EVALUATING THE OIL SANDS RECLAMATION PROCESS: ASSESSING POLICY CAPACITY AND STAKEHOLDER ACCESS FOR GOVERNMENT AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING IN ALBERTA’S OIL SANDS

By employing interpretive policy analysis this thesis aims to assess, measure, and explain policy capacity for government and non-government organizations involved in reclaiming Alberta's oil sands. Using this type of analysis to assess policy capacity is a novel approach for understanding reclamation policy; and therefore, this research will provide a unique contribution to the literature surrounding reclamation policy. The oil sands region in northeast Alberta, Canada is an area of interest for a few reasons; primarily because of the vast reserves of bitumen and the environmental cost associated with developing this resource. An increase in global oil demand has established incentive for industry to seek out and develop new reserves. Alberta's oil sands are one of the largest remaining reserves in the world, and there is significant interest in increasing production in this region. Furthermore, tensions in several oil exporting nations in the Middle East remain unresolved, and this has garnered additional support for a supply side solution to North American oil demands. This solution relies upon the development of reserves in both the United States and Canada. These compounding factors have contributed to the increased development in the oil sands of northeastern Alberta. Essentially, a rapid expansion of oil sands operations is ongoing, and is the source of significant disturbance across the region. This disturbance, and the promises of reclamation, is a source of contentious debates amongst stakeholders and continues to be highly visible in the media. If oil sands operations are to retain their social license to operate, it is critical that reclamation efforts be effective. One concern non-governmental organizations (NGOs) expressed criticizes the current monitoring and enforcement of regulatory programs in the oil sands. Alberta's NGOs have suggested the data made available to them originates from industrial sources, and is generally unchecked by government. In an effort to discern the overall status of reclamation in the oil sands this study explores several factors essential to policy capacity: work environment, training, employee attitudes, perceived capacity, policy tools, evidence based work, and networking. Data was collected through key informant interviews with senior policy professionals in government and non-government agencies in Alberta. The following are agencies of interest in this research: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP); Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD); Alberta Energy Regulator (AER); Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA); Alberta Environment Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting Agency (AEMERA); Wood Buffalo Environmental Association (WBEA). The aim of this research is to explain how and why reclamation policy is conducted in Alberta's oil sands. This will illuminate government capacity, NGO capacity, and the interaction of these two agency typologies. In addition to answering research questions, another goal of this project is to show interpretive analysis of policy capacity can be used to measure and predict policy effectiveness. The oil sands of Alberta will be the focus of this project, however, future projects could focus on any government policy scenario utilizing evidence-based approaches.

Capacity-building (management improvement) for local governments : an annotated bibliography.

"March 1981."

Resenha de estudos sobre o executivo

Este artigo ?? uma resenha da literatura sobre o Executivo que discute o impacto dos sistemas parlamentarista e presidencialista na capacidade governamental de formular e implementar pol??ticas p??blicas. Ao longo do texto, busca-se identificar fatores que permitem ou bloqueiam o exerc??cio de uma fun????o coordenadora e unificadora de a????es, analisando a rela????o entre os poderes Executivo e Legislativo, a estrutura do poder Executivo e as rela????es entre o Executivo pol??tico e a burocracia. Os estudos sobre parlamentarismo enfocam: import??ncia dos partidos, papel dos ministros, extens??o do poder do primeiro ministro e papel coletivo do gabinete. J?? os trabalhos sobre presidencialismo v??o de pesquisas sobre o Congresso norte-americano, envolvendo infer??ncias estat??sticas e an??lises baseadas na teoria institucional a estudos de caso sobre a American Politics (presid??ncia e lideran??a). Apesar das diferen??as entre parlamentarismo e presidencialismo, a literatura indica que mecanismos institucionais de controle de agenda produzem os mesmos efeitos nos dois sistemas.

Desenvolvimento de compet??ncias de servidores na administra????o p??blica brasileira

Este artigo trata dos desafios de desenvolver as compet??ncias de servidores, de forma a melhorar a capacidade de governo na gest??o das pol??ticas p??blicas no Brasil. Na primeira parte, apresenta as caracter??sticas da administra????o p??blica brasileira em tr??s dimens??es: o modelo de carreiras dos servidores, o tipo de federalismo do Pa??s e o ambiente s??cio-econ??mico em que opera. Em seguida, analisa a nova pol??tica de desenvolvimento de pessoal (Decreto n??5.707/2006), que tem como foco a gest??o por compet??ncias, e o papel da ENAP na forma????o e capacita????o de dirigentes e servidores. Ao final, lan??a um desafio para a administra????o: a constru????o de um servi??o p??blico altamente capacitado e inovador, que atue dentro dos princ??pios da legalidade e da impessoalidade.

Brazilian National School of Public Administration

The Brazilian National School of Public Administration (Escola Nacional de Administra????o P??blica ??? ENAP) is a public foundation linked to the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management. Founded in 1986, its core mission is ???to develop competencies of civil servants in order to enhance government capacity for managing public policies???. To fulfill its mission, a wide program of learning and continued education is offered to public policy managers as well as e-learning and customized courses, in accordance to governmental and institutional strategic objectives. ENAP???s courses are framed according to governmental strategic demands for social inclusion, poverty reduction as well as economic development in order to strengthen the leading South American democracy. The range and diversity of its programs mirrors the challenges of deep changes in the jobs market and the work environment, faced by the current 550,000 federal civil servants and the over 7,000,000 state and municipal civil servants in Brazil, as last counted in 2006.

A carreira de gestor p??blico e sua forma????o

Apesar de todo investimento nos ??ltimos anos, do poder p??blico, em qualificar profissionais, criar cursos e institui????es para forma????o de gestores p??blicos, o que parece ainda vigorar s??o as indica????es, para os cargos de gestores de unidades de sa??de. A carreira do Gestor P??blico na ??rea de sa??de deve ser feita atrav??s da Escola Nacional de Administra????o P??blica (ENAP), criada para tal fim, nos moldes atuais da carreira de Especialistas em Pol??ticas P??blicas e Gest??o Governamental (EPPGG) ou por outras Escolas como a Escola Nacional de Sa??de P??blica (ENSP). A????es e press??es de atores internacionais interferem na gest??o governamental, levando os governantes a promoverem reformas em suas administra????es visando atender esses interesses. Reformas administrativas ocorreram, em sua maioria, n??o por vontade do governo vigente, mas sim por v??rios fatores, sejam internos ou externos ao pa??s. Devido ao processo de globaliza????o e ao ide??rio neoliberal, que defendiam menor participa????o de interven????o do Estado na economia, reformas administrativas ocorreram e vem ocorrendo. Nos anos recentes, visando responder ??s demandas de novos conhecimentos e tecnologias colocadas pelo sistema de sa??de brasileiro em r??pida transforma????o, foi criado o espa??o institucional na, Escola de Governo em Sa??de (EGS), implantada na ENSP em 1998, dedicada a mobilizar e potencializar os esfor??os institucionais especificamente dirigidos a colaborar com a amplia????o da capacidade de governo em sa??de. Faremos uma breve exposi????o da forma????o de profissionais para a carreira de gest??o p??blica em alguns pa??ses das Am??ricas, mostrando a diversidade dos modelos de Escolas de Governo.

Incidencia de los actores armados ilegales en la tributación minera de los municipios auríferos de Antioquia 2007 - I. 2012

Inmersos en un conflicto armado y guiados por un modelo político que busca aprovechar el boom minero en pro del desarrollo de Colombia, se han potencializado dinámicas ilegales donde los Actores Armados Ilegales (A.A.I), como ‘bandidos estacionarios’, se han ido adaptando a las nuevas dinámicas del mercado donde el lucro, la rentabilidad y la financiación son su objetivo central. En el departamento de Antioquia, esa situación data desde la formación de sus regiones, como son el caso del Bajo Cauca y Nordeste Antioqueño. Empero, lo novedoso en el conflicto armado, y que tiene relación directa con la minería aurífera es, la alta posibilidad que los A.A.I. estén viendo en esta actividad su principal fuente de financiación como consecuencia de dos hechos importantes: 1). El éxito que ha tenido la lucha contra el narcotráfico y por ende, contra los cultivos ilícitos. Y, 2) El elevado precio del oro en el mercado internacional puesto que, se estima que en los próximos años alcance entre $2.000 y $2.107 dólares la onza. En este orden de ideas, el lector encontrará como los actores armados ilegales actúan como bandidos estacionarios que ejerciendo la “minería criminal”, inciden en la política fiscal municipal a partir de la para-tributación o ‘impuesto de protección’, captación de regalías y el lavado de activos; donde el fin es financiar sus actividades criminales, afectando negativamente la política tributaria de los gobiernos municipales que se caracteriza por su baja capacidad de gestión.

Segurança Colaborativa: uso das redes sociais para prevenção na segurança do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Este estudo objetiva compreender como a Polícia Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro pode se valer das redes sociais para potencializar a interlocução com a sociedade e aprimorar seu trabalho e gerando valor público. O referencial teórico buscou contextualizar um panorama privilegiado nesse estudo, considerando o ambiente potencializador de interações propiciado pelas redes sociais e a visão da aplicação no campo da segurança. Foram considerados fatores como a evolução da visão sobre o trabalho policial voltado para a área de segurança, evolução esta motivada pela inserção de conceitos voltados para o pleno exercício da cidadania, para a necessidade de colaboração social nas atividades estatais como caminho para atingir as necessidades das pessoas e realização do trabalho dos órgãos estatais, bem como a forma que este envolvimento social tem se dado no contexto recente na Polícia Militar do Estado, analisada a partir de seus exemplos operacionais observados no campo da segurança, a indicação de uma terminologia própria para o momento de envolvimento desses conceitos no campo da segurança, agregando ferramentas e conceitos voltados a Governança Pública e a utilização das redes sociais através do aplicativo WhatsApp, visto ser este aplicativo um dos de maior alcance no contexto nacional e que reúne características próprias ao escopo da pesquisa. Adicionalmente e buscando entender as práticas organizacionais vivenciadas pela utilização das redes sociais através do WhatsApp, foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com empresas de comunicação e Unidades Policiais com experiência no assunto, o que propiciou um mapeamento das motivações para utilização das redes sociais, suas formas de operação, bem como dificuldades enfrentadas nesta utilização e resultados para os propósitos das organizações. Além dos resultados apresentados neste estudo, as revelações do campo e suas correlações, propiciaram a elaboração de linha mestra para emprego da ferramenta no contexto da Polícia Militar como parte das implicações do estudo. O estudo demonstrou que as redes sociais são úteis como ferramenta para a interlocução social, entre a Polícia Militar e a sociedade, destacando sua capacidade no campo da prevenção e melhoria da capacidade governamental na segurança.

Colorado's Piceance Basin: Variation in the local public finance effects of oil and gas development

A large increase in natural gas production occurred in western Colorado’s Piceance basin in the mid- to late-2000s, generating a surge in population, economic activity, and heavy truck traffic in this rural region. We describe the fiscal effects related to this development for two county governments: Garfield and Rio Blanco, and two city governments: Grand Junction and Rifle. Counties maintain rural road networks in Colorado, and Garfield County’s ability to fashion agreements with operators to repair roads damaged during operations helped prevent the types of large new costs seen in Rio Blanco County, a neighboring county with less government capacity and where such agreements were not made. Rifle and Grand Junction experienced substantial oil- and gas-driven population growth, with greater challenges in the smaller, more isolated, and less economically diverse city of Rifle. Lessons from this case study include the value of crafting road maintenance agreements, fiscal risks for small and geographically isolated communities experiencing rapid population growth, challenges associated with limited infrastructure, and the desirability of flexibility in the allocation of oil- and gas-related revenue.

National Conference on the Financial Management Needs of Local Government : local government financial management capacity sharing program.

Dec. 1978.

Contrasting models of land use regulation: Community, government and tourism development

This paper assesses the capacity of local communities and sub-national governments to influence patterns of tourism development, within the context of a globalizing economy. Through a comparison of the contrasting examples of Hawaii and Queensland, the paper indicates the consequences of different approaches to land use regulation. It points to the importance of planning and policy processes that integrate community interests, in order to achieve long-term, sustainable tourism development. Effective regulation of development can minimize the social and environmental impacts of tourism. The paper illustrates how community organizations and sub-national governments can articulate local interests, despite the global demands of investors for more deregulated markets in land.

Relationships between NPM, the use of PM practices and the organizational performance: empirical evidence from government agencies

Purpose – this paper has two main purposes: (1)explore if government agencies more oriented to NPM postulates are more willing to use PM practices and to improve their performance; and (2) investigate whether the fit between the use of PM practices and the organizationa performance is dependent upon from the capacity of agencies to adapt its structures to changes introduced by NPM reforms. Design/methodology/approach - this paper is based on the survey method and provides empirical evidence from Portuguese government agencies.Findings (mandatory) - Our findings suggest that government agencies that made structural arrangements under the NPM reforms are more willing to use PM practices and will perform better than other agencies. In addition, this paper show that therelationship between the use of PM practices and the organizational performance is dependent upon from the agencies capacity to adopt new structural arrangements under the NPM reforms.Practical implications – this paper has three main contributions: (1) contribute to knowledge about the relationship between the introduction of NPM changes in the use of PM practices; (2) contribute to clarify whether agencies more oriented to NPM postulates are improving performance; and (3) help to clarify the way the organizations should adapt their structures for to be more effective in the use of PM practices. Originality/value - The quantitative empirical research, based on the unique survey applied to Portuguese government agencies on this field, allow us to add to prior research mainly based on case studies and oriented to local governments (Budding, 2004).