Before the crisis Catalonia and the rest of Spain received high volumes of immigration - of which much was 'illegal'. This was despite formally strict controls - EU policy - and different governments in Madrid claiming to operate a legal model of migration - leading to identification of a 'policy paradox'. In the same period immigration became problematized, which in Catalonia allowed xenophobic politics to gain popular support - despite being a territory proactive at integrating newcomers. This research aimed to identify the undercurrents of these contradictions and respond to questions on the relative impact of business, state, national and electoral factors. It surveys literature on migration paradoxes and theories, develops an original conceptual framework by critically assessing a range of radical writing, performs quantitative and secondary study of the Catalan, Spanish and European economic and policy contexts (in general and regarding immigration), and analyses findings from interviews with privileged 'insiders' and observers (employers, union leaders, migrant activists and policy advisors). Policy contradictions and the problematization of immigration were identified as rooted firstly in the inherent contradictions of the capitalist state. States must ensure availability of new reserves of labour to guarantee accumulation and make savings by not having to 'socially reproduce' 'imported' labour power. Yet their abstract national and bounded character propels constant nationcraft - a process best performed invisibly and negatively by symbolically and practically excluding migrants from territory, rights and citizenship. Dynamics are further driven by the desire to be seen to preserve the 'rule of law' and guarantee the exclusivity of national 'social contracts'. Nation-building in policymaking was detected by uncovering the national-linguistic considerations behind the controversial drive to devolve immigration powers to Catalonia. Mushrooming irregularity was a result of migrant agency and the restrictive tendencies of the Aznar administration and EU. Despite the Popular Party (and EU) being notably pro-business, tensions emerged with employers who lobbied alongside unions to bring about the liberalisations introduced by the Zapatero government (2004-2011). Employers benefit from the (continued) institutional conditioning of migrant labour and irregular hiring has been tolerated - aided by a relatively informal and insecure labour market. Yet it is a mistake to see high levels irregularity simply as labour policy. The unequal and instrumental nature of European integration meant the Spanish State played a border policing role that threatened its labour needs before the crisis. This led to political 'fudge' based on varying models of irregularity-amnesty-irregularity, and reinforced pro-European and Hispanist migrant recruitment tendencies. Changes in government have reshaped policymaking (and increased or decreased related tensions) but less-democratic influences were identified in interviews and a clear political economy of immigration can be identified.

Cette étude porte sur la réduction de l’émission de gaz à effet de serre dans une région où le gouvernement cherche à établir des politiques de régulation des industriels locaux. La définition de politiques de régulation pour le gouvernement et la planification de la production pour les industriels sont étudiées à l’aide des méthodes issues de la recherche opérationnelle et de la science de management (OR/MS). Nous considérons deux types de politiques de régulation : la politique de quotas et la politique de droits d’émission échangeables sur le marché. Nous considérons d’abord le problème stratégique d’un industriel soumis à un quota d’émission. Afin de maximiser son profit, nous construisons des modèles de jeux de Stackelberg pour optimiser l’empreinte carbone du produit, le prix de gros et la sélection de détaillants. Le problème est démontré NP-difficile et un algorithme hybride est développé pour le résoudre. Nous étudions ensuite la planification de la production en moyen terme pour minimiser le coût total de production et de stockage, en prenant en compte les contraintes liées à la réduction d’émission à travers une sélection de technologies dont certaines sont vertes. Nous démontrons que ces problèmes peuvent être résolus en temps polynomial. A partir de ces résultats, nous étudions la définition de politiques de réduction d’émission par le gouvernement afin de maximiser le bien-être sociétal de la région. Des modèles de jeux de Stackelberg sont formulés pour optimiser les paramètres de ces politiques, en anticipant les décisions opérationnelles des industriels locaux en réaction à ces politiques. Des algorithmes hybrides sont proposés pour résoudre le problème. Pour chaque problème étudié, nous menons des expériences numériques pour évaluer les algorithmes développés. Les résultats expérimentaux montrent l’efficacité de ces algorithmes. Ils permettent aussi, grâce à des analyses de sensibilité, de tirer des renseignements managériaux intéressants. / This research focuses on carbon emission-reduction issues in an area where the government imposes emission-reduction policies on local manufacturers. Policymaking problems for the government and production planning problems for the manufacturers are investigated with Operations Research/Management Science (OR/MS) approaches. Two types of emission-reduction policies, including emission-cap regulation policy and emission cap-and-trade scheme, are addressed. We first discuss manufacturers’ long-term strategic decision problem under the government-imposed emission-cap regulation policy. With the objective of maximizing the manufacturers’ profits, Stackelberg game model is formulated to optimize their decisions on carbon footprint, wholesale price and retailer selection. The problem is proven to be NP hard and a hybrid algorithm is developed to solve the model. We then investigate manufacturers’ medium-term production planning to minimize the total production and inventory holding cost, by considering emission-reduction constraints through technology selection, some of the technologies being green. The problems are shown to be polynomially solvable. Based on these results, we study the government’s policymaking problems to maximize the social welfare of the area. Stackelberg game models are formulated to optimize the emission-reduction policies by anticipating manufacturers’ operational decisions in response to the governmental policies. Hybrid algorithms are developed to solve the problems. For each studied problem, numerical analyses are conducted to evaluate the algorithms. The computation results show that the algorithms developed in this research are effective. Some interesting and valuable managerial insights are drawn from computational results and sensitivity analyses.

This thesis examines and compares the humanitarian interventions in Kosovo, Libya and Somalia. The purpose of this study is to examine if the presence of strong tribal structures within a nation can increase the risk of terrorist activities, and subsequently contribute to a failed state following a humanitarian intervention. By applying a theory on tribes and critical terrorism studies, this thesis argues that policymakers might underestimate the significance of tribal structure within a state, before intervening. With Mills method of concomitant variation, this thesis has examined and compared the leadership, interventions, radical presence, and tribal structures of Kosovo, Libya and Somalia. This thesis has also examined if interventions can increase radicalism. The result from the analysis shows us that the presence of strong tribal structures can increase the terrorist activities and subsequently contribute to a failed state. Humanitarian intervention can further lengthen the weak state apparatus if the external actors neglect of the local structures of a state.

This study explores the global health diplomacy phenomenon by focusing on how and why health is integrated into foreign policy. Over the last decade or so, precipitated primarily by a growing concern about the need to strengthen global health security and deliver on the Millennium Development Goals, foreign policymakers have been paying more attention to health as a foreign policy concern and several countries have adopted formal global health policy positions and/or strategies. To elucidate a deeper and clearer understanding of how and why health is integrated into foreign policy, this thesis used a case study research design that incorporated literature and document review and interviews with twenty informants to conduct an in-depth analysis of the United Kingdom’s (UK) Health is Global: A UK Government Strategy 2008-13. Health is Global represents the first example of a formal national global health strategy developed using a multi-stakeholder process. Briefer background case reviews of three nations that are leaders in global health diplomacy - Brazil, Norway and Switzerland, were also conducted to inform the analysis of the in-depth case. Policy analysis included categorizing data into five areas: context (why?), content (what?), actors (who?), process (how?) and impact (so what?). The Multiple Streams Model of Policymaking and Fidler’s health and foreign policy conceptualizations - revolution, remediation and regression - were used to analyze the findings. Based on this analysis, the primary reason that the countries examined have decided to focus more on global health is self-interest - to protect national and international security and their economic interests. Investing in global health was also seen as a way to enhance a state’s international reputation. In terms of self-interest, Brazil was an outlier, however. International solidarity and health as a human right have been the driving forces behind its long-term investment in development cooperation to date. Investing in health for normative reasons was also a prevalent through weaker theme in the UK, Swiss and Norwegian cases. The study highlighted the critical role that policy entrepreneurs who cross the domains of international relations and health play in the global health policymaking process. In regards to advancing a conceptual understanding of global health diplomacy, the findings propose that the whole-of-government global health policymaking process is a form of global health diplomacy. The thesis elucidated factors that underpin this process as well as lessons for other nations, in particular, Canada. While ascertaining the impact of national global health strategies was not the main objective of this thesis, the study provided an initial look at the impact of these policy instruments and processes. Such impacts include better collaboration across government actors leading to enhanced policy coherence and a more strategic focus on global health. Finally, some have argued of late that the global health revolution is over due to the current world economic crisis. Considering the level of interest in whole-of-government global health strategies and the ever growing and sophisticated world-wide global health policy community, based on this thesis, the global health revolution is alive and well.

Unlike environmental non-governmental organisations and other knowledge producers, the European Environment Agency (EEA) seems to attract seemingly little academic interests among scholars of international relations. With this in mind, this thesis seeks to discuss how knowledge institutions such as the EEA may be seen as active participants in IR, while simultaneously seeking to extend academic discussion considering the EEA itself. More explicitly, and in order to narrow down its focus, this thesis is driven by a research question: what is the role of the EEA in policymaking and monitoring done by the European Commission? This thesis adopts social constructivism as its theoretical framework while building on data obtained through both a quantitative content analysis and semi-structured interviews. Both of these methods are used to identify as what kind of a knowledge producer the EEA is institutionalised as a part of the policymaking-complex of the Commission. This thesis finds that the EEA is best understood as an autonomous actor in IR which’s role is to legitimise and support environmental policymaking of the Commission rather than function as an active policymaker itself.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) has prompted major change in tobacco control globally. However, policy implementation has been uneven, making 'smoke free' outcomes possible in some countries, but not others. We identify the factors that would improve implementation. We describe an ideal type of 'comprehensive tobacco control regimes', where policy environments are conducive to the implementation of tobacco control measures designed to eradicate tobacco use. The ideal type requires that a country have certain policy processes: the department of health takes the policy lead; tobacco is 'framed' as a public health problem; public health groups are consulted at the expense of tobacco interests; socioeconomic conditions are conducive to policy change; and, the scientific evidence is 'set in stone' within governments. No country will meet all these criteria in the short term, and the gap between the ideal type and the current state is wide in many countries. However, the WHO experience provides a model for progress.

“[T]o devise development planning without the participation of [rural] women is like using four fingers when you have ten.” Both lack of access to energy and climate change threatens poverty reduction and sustainable development in Nigeria. Most poor communities in Africa use inadequate fuels and are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with women bearing most of the social, economic, and environmental costs. Promoting access to affordable and sustainable energy through policy interventions is one crucial path to achieving sustainable development. Renewable energy offers countries the opportunity to meet the energy demands of the poorest and most vulnerable in each society, and thereby achieve many of the sustainable development goals, such as: hunger and poverty eradication, gender equity, affordable and clean energy, climate action, and maternal health. The Nigerian government is constantly formulating legal frameworks for renewable energy to expand the availability of energy (including electricity) to rural areas while reducing the impacts of climate change. Yet the extent to which these legal frameworks will be implemented successfully remain in doubt; as to date, Nigeria has been unable to achieve its stated goal of sustainable development. Why are renewable energy policies and laws in Nigeria not succeeding? This thesis asks whether one reason may be that Nigerian women living in rural areas have little role in both designing renewable energy laws and policies and participating in their effective implementation. This is a problem given that rural women are the primary users of unsustainable energy, they suffer most from its negative impacts, they are the main beneficiaries of rural electrification, and the closest to the needs and capacities of the population in rural communities. This thesis is mainly qualitative. Multiple approaches (feminist historical research, documentary or doctrinal analysis as well as analysis by specific illustrative examples) were used to explore the phenomenon of why the Nigerian government’s concerted efforts at developing the legal frameworks for renewable energy have not yielded their desired goals of promoting sustainable development, and what lessons could be learned from South Africa. In addition to contributing to the gender and renewable energy literature, the research attempts to develop a blueprint for inclusive approaches to renewable energy law. It investigates how renewable energy legal and institutional frameworks could effectively include rural women. Using ideas from feminist legal theorists, the thesis makes a case for why rural women should be considered suitable stakeholder participants. It concludes that renewable energy policy- and law-making processes which consider the voices and active participation of rural women could encourage an increase in the generation, distribution, and use of renewable energy in the poorest inaccessible areas while closing the gap between renewable energy policies and laws, and sustainable development. Finally, it recommends that renewable energy policies and laws should increase rural women’s participation by using among other things “recognition politics,” which allows for the representation of subordinate social groups in bodies such as Parliaments; for example, by using measures such as mandatory affirmative action – quota system clauses, and techniques such as“Taking Parliament to the People.”

In 1997, both the United States (U.S.) and the European Union (EU) signed the Kyoto Protocol, the first legally binding international treaty with targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions. However, in 2001, the United States withdrew from the Protocol. This thesis seeks to understand some of the reasons why the European Union embraced the Kyoto Protocol while the United States did not. Using an overall framework of comparative politics, research is undertaken through three lenses. First, an overview of public opinion toward global warming and climate change in the U.S. and the EU analyzes potential differences or similarities from surveys carried out in each area. Second, I examine the prevailing political ideology in each polity, with emphasis on the period when climate change arose as a major global challenge. Finally, two case studies examine the theory of environmental federalism and how it might affect climate change policy action. I obtained the following results. Public opinion research has revealed that, on average, the American public is nearly as concerned with climate change as the European public. However, the overarching political ideology in the U.S. was one of conservatism, while that in Europe was one of social democracy, with left and center-left governments, contributing to a greater or lesser degree, and through indirect mechanisms, to the political stances adopted. Finally, the case of Germany shows that member state actions, such as the implementation of ambitious reductions targets, can still play a crucial role in leadership even in the presence of action at the central government level (EU). The California case study shows that state-level efforts can rise to fill a vacuum created by the absence of central government action. In the end, behavior of each polity regarding international climate agreements, particularly the Kyoto Protocol, cannot be explained in simple terms.; The complexity of the issues revolving climate change require further interdisciplinary research and collaboration among multiple actors including scientists, policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders.

This paper examines the future possible consequences of rising sea levels primarily due to melting Antarctic ice sheets. An objective is to research suitable methods for handling rising sea levels in Sweden. To analyze Swedish coastal exposure, predictions of sea level changes, water distribution known as fingerprints, and models for glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) are considered. Interviews with municipal representatives in northern and southern Sweden as well as governmental funding and legislative documents provide possible future challenges. GIA models and interviews suggest that northern Sweden will experience decreasing relative sea levels soon. Projections of rising sea levels differ, with a lowest sea level rise in southern Sweden at 20 cm in the year 2100, while the highest projections are above 60 cm rise, requiring implementation of coastal protection against erosion and increased risks of flooding. Future projections of ice melting and sea level rise are highly uncertain because of the dependency of the input parameters. Taking precautions and implementing protection in Sweden require extensive processes where mandatory periods can be an obstacle for long term action and funding. / Den här rapporten undersöker hur olika delar i Sverige är utsatta för den Antarktiska issmältningen som ökat under de senaste decennierna, samt vilka konsekvenser framtida prognoser kan få. Vidare finns ett fokus på metoder för hantering av den ökade risken för översvämning och erosion i utsatta områden vid den svenska kusten. Vattendistribution, beräknad höjning av havsvattennivån och landhöjningsmodeller används för att analysera de svenska kustområdenas utsatthet. Intervjuer med representanter från kommuner i norra och södra Sverige tillsammans med Statliga dokument om finansiering och lagstiftning ger ytterligare perspektiv på de utmaningar som finns inom hantering av höjda havsvattennivåer.  Både landhöjningsmodeller och intervjuer visar att norra Sverige kommer att uppleva en lägre relativ havsvattennivå inom en nära framtid men att osäkerheter angående utsläpp och issmältning gör det svårt att avgöra när relativa havsnivåer kommer att börja stiga i norra Sverige. Områden i södra Sverige kommer tidigare att utsättas för ökad erosion och mer omfattande översvämningar då havsnivån stiger i högre takt jämfört med landhöjningen. Prognoserna av stigande havsnivåer är av olika storlek, den lägsta beräknade havsnivåhöjningen för år 2100 i det mest utsatta södra Sverige motsvarar 20 cm, medan de högsta prognoserna visar på en nivå över 60 cm, något som kräver implementering av kustskydd. Framtida prognoser över issmältning och havsnivåhöjning är mycket osäkra på grund av de varierande ingångsparametrarna. Försiktighetsåtgärder och implementering av skydd i Sverige kräver omfattande processer där bland annat mandatperioder kan utgöra ett hinder för åtgärder och finansiering av projekt inom ett långt tidsintervall.

Automated vehicles are those which are capable of sensing their environments in order to perform at least some aspects of the safety-critical control (like steering, throttling, or braking) without direct human input. As a guide for planners and policymakers, the objective of this thesis is to develop a strong foundation for anticipating the potential impacts resulting from advancements in vehicle automation. To establish the foundation, this thesis uses a robust qualitative methodology, coupling a review of literature on the potential advantages and disadvantages of vehicle automation and lessons from past innovations in transportation, with recent trends of the Millennial Generation, carsharing services, and a series of interviews with thought-leaders in automation, planning, policymaking, transportation, and aviation. Five significant findings emerged from this thesis: (1) the impacts of vehicle automation differ depending on one’s visions of what automation means, how it is implemented, what the automation does, and where it operates; (2) current limitations of vehicle automation to perform all aspects of the dynamic driving task in all driving conditions make it difficult to move from level-4 to level-5 automation; (3) level-5 automation is required to have any effect on carsharing, mobility, and quality of life; (4) assuming effective planning and policymaking techniques, housing preferences, urban growth, and increases in total VMT will likely not be significantly impacted by vehicle automation; (5) human drivers may never be allowed to disengage their attention from a partially-automated vehicle, specifically in applications where drivers are expected to reengage their attention in safety-critical situations. From the perspective of understanding the bigger picture, this thesis developed a proposed future scenario of vehicle automation in the next five to ten years that is used to suggest guiding principles for policymakers, and key recommendations for planners, engineers, and researchers.