New Zealand has one of the worst rates of child poverty in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Research has shown that modern mass media provide a mediated cultural forum through which policy responses to child poverty are socially negotiated and from which public support for children in need is either cultivated or undermined. This thesis focuses on the role of media advocacy by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) who attempt to widen public debate and legitimate options for addressing child poverty. I investigate the case of the Government's Working for Families package and the controversy surrounding the media release of CPAG's negative evaluation of the package in the form of a research report Cut Price Kids. Attention is given to competing ideological frames underlying the Government's package, in the form of neo-liberal emphases on distinctions between God's and the Devil's poor. Attention is also given to CPAG's response, in the form of communitarian notions of collective responsibility for all families in need. Specifically, I analyse the role of the mass media in framing child poverty as a social issue across three levels of mass communication - production, representation, and reception. At the production level interviews were held with six journalists involved with reporting on Cut Price Kids and two members of CPAG. Fifteen Government and 5 CPAG press releases were also explored to document media production processes and restraints on public deliberations. In addition, the ideological stances influencing the framing of coverage were investigated. At the media representation level 21 press, seven radio, and five television items were analysed to establish the scope of public debate, whose perspectives were included, and the ways in which differing perspectives are combined. At the reception level four focus group discussions with lower socio-economic status (SES) parent groups, as well as follow-up photo-based interviews with eight participants were explored in order to document the role of media coverage in the lives of families with children living in poverty. Across levels, findings suggest that journalists are restrained by professional practices which maintain the importance of balance and detached objectivity, rather than interpretations of appropriate responses to child poverty. Tensions between the Government's emphasis on restricting support to families with parents in paid employment and CPAG's emphasis on the need to not discriminate against the children of out of work families framed coverage. The lower SES parents participating at the reception level challenged the restrained nature of coverage, which excluded people such as themselves, and openly questioned media characterisations of them as bludgers who are irresponsible parents. Overall, findings support the view that media are a key component of ongoing social dialogues through which public understandings of, and policy responses to, child poverty are constructed. Specifically, psychologists need to engage more with processes of symbolic power which shape the public construction of child poverty in a conservative manner that can lead to victim blaming, and restrains opportunities for addressing this pressing social concern.

Research on environmental advocacy has tended to focus on outcomes and achievements rather than the processes through which these are achieved. In addition, minimal research has attended in detail to the complexity of environmental advocacy, or explored measures to through which to enhance advocates’ prospects of success. The environment movement itself has given scarce attention to promoting the skills, abilities and predispositions that contribute to effective advocacy. Indeed, most environmental non-government organisations (ENGOs) in Australia appear to believe that scientific or expert knowledge will be sufficient to influence environmental decision-makers and consequently provide minimal training or education to enhance advocacy. This thesis is a response to these problems. It seeks to develop an understanding of, and model for, activist education and training in the Australian environment movement. The two main bodies of literature that inform the study are social movement and adult education literature. The former provides the context for the study. Social movement theorists present various explanations of how and why environmental activists work for change. These theorists also discuss the organisational structures and modes of operation typically adopted by activists. The second body of literature is utilised in this thesis to provide a synthesis of relevant educational orientations, traditions and practices. Popular, experiential and adult environmental education offer promising strategies for advocacy organisations that seek to enhance activists’ skills and abilities. The research questions posed in this study lie at the convergence of these two bodies of literature. Two empirical studies were undertaken during this inquiry. The first was conducted with the Queensland Conservation Council, an environmental advocacy organisation where the researcher was employed for five years. The study drew on methods and techniques associated with ethnography and action research to identify, implement and evaluate a range of interventions which aimed to educate and train advocates. Three cycles of inquiry generated useful insights into environmental advocacy and identified useful strategies through which advocacy may be enhanced. The second study, a case study based on interviews and observation, explored the Heart Politics movement. The ethnographic research methods utilised in this case study resulted in a rich description and critical appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of Heart Politics gatherings as activist education. These two studies contributed to the development of a grounded and endogenous theory of education and training for environmental advocacy. This theory is based on a set of observations concerning the provision of activist education: (1) that most activist learning occurs informally and unintentionally through participation in social action such as environmental campaigns; (2) that this learning can be assessed according to a five-category framework and tends to favour specific categories including the development of social action and organisational development skills rather than alternative categories such as political analysis and personal development; (3) that this informal learning can be harnessed and enhanced through strategies which situate learning in the context of action and promote heightened awareness of the learning dimension of social action; and (4) that a key obstacle to education and training in the environment movement is a conspicuous lack of professional development or support for the people involved in facilitating and coordinating activist education activities and programs. These people are often volunteers and infrequently possess qualifications as educators or facilitators but are more likely to be seasoned activists. They tend to work in isolation as activist education activities are sporadic, geographically diffuse and ad hoc. These observations along with other insights acquired through participatory action research and ethnographic inquiry led to a set of conclusions, some of which have already been implemented or initiated during the course of this study. The first conclusion is that strategies to promote the professional development of activist educators may benefit from the development of texts tailored to the tactical orientations and political and other circumstances of Australian environmental advocacy groups. Texts, alone, are considered an inadequate response. The study also concludes that informal networks, formal and informal courses and other strategies to assist collaboration and peer learning among activist educators offer considerable benefits. Other conclusions pertain to the benefits of collaborating with adult educators and tertiary institutions, and professionals, to the relative merits of activist workshops and other forms of delivery, to the opportunities for activist training presented by regular environment movement gatherings and conferences and to the significant merits of promoting and supporting mentorship relationships between novice and experienced activists.

This thesis addresses the issues faced by the urban poor in their efforts to gain housing in developing countries. It argues that participation in housing is a matter of governance, in which the Public, Private and Popular sectors interact, and Intermediary Agents (IA) are necessary to act as catalysts in this interaction. In Indonesia there are two major problems related to housing the urban poor. The first problem concerns the quantity of housing. The second problem concerns the quality of housing, infrastructure and the environment. The government usually addresses these problems through a project-based, sectoral approach that lacks community engagement and accountability. Intermediary Agents have assisted many of these housing projects. However, little research has been undertaken on their role in these housing projects, as well as in the informal housing process. This thesis examines the role of IAs in the housing process of four different communities: one community in a government-sponsored project and three communities in informal settlements. The findings showed that the IAs, in engaging with the four different communities, played different roles and have different values. The involvement of IAs in the housing process elucidates a fundamental issue. On one hand, the IAs offer a mechanism to assist communities in providing and improving access to housing, infrastructure and services. However, there are limitations to their role: they have not the capacity to improve security of land tenure for the residents, which is essential for sustainable housing development. Where there has been some recognition of residents' rights to occupy the land, there have been substantial gains in community engagement in investing and improving their living environment. The thesis demonstrates the importance of community participation and acknowledges stakeholder engagement and community empowerment are crucial, roles that are often dependent on the involvement of IAs. It also extended the research on movement and development IAs demonstrating that both functions are complementary and important in housing delivery and that there are five roles that these IAs could play depending on the housing situation. The thesis offers new approaches to housing delivery and policy in Indonesia by involving urban poor communities, as the beneficiaries of housing for the poor programs. The qualitative method of the research has not been able to provide a generalised conclusion, but the lessons learned are important not only for providing housing for the urban poor in Indonesia but also possibly to addressing housing problems in other Asian countries. This thesis addresses four areas of intervention in transposing skills for a more democratic approach in housing the poor. Within these areas the research proposes new models of engagement for relevant stakeholders in public, popular and private sectors involving Intermediary Agents. These models are underpinned by a set of basic principles to guide IA engagement. Lastly the thesis proposes three models for IAs involvements in the housing process.

<p>This dissertation consists of three interrelated essays examining the role of crisis events in Swedish nuclear energy policymaking. The study takes stock of the idea of ‘crisis exceptionalism’ raised in the literature, which postulates that crisis events provide openings for major policy change. In an effort to explain crisis-induced outcomes in Swedish nuclear energy policy, each essay explores and develops theoretical assumptions derived from the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The introduction discusses the ACF and other theoretical perspectives accentuating the role of crisis in policymaking and identifies three explanations for crisis-induced policy outcomes: minority coalition mobilization, learning, and strategic action. Essay I analyzes the nature and development of the Swedish nuclear energy subsystem. The results contradict the ACF assumption that corporatist systems nurture narrow subsystems and small advocacy coalitions, but corroborate the assumption that advocacy coalitions remain stable over time. While this analysis identifies temporary openings in policymaking venues and in the advocacy coalition structure, it is argued that these developments did not affect crisis policymaking. Essay II seeks to explain the decision to initiate a referendum on nuclear power following the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. Internal government documents and other historical records indicate that strategic considerations superseded learning as the primary explanation in this case. Essay III conducts an in-depth examination of Swedish policymaking in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl accident in an effort to explain the government’s decision not to accelerate the nuclear power phaseout. Recently disclosed government documents show that minority coalition mobilization was insufficient to explain this decision. In this case, rational learning and strategic action provided a better explanation. The main theoretical contribution derived from the three essays is to posit the intensity and breadth of political conflict, strategic action, and analogical reasoning as key factors affecting the propensity for crisis-induced policy change.</p>

<p>I den snabbt växande litteraturen om idéer i policyprocessen, som ibland kallats ”the ideational turn” tänker man sig ofta att idéer och språk styr politikens aktörer, snarare än styrs av dem. Hur politiska problem formuleras styr vilka lösningar som ter sig rimliga. Intresset riktas mot politik som <em>intellektuell verksamhet</em>.<em> </em>Dessutom tänker man sig att de resulterande tänkesätten kring problem och lösningar – tolkningsramarna eller problembilderna – tenderar att börja leva sitt eget liv, och utanför aktörernas direkta kontroll påverka det politiska beslutsfattandet. Påståenden om verkligheten och värderingspåståenden blir alltså med ett sådant perspektiv väsentliga, eftersom de antas utgöra utgångspunkt och ram för den fortsatta formuleringen av den offentliga politiken. De stänger in och riktar blicken. I den här avhandlingen ska ett antal teorier, med stor tilltro till slagkraftiga idéers förmåga att styra och organisera tanke och handling vid utformning och upprätthållande av offentlig politik, skärskådas och prövas teoretiskt. Målet är att urskilja huruvida dessa innehåller empiriskt prövvärda teoretiska påståenden om idéers funktion i policyprocesser.</p><p>Med utgångspunkt i en teorigenomgång argumenterar jag för att det verkar rimligt att förvänta sig att stabila eller instängande idéstrukturer hänger samman med stabil interaktion i policyprocesser. I så fall är det likaledes rimligt att undersöka hur reproduktion av idéer, och tröghet i förändring av policy, förhåller sig till det sätt på vilket politiken och policyproduktionen är organiserad. Ett sådant perspektiv innebär alltså att policyproduktion bör undersökas utifrån de organisatoriska och institutionella villkor som präglar den konkreta intellektuella verksamhet som krävs för att policybeslut ska materialiseras.</p><p>Teorier som tycks svara mot detta krav är Maarten Hajers Discourse Coalition Framework<em>, </em>Paul Sabatier och Hank Jenkins-Smiths Advocacy Coalition Framework<em> </em>och Frank Baumgartners och Bryan Jones Punctuated Equilibrium Theory<em>.</em> De valda teoretikerna beskriver idéer som mer eller mindre trögrörliga <em>sociala konstruktioner, </em>som både är förankrade i<em> och </em>organiserar policyprocessen – även om de inte själva uttrycker det så. De kan alltså ses som olika teoribildningar inom samma teoriperspektiv.</p><p>I avhandlingen identifieras flera problem i detta teorperspektiv. De handlar alla om de <em>kognitiva låsningar</em> som teorierna förutsätter som förklaringar till stabil policyproduktion. Jag menar att teorierna, för det första, inte på ett tillfredställande sätt lyckas lösa struktur-aktörproblemet utan glider mellan en föreställning om individen som ömsom strukturernas slav och ömsom dess herre, mer beroende på vad som behövs för att lösa förklaringsekvationen än på vad som verkar rimligt och troligt. För det andra ifrågasätter jag, mot bakgrund av det begränsade sociala sammanhang som en policysektor oftast är, rimligheten i att anta att det normala är att den diskurs som präglar ett politikområde förmår definiera världen för policyprocessens aktörer. För det tredje argumenterar jag för att sättet att beskriva de politiska aktörerna som i tanken ”infärgade” av en organisatoriskt, institutionellt eller socialt förankrad diskurs begränsar möjligheten att göra policyanalys till politisk <em>maktanalys</em>.</p><p>Ett särskilt kapitel ägnas därför åt olika möjligheter att konceptualisera idéstrukturernas relation till aktörerna i policyprocesser. Detta hänger också ihop med förståelsen av makt. Jag menar nämligen att frågan om vad idéstrukturerna <em>gör</em> med aktörerna i policyprocessen är nära sammankopplad med hur vi ska förstå maktrelationerna i denna process. I centrum för avsnittet står den idéernas sociala praktik som är <em>språk</em>, <em>kommunikation</em> och <em>samtal</em>: den språkliga praktik där idéer kommer till uttryck. Frågan som ställs i detta kapitel är om det finns andra sätt än teoriernas antagande om ”kognitiv inlåsning” att tala om politiska idéer som en faktor för makt och inflytande. Detta i sin tur beror på huruvida det finns alternativa sätt att förstå idéstrukturers effekter på policyprocessens aktörer. Och om det går att på ett rimligare och mer konsistent sätt beskriva hur idéer kan skapa maktrelationer, kan vi därmed omvärdera Baumgartner och Jones, Sabatier och Jenkins Smiths, och Hajers teorier i ljuset av dessa insikter? I föreliggande text argumenterar jag för att svaret är ja på båda dessa frågor.</p><p>Det nästföljande kapitlet ägnas därför åter dessa teorier, nu med fokus på hur de ska prövas empiriskt. Jag diskuterar dels olikheter mellan teorierna beträffande vilka konkreta arenor och aktörer de menar spelar roll för stabilitet i och förändring av policy, dels hur dessa påståenden kan ”översättas” till en prövning i svensk kontext. Diskussionen summeras i ett antal ur teorierna härledda prövbara, delvis konkurrerande, påståenden om hur idéer strukturerar policyprocessen. Det femte avslutande kapitlet summerar hela avhandlingen.</p>

Thesis (M.S. in Community Research and Action)--Vanderbilt University, May 2007. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

This study presents a formative evaluation of an afterschool program that combined youth development and school garden curricula. This program used a novel approach to teach elementary school children about fruits and vegetables and to engage them in advocacy for the physical activity and nutrition environments in their community. The youth development curriculum included sessions on team building, community pride, healthy eating and physical activity, and advocacy. Photovoice was used as a method to allow participants to assess their community and communicate findings with leaders. Participants selected community leaders to invite to their school and shared their findings via a presentation of the photographs and a plan for action. The school garden curriculum included lessons on plant parts, plant nutrients, site evaluation, and pollination. Participants planted and harvested vegetables in a raised bed constructed at their school. Formative evaluation was conducted through the use of an evaluation form to collect information about each session. Evaluations were examined to provide recommendations to strengthen future program design and implementation. Themes of the evaluation were: successful methods for engaging youth, issues within the social environment, and implications for program management. Successful methods for engaging youth included creative activities, working in pairs, and experiential activities. Issues in the social environment were behavioral problems, shyness, gender groups, and competition. Areas of concern for program management included recruitment, attendance, volunteer training, team building activities, and survey administration.

I den snabbt växande litteraturen om idéer i policyprocessen, som ibland kallats ”the ideational turn” tänker man sig ofta att idéer och språk styr politikens aktörer, snarare än styrs av dem. Hur politiska problem formuleras styr vilka lösningar som ter sig rimliga. Intresset riktas mot politik som intellektuell verksamhet. Dessutom tänker man sig att de resulterande tänkesätten kring problem och lösningar – tolkningsramarna eller problembilderna – tenderar att börja leva sitt eget liv, och utanför aktörernas direkta kontroll påverka det politiska beslutsfattandet. Påståenden om verkligheten och värderingspåståenden blir alltså med ett sådant perspektiv väsentliga, eftersom de antas utgöra utgångspunkt och ram för den fortsatta formuleringen av den offentliga politiken. De stänger in och riktar blicken. I den här avhandlingen ska ett antal teorier, med stor tilltro till slagkraftiga idéers förmåga att styra och organisera tanke och handling vid utformning och upprätthållande av offentlig politik, skärskådas och prövas teoretiskt. Målet är att urskilja huruvida dessa innehåller empiriskt prövvärda teoretiska påståenden om idéers funktion i policyprocesser. Med utgångspunkt i en teorigenomgång argumenterar jag för att det verkar rimligt att förvänta sig att stabila eller instängande idéstrukturer hänger samman med stabil interaktion i policyprocesser. I så fall är det likaledes rimligt att undersöka hur reproduktion av idéer, och tröghet i förändring av policy, förhåller sig till det sätt på vilket politiken och policyproduktionen är organiserad. Ett sådant perspektiv innebär alltså att policyproduktion bör undersökas utifrån de organisatoriska och institutionella villkor som präglar den konkreta intellektuella verksamhet som krävs för att policybeslut ska materialiseras. Teorier som tycks svara mot detta krav är Maarten Hajers Discourse Coalition Framework, Paul Sabatier och Hank Jenkins-Smiths Advocacy Coalition Framework och Frank Baumgartners och Bryan Jones Punctuated Equilibrium Theory. De valda teoretikerna beskriver idéer som mer eller mindre trögrörliga sociala konstruktioner, som både är förankrade i och organiserar policyprocessen – även om de inte själva uttrycker det så. De kan alltså ses som olika teoribildningar inom samma teoriperspektiv. I avhandlingen identifieras flera problem i detta teorperspektiv. De handlar alla om de kognitiva låsningar som teorierna förutsätter som förklaringar till stabil policyproduktion. Jag menar att teorierna, för det första, inte på ett tillfredställande sätt lyckas lösa struktur-aktörproblemet utan glider mellan en föreställning om individen som ömsom strukturernas slav och ömsom dess herre, mer beroende på vad som behövs för att lösa förklaringsekvationen än på vad som verkar rimligt och troligt. För det andra ifrågasätter jag, mot bakgrund av det begränsade sociala sammanhang som en policysektor oftast är, rimligheten i att anta att det normala är att den diskurs som präglar ett politikområde förmår definiera världen för policyprocessens aktörer. För det tredje argumenterar jag för att sättet att beskriva de politiska aktörerna som i tanken ”infärgade” av en organisatoriskt, institutionellt eller socialt förankrad diskurs begränsar möjligheten att göra policyanalys till politisk maktanalys. Ett särskilt kapitel ägnas därför åt olika möjligheter att konceptualisera idéstrukturernas relation till aktörerna i policyprocesser. Detta hänger också ihop med förståelsen av makt. Jag menar nämligen att frågan om vad idéstrukturerna gör med aktörerna i policyprocessen är nära sammankopplad med hur vi ska förstå maktrelationerna i denna process. I centrum för avsnittet står den idéernas sociala praktik som är språk, kommunikation och samtal: den språkliga praktik där idéer kommer till uttryck. Frågan som ställs i detta kapitel är om det finns andra sätt än teoriernas antagande om ”kognitiv inlåsning” att tala om politiska idéer som en faktor för makt och inflytande. Detta i sin tur beror på huruvida det finns alternativa sätt att förstå idéstrukturers effekter på policyprocessens aktörer. Och om det går att på ett rimligare och mer konsistent sätt beskriva hur idéer kan skapa maktrelationer, kan vi därmed omvärdera Baumgartner och Jones, Sabatier och Jenkins Smiths, och Hajers teorier i ljuset av dessa insikter? I föreliggande text argumenterar jag för att svaret är ja på båda dessa frågor. Det nästföljande kapitlet ägnas därför åter dessa teorier, nu med fokus på hur de ska prövas empiriskt. Jag diskuterar dels olikheter mellan teorierna beträffande vilka konkreta arenor och aktörer de menar spelar roll för stabilitet i och förändring av policy, dels hur dessa påståenden kan ”översättas” till en prövning i svensk kontext. Diskussionen summeras i ett antal ur teorierna härledda prövbara, delvis konkurrerande, påståenden om hur idéer strukturerar policyprocessen. Det femte avslutande kapitlet summerar hela avhandlingen.

The transition from an industrial to a global knowledge-based economy has put universities in the spotlight of public policies as the new drivers of innovation and sustained economic growth. Consequently, societal expectations towards the academic community have changed and so has, under the influence of neo-liberal ideas, the public governance of higher education. This is particularly true in federalist systems, such as Germany, Australia and the European Union, where the roles of each government level in governing the higher education sector had to be renegotiated and clarified. In Canada, however, despite repeated recommendations by policymakers, scholars and international organisations, the respective responsibilities have not yet been clarified and, to date, there are still no mechanisms to coordinate the post-secondary education policies of the federal and provincial governments. This paper inquires into the reasons for this exception. In the academic literature, this has generally been explained in terms of Canada’s uniqueness with respect to its federalist system and the decentralized higher education sector. We attempt to go beyond this traditional federalism, state-centered approach, which is predominant in the Canadian higher education literature. Instead, based on interviews and official documents and inspired by the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), we shall be looking at the belief systems of the major actors in the policy process and the degree of coordination among them. Our analysis comes to the conclusion that, on the one hand, proponents of a pan-Canadian approach are divided over their fundamental beliefs regarding the compatibility of inclusiveness and excellence. Some argue that the federal government must legislate common standards to ensure equal opportunities for all Canadians. Others propose a New Governance-inspired approach to create a differentiated and competitive university sector that meets the demands of the global knowledge-based economy more efficiently. On the other hand, even though the provinces differ in their beliefs regarding the equal opportunity versus economic efficiency debate, they share the same strong belief with respect to the role of the federal government. According to this view, post-secondary education is exclusively a provincial responsibility and the role of the federal government is solely to help them ‘fix the problems’. Moreover, contrary to the proponents of more intergovernmental collaboration, the provinces have successfully strengthened the coordination among themselves to block further perceived federal intrusions into provincial jurisdiction. We come to the conclusion that the absence of intergovernmental mechanisms to govern post-secondary education is a consequence of the diverging belief systems and the establishment of formal coordination structures among the provinces to block – as they perceive - further federal intrusions. Also, there is less of a sense of urgency to act compared to, say, health care. Finally, remembering the near-separation of Quebec in 1995, there is very little appetite to reopen the constitutional debates. Therefore, based on our analysis, we argue that contrary to suggestions by some higher education scholars, the establishment of intergovernmental coordinating mechanisms appears unlikely in the near future.

This thesis examined factors that influence three Canadian Nursing Associations’ priority setting and policy advocacy for community environmental health (CEH). The research questions that guided the study were: (a) how do the nature and scope of nursing organizations’ engagement for CEH policies differ according to provincial and federal contexts? and (b) how do nursing organizational factors and external system factors influence the priority-setting and policy advocacy choices for CEH policy? To answer these questions I undertook a qualitative comparative case study. The research was guided by epistemological and methodological principles of interpretative description and informed by whole-systems socio-ecological theory and institutional theory. Data were collected through participant interviews (n=41) and document review. Guided by framework analysis and the use of descriptive and conceptually-oriented matrices, cases were analyzed using an iterative and inductive approach to identify case patterns. These case patterns were then compared to identify cross-cutting factors that influence the Nursing Associations’ priority setting and policy advocacy for CEH. Key findings are represented in an integrated conceptual framework. Nursing Associations’ priority setting and policy advocacy are embedded in a dynamic policy field whereby structures and institutional pressure both create opportunities and narrow the Nursing Associations’ options for engaged CEH advocacy. The findings lead to recommendations for practice, policy, and research that have relevance for the profession, nursing associations, and policy decision-makers.