Canadian federalism has experienced pressure for change in recent years. By the end of the twentieth century, collaboration became the catch word and federations throughout the world, including Canada, witnessed an emergent movement toward collaborative governance, collaborative public service delivery, collaborative management and collaborative approaches to addressing social and economic issues. But even if the number of collaborative arrangements has grown since the 1990s, the understanding of the design, management and performance of collaborative arrangements in the Canadian federation remains weak. Accordingly, this dissertation argues that, in order to understand and open the black box of intergovernmental collaboration, it is necessary to put collaboration in a historical context and explore the roles of elites and political institutions in shaping intergovernmental collaborative practices. The role of the former provides the necessary complement of agency, while that of the latter represents a perspective that gives theoretical importance to political institutions. The integration of the two theoretical schools, elite theory and historical institutionalism, into one approach constitutes an attractive solution and offers the tools necessary to explore the complex processes of intergovernmental collaboration. The theoretical framework constructed in this dissertation is then applied to analyze whether the Agreement on Internal Trade, the Social Union Framework Agreement and the Council of the Federation can be considered in reality as examples of collaborative federalism.

Canadian federalism has experienced pressure for change in recent years. By the end of the twentieth century, collaboration became the catch word and federations throughout the world, including Canada, witnessed an emergent movement toward collaborative governance, collaborative public service delivery, collaborative management and collaborative approaches to addressing social and economic issues. But even if the number of collaborative arrangements has grown since the 1990s, the understanding of the design, management and performance of collaborative arrangements in the Canadian federation remains weak. Accordingly, this dissertation argues that, in order to understand and open the black box of intergovernmental collaboration, it is necessary to put collaboration in a historical context and explore the roles of elites and political institutions in shaping intergovernmental collaborative practices. The role of the former provides the necessary complement of agency, while that of the latter represents a perspective that gives theoretical importance to political institutions. The integration of the two theoretical schools, elite theory and historical institutionalism, into one approach constitutes an attractive solution and offers the tools necessary to explore the complex processes of intergovernmental collaboration. The theoretical framework constructed in this dissertation is then applied to analyze whether the Agreement on Internal Trade, the Social Union Framework Agreement and the Council of the Federation can be considered in reality as examples of collaborative federalism.

The black middle–class market segment also known as the black diamond market segment has shown immense growth in SA. It currently consists of approximately 3 million black middle–class South Africans with a buying power of approximately R200 billion. Despite the immense size and spending power of black diamonds, combined with its rapid growth over the past 15 years and expected future growth, little research has been conducted on this market segment. The rapid market growth of the black diamond market segment has lead to an immense rise in the demand for middle–income houses. This has caused a shortage of middleincome houses, and government and real estate developers have been unable to supply housing in this bracket to meet this ever increasing demand. The study examines this missing middle between supply and demand for the black diamond market in Tlokwe municipal region in order to provide the Tlokwe Municipality, real estate developers, construction companies, town planners, real estate agencies and the Tlokwe Department of Housing with sufficient information to address this challenge in Tlokwe municipal region. The study was conducted by way of a literature review and empirical study. For the empirical study, the information was obtained through two questionnaires. One questionnaire was compiled for black diamond respondents and one for real estate developers and estate agents in the Tlokwe municipal region. The study found that there is a gap between the supply side and demand side of middleincome housing (houses within the R50 000 to R550 000 price range) in the Tlokwe municipal region, and that there is a high demand for such houses. It was also found that there is a tendency for black diamonds to relocate from the townships to the suburbs. The major reasons for this movement were identified as family and the lack of availability of middle–income houses in the townships. It was also found that the black diamond respondents have a tendency to spend their money on bad debt (debt on expenses) instead of good debt (debt on assets), and are inclined to save rather than spend. Furthermore, as evident from the number of respondents with clothing accounts and cellphone contracts, it was confirmed that black diamonds are status driven, as suggested in the literature. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The black middle–class market segment also known as the black diamond market segment has shown immense growth in SA. It currently consists of approximately 3 million black middle–class South Africans with a buying power of approximately R200 billion. Despite the immense size and spending power of black diamonds, combined with its rapid growth over the past 15 years and expected future growth, little research has been conducted on this market segment. The rapid market growth of the black diamond market segment has lead to an immense rise in the demand for middle–income houses. This has caused a shortage of middleincome houses, and government and real estate developers have been unable to supply housing in this bracket to meet this ever increasing demand. The study examines this missing middle between supply and demand for the black diamond market in Tlokwe municipal region in order to provide the Tlokwe Municipality, real estate developers, construction companies, town planners, real estate agencies and the Tlokwe Department of Housing with sufficient information to address this challenge in Tlokwe municipal region. The study was conducted by way of a literature review and empirical study. For the empirical study, the information was obtained through two questionnaires. One questionnaire was compiled for black diamond respondents and one for real estate developers and estate agents in the Tlokwe municipal region. The study found that there is a gap between the supply side and demand side of middleincome housing (houses within the R50 000 to R550 000 price range) in the Tlokwe municipal region, and that there is a high demand for such houses. It was also found that there is a tendency for black diamonds to relocate from the townships to the suburbs. The major reasons for this movement were identified as family and the lack of availability of middle–income houses in the townships. It was also found that the black diamond respondents have a tendency to spend their money on bad debt (debt on expenses) instead of good debt (debt on assets), and are inclined to save rather than spend. Furthermore, as evident from the number of respondents with clothing accounts and cellphone contracts, it was confirmed that black diamonds are status driven, as suggested in the literature. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Canadian federalism has experienced pressure for change in recent years. By the end of the twentieth century, collaboration became the catch word and federations throughout the world, including Canada, witnessed an emergent movement toward collaborative governance, collaborative public service delivery, collaborative management and collaborative approaches to addressing social and economic issues. But even if the number of collaborative arrangements has grown since the 1990s, the understanding of the design, management and performance of collaborative arrangements in the Canadian federation remains weak. Accordingly, this dissertation argues that, in order to understand and open the black box of intergovernmental collaboration, it is necessary to put collaboration in a historical context and explore the roles of elites and political institutions in shaping intergovernmental collaborative practices. The role of the former provides the necessary complement of agency, while that of the latter represents a perspective that gives theoretical importance to political institutions. The integration of the two theoretical schools, elite theory and historical institutionalism, into one approach constitutes an attractive solution and offers the tools necessary to explore the complex processes of intergovernmental collaboration. The theoretical framework constructed in this dissertation is then applied to analyze whether the Agreement on Internal Trade, the Social Union Framework Agreement and the Council of the Federation can be considered in reality as examples of collaborative federalism.