| 1. |
- Hasic, Tigran, 1969-
(författare)
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Reconstruction planning in post-conflict zones : Bosnia and Herzegovina and the international community
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The history of mankind has been plagued by an almost continuous chain of various armed conflicts - local, regional, national and global - that have caused horrendous damage to the social and physical fabric of cities. The tragedy of millions deprived by war still continues. This study sets out to understand the nature of reconstruction after war in the light of recent armed conflicts. It attempts to catalogue and discuss the tasks involved in the process of reconstruction planning by establishing a conceptual framework of the main issues in the reconstruction process. The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina is examined in detail and on the whole acts as the leit-motif of the whole dissertation and positions reconstruction in the broader context of sustainable development. The study is organized into two parts that constitute the doctoral aggregate dissertation – a combining of papers with an introductory monograph. In this case the introductory monograph is an extended one and there are six papers that follow. Both sections can be read on their own merits but also constitute one entity.The rebuilding of war-devastated countries and communities can be seen as a series of nonintegrated activities carried out (and often imposed) by international agencies and governments, serving political and other agendas. The result is that calamities of war are often accompanied by the calamities of reconstruction without any regard to sustainable development. The body of knowledge related to post-conflict reconstruction lacks a strong and cohesive theory. In order to better understand the process of reconstruction we present a qualitative inquiry based on the Grounded Theory Method developed originally by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1967). This approach utilizes a complex conceptualization with empirical evidence to produce theoretical structure. The results of process have evolved into the development of a conceptual model, called SCOPE (Sustainable Communities in Post-conflict Environments).This study proposes both a structure within which to examine post-conflict reconstruction and provides an implementation method. We propose to use the SCOPE model as a set of strategy, policy and program recommendations to assist the international community and all relevant decision-makers to ensure that the destruction and carnage of war does not have to be followed by a disaster of post-conflict reconstruction. We also offer to provide a new foundation and paradigm on post-conflict reconstruction, which incorporates and integrates a number of approaches into a multidisciplinary and systems thinking manner in order to better understand the complexity and dependencies of issues at hand. We believe that such a systems approach could better be able to incorporate the complexities involved and would offer much better results than the approaches currently in use.The final section of this study returns to the fact that although it is probably impossible to produce universal answers, we desperately need to find commonalities amongst different postconflict reconstruction settings in order to better deal with the reconstruction planning in a more dynamic, proactive, and sustainable manner.
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| 2. |
- Gustafsson, Mariana S., 1978-
(författare)
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Reassembling Local E-Government : A study of actors’ translations of digitalisation in public administration
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The digitalisation of society decidedly affects public administration. Swedish public administration has long worked with information technologies for an effective and improved management of public services. But new and increased use of information technologies in society poses new challenges. New demands on information security are increasing, while accessibility and transparency are important priorities in policies on digitalisation in public services. However, the central government’s ambitions and expectations with regard to digitalisation face a slow and hesitant implementation in local governments. There are important differences between municipalities in priorities, local needs, and implementation mechanisms in connection with e-government. In this thesis, I argue there is a need to reconsider the role of governance mechanisms in e-government. There is a need to understand local translations of national policies and technological developments in relation to the goals of more effective and legitimate public administration. The main purpose of this thesis is to analyse tensions that emerge in the implementation of egovernment in local public administration. On the basis of a constructivist and interpretivist approach, I have undertaken two empirical studies. One focuses on municipal administration of education in Linköping. The other focuses on a governance network on digitalisation policy in Östergötland. The studies are presented in four papers. The issues addressed in the papers are further analysed with a focus on four fields of tension, using network governance theory and translation theory. This shows that the implementation of e-government in local public administration is a tension-laden process. The four fields of tension relate to: different logics and dilemmas for adoption and implementation; concerns and ambiguities in a context of unclear organisational and institutional arrangements; concerns and resistance from professional users; and a reassessment of the meaning of security as a reference for the interpretation of information security. I contend that established managerial and evolutionary models of e-government leave important process-related aspects out of the analysis of change in public administration. The contribution of this thesis lies in its description and analysis of the four identified fields of tension. One significant implication of my analysis is that reassembling current governance mechanisms in local public administration is crucial.
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| 3. |
- Littmarck, Sofia, 1983-
(författare)
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Barn, föräldrar, välfärdsstat : Den politiska debatten om föräldrautbildning och föräldrastöd 1964-2009
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The political debate concerning parent education and parenting support between 1964 and 2009 has been scrutinized in this study in the light of the development of and changes in the welfare state. The investigation is based upon the analysis of official government inquiries and parliamentary papers dealing with parent education and parenting support. This study analyzes the different choices in the organization of welfare relevant to children and the family for which political actors have argued, and it examines the views on the relations between children, parents, family and the welfare state that were expressed in the argumentation. Parent education and parenting support aim at changing the living conditions of children by means of the parents. The study shows that the interest in this type of investment has been shared by both the political left and center-right, but from different arguments and political visions on how welfare for children and families with children should be organized, as well as from different views of the role of parent education and parenting support in the welfare.
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| 4. |
- Upadhyaya, Prabhat
(författare)
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National Appropriateness of International Climate Policy Frameworks in India, Brazil, and South Africa
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How does the international climate policy frameworks influence the domestic institutional responses to climate mitigation in emerging economies? And how, in turn, do domestic institutions and politics in emerging economies influence the fate of international climate policy frameworks? The thesis provides answers to these questions by studying domestic engagements with Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions in three emerging economies – India, Brazil, and South Africa. The thesis specifically studies how these engagements were influenced by the domestic institutional context provided by national climate policy, norms, and institutional capacity in the three countries. Drawing upon the variations in the engagements with nationally appropriate mitigation actions, made visible by use of the policy cycle as a heuristic device, the thesis informs the implementation of another nascent, yet prevalent, international climate policy framework – Nationally Determined Contributions. The thesis identifies how engagements with nationally appropriate mitigation actions varied in India, Brazil, and South Africa in agenda-setting, policy formulation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation. In cases where international support is considered crucial for taking mitigation actions, external factors such as lack of clarity on definitional aspects and availability of international support can hamper the prospects of such frameworks at the agenda-setting and policy formulation stages. Efforts to engage with these frameworks under this uncertainty are held back by non-decisions, overriding national climate policy, as well as by uneven inter-ministerial coordination. The thesis argues that successful implementation of upcoming Nationally Determined Contributions will be influenced by a country’s ability to align them with its national climate policy, localization of the transnational norms, and the extent to which efforts to enhance institutional capacity for coordinating the implementation of national climate policy are made. In sum, the effective implementation of International Climate Policy Frameworks will be dependent on the willingness of the state to provide oversight and coordination, and clarity on the availability of international support.
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| 5. |
- Strid, Sofia, 1976-
(författare)
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Gendered interests in the European union : the European women's lobby and the organisation and representation of women's interests
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Gendered Interests and the European Union. The European Women’s Lobby and the Organisation and Representation of Women's Interests. On a general level this thesis concerns the changed and changing institutional conditions for gender equality in Europe and the organisation and institutionalisation of women’s social and political interests at the EU level. I ask in what ways political structures and authorities enable and/or obstruct women to generate, sustain and control their presence in politics as women. I explore how the EU institutions structure and provide opportunities and constraints for women to mobilise and organise to act as an authorised party vis-a-vis and within the EU political system. How does it come that women, as a collective, are not only recognised as a politically relevant group but also legitimised to act and be present as women in an organised relationship with the EU system’s main authorities? The presence comes in the form of the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), an EU level and EU wide non-governmental umbrella organisation which represents some 4000 women’s organisations on multiple levels of the EU. The EWL is not the first example of women organising on the EU level, but it is the first of its kind. The EWL was initiated by women from within the European Commission and is funded mainly via a grant from the Commission. The EWL’s objectives include the endorsement of equality between women and men and to ensure that measures to promote gender equality and women’s rights are taken into account and mainstreamed in all EU policy. Using material gathered through interviews, observations and official documentation I study the structure of the European Women’s Lobby; the participation of the EWL in EU politics; the relation between the EWL and the EU institutions; the relation between the EWL’s member organisations; and the forms the representation of women’s organised social and political interests at EU level can take. I argue that in the specific political system of the EU, organised interests in civil society and the EWL perform the functions of input, and participate in output and feedback. Organised interests function as intermediaries between the national and European levels. Organised interests strive to gain influence; the Commission, as a political authority, strives to gain legitimacy of its policy-making through the input and output of representative organised interests. As a consequence of what I argue is a corporatist policymaking style of the Commission the EWL has become increasingly institutionalised. The trade off is that while the EWL has enjoyed the Commission’s support and funding to constitute an established EU level platform from which women can formulate, mobilise and pursue their interests, the EWL has must organise and take control over the interests aggregated from its member organisations and over the form of the member organisations. The very structure of the EWL can be seen as part of the price the EWL has to pay to be granted somewhat of a representative monopoly in terms of opportunities to influence EU policy-making through the various channels of consultation. In this context, I argue that the representativeness of organised interests is key. There is no electoral basis legitimising the policy-making of the Commission, instead, this basis is constituted by organised interests. Paradoxically, this holds the potential for increasing the legitimacy of the Commission, something which increasing transparency has failed to do. It is no exaggeration to claim that the EWL offers a remarkable EU level platform for women to act and pursue their interests as women. By studying the actual impact of EU level policy-making and politics on various ways, this thesis argues that the very existence of the EWL can be understood as being in the interest of women.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Skoog, Louise, 1984
(författare)
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Political conflicts - Dissent and antagonism among political parties in local government
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Political conflicts arise out of, or are at least nourished by, divisions and tensions in society over how resources are distributed between citizens and social groups. In the parliamentary arena, these conflicts are manifested by political parties representing the interests of their voters. However, even though we may agree that political conflicts are essential for politics and democratic systems, there is no consensus on what political conflicts are, what causes conflict and what their effects are. This thesis develops a theoretical framework for political conflicts that is productive in relation to studying causes and effects of political conflicts in local governments. A multi-method approach is applied in the studies. The first three papers and a literature review that is included in the introductory text focus on causes of political conflicts. The literature review, as well as the first paper, centres on structural and organisa-tional explanations. The literature review focuses on the research question: How did Swedish local governments develop into party politicised forms of government, with the first paper dealing with the research question: What are the causes of political conflicts identified by earlier scholars and what effects do they have on local politics? The second paper focuses solely on organisational explanations and examines the research question: How does the organisation of political systems affect how and where political conflicts are expressed? The third paper uses explanations at the individual level and deals with the research question: How do ideology, partisanship and trust affect how political conflicts are perceived? The fourth and final paper focuses on the effects of conflicts and answers the research question: To what extent does party political conflicts affect the influence of political leaders? The findings show that there are at least two forms of political conflict of relevance for parliamentary arenas – political dissent and antagonistic behaviour – and that it is important to distinguish between them. They have different characteristics, are caused by different factors and produce different effects. Manifestations of political dissent clarify differences between political actors and are thus of great importance to a democratic system. However, an overinflated amount of antagonistic and disrespectful behaviour, on the other hand, will create a problematic political working environment. When antagonism turns ugly, democratic institutions and the actors working within them may lose their legitimacy.
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| 8. |
- Grimes, Marcia, 1969
(författare)
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Democracy's Infrastructure: The Role of Procedural Fairness in Fostering Consent
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Several strands of democracy theory posit that citizens ought to consent to political institutions only under the condition that those institutions adhere to fair procedures of decisions making. While this theory linking citizens' consent to the design of decision-making processes may be normatively compelling, our current knowledge of this link in real political life remains incomplete. Which approaches to decision making do citizens view as more, or less, procedurally fair? To what extent do citizens' evaluations of decision-making processes actually affect their willingness to defer to political institutions and to political decisions? Public opinion research has documented a long term decline in citizens' confidence in government in established democratic nations. In addition, citizens are increasingly inclined, and equipped, to contest political decisions. These trends suggest a growing reluctance to consent to political authority. Attempts to explain and interpret these trends abound, yet the theory of procedural fairness remains empirically under explored. The theory of procedural fairness postulates that citizens evaluate decision-making processes, and that these evaluations in turn can either engender or undermine consent to the decision-making authority. Democracy's Infrastructure employs two attitudes as indicators of consent: willingness to accept decisions, and trust for political institutions. The study considers citizens' assessments of decision-making processes along two different conceptualizations of procedural fairness. The first relates to citizens' satisfaction with their own ability to exert influence in the decision-making process. The second draws on a theme in deliberative democracy theory, which suggests that political decision makers should engage in dialogue with constituents, show a willingness to receive and address input from citizens, and provide clear explication of the various alternatives considered and selected. The empirical analyses examine citizens' assessments of seven decision-making processes in a single political issue, the construction of a double-tracked railway along Sweden's west coast. This comparison sheds light on what approaches to decision making citizens evaluate more favorably or critically. Panel data gathered through two mail surveys enable an examination of the causal order in perceived procedural fairness and indicators of consent. The results show that authorities perceived to employ a more deliberative approach are regarded as much more trustworthy and also, though to a lesser extent, are more able to induce citizens to accept the final decision outcome. Citizens' satisfaction with their own influence in the issue also fosters consent, though to a lesser extent. Furthermore, citizens' assessments of their own influence in the issue seem to reflect personal attributes more than the actual availability of opportunities to exert influence.
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| 9. |
- Massaro, Maria, 1989
(författare)
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Radio Spectrum Management in the European Union
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis work was conducted to explain how the radio spectrum is managed in the European Union (EU). The radio spectrum is the natural resource which makes modern wireless communication possible. Like other natural resources, the radio spectrum is managed by nations within their national territories. Although nations have permanent sovereignty over the radio spectrum, the countries member of the EU share with the EU institutions the responsibility to manage such resource. The fact that EU and national institutions co-manage the radio spectrum generates a tension between the stances of the EU and the EU member states with respect to how the radio spectrum should be used. On the one hand, the EU aims to develop a common approach to radio spectrum use by promoting centralisation of decisional power to the EU level. On the other hand, the EU member states oppose major limitations to national sovereignty over the radio spectrum, protecting their right to dispose of their national resources in accordance with their national interests. A coordinated approach to radio spectrum management at EU level has only recently been set up. For this reason, the extent to which roles and responsibilities are divided between the EU and the EU member states has not been thoroughly investigated. This thesis concentrated on identifying entities which manage the spectrum resource in the EU and the mechanisms used by such entities. To address these two aspects, qualitative data on EU legislative interventions in radio spectrum policy was collected to show variation over time of distribution of decisional power between the EU and the EU member states. Moreover, the phenomenon of business lobbying was studied to understand the importance of influencing EU legislation for commercial radio spectrum users. The external representation of the EU in international negotiations on radio spectrum use was also analysed to show the dual nature of the EU, being simultaneously one unitary entity and a conglomeration of several sovereign states. In addition, the use of soft power by the EU to develop a common approach to radio spectrum across the EU was discussed, in particular with respect to radio spectrum sharing. This research work showed that radio spectrum management is a very complex matter where there is no clear-cut division of responsibilities between the EU and the EU member states. Over time, the EU has developed a more systematic approach to radio spectrum management, designing specific mechanisms to promote EU-coordinated radio spectrum use. At the same time, there are certain areas of radio spectrum management where the EU plays a mere advisory and coordinating role, while relevant decisions are taken at national level. Technological progress has often motivated the EU to put pressure on the EU member states for further integration. In this regard, it can be expected that future technological developments will drive further changes in the distribution of responsibilities between the two levels of governance.
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| 10. |
- Josefsson, Jonathan
(författare)
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Children at the Borders
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the wake of a steady flow of child migrants attempting to cross borders and states’ efforts to restrict immigration, various public controversies have arisen about the rights of asylum-seeking children. The ‘moral gap’ between the outcome of democratically enacted laws and the aim of controlling immigration, on the one hand, and public calls to protect the universal rights of asylum seeking children, on the other, have created a political challenge for Western democracies. This thesis sets out to examine two particular settings in which norms about the rights of asylum-seeking children and immigration control have been established and contested over the years: the Swedish Migration Court of Appeal and Sweden’s largest morning paper, Dagens Nyheter. It combines empirically oriented analysis with theoretical enquiry, and it brings the issue of the rights of asylumseeking children into dialogue with the contemporary political-philosophical debate about membership, rights and borders.
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