A number of NGOs follow the international development debate and are active in trying to influence important actors in the field. The impact of NGOs on large international actors such as the World Bank has for example been an important topic of discussion. The continuance of research on the development of NGOs in the World Bank is important for future work in the sector, both for NGOs and for the civil society. As important representatives of the civil society, NGOs have been the force to rely on and confine to. When examining NGOs impact on the World Bank, there are two levels to the research. Most previous research on NGOs as influencers in the World Bank has dealt with the overall impact of NGOs on the World Bank on policy level. This research sets out to investigate the second level of impact that NGOs have on the World Bank on project level to a major extent it relates to NGOs in the partner states. The study uses qualitative methods and an abductive approach in a desk study as the chosen method for collecting and assessing data. It takes its basis in Gramsci’s theory on civil society when examining existing work and uses as the theoretical framework. From the findings of the study it can be deduced that that NGOs impact on the World Bank projects can be essential for the success of the Bank. Starting from a small platform where NGOs were only invited on occasion to play ‘roles’ as a favor to the Bank, the NGOs are today recognized for their efficiency in Bank-financed projects where a good cooperation with locals is seen as important for the success of the project.

Politinės sistemos transformacijos procesai vyksta ir šiandieniniame pasaulyje. Tai iliustruoja neseniai įvykusios Spalvotosios/ Gelėtosios revoliucijos postkomunistinėse šalyse. Autoritarinė politinė sistema jų metu yra keičiama į demokratinę sistemą. Politinės sistemos kaita rodo, jog tų šalių visuomenė nėra patenkinta esama valdžia, kuri dažnai būna korumpuota ir represyvi. Panašios politinės transformacijos 8- 9- me dešimtmečiuose įvyko ir Pietų Amerikoje. Jų metu autoritariniai kariniai režimai žlugo ir vietoj jų iškilo demokratiniai režimai, tačiau jie nėra stabilūs ir patikimi kaip Europos demokratijos. Pietų Amerikos šalių demokratijoms grasina vidinės problemos tokios kaip skurdas, nestabili šalių ekonominė padėtis, vis labiau didėjanti socialinė atskirtis, nusikalstamumas, valdžios korupcija ir nepatikimumas, mažas teisingumo užtikrinimas ir pan. Šiame darbe plačiau nagrinėjama Argentinos ir Brazilijos- dviejų didžiausių Pietų Amerikos šalių- politinės sistemos kaita bei tarptautinių veikėjų įtaka tų sistemų kaitai. Abi šalys iki 9- ojo dešimtmečio vidurio buvo valdomos karinių chuntų. Jų valdymo laikotarpiu šalyse nebuvo stabilumo, vienus karinius prezidentus keisdavo kiti. Pačių karininkų tarpe nuolatos vyraudavo įvairūs nesutarimai. Nuolatinė valdžių kaita lėmė ir nestabilią šalių politinę sistemą, kėlė užsienio valstybių nepasitikėjimą Argentina ir Brazilija. Be to, šalyse nuolat vyraudavo ekonominė suirutė, būdavo vykdomos didelio masto represijos prieš... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The transformation process of political system occures in today’s world, too. It can be illustrated by the Color or Flower Revolutions in post-communist states. During those revolutions the authoritarian political system is changed into democratic political system. The alternation of political system shows that society is not contented with present government which is realized as corrupt and repressive. Such political transformations occured in the South America in 1970s- 1980s. During this transformations the political system of the South American countries was changed into democratic ones. But those democratic systems are not very stable and credible in nowadays like democracys in the Europe because the South American countries have many internal problems like big poverty, unstable economical situation, criminality, government corruption and etc. In this work is analysed Argentina’s and Brazil’s political systems transformations and influence of international actors in transformation process. Till 1980s both countries were ruled by military juntas. The rule of military governments were not stable because there were disagreements inside military juntas how to rule the countries. The permanent alternation of governments was the main reason for unstable political system and for distrust of foreign countries in Argentina and Brazil. Futhermore, there were frequent economical crises, large-sized repressions. The authoritarian regimes collapsed when in the countries started mass... [to full text]

[pt] A literatura de prevenção de conflitos violentos que trata de eficácia da ação preventiva ressalta que as chances de sucesso tendem a aumentar quando a prevenção é estrutural e quando a abordagem é multissetorial. A pesquisa realizada indica que, antes de se falar na eficácia da ação preventiva, deve-se verificar a existência das condicionantes da ação preventiva, que limitam ou favorecem o envolvimento de atores internacionais. Argumenta-se que a ação preventiva internacional está condicionada a três elementos: (i) a construção de um conceito de prevenção; (ii) a criação de mecanismos que visem à implementação de tal conceito; e (iii) a interpretação do contexto local como sendo passível de interferência com objetivos preventivos. A pesquisa conclui que, nos casos do Kosovo e da ex-República Iugoslava da Macedônia, a promoção do discurso de prevenção por atores internacionais não leva necessariamente à sua adaptação institucional. Além disso, ainda que mecanismos estejam disponíveis aos potenciais preventores internacionais, só serão implementados se a situação concreta for interpretada como passível de prevenção. Destaca-se ainda que os casos em estudo reforçam o entendimento da literatura ao demonstrar que as chances de sucesso das medidas preventivas foram menores no Kosovo devido à inação e à ação superficial, tardia e descoordenada de alguns atores internacionais. A ação preventiva na Macedônia, por sua vez, teve maiores chances de sucesso porque teria sido estrutural e multissetorial - devido à interpretação que se fez do contexto local na época da iminência das crises. / [en] According to the literature of conflict prevention who deals with the effectiveness of preventive action, chances of success tend to rise when prevention is structural, and when it occurs within a multitrack framework. The results of this research indicate that, before dealing with the effectiveness of preventive action, one must verify the conditionalities of preventive action, which limit or encourage the involvement of international actors in the prevention of violent conflicts. It is argued that international preventive action is conditioned by three elements: (i) the construction of a concept of conflict prevention; (ii) the creation of mechanisms to implement the concept; and (iii) the interpretation of the local context as being preventable by international interference. In the cases of Kosovo and of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the promotion of a preventive discourse by international actors is not enough to induce to institutional changes. Besides, even when mechanisms are available to potential international preventors, they would only be implemented if the situation in loco is interpreted as being preventable. The cases under analysis reinforce the main argument of the literature and demonstrate that chances of success of preventive action were lower in Kosovo because of inaction and also superficial, late and uncoordinated action of the few relevant actors. In its turn, preventive action in Macedonia had higher chances of success because it was a structural and multitrack effort of different actors, thanks to the interpretation of the situation in loco on the very edge of the crises.

A number of international humanitarian organizations focus on human development and aim to improve the situation of children. In many developing countries, states have not been able to fulfill the educational or basic needs of its children. To fill this void, international actors have stepped in to help with human development. This thesis focuses on answering the question: How are norms diffused to local communities? Looking at the implementation of human development norms, this paper examines the norms-based actions that NGOs take to maximize the development potential of children. Programs aimed at increasing basic education as well as fighting child labor are addressed. When exploring the norm socialization process NGOs use to promote programs in education and child labor, it is clear that a different process is present than is suggested by existing literature. This is due to the locale where norms are implemented: local communities.

Le cadrage du VIH/sida comme épidémie exceptionnellea conduit à la construction des politiquesde lutte contre le sida autour de la notiond’urgence politique et a rendu possible la miseen oeuvre de politiques d’accès aux traitementsantirétroviraux en Afrique au début des années2000. Cependant, dix ans après, l’accès de plusen plus massif à cette prise en charge a progressivementtransformé le VIH en maladie chronique,remettant ainsi en cause l’urgence politique aucoeur de ces politiques.A partir du cas du Bénin, cette thèse interrogel’émergence de la « chronicisation » du VIHet les effets de l’irruption du long terme dansle processus d’élaboration de la politique d’accèsau traitement. Mobilisant la sociologie de l’actionpublique, en lien avec le concept de « travailinstitutionnel », cette thèse analyse les processuset les acteurs réalisant ce travail.L’analyse de la construction du VIH/sidacomme problème politique exceptionnel et leprocessus d’institutionnalisation de la politiquemettent en évidence les difficultés des acteurs nationauxet internationaux à saisir des enjeux quis’inscrivent en contraste avec la définition initialedu problème. Ils continuent donc à agir au seinde ce cadrage du problème alors même que lescaractéristiques « objectives » du problème sonten constante évolution. Au coeur de ce processusd’institutionnalisation se trouve un réseaud’acteurs biomédicaux, organisé autour d’un programmede la Coopération française. A partir decette caractéristique, nous soulignerons la placecentrale de l’expertise dans le processus décisionnelet analyserons les jeux d’acteurs autourde sa mobilisation. Interrogeant le processus deconstruction et d’institutionnalisation d’une politique,cette thèse met en avant les dynamiquesd’acteurs et les jeux d’échelles au coeur de la productionde l’action publique contemporaine. / HIV/AIDS’s framing as an exceptional epidemicled to the building of AIDS policies around theconcept of political urgency and enabled the implementationof antiretroviral treatment policiesin sub-Saharan Africa at the beginning of the2000s. Ten years later, however, increasinglymassive access to medical care has graduallyturned HIV/AIDS into a chronic disease whoselong term characteristics contribute to challengingthe concept of political urgency as the basisof these policies.Drawing on a case study of Benin, this thesisquestions the implications of AIDS’s “chronicization”and the emergence of long term issues inthe AIDS treatment policy process. Using thesociology of public action, in relation to the conceptof “institutional work”, this thesis analyzesthe processes and actors entailed in this work.Analyzing AIDS’s framing as an exceptionalpolitical problem and the institutionalization ofthis policy highlights the difficulties faced by nationaland international actors to grasp what isat stake when initial problem framing becomeschallenged. Such actors tend strongly to keep onacting within the original problem framing whilethe “objective” characteristics of the problem areconstantly evolving. At the center of the institutionalizingprocess under study here has beena network of biomedical actors organized arounda program by the French Cooperation. This policy’scharacteristics has led our research to underlinethe central role played by expertise in thedecision-making process and the actor interactionsthat have developed around its use. Questioningboth policy-building and institutionalizingprocesses, this thesis emphasizes actors andmultilevel dynamics as central to contemporarypolicy-making.