Alien Registration- Roy, Cleophas (Biddeford, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/5148/thumbnail.jp

The role of the Public Protector in promoting democratic governance

Abstract : The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of the nature of the role of the Public Protector in promoting democratic governance. The Office of the Public Protector is one of the institutions that constitutes the Chapter 9 institutions (State Institutions Supporting Constitutional Democracy) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996. This study is intended to strengthen academic discourse for the continued support of the Office of the Public Protector as an independent functionary to advance accountability. The enquiry is premised on the concept of democratic good governance, which aims to hold the government accountable for its actions and/or omissions. The apathy of the South African public, who has generally remained silent amidst the scathing attacks directed at the Public Protector, prompted this study to carefully pose the following dual primary research question: What is the role and challenges of the Public Protector as an independent Chapter 9 institution, and do the remedial actions of the Public Protector contribute to the implementation of good governance in the South African constitutional democracy? The methodology entailed a desktop analysis of literature and official documents to conceptualise the area of investigation. The data-collection sources for the desktop analysis also included global authoritative books, articles, court findings, and regulatory, policy, and strategy documents. The generated information was scrutinised through a process of intellectual analysis, categorisation, classification, integration, reflection, comparison, and synthesis. The approach was qualitative and included specific dimensions of unobtrusive research techniques to eliminate bias and to promote conceptual and contextual analyses. The emphasis of this thesis is the functioning, problems, challenges, pressures, and the power of the remedial recommendations and actions of the Office of the Public Protector in South Africa within its constituent structures and statutory parameters. The Public Protector functions cooperatively with all other institutions whose mandate it is to promote good governance, which includes the legislature, independent judiciary, and the other Chapter 9 institutions. Oversight institutions have a collective responsibility to ensure the promotion of good governance and to enhance democracy in South Africa. As a result of the interdependence of all levels of government, any discussion of constitutional mandates will inevitably touch on iv certain matters that will affect not only the other government levels in general but the total legislative and policy effort in particular.D.Phil. (Public Management and Governance

Environment, knowledge and change: a case study of peasant farming in Maridi district, southern Sudan

This is a case study of peasant farming in Maridi District, Western Equatoria Province, Southern Sudan. The object is to explore the impact and inter-relationship of economic, environmental and ecological factors on the changes that have occurred in 'traditional' farming in the study area. Special attention is paid to internal as well as external forces leading to changes, and peasant farmers' own understanding of the change processes, as well as the externally-induced explanations of change. It is hypothesised that agricultural development in Third World countries cannot be fully appraised without an understanding of the farming knowledge and attitudes of farmers whom it is supposed to benefit. Some basic concepts are reviewed and the hypotheses and methods of data collection and problems encountered are presented, A background survey of the nature of the physical and human environments in which farmers base their decisions is provided. The spatial organisation and nature of 'traditional' agricultural changes and their importance to households' sustenance is noted. Farmers' environmental and agricultural knowledge, and some of the hazards and pressures of agricultural change from the farmers' viewpoint, and how they interpret and respond to these constraints are outlined. The socio-economic characteristics of farmers and the current farming activities and the nature of change taking place, including farmers' involvement in a cash economy, are examined. Emphasis is laid on the adaptive rationality/of existing modes of production and the importance of the web of social and economic networks surrounding the individual farmer and influencing his activities. Changes in the pattern of 'traditional' agriculture in an historical and regional perspective are elucidated. A discussion of the existing patterns and processes of agricultural change, and the diffusion of innovations through the formal and informal channels, and farmers' attitudes and response demonstrating their rationality is shown. In a broad analysis of farmers' world-view, the individual's attitude to farming is studied including the extent of his farming knowledge, his degree of interest in this activity, his needs and problems, land-use trends, and desired changes. A case study of coffee as a cash crop innovation and its socio-economic impact on 'traditional' land-use systems now and in the .future is considered. A brief concluding section summarises research findings and some of the practical and theoretical implications for policy consideration. This study mainly concludes that only by identifying farmers' management strategies, circumstances and their analysis of problems on their own behalf can a development programme and research be formulated which has technologies appropriate to them

Alien Registration- Gagne, Cleophas (Sanford, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/2712/thumbnail.jp

Seamless Electricity Trade between Canada and US Northeast

We analyse how the wholesale electricity market deregulation could modify exchanges between three Canadian regions (Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick) and two U.S. regions (New York and New England), which were already trading electricity before the regulatory change took place in 1997. We find that the pre-1997 exchanges already made possible fuel cost savings of $397.2 million per year while deregulation adds annual savings of$358.7 million. Canadian regions are the main beneficiaries under the assumption that exports are priced at the marginal costs of the importing regions. Imports from the Canadian regions, although significant, are not large enough to lower the marginal costs of the U.S. regions. Hence electricity deregulation across the border should not significantly decrease prices in the U.S. regions although the latter are becoming more dependant upon imports from Canada. Greenhouse gas emissions increase by 4.3 Mt CO2 eq. in the wake of the open wholesale electricity market because of the low cost of coal, particularly in Ontario. Environmental concerns and the limited availability of additional hydroelectric power in Canada could change the trade patterns as electricity demand continue to grow.Minimum Electricity, deregulation, trade

CLOSING THE OPPORTUNITY GAP FOR LOW-INCOME URBAN MINORITY STUDENTS IN TURNAROUND SCHOOLS

As we prepare to address and stem many of the systemic racist policies that plague our low-income minority students, we have to remain diligent and innovative in our attempt to provide our low-income minority students, as early as pre-kindergarten, access to opportunities that will ultimately prepare them for post-secondary success. This study focuses on how accountability policies and expectations for turnaround schools have had a long-term impact on the type of opportunities students who attend these schools will ultimately have. This study also proposes two policies that work to not only increase opportunities for low-income urban minority students who attend these turnaround schools, but also work tirelessly and strategically to prepare students to take full advantage of these opportunities

An ecological study of the Negro in Ward Seven

The concept of the term ecology\u27 as it relates to sociology and social research is well interpreeted in Gist and Halbert\u27s book, Urban Society… From the above explanation and from the interpretations of the term ecology in the writings of Park and Eurgess and others, we get the idea that an ecological study involves the spatial, selective and distributive functions and melations of human beings in a given geographical and cultural area, and that these functions and relations characterize the forms and types of social interaction

NEGOTIATING CULTURAL IDENTITY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY IN ZIMBABWE: POSTCOLONIAL TRANSITIONS AND ENDURANCE

This project examines how discourses on democratization in Zimbabwe, a country transitioning from colonialism constituted and reconstituted cultural identities. I specifically focused on discourses from both government controlled and privately owned newspapers and 18 civil society organizations involved in the struggle for democracy. I also explored the ideological implications of the newspaper and civil society discourses. The research was guided by three research questions. This research was informed by theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of postcolonial theory, democracy, identity, public and counter-public spheres. Consistent with the critical perspective that informed this project, I utilized Fairclough\u27s critical discourse analysis to bring out the ideological implications of the discourses to various forms of identity implicated in the struggle for democracy. The newspapers were selected to give contrasting perspectives between a government controlled and a privately owned newspaper. Civil society organizations were selected based on their involvement in human rights and democratization advocacy work. Findings from the study showed that much as the rulers changed with the end of colonialism, the domination that typified colonialism did not change. The study highlighted that democracy as a value and aspiration was a contested term with various groups\u27 conceptualizations of the democratization process informed and influenced by political affiliation. Results showed that democratization is not only about politics and economic changes but also about a cultural process that entails the re-negotiation of identity positions through discursive struggles. There are discursive struggles to fix the meaning of what constitute democracy that play out in civil society, governmental and private media forums. Discourses from both newspapers and interviews showed that the ruling party resorted to using populist discourse on land in order to regain lost political support. National and political identities were collapsed to suit the interests of the ruling party. On the other hand, the opposition emphasized human rights issues such as freedom of expression, assembly and association. The research therefore showed that not only did colonialism remain the referent point for the ruling party, but it also informed social practices. The ruling party\u27s view of the world remained Manichean between the colonial past and the anti-colonial struggle that ended colonialism. The discourses that ensued remained trapped within the same dichotomies that had characterized social relations during colonialism