A healthy democracy is generally seen as one in which citizens participate regularly in formal political activities. Citizens’ participation in governance has come to be accepted as an expression of their rights and the manifestation of citizen agency. Access to information remains a crucial component of the right to participate. Transparency, as a normative and constitutional value, represents a means, not an end. The means is the mechanism of access to information. Within the South African context, there is evidence of an increase in participation of a variety of interest groups by means of different processes, as well as through the establishment of numerous consultative bodies and mechanisms for popular participation at all levels of the political structure (Houston, 2001:1). However, accountability to citizens can best be gauged by assessing citizens’ opportunities to influence legislation between elections. Ultimately, the effectiveness and sustainability of mechanisms aim at improving citizens’ participation in policy formulation in order to become effective when they are “institutionalized” and when the state’s own “internal” mechanisms are rendered more transparent and open to civic engagement. Furthermore, the success depends on some form of effective interaction between the state and civic society. In the case of South Africa, whilst the political context and culture for participation exist in the form of the constitutional provisions and several pieces of legislation, a discrepancy exist whereby many South Africans are excluded or devalued by the vast differences in wealth. Citizen’s votes may count equally, but they are still not able to participate on an equal basis between elections. Participatory mechanisms established to ensure citizen’s participation, access to information and monitoring inside and outside the legislature, remain ineffective. These unequal opportunities mean that the poorer and less organised segments of society are prejudiced in terms of influencing legislation and policy. Their lack of full and meaningful participation means legislative outcomes are less representative of, and responsive to, the interests of the poorer segments of society (Habib, Shultz – Herzenberg, 2005: 144). The focus of this study is limited to the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The aim is to, firstly, assess the extent to which citizens can control those who make collective decisions about public affairs. Secondly, it assess the extent to which citizens participate in the existing participatory mechanisms, and thirdly, the study explores the possibilities of the synergy between the state and civil society in promoting effective participation by its citizens. The study, therefore : 1. Assess the theoretical and policy framework for citizen’s participation in South Africa; and 2. Evaluate the level of participation and effectiveness of participatory mechanisms inside and outside the KwaZulu - Natal Legislature. The study introduces the theoretical and conceptual framework of citizen participation through a literature review; followed by an empirical study of citizen participation in the legislative process in the kwaZulu Natal legislature. The study makes the following findings: 1. The literature review concurs that South Africa has one of the most progressive and liberal constitutions in the world. This is coupled with a sound policy framework demonstrating genuine political will for citizens’ participation in policy formulation. 2. Within the political context and culture for citizen participation, the main question of how much control citizens have over the actions of their government remains. Another issue is whether existing mechanisms in the legislature are effective in engendering citizen’s participation and quality input in public policy – making processes. 3. The study showed that ultimately the effectiveness and sustainability of citizen participation mechanisms is improved when they are “institutionalised” and when the state’s own internal mechanisms of accountability are rendered more transparent and open to civic engagement. The study also highlighted the need for synergy between the state and civil society. This includes, among other things, participatory budgeting, public expenditure tracking, monitoring of public service delivery, investigative journalism and citizens’ advisory boards. The study, therefore, makes two recommendations: 1. A comparative Citizens Education and Outreach Programme be developed and spearheaded by both the legislature and civil society in kwaZulu-Natal; and 2. A further study needs to be undertaken to investigate the possible structural nature of the synergy (relationship) between the state and civil society in the province.

The politics of the Mezzogiorno represent an interesting point in the politics of modernization. Existing as essentially an enclave of 'backwardness' within a western industrialized country, the people of the Mezzogiorno continue to carry out political functions within a network of arrangements which are generally viewed as 'apolitical' in nature by many observers. Edward Banfield's assertion (in his book, The Moral Basis of a Backward Society) that the society is 'amoral familist' in nature is dealt with in this study, and an attempt is made to formulate a 'moral code' of the Mezzogiorno, portraying political morality as seen through the eyes of the people in that culture. The nature of this 'moral code' is based upon the experience of 'statelessness' in the Mezzogiorno, and the outcome is that the tenets of the moral code are debilitating to change in the sense of moving toward a western democratic form of government. The rules of political morality in the Mezzogiorno dictate that the individual view the government with distrust and attempt to fend for himself. In contrast to Banfield who claims that "political incapacity" is due to "amoral familism", I argue that it is due to the code of political morality at work in the Mezzogiorno. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The modern world is experiencing a spiritual and moral crisis. Associated with this, Christian spirituality and ethics have become separated in the life of the individual Christian and the community of the church. The Christian understanding of human beings and the integrated nature of spirituality and ethics provides a solution to this crisis. Christian spirituality and morality both originate in the character and purposes of God as revealed in the biblical record. The value and effects of the. integral relationship between spirituality and morality can be traced throughout scripture and the history of the church. The. encounter and relationship with God, in Jesus Christ and through the presence and power of God's Spirit, transforms the disciple of Christ, which means that spirituality is the basic framework and motivation for morality. Integrated spiritual and moral formation creates moral character and moral communities which enable believers to act with love and justice. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Specialisation in Christian Spirituality)

This dissertation seeks a concept of freedom that is compatible with Michel Foucault’s descriptions of power and its role in the constitution of the subject. Discovering the concept of freedom that properly opposes the Foucauldian concept of domination reveals the possibilities and limitations of the usefulness of Foucault’s account of power for social criticism. The first step in this endeavor is therefore to distinguish between Foucault's own use of the terms 'power' and 'domination' – the conflation of which is a source of criticism of his social theory. With this distinction in hand, I argue that Foucault’s genealogical period with its diagnosis of subjection is wholly compatible with, and indeed inseparable from, his ethical period with its emphasis on self-transformation. Read as two sides of a coin, these periods of Foucault’s work establish the terms in which we must understand the ethico-political struggle in which we constantly find ourselves as subjects of self-transformation embedded in identity-constituting relations of power. I then explore Foucault’s criticism of the modern concept of autonomy, which he believes to be inherited from the Enlightenment and, more specifically, Kant. In spite of these criticisms, Foucault does not dispense with the concept of freedom as autonomy altogether, but instead must embrace a concept of social freedom, similar to that which is found in contemporary recognition theory. Therefore, we should characterize Foucault’s normative stance as that of a coupling of a general concept of social freedom with what I call a "metaethico-political openness principle" committing us to acts of resistance that would attempt to push the boundaries of recognition so that we may affirm previously unimagined ways of life.

Abstract available in pdf file.

The Concept of Politics in the Realist Tradition of the Theory of International Relations. Juraj Laššuth Abstract: Aim of this thesis is a reconstruction of the notion of politics in the school of classical realism in Theory of International Relations, using the texts of Hans Morgenthau primarily. This aim is followed in four steps - four chapters. First chapter describes relation between antropological/moral background of Morgenthau's political thinking and political sphere. Four images of the relations between anthropology and the evaluation of political sphere are identified and compared ("emacipation", "gay politics", "katechon" and "circles and antinomies") - the final one will be shown as connected with the notion of Hans Morgenthau's realism. Morgenthau's work, built up on tradition of the Pauline epistles, treats evil (defined by lust for power) as inherently present, indispensable from any human acts. Political sphere, defined according "the second principle of realism" by interest defined in terms of power, is a place, where morally ambivalent logic of power stands as the reason of acting. Second chapter addresses Morgenthau's notion of political science by comparing it with the project of Weberian social science, analyses its reason, ethos, complicated relations with its subject, dilemmas which...

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Wien, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [334]-352).

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-05-11T13:34:13Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Kelly Aurelia da Silva DISSERTACAO.pdf: 917851 bytes, checksum: 244c4d90f67c89d7480fa3ad27b2f029 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-11T13:34:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Kelly Aurelia da Silva DISSERTACAO.pdf: 917851 bytes, checksum: 244c4d90f67c89d7480fa3ad27b2f029 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-01 / A presente dissertação de mestrado objetiva analisar como os assistentes sociais inseridos nas unidades de Recursos Humanos (RH) de instituições públicas da administração descentralizada de Pernambuco, sediadas na cidade de Recife, enfrentam as atuais demandas institucionais, objetivando materializar o Projeto Ético-Político Profissional (PEP), no contexto da contrarreforma do Estado brasileiro. Para atingirmos tal objetivo, realizamos a análise documental de decretos, leis, regulamentos e regimentos internos das instituições pesquisadas e entrevistamos as assistentes sociais lotadas nas unidades de RH dessas instituições. O exercício profissional das assistentes sociais está submetido às mudanças advindas da conjuntura de contrarreforma que se instaura no estado de Pernambuco, desde finais da década de 1990, a semelhança do que havia ocorrido em nível federal. As atividades profissionais, também, se relacionam com a atual abordagem das unidades de RH. A estas são conferidas atribuições que buscam manter sobre controle a força de trabalho buscando extinguir os obstáculos que possam interferir, diretamente, no trabalho dos funcionários, e consequentemente, no cumprimento dos objetivos institucionais. O assistente social é contratado, principalmente, por sua característica interventiva. As instituições públicas descentralizadas de Pernambuco desejam um agente técnico capaz de realizar atividades que confluam para a mudança imediata do cotidiano institucional, através do atendimento aos servidores e empregados públicos. A materialização do PEP se apresenta como um grande desafio para os assistentes sociais inseridos nas unidades de Recursos Humanos (RH) de instituições públicas da administração descentralizada de Pernambuco, sediadas na cidade de Recife. Somado à conjuntura contrarreformista, o exercício profissional quando circunscrito às atribuições institucionais, não torna efetivos, no cotidiano profissional, os princípios e valores que norteiam o PEP. O desafio está em decifrar a realidade concreta inscrita no exercício profissional dos assistentes sociais inseridos nas unidades de RH, na busca incessante de contribuir para construção de uma sociedade justa, livre da exploração do homem pelo homem. / This dissertation aims to analyze how the social workers inserted at Human Resources (HR) units of public institutions in decentralized administration of Pernambuco at Recife City, facing the current institutions demands, aiming materialize the Project Ethical-Political Professional (EPP), in the context of Counter- Reformation of Brazilian state, laws, ordinances, internal rules about the searchable institutions, interviewed the social workers full in the HR units of their institutions. The professional practice of the social workers pass through of instituted Pernambuco state, since the end of 1990, likeness to what happened occurred at federal level. The professional activities, also, are related with the actual approach of the HR units. To these conferred rights that seek to maintain control over the workforce seeking to extinguish the obstacles that may interfere directly in the work of employees, and consequently in meeting institutional goals. The cosical Worker is hired mainly due to his interventional characteristic. Decentralized public institutions of Pernambuco are seeking for technician agent capable of performing activities that converge to the immediate change of the institutional routine, through direct service to users. The materialization of (EPP) is presented as a major challange for social workers who are inserted in Human Resources (HR) units of public institutions form the decentralized administration of Pernambuco, head office in the city of Recife. Added to counter-reformation situation, professional practices when limited to institutional duties do not make the principles and values that guide the (EPP) affective in the daily work. The chalslenge is to decode the concrete reality inscribed in the professional practice of social workers inserted in HR units in the constant quest to contribute to building a just society, free from exploitation of man by man.

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The thesis aims to familiarize readers with the basic concepts of environmental migration at such a pace as to enable discussion and reflection on the subject. The first chapter is introductory and defines basic concepts such as migration, environmental migration, refugee. The second chapter deals with environmental migration. Environmental migration is nothing new. Natural and human-induced disasters have been the cause of migration in the past and are likely to be the cause of migration. The third chapter deals with legislation on environmental migration. It examines refugee law, human rights law, or international humanitarian law. It points out that the existing legislation is not sufficiently developed. So far, there is no legally recognized definition of an environmental migrant. The fourth chapter looks at migration as a moral question, primarily in the optics of the social doctrine of the Church, the universal determination of goods, solidarity, and the direction towards the integral good. The fifth chapter deals with the little discussed or neglected ethical issues associated with migration. The last chapter is devoted to possible suggestions and solutions to environmental migration. It describes the most common proposals such as broadening refugee definition, enhancing disaster protection...