one generation. The outcome of the study was that over half of the local politicians could correctly define sustainable development according to the World Commission on Environment and Development’s (WCED) definition. Two thirds of them prioritised the concept and were motivated to take it into serious consideration when making political decisions. With regard to the local councils documentation for decision-making, the respondents were not in agreement as to whether clear associations to sustainable development and the Swedish environmental objectives were present. The study also revealed both statistical differences and correlations in relation to several statements regarding aspects of sustainable development. Further education within sustainable development and clearly defined connections to documentation from the local councils can conceivably increase its acceptance and integration amongst local politicians. / Begreppet hållbar utveckling är en utmaning som kräver samarbete från alla nivåer i samhället för att det ska lyckas. Det innebär tre olika dimensioner som ska samstämmigt och ömsesidigt stödja varandra. Hänsyn måste tas till ekonomiska, miljömässiga och sociala dimensioner för att främja en hållbar utveckling. Många av de slutgiltigt offentliga besluten gällande verksamheter som påverkar medborgarnas vardag ligger hos kommunerna. Dessa kommuner styrs av politiker vars påverkan, genom sina beslut, på samhället är mycket omfattande. Fokus på denna uppsats ligger på hur de kommunala politikerna uppfattar begreppet hållbar utveckling och hur de integrerar begreppet hållbar utveckling i sitt politiska beslutsfattande. Utgångspunkten för studien är en enkät som delades ut till 303 lokala politiker i tre kommuner av varierande storlek i södra Sverige. Studien koncentrerar sig på avdelningar inom kommuner som är direkt kopplade till Miljöbalken (SFS 1998:808) och Plan- och bygglagen (SFS 2010:900). Ett av de primära målen med de ovan nämnda lagar är att uppnå en hållbar utveckling inom en generation. Resultatet av studien visade att över hälften av de undersökta förtroendevalda kunde definiera hållbar utveckling på ett korrekt sätt och enligt världskommissionen för miljö och utvecklings (WCED) definition. Två tredjedels av respondenterna prioriterade begreppet högt och integrerade det i sitt beslutsfattande. När det gäller beslutsunderlagen, framtagna av kommunala tjänstemän, ansåg större delen av respondenterna att tydliga kopplingar till hållbar utveckling eller de nationella miljömålen inte fanns. Vidare visade det sig även att en signifikant statistisk skillnad förekom i hur de olika åldersgrupperna upplevde kopplingar till de ovannämnda aspekterna. Ytterligare statistiskt säkerställda skillnader och samband uppkom i förhållande till påståenden gällande olika dimensioner av hållbar utveckling. Vidareutbildning inom hållbar utveckling och tydligt definierade kopplingar till hållbar utveckling, de nationella miljömålen och kommunala handlingsplaner kan möjligtvis öka begreppens integration och uppfattning bland de förtroendevalda.

Stories about the civility through which diverse peoples have come to live peaceably in cities such as Vancouver are being used to launch Canada into the global urban future. The freedom promised by respect for privacy, mobilizing action for change, constructing our environments ethically, and improving our lots tends to be presumed as good. No need for politics, just planning. Mainstream, progressive, activist, and entrepreneurial focus on planning civil cities tends, however, to make the places where we live, places like Bridgeview BC – a neighbourhood on the fringes of Vancouver – invisible. In a sense, this dissertation is an extended set of reading notes to a case study based on archival research and fieldwork that is presented in an Appendix entitled Invisible Bridgeview. It shows what of the case study is highlighted when we take what I call the “civil city myth” seriously. Each chapter: (1) explicates an influential iteration of that myth (as articulated by Jane Jacobs, James C. Scott, and Le Corbusier) and shows how it positions Bridgeview (as backwards, on the margins of society, as a local site of global struggles, and as economically dependent); (2) illustrates a civil city myth at work (dumping on, mobilizing, ‘educating,’ and exploiting Bridgeview); and (3) taking our urban romanticism seriously, undoes a key distinction shoring up the civil/barbaric one, thereby rendering a civil city myth as an urban myth (that highlights Bridgeviewers’ capacity to negotiate conflict and self-govern, practical knowledge and commitments, kinship-based cultural movements, and ruralesque urban way of living). Thus the thrust of this analysis is from planning civil cities to engaging in urban politics – including struggles over basic infrastructure, community development, activism, and entrepreneurialism. Generous as it might seem to recognize Bridgeview (among all other places) as urban, it dismisses residents’ own sense of the place as “a small town in the big city.” So while taking the urban mythology as a point of reference, this dissertation concludes by crafting a mythology of intimate sub-urban politics – of gangs, affects, unintentional interventions, and squatting together. Seeking justice here, we are responsible in and to our relations, after all. / Graduate / 0615 / 0999