Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Transformative Constitutionalism And The Adjudication Of Elections In Kenya, Carl Bevelhymer

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The judicialization of politics has been an ongoing and expanding global phenomenon for decades. In Kenya, the record number of cases brought before courts prior to and following the 2017 elections is evidence of the continued growth and spread of the judicialization of politics, and more specifically elections; it is also the result of Kenya’s 2010 Constitution, which introduced a new form of governance, expanded the number of elective seats and mandated judicial and electoral reforms. One of the most remarkable events of the 2017 election period was the Supreme Court’s nullification of the presidential election due to electoral irregularities. …

Dysfunctional Uses Of Performance Information In Public Organizations: Understanding The Determinants Of Gaming Behavior, Shawn Benaine

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of performance information in decision-making is central to the practice of public management and is a common feature of modern governance (Kroll, 2015; Moynihan, 2008). The purposeful use of performance information brings about many benefits for public organizations, such as enhanced democratic accountability and responsiveness, as well as improved managerial decision-making in the public interest. However, there are dysfunctional uses of performance systems, such as performance gaming. This is a behavior where organizations or individuals manipulate data or effort in a way that undermines organizational goals. The dissertation seeks to understand what factors mitigate performance gaming. Prior research …

Quiet River, Heavy Waters: Un-Silencing Narratives Of Social-Environmental Inequalities In The Cradle Of Soviet Plutonium, Rosibel Roman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In December 1948, the Soviet Union’s first plutonium production facility, Mayak Production Association (PO Mayak), began operation in the Southern Urals region of Russia, at the western edges of Siberia, near the restricted city of Chelyabinsk-40, known in the present day as Ozyorsk. Since then, rural communities located downstream from PO Mayak have experienced health, economic, ecological and social impacts of contamination from high-level radioactive wastes released by the facility into the Techa River and its surrounding ecosystem. My research, drawing from archival research conducted in Russia and the United States, as well as secondary sources in English and Russian, …

The Gendered Long-Term Recovery Priorities Of Internally Displaced Persons In Post-Earthquake Haiti, Nicki Fraser

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Professor N. Emel Ganapati, Major Professor

Despite a growing body of research on gender and disaster, little is known regarding the long-term recovery priorities and participation of internally displaced women in the long-term recovery process. Focusing on this important scholarly gap in the public administration literature, the overall goal of this study is to understand the long-term recovery processes of populations displaced by the 2010 Haiti earthquake through a gendered lens. The study’s specific aims are to: (1) understand the rebuilding priorities of IDPs in Haiti through a gendered lens; (2) determine factors that enable or hinder IDP women’s participation …

Public Service Values And Disparate Performance: The Case Of Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (Hcv) Program, Melissa Gomez Hernandez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public administration scholars accept that public service values guide administrators’ behavior. This guidance also derives from social and cultural values that motivate administrators’ individual attitudes. A part of the field recognizes that public servants play an active role during the implementation process through their daily use of discretion. Nevertheless, public administrators’ values and attitudes are rarely linked to policy implementation and organizational performance. In consequence, public policy evaluation seldom considers the role of values and attitudes of those implementing policy.

This study examines how public administrators’ values and attitudes towards citizens shape policy implementation and influence organizational and program performance. …

Election Administration Within The Sphere Of Politics: How Bureaucracy Can Facilitate Democracy With Policy Decisions, Nicholas S. Martinez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public bureaucracy finds itself in a strange place at the intersection of political science and public administration. Political science finds that, within representative democracy, discretion granted to bureaucrats threatens the nature of democracy by subverting politicians who represent the will of the people – bureaucracy vs democracy. At the same time, public administration holds that, in the interest of promoting democracy, bureaucracy should be objective in its implementation of policy in a way that eliminates the influence of politics from decision-making – politics vs bureaucracy. Those positions are seemingly contradictory in nature. From one perspective, bureaucracy is undemocratic because it …

The Cultural Competence Of Response & Recovery Workers In Post-Earthquake Haiti, Christa L. Remington

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cultural competence is critical to public service, yet it is often ignored and underutilized, especially in post-disaster response and recovery. The current literature on cultural competence and frameworks developed by the private sector do not fully consider the complexities of a post-disaster public service context. This project explores the importance of cultural competence in post-disaster response and recovery, identifies effective training methods and organizational policies which may present barriers to competence acquisition, and proposes a new theoretical framework by which to assess cultural competence in international response and recovery work.

This study used focus groups with Haitian beneficiaries (n=7), in-depth …

Gender And Authority In The Public Sector: The Case Of Local Government Chief Administrative Officers In The United States, Sebawit G. Bishu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2016, women represented 16.6% of all Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) in local governments across the United States. Previous studies have investigated gender disparities in managerial representation, which is explained by the glass ceiling phenomenon; however, little is known about whether the women that occupy these male dominated positions have the similar levels of responsibilities as their male counterparts. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to understand if gender disparities in levels of work authority manifest as a new form of the glass ceiling. Work authority in this study is operationalized as CAOs’ sanctioning authority (control over personnel operations) …

Organizational Social Capital And Performance Information Use: Analyzing The Link And Its Implications For Public Management, Michele Tantardini

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of performance information is the backbone of performance management. Performance information use refers to the willingness of public managers or other relevant stakeholders to incorporate quantitative or qualitative data in their decision-making. Both routine and nonroutine performance information is considered essential in managers’ decision making. Understanding the organizational factors that motivate public managers to use performance information is an important topic in the literature and practice of performance management.

Although the number of studies on information use is growing, little is known about the impact of Organizational Social Capital (OSC). OSC is composed of the sub-dimensions of social …

Understanding The Impact Of The Property Tax Appeal Process On Assessment Uniformity: Procedures, Structures, And Outcomes, Michael P. Paparesta

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Property taxes serve as a vital revenue source for local governments. The revenues derived from the property tax function as the primary funding source for a variety of critical local public service systems. Property tax appeal systems serve as quasi-administrative-judicial mechanisms intended to assure the public that property tax assessments are correct, fair, and equitable. Despite these important functions, there is a paucity of empirical research related to property tax appeal systems.

This study contributes to property tax literature by identifying who participates in the property tax appeal process and examining their motivations for participation. In addition, the study sought …

Successes And Shortcomings In The Implementation Of National Sustainable Development Strategies: From The Greening Of Governance To The Governance Of Greening, Rachel Emas

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The interdependence between the economy and the environment necessitates integrated policymaking that recognizes the biological limits of our world and the scarcity of these natural resources. At the 1992 Earth Summit, countries agreed to adopt a National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) which should comprise the integration of economic, social, and environmental policies across sectors, territories, and generations; country ownership and commitment; broad participation and effective partnerships; development of the necessary capacity and enabling environment; and focus on outcomes and implementation. Working from these key factors and based on decades of international research and peer reviews of these policies, this study …

Operation Pedro Pan: 50 Years Later, Rita M. Cauce

Works of the FIU Libraries

This article was written to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Operation Pedro Pan and the subsequent Florida International University Libraries’ exhibition. It chronicles the events in Cuba and in Miami leading to Operation Pedro Pan, the largest exodus of unaccompanied children in the Western hemisphere. A total of 14,048 children arrived in the United States through Operation Pedro Pan between December 1960 and October 1962. Approximately half of the children did not have family in the United States and were taken under the care of Miami child welfare agencies. The impact of this large influx on an unprepared Miami, …

Managing Small-Medium Cities In A Time Of Globalization: Experiences And Evidence From Florida’S Public Managers, Nadine V. Wedderburn

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how public management practitioners in small and medium-sized Florida cities perceive globalization and its impact on public management practice. Using qualitative analysis, descriptive statistics and factor analysis methods, data obtained from a survey and semi-structured interviews were studied to comprehend how public managers view the management and control of their municipalities in a time of globalization. The study shows that the public managers’ perceptions of globalization and its impact on public management in Florida’s small-medium cities are nuanced. Whereas some public managers feel that globalization has significant impacts on municipalities’ viability, others opine that globalization has no …