Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Participatory Wetland Governance In Ramsar – Assessing Level Of Participation In India, Seema Ravandale

Masters Theses

Due to the alarming rate of global wetland depletion, the Ramsar Convention, an international wetland conservation and management treaty, was signed in 1971. As of today, 172 countries are signatories. The intricate connection of local communities, their indigenous knowledge and hence their participation in the wetland governance has been recently recognized by Ramsar to protect the community's right over wetlands and to establish the joint stewardship of government and communities on these vital resources. Ramsar Convention provides a broader framework for participatory wetland governance; however, there needs to be more clarity on how various countries understand, perceive, and adopt community …

Opportunities And Challenges From Major Disasters Lessons Learned Of Long-Term Recovery Group Members, Eduardo E. Landaeta

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Natural hazards caused by the alteration of weather patterns expose populations at risk, with an outcome of economic loss, property damage, personal injury, and loss of life. The unpredictability of disasters is a topic of concern to most governments. Disaster policies need more attention in aligning mitigation opportunities with disaster housing recovery (DHR). The effect of flooding, which primarily impacts housing in coastal areas, is one of the most serious issues associated with natural hazard. Flooding has a variety of causes and implications, especially for vulnerable populations who are exposed to it. DHR is complex, involving the need for effective …

Development Charges: The Price Is Right? An Evaluation Of The Patterns, Processes And Outcomes Of Development Charge By-Laws In Ontario Regional Municipalities, David Gundrum

MPA Major Research Papers

In Ontario, Development Charges (DCs) are a revenue tool designed to assist municipalities with paying for growth-related capital costs arising from the expanded infrastructure required to accommodate new development. The Development Charges Act, 1997 grants municipalities the authority to levy DCs through adopting By-laws of Council and defines the rules and structure they must follow when implementation and revision of charge systems occurs. Where implemented, DCs are meant to ensure that existing municipal ratepayers (property owners) are not required to pay the capital costs associated with new services and facilities that are needed to accommodate new development. The revenue collected …

Recommendations For Sustainable Tourism In Patagonia: An Exploratory Analysis Of Sustainable Tourism In Costa Rica, The Nordic Region, And Thailand’S Communities, Julia K. Lowery

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis explores different levels of governance and its role towards actualizing sustainable tourism in Patagonia. With the growing threat of climate change, international destinations such as Patagonia are looking to continue building their tourism industries in a sustainable way. Through analyzing case studies of national governance in Costa Rica, multi-national governance in the Nordic region, and community-based tourism in Thailand, we can better understand how each form of governance has the potential to create a sustainable tourism industry. With this understanding of successful governance in my case studies, as well as understanding the historical and political forces that have …

Recovery From Minor Tropical Cyclones: The Response Of Faith-Based Organizations And Government Agencies To Minor Tropical Cyclones In Biloxi, Mississippi, Camilla Witherspoon

Master's Theses

The impacts of major hurricanes are extensively researched in Disaster Resilience literature and the field of Human Geography; in contrast, the aftermath of minor tropical cyclones is understudied. Along the Gulf Coast in 2020 and 2021, more minor tropical cyclones made landfall then major hurricanes (NOAA, 2021). Despite the frequency of minor tropical cyclones, few studies have considered the resources and actors involved in recovery from minor tropical cyclones.

This thesis uses qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews and document collection, to examine how Faith-based Organization (FBO) and government agency leaders in Biloxi, Mississippi provide resources to residents, interact with each …

Urban School Board Members’ Perceptions Of Their Roles In Improving Student Achievement, Jacinto Arturo Ramos

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem explored in this study was that the state education agency recommended school board members of low-performing school districts participate in a governance training called student outcomes governance to address student achievement, yet no data suggested the training changed school board members’ understanding of how to create policies advancing student achievement. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand how urban school board members perceive their roles in improving student achievement using the new model. General board theory and the theory of adaptive leadership informed this study. Six school board members who had completed the student outcomes …

Three Essays On Governance, Inequality, And Social Equity, Sarah Ausmus Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Comprised of three essays, my dissertation is linked by a common focus: the relationship between state or local governance arrangements and inequality or facets of social equity. I draw upon a range of literatures to motivate my research questions and inform my methodologies—welfare and social policy, public economics, intergovernmental relations, public finance and management.

In the first essay, I ask: does localizing welfare governance impact geospatial access to the social safety net? This is an important question because proximity is highly salient to program utilization. I geocode the location of human services nonprofits from tax filings in eight states using …

Education Policy Reform In Ghana And The Role Of Avatime Traditional Leaders, Hubert Kwami Akrong

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractWith declining academic standards in Ghana, public attention has been focused on education policies. In 1992, the amended constitution excluded traditional village leaders from being involved in formulating education policies in Ghana. The exclusion of grassroots leaders from education policy reform resulted in low expectations and poor student outcomes in the towns and villages of Ghana’s Avatime Traditional Area. This case study was an investigation into how traditional chiefs in the Avatime Traditional Area participate in democratic governance to improve education in the region. Joshee and Goldberg’s social justice theory in policy making was used to ground the study. Data …

Determinants Of Success: The Atlantic First Nations Water Authority, Michaela Sferrazza

MPA Major Research Papers

Water security and access within First Nations communities entails a complex set of issues. However, this does not excuse government authorities’ inadequacies to address the inequity among Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada regarding access to safe water. The Human Rights Watch describes access to safe drinking water “as a fundamental human right easily enjoyed by most Canadians” (Human Rights Watch 2016), and one that is integral to health and wellbeing. Many Indigenous communities have long been lacking access to clean, potable water which has many socio-economic implications. In a 2012 article written by White et al., they articulate that …

Young People’S Perception Of Opportunities To Participate In Democratic Governance, Jennifer Nga Yu Tang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations General Assembly, 1989) accords all young people the right to be heard and make decisions on matters affecting them. Despite the fact the United States remains the only country in the world not to have ratified this document, a number of American cities have nevertheless begun to engage young people in community decision-making (e.g., in neighborhood associations or community boards). However, as of yet there are few actual opportunities for youth to participate fully in the governance of their cities. This study examined the perspectives of young people …

The Factors Influencing Hazard Mitigation Governance, Kyle Overly

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

As the frequency and intensity of disasters increases so too does the need to take proactive measures to reduce disaster risk. Across the nation local, state, and federal emergency managers work collaboratively to implement hazard mitigation programs that seek to reduce disaster risk. This study examined the factors that influence hazard mitigation governance in FEMA Region III states including Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington D.C. The results showed that organizational capacity, networks, collaborative governance, and community engagement all influence local and state adoption of hazard mitigation projects. The results also showed that there is a need to …

Citizens' Perspectives On Accountability Of Nongovernmental Organizations Providing Drinking Water In Northern Ghana, Abdul-Nashiru Mohammed

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractAccountability is an important concept in public administration and across multiple sectors. NGOs work towards achieving their social purpose and yet, they are perceived to be accountable only to their donors but not to citizens. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore perspectives of citizens in three districts: Bongo, Wa, and Sagnarigu in Northern Ghana on how NGOs demonstrate accountability in fulfilling their commitments in drinking water provision. It specifically investigated the lived experiences of citizens: local government authorities, traditional authorities, and individual citizens from the districts. Research literature emphasized upward accountability resulting in a gap observed …

Enforcing Higher Standards For Flood Hazard Mitigation In Vermont, Tamsin Flanders

Masters Theses

The state of Vermont faces increasing risk of costly damage from catastrophic flooding events as climate change increases the frequency of heavy rains and cumulative precipitation. In addition to increasing flood inundation risk, extreme precipitation events are leading to high rates damage from fluvial erosion—erosion caused by the force of floodwater and the materials it carries. As in all U.S. states, flood hazard governance in Vermont is shared by multiple levels of government and involves a complex compliance model that relies on local governments to regulate private property owners to achieve community, state, or federal goals.

To encourage municipalities to …

Weaving The Braid Of Culturally Responsive Leadership Within Policy And Governance To Improve Indigenous Student Success, Shelly L. Niemi

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores a Problem of Practice (PoP) that highlights the need for why the Board of Education and the Senior Administration team within the Raven Bay School Division (RBSD, pseudonym) would benefit from using a culturally responsive leadership approach when making decisions and how this may be achieved through policy and governance to guide their practice. The goal of this OIP is to examine why this leadership approach would be relevant for the Board of Education and the Senior Leadership team when they are making any policy and governance decisions, as it relates to Indigenous …

Why Do Nonprofits Fail? A Quantitative Study Of Form 990 Information In The Years Preceding Closure, Mackenzie Arbogust

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Nonprofit organizations are an important piece of the community and economy in the United States. Each year, nonprofit organizations close their doors and stop providing services to the community. While there are large amounts of literature around financial health and vulnerability and governance best practices of nonprofit organizations, few of the studies have ever looked specifically at failed organizations. In general, the end stages of the life cycle of nonprofit organizations have not been well studied and are not well understood. This study draws on resource dependency theory and institutional theory to identify financial and governance factors that may serve …

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Revolution: A Case Study Of Public Policy In The Nevada Legislature, Caitlin J. Saladino

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explain the dynamics of metropolitan policymaking in Las Vegas, Nevada. This study utilizes advocacy coalition framework to show how underlying beliefs among policy actors, and within the coalitions they form, impact decisions made at the level of the Nevada Legislature. As the newest metropolitan region to emerge among the top 30 metros in the United States, a case study exploring Las Vegas offers a unique contribution to existing literature in public policy and urban affairs. In the wake of economic downturn in the Great Recession and the adoption of a new …

Approaches To Urban Land Use Governance: Conservation Or Housing Development?, Zlata Nourie

Public Administration ETDs

Around the globe cities are growing and expanding in size. The increase in urban areas changes the face of our planet. Since every city, county, and state have a set amount of land that they can conserve or develop, this thesis investigates factors that impact land conservation or land development for housing. It also establishes the relations between land use, economic, social, and environmental processes in the selected area. From the very beginning, this paper researches different approaches to land use that help municipalities maintain and use their land resources.

The focus of this research is an area of land …

Does Aid Really Help? The Nexus Between Development Aid And State-Society Resilience In Fragile Situations, Cyrel San Gabriel

Doctor of International Conflict Management Dissertations

This study aims to determine how development aid impacts state-society resilience, and how such resilience impacts aid flows in fragile situations. It particularly examines if development aid builds state-society resilience in fragile situations listed in the harmonized list of World Bank, African Development Bank, and Asian Development Bank from 2006 to 2018. Results show that development aid causes a decrease in state-society resilience, while state-society resilience causes an increase in aid flows. Aid for governance and human development weakens resilience. Better governance and peace levels curb aid flows, while higher human development levels boost aid flows. Economic growth is neither …

Conceptualizing Governance Decision Making: A Theoretical Model Of Mental Processes Derived Through Abduction, Matt Loesch

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The field of Public Policy and Administration is heavily influenced by the decisions individuals make regarding matters of governance. These types of decisions can affect a broad scope of government-related activities ranging from esoteric debates about political ideology to policy development to specific ways in which people directly interact with public services. Unfortunately, in the view of this research, there is no sufficient model for conceptualizing governance decision making. This creates the focus of inquiry for this work, which is to examine how governance decisions are conceived of and formulated. The purpose of this research is then to analyze the …

Exploring, Examining, And Explaining How Participatory Governance Adds Value To Saudi Foundations’ Philanthropic Strategy, Afnan E. Koshak

Dissertations

Foundations’ flexibility, given their independence from fundraising imperatives, competition forces, and accountability pressures, enables them to invest in long-term, high-risk, multi-level experiments to deal with the increasingly complex societal problems. This flexibility, coupled with the growing role philanthropy plays in promoting social welfare across the world, is arguably what makes studies that focus on foundations’ philanthropic approaches of utmost importance.

There is a mounting interest among scholars in the governance of foundations, the systems and processes concerned with ensuring the overall strategic direction of organizations. Influenced by agency and stewardship theories, an increasing number of studies address such topics as …

Youth Voice And The Promise And Peril Of Affirmative Governmentality: An Analysis Of New York City’S Borough Student Advisory Councils, Hillary R. Donnell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study addresses civil society and the state’s shifting approach towards the incorporation of youth in governmental decision-making since the 1990s, and the recent ascendance of youth voice councils as a method of civic engagement. It uses the New York City Youth Leadership Council Initiative and the Borough Student Advisory Councils as case studies. Relying on the author’s ethnographic participant observation and youth-voice frameworks, the paper provides an analysis of the individual, organizational and systems level effects of the New York Department of Education’s BSAC program. Further, the paper discusses affirmative governmentality as a lens through which to critically examine …

A Study Of Rural Nonprofit Board Communication And Collaboration, Angela-Janine C. Crawford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This case study explored the perceptions, experiences, and significant internal communication and collaboration problem(s) faced by a rural nonprofit board of directors experiencing a growth transition. Specifically, this study addressed (a) how a rural nonprofit's board members perceived their communication and collaboration skills and practices, and (b) the training needed to improve board communication and collaboration policies and practices. Ten rural area study participants shared their experiences and made recommendations for board communication and collaboration training. Exploring the perceptions, understandings, and capacities of the rural nonprofit board members revealed how specific communication and collaboration policies and practices affected their organization's …

From Inclusive Governance To Peace: Exploring African Governance Systems, Karolina Werner

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation defines and explores the concept of inclusive governance, highlighting linkages between inclusion in governance, legitimacy, and peace. Focusing specifically on the inclusion of traditional, local systems of governance in state government, I explore the unique role traditional institutions have as a bridge between the communities they serve and the government. I examine the relationship between governance, quality of inclusion, legitimacy, and sustainable peace through case studies, challenging prevailing narratives and conceptualizing inclusive governance through a reflexive analysis of existing literature, theory, and empirical evidence.

I offer a case study analysis of Uganda highlighting the relationship between state government …

The Governance Of Climate Change Adaptation In Canada: Two Multilevel Case Studies, Daniel J. Bednar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Anthropogenic climate change is affecting, and will continue to affect, communities across Canada. From increased average temperatures and alterations of seasonal precipitation patterns, to extreme rainfall and heat events, Canadians face a 21^st century environment significantly different from that of the past. With risks to people and services identified via the global scientific and social science literature, the need to adapt to climate change is pressing. Climate change adaptation includes the identification of climate impacts in order to develop interventions into systems and services so to avoid negative effects and recognize opportunities. The emerging consensus is that climate change …

Hearts And Minds: An Analysis Of Checks And Safeguards, Monitoring, And Performance Review Of Executive Boards And Their Executive Directors Within Select Nonprofit Corporations., John Michael Wagner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Horror stories of ineffective nonprofit organization management arise in the media far too often. When these stories emerge, the public demands accountability from those responsible. Ultimately, accountability rests with the fiduciaries of the organization. For nonprofit

organizations in the United States, fiduciary responsibility and accountability reside with the board of directors.

Board governance has been widely studied in the for-profit sector. Due to the critical nature of the work nonprofits perform, there has been an increasing effort to study board governance in nonprofit organizations. Employing in depth interviews, with both executive

directors and board members, checks and safeguards such as …

Urban Development In Hartford: Neoliberalism, Inequality, And Trinity College As An Anchor Institution, Eavan Flanagan

Senior Theses and Projects

This thesis explores the ways in which neoliberal governance takes place in Hartford, CT, particularly as the city struggles to make ends meet. It looks at the Hartford's dependence on corporations, and its growing political and economic alignment with universities. This research examines the effects of urban renewal on the city, and how post-war policies and development shape the inequalities that exist in Hartford today. Lastly, this thesis examines the inequalities and spatial dynamics in Hartford's Southside neighborhood, Frog Hollow, and between Trinity College and Frog Hollow in particular.

Collaborative Governance And Anticorruption In Postwar Monrovia, Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Public sector corruption is a major problem in Monrovia. Successive national

governments have instituted anticorruption measures in the 1970s and 2000s, and anticorruption agencies were established to eradicate corruption. However, there appears to be a significant lack of resources and political willpower to prosecute corrupt government officials. A failure to curb political corruption indicates that current policies are not working. Government works when there is a perception that it delivers results and that the needs and safety of the citizenry are protected. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study was to gain a deeper understanding of public sector corruption at …

The Effects Of Policy Gaps On Governance In Ghana, Jojo Benin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The need for governance institutions in Ghana to focus on policy results that impact directly on citizen's wellbeing rather than results that are achieved immediately after implementing program of activities has become more relevant than ever before due to widening policy gaps (the difference between policy intention and policy outcome) in Ghana. Defective policy implementation by the Ghanaian Civil Service is widening policy gaps in Ghana. With the aid of the institutional analysis and development framework, this quantitative study examined the relationship between policy gaps and governance in Ghana. Empirical data were collected from 539 Civil Servants in Ghana using …

The Tasks Of Elected Officials Within The Policy Process Of Interlocal Cooperation, Stephen Matthew Adkins

Doctoral Dissertations

Interlocal cooperation provides local governments with a third means of service provision, after direct provision and contracting out, that allows problems to be addressed at the regional level. Much of the academic literature on this topic places appointed officials as those who take the lead role in these types of arrangements. This research explores the involvement of elected officials, specifically city mayors, in interlocal cooperation. Based on 64 responses from mayors in the southeast region, this research finds statistically significant relationships between mayoral comfort level with tasks associated with interlocal cooperation and a number of variables including city size and …

The Dream Defaulted: Foreclosure, Crisis, And Hope In Baltimore, Maryland, And Detroit, Michigan, Heidi M. Rafferty-Reijm

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the United States, the late 2000s were a time of crisis that tested many urban decision-makers. The recession that started in 2007 was defined by a severe crash in the housing market and the proliferation of mortgage foreclosures across the country. Foreclosures occurred in urban, suburban, and rural communities, but had a particularly devastating impact on larger, older cities and their low and moderate-income neighborhoods. These cities had been dealing with economic and population decline for half a century. In many of their urban neighborhoods, foreclosures affected as many as one in four households and added yet another challenge …