<p> This dissertation analyzes administrative discretion in public policy implementation in application of a new framework of integrative approach to administrative discretion developed from deficiencies of the citizen participation, representative bureaucracy, and private-interest groups democracy frameworks. The new framework holds that public agencies use discretion to integrate in decision making views of elected authorities, private-interest groups, public-interest groups, and other groups that seek to influence implementation. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy is used as the case study, and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) is the implementation setting. The dissertation answers the following question: How integrative of group views was DOE&rsquo;s discretionary decision making in the implementation of NCLB? This research applies a structured content analysis method that consists of content analysis and a content analysis schedule (see Jauch, Osborn, &amp; Martin, 1980). Using a Likert question, the dissertation developed six integration levels of DOE&rsquo;s discretionary decision making from not at all integrative to extremely integrative and found that most decisions were very integrative.</p>

<p> After the kidnapping and murder of his son Adam in 1981, John Walsh dedicated his life to advocating for missing children. He became the forerunner of a movement to change the laws of the country so that no parent or child would have to suffer through the same events his family endured. The media frenzy surrounding the case, as well as John Walsh&rsquo;s efforts to make child endangerment and missing children a national issue, helped influence and alter the way the public views the issues of child safety, child kidnapping, and the offenders that harm these children. This research analyzed newspaper articles involving the Adam Walsh murder, and examined rhetorical patterns based on ideas of the social construction of reality, folk devils and moral panics. This research revealed five rhetorical themes the media used when discussing the Adam Walsh case: vulnerability of the victim, description of the offender and crime, transformation of John Walsh, America&rsquo;s lost childhood innocence and the evolution of the criminal justice system. Results showed repeated pattern of descriptive language emphasizing Adam&rsquo;s age for innocence and vulnerability, a distinct evolution of John Walsh as a moral entrepreneur and an overall loss of innocence and safety felt amongst parents and children. </p><p> This research revealed that the legislation developed and passed has been influenced by fear pervasive in society, rather than criminal data. The findings suggests that federal legislation needs to be modified so that there is less invasion into the lives of nonviolent offenders that are less likely to recidivate.</p>

<p> For the past several decades income and wealth inequality in the United States have increased dramatically, but policies to reduce inequality are often not politically feasible. Many scholars see this state of affairs as a &ldquo;paradox,&rdquo; arguing that, in a well-functioning democracy, an increase in economic inequality ought to lead to increased support for redistributive governmental programs aimed at reducing it. Research since 2008 attempts to explain this apparent paradox by arguing that although Americans are acutely concerned about economic inequality the continued lack of government action is due to structural barriers that prevent policy from reflecting the &ldquo;will of the people.&rdquo; However, methodological problems cast doubt on these conclusions. </p><p> I make use of analytic methods that address these issues and show that, despite the claims of past research, there is no politically meaningful relationship between Americans concerns for inequality and their desire for the government to take action. I first use a form of dynamic factor analysis to develop a measure of national concern for inequality over time and then use this new construct to answer the question which underlies previous work: when Americans become more concerned about inequality, do they subsequently become more supportive of government action? Using an error correction model I find that an increase in national concern for inequality concern does not lead to increased support for more government intervention in the economy. </p><p> My results suggest that even when Americans become especially outraged over economic inequality, there is no guarantee that they will flock en mass to liberal parties and policies for answers. During periods of heightened concern for inequality the &ldquo;will of the people&rdquo; may in fact be more likely to support reduced government intervention in the economy. I argue that, in order to truly understand the political implications of American views on inequality, researchers and advocates should stop assuming that concern for inequality is necessarily associated with liberal policy views, and start exploring the ways in which different policies and ideological positions can be coupled to the problem of inequality at different times, and for different people.</p>

This study was undertaken to examine the extent to which web-based transaction technology has diffused in small North Florida nonprofit organizations and to study what, if any, relationship exists between the adoption of web-based transaction technology and the adoption of other technologies in these organizations. The study also examined the nature and frequency of strategic technology planning in these organizations, and their relationship to the adoption of web-based transaction technology. This work is important and necessary as a means of understanding how popular, useful, and potentially powerful technologies are introduced and used in small organizations, to understand what, if any, technological complexities may be associated with the adoption of this potentially powerful technology. We also seek to understand the different formal and informal means by which these nonprofit organizations consider, then move to introduce and set permanently into organizational habit patterns, new technologies. / A Dissertation submitted to the Askew School of Public Administration and Policyin partial fulfillment of therequirements for the degree ofDoctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: April 21, 2008. / Information Technology, Technology, Strategy, Strategic Planning / Includes bibliographical references. / Frances Stokes Berry, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles Barrilleaux, Outside Committee Member; Ralph Brower, Committee Member; William Earle Klay, Committee Member.

The Iraqi Refugee Crisis began in 2006 as a result of the instability and violence that prevailed in Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion and occupation. Instead of being directed to camps, Iraqis flowed across international borders of Middle Eastern states nearby Iraq to live in urban centers and face varying levels of legal accommodation and deteriorating economic security. The policies of individual states in the Middle East, along with complex demographic factors, have influenced where Iraqis have gone. The role of the United States in affecting the destination choices of Iraqis is examined in this paper because of the powerful position of the US in the Middle East region and its role in creating the refugee crisis. The evidence reveals that the diplomatic relations between Middle East host countries and the United States, and the self-serving political interests of those states has created and maintained a regime in which Iraqi refugees are stuck primarily in host countries along Iraq's western border. The states involved in the Iraqi Refugee Crisis have applied political self-interest to their adherence to mechanisms of international law to which they are subject. A realist perspective of international relations is employed to explain the stability-seeking, risk-averse behavior of the states influencing the direction of migration. The purpose of this paper is to determine the destination choices of Iraqi refugees and explain the factors that dictated those choices. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of International Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2009. / Date of Defense: November 6, 2009. / The 1951 Convention on Refugees, International Affairs, International Refugee Law, Human Rights, UNHCR, Iraq War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, US Refugee Admissions Program, Special Immigrant Visa, Realist Perspective, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Gulf Cooperation Council, US Foreign Policy, US Department of State, Durable Solutions / Includes bibliographical references. / Peter Garretson, Professor Directing Thesis; Elwood Carlson, Committee Member; Mark Souva, Committee Member.

This research builds on the studies of politics-administration relationships at local government level. According to the public administration literature, the politics-administration relationship has dynamically evolved from orthodox dichotomy to modified dichotomy and to partnership models. Accepting the notion that professional administrators are important policy-makers along with elected officials, which is identified in modified dichotomy and partnership models, this study raises three empirical questions: How are elected and appointed executives different as policy-makers? What factors determine their interaction patterns in policy-making? And, do these two types of policy-makers have different policy preferences that account for their policy behavior? To answer these questions, this study systematically identifies incentive structures faced by local elected officials and professional administrators through integrating rational choice and sociological institutional approaches. In this framework three categories of factors that shape local officials' policy behavior are specified: organizational authority, social contexts, and career status, with each indicating authority-based, social-based, and individual-based incentives. This framework not only considers incentive factors that induce certain policy behavior, but also includes constraint factors. The main proposition is that elected officials and appointed administrators, imbedded in different social settings and with different career interest, face distinct incentives to policy-making and hold different policy preferences. Using the data collected though the mayor survey and city manager survey conducted in Florida cities in 2006, three sets of empirical models—mayor-manager difference models, policy leadership model, and policy choice models—are operated to address each empirical question. The purpose for the mayor-manager difference models is to investigate whether the survey data provide empirical validation for the theoretical incentive structure framework. The models of policy leadership and policy choices apply the incentive structure framework to explore policy-making patterns, which examine the usefulness of the framework. The results of these models lend preliminary support for the framework. / A Dissertation submitted to the Reubin O'D. Askew School of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2007. / Date of Defense: June 21, 2007. / Politics-administration Relationship, Local Government, Elected Official, Appointed Administrator, Incentive, Policy-making / Includes bibliographical references. / Richard C. Feiock, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles Barrilleaux, Outside Committee Member; Frances Stokes Berry, Committee Member; Kaifeng Yang, Committee Member.

Executive Order 99-281 (1999), commonly known as the "One Florida Initiative," abolished affirmative action policies in university admissions, state employment, and state contracting. This dissertation studies the impact that the implementation of this initiative has had on the admission, retention and graduation rates of minority students in Florida's university system. Quantitatively based trend analyses are used to examine changes in the university system during the ten years surrounding implementation. These analyses are supplemented by an examination of the programs put into place at each individual university in the absence of affirmative action and qualitatively-based interviews with four subject matter experts. Finally, a discussion of how these findings inform equity policies on a theoretical and on an empirical level is provided. / A Dissertation submitted to the Reubin O'D. Askew School of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillments for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2010. / Date of Defense: March 22, 2010. / Social Equity, Education Policy, One Florida Initiative / Includes bibliographical references. / Mary E. Guy, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Lance DeHaven-Smith, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Dale Lick, University Representative; James Bowman, Committee Member.

With the data from Florida cities' comprehensive annual financial reports, first, we identified and categorized debt into three groups: (1) general obligation (GO) bonds, (2) notes, loan, leases, certificates of participation (NLL), and (3) governmental revenue (GR) bonds. This dissertation investigates Florida cities' debt issuance incorporating three perspectives: institutions, financial management, and public economics. First, we introduce the relationship between the GO bond limit and local debt financing, and develop hypotheses for the empirical tests. Second, we examine how governance structure shapes a city's debt issuance. However, we did not find any effects of GO bond limit and governance structure on local debt issuance amounts. We also began this study attempting to explain the local government's debt financing from the financial management perspective. If cities have higher financial management capacity, it was argued, they are likely to issue larger debt amounts than cities with lower financial management capacity. Overall, test results present that financial management capacity has no effect on the debt issuance amount. From the public economics perspective, first, this study examines the effect of interjurisdictional competition on cities' debt issuance based on Jensen and Toma's model. Test results reveal that interjurisdictional tax competition does not influence a city's debt issuance. Jensen and Toma's model is extended to explain the relationship between intergovernmental or overlapping government tax competition and debt financing. We contend that Jensen and Toma's model is suitable to explain the relationship between overlapping government tax competition and their debt issuances. Empirical tests show that, in Florida, there is no serious problem of intergovernmental tax competition which induces overlapping governments' debt issuances. This study also applies the flypaper effect to local government's debt financing. A weak flypaper effect is found in local governments' issuances of GO bonds and NLL while there is scant wideness for fiscal illusion in GR bond issuance. We also find that local sharing is related to the flypaper effect in debt issuance but state sharing is not. / A Dissertation submitted to the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2006. / Date of Defense: January 24, 2006. / Fund Balance, Flypaper Effect, Tax Competition, Local Government Debt, Municipal Bond / Includes bibliographical references. / Richard C. Feiock, Professor Directing Dissertation; Thomas W. Zuehlke, Outside Committee Member; Robert Bradley, Committee Member; Earle Klay, Committee Member; Frances S. Berry, Committee Member.

Since the implementation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Academic Progress Rate (APR), Historically Black Colleges & Universities’ (HBCU) male student athletes have disproportionately received more APR academic penalties than other groups of athletes (NCAA, 2016b). Each Division I team receives an APR score based on athletes’ eligibility and retention as a means to monitor graduation (Paskus, 2015). Calculating each team’s score, the NCAA uses a cut score to guide the distribution of penalties (Blackman, 2008; New, 2015). Penalties are sanctioned to teams that fail to meet the designated cut score. However, Black colleges have historically lagged behind predominantly White institutions in regards to equal resources (Ashe, 1988b). Consequently, the distribution of APR penalties is disproportionately greater at institutions with limited resources, e.g. HBCUs (NCAA, 2015b; NCAA, 2017e). Imposing uniform academic standards across member institutions disadvantages HBCUs and their athletes and conflicts with the intent of the APR metric — which was to increase graduation rates for all athletes (Harrison, 2012; Paskus, 2012). The exploratory analysis in this study found that the NCAA was not fully enforcing the APR penalty system. During the first five years of APR implementation, fewer HBCU male teams were below the 900 threshold compared to non-HBCU male teams. However, HBCU male teams disproportionately received more severe APR penalties compared to non-HBCU male teams with comparable multi-year APR scores. This study sought to investigate the action-policy-conflict to determine: whether the NCAA’s enforcement of APR penalties had an empirical relationship with graduation rates for penalized Division I male teams; whether a differential relationship exists between graduation rates and penalties assigned to HBCU male teams; and what would the impact of APR penalties on graduation rates be if the NCAA had fully enforced the APR penalty system for all teams below the benchmark (intent-to-treat)? To answer the research questions, the NCAA’s publicly accessible APR and Graduation Success Rate (GSR) databases, and the National Center for Education Statistic’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) were used as data sources. Multiple regression analysis was used to predict the relationship between APR penalties and six-year team graduation rates for the academic years of 2005-2006 and 2009-2010. Results of the study found that in the first year (2005-2006) and towards the latter year (2009-2010) of the original APR penalty system, historical penalties were not statistically significant predictors on six-year team graduation rates. Although HBCU male teams disproportionately received more historical penalties than non-HBCU male teams with similar multi-year APR scores, the penalties had no differential impact on the six-year team graduation rates for HBCU male teams. Had the NCAA fully enforced historical penalties to all teams below the 900 cut score, receiving the penalty would not have been a statistically significant predictor on Division I male team graduation rates for the two years of interest in the study. The results from the study are thought to be the first empirical study to examine the NCAA’s APR penalty system (Harrison, 2012; Paskus, 2012). This study provides empirically supported recommendations for the NCAA to consider if the APR penalty system is continued. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2018. / April 9, 2018. / Academic Performance Program, Academic Progress Rate, Academic Reform, Historically Black Colleges & Universities, Multiple Regression, National Collegiate Athletic Association / Includes bibliographical references. / Robert Schwartz, Professor Directing Dissertation; John Taylor, University Representative; Stacey Rutledge, Committee Member; Toby Park, Committee Member.

This dissertation seeks to understand the prolong question, "why local communities adopt or change land use policies." The previous literature has provided partial and incomplete explanations about this issue. Property rights model does not explicitly consider the role of institutions and community interests while interest group models tend to put communities' physical characteristics as control variables. Because political economy view concentrates on the political variations, they consider social and economic variables lightly. More importantly, they all ignore the role of informal institutions on local land use policy change. They are not wrong; rather they just provide partial explanations. To integrate those partial explanations and understand fully the land use policy world, it is required to construct a more comprehensive framework. In this research, I used the political market framework built upon Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to establish a comprehensive framework for local land use policy. Political market framework based on the IAD framework is a useful tool to integrate those partial aspects into a framework. Local land use policy decision, which creates distributional conflicts among community members, is a political process. In the process, various actors interact for articulating their preferences in a land use policy. Political market approach provides a useful tool to understand what values these actors have and how they are articulated in a land use policy. Political system of local governments works as formal institutions to provide incentives or constraints to a land use policy. To test why local land use policies are changed pro-environmental, I identify the variations of local comprehensive amendments in Florida cities. Comprehensive plans are policies since they constrain "who gets what." Local governments change their plans in a certain direction (pro-environmental) because they have their own institutional arrangements, community characteristics, and physical characteristics. To test the influences of these variables, I tested two models: Panel Probit Model for conservation amendments; Heckman Selection Model for the ratio of large to small scale amendments of future land use map. The results show that institutions really matter in local land use policy change. Strong mayor, district election type, turnovers of council members, and administrative capacity influence pro-environmental policy changes. The most important find is that informal institutions of social capital also constrain actors, or provide pro-environmental incentives to the local actors. In addition, community interests and physical characteristics are not ignorable. They have also significant influence on the policy change. From this research, I found that these community interests can be easily articulated in a land use policy when they go through particular institutions. Interaction terms provide that various pro-environmental interests are moderated by mayor form of government and election type as well as informal institutions. Another important finding is that rule should be considered as a configurational form, not an additive form. I define strong mayor council form from the consideration of other relevant rules such as mayor elected directly, administrative power, appointment and budget power, and veto power, even though it is still limited configuration. Only the form of government that a city charter provides does not work well in a complex political system. This study has academic and practical significance. First, by integrating four models and constructing a more comprehensive explanation, this study brings sharper theory and better understanding to local land use policy. Second, the influence of institutions has been limited to formal institutions. Adding informal institutions in the framework may provide more consistent impact of institutions on local land use policy change. Third, using dynamic interaction terms in the framework proves how institutions matter on community interests as well as additive influence of institutions on policy outcome. Finally and practically, this study may provide some clues about the solutions to environmental preservation and efficient growth management practices. Formal institutions matter since it shape incentives and constraints on policy actors. However, those institutions need much of transaction costs to be established and changed. Informal institutions, even though it is not constructed easily, play roles to reduce transaction costs of addressing problems and distributional conflicts, and provide and more efficient way to local administration of growth management. / A Dissertation submitted to the Reubin O'D Askew School of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: June 9, 2008. / Moderating Effects, Land Use Policy, Local Governments, Political Markets, Institutions, Networks / Includes bibliographical references. / Richard C. Feiock, Professor Directing Dissertation; Timothy S. Chapin, Outside Committee Member; Lance deHaven-Smith, Committee Member; Kaifeng Yang, Committee Member.