Syftet med denna uppsats är att identifiera möjliga utfallspåverkande faktorer som möjliggör ett framgångsrikt implementerat utfall avseende social hänsyn i offentlig upphandling i en svensk kontext. Analysen och slutsatserna bygger på en jämförelse mellan två fall där utfallet utgör den gemensamma nämnaren. Underlaget till uppsatsen bygger primärt på intervjuer med tjänstemän och politiker i Sigtuna och i Örebro. De teoretiska analysverktygen som används i denna uppsats är hämtade från Rational choice- och Normativ institutionalism. Tre temafaktorer har använts för att kategorisera likheter och skillnader mellan fallen. Dessa är spelregler, preferenser och resurser. Resultatet visar på att fallen har fler möjliga utfallspåverkande faktorer gemensamma än de har utfallspåverkande faktorer som skiljer dem åt. En troligt viktig möjlig förklarande faktor ligger i att frågan om sociala krav har hanterats på ledningsnivå som en strategisk fråga, snarare än som en juridisk eller teknisk fråga. Fallen kan även förstås som att behovet av upphandling och behovet av sociala åtgärder har växt fram oberoende av varandra innan själva upphandlingsprocesserna och att det är genom aktörernas aktioner som upphandlingsfrågan och den sociala frågan har kombinerats. Dock rör det sig inte om en institutionell förändring som katalysator för implementeringen, utan snarare om inkrementell förändring i synen på offentlig upphandling som ett verktyg för social förändring. / The purpose of this thesis is to identify probable outcome influencing factors that enable a successful implemented outcome of social considerations in public procurement in a Swedish context. The analysis and conclusions are based on a comparison between two cases where the outcome is the common denominator. The empirical material for the thesis is primarily gathered from interviews with officials and politicians in Sigtuna and in Örebro municipalities. The theoretical tools used for analysis in this thesis are taken from Rational choice and Normative institutionalism. Three thematic factors have been used to categorize the similarities and differences between the cases: these are the rules of the game, preferences and resources. The result shows that the cases have more probable outcome influencing factors in common than they exhibit outcome influencing factors that set them apart. A likely important probable explanatory factor is to be found in the fact that the subject of social considerations was handled at a management / political level as a strategic issue, rather than as a legal or technical issue. The cases can also be understood in a manner which informs us that the need for procurement and the need for social action have evolved independently of each other and before the actual procurement processes. It is through the actors’ actions that the procurement issues and the social considerations have been combined into a common issue. However, the result does not indicate an institutional change as a catalyst for the implementation, but rather that the change in the perception of public procurement as a tool with social policy implication represents an incremental change within the existing institutions.

The aim of this master's thesis is to define and analyse the anti-Communist cycle: a group of several dozen feature films, which were produced in the United States since the late forties until the end of the fifties. The thesis adopts a critical approach to the current research on the cycle; it considers that scholars have not taken into account much of the relevant context and have described the cycle only as a reflection of some social phenomena. This project enriches the debate by considering the plurality of differently motivated participants. In addition to shifts in the society as a whole, the emphasis is put on the interests of both the film industry and ones, who expressed their disagreement with the dominant form of anti-Communism, but not with the anti-Communism itself. The anti-Communist cycle is thus presented as a dynamic group of various films in terms of ideas, style or genres; among these films a discreet tension was created. This general hypothesis is tested by three extensive chapters. The first chapter deals with the context and defines the role of all participants. It is divided into two parts: (a) the historical context, (b) the context of the film industry. The second chapter summarizes the long continuity of production of anti-Communist films in the United States; then it...

This dissertation examines the quality of hazard mitigation elements in a coastal, hazard prone state. I answer two questions. First, in a state with a strong mandate for hazard mitigation elements in comprehensive plans, does plan quality differ among county governments? Second, if such variation exists, what drives this variation? My research focuses primarily on Florida’s 35 coastal counties, which are all at risk for hurricane and flood hazards, and all fall under Florida’s mandate to have a comprehensive plan that includes a hazard mitigation element. Research methods included document review to rate the hazard mitigation elements of all 35 coastal county plans and subsequent analysis against demographic and hazard history factors. Following this, I conducted an electronic, nationwide survey of planning professionals and academics, informed by interviews of planning leaders in Florida counties. I found that hazard mitigation element quality varied widely among the 35 Florida coastal counties, but were close to a normal distribution. No plans were of exceptionally high quality. Overall, historical hazard effects did not correlate with hazard mitigation element quality, but some demographic variables that are associated with urban populations did. The variance in hazard mitigation element quality indicates that while state law may mandate, and even prescribe, hazard mitigation in local comprehensive plans, not all plans will result in equal, or even adequate, protection for people. Furthermore, the mixed correlations with demographic variables representing social and disaster vulnerability shows that, at least at the county level, vulnerability to hazards does not have a strong effect on hazard mitigation element quality. From a theory perspective, my research is significant because it compares assumptions about vulnerability based on hazard history and demographics to plan quality. The only vulnerability-related variables that appeared to correlate, and at that mildly so, with hazard mitigation element quality, were those typically representing more urban areas. In terms of the theory of Neo-Institutionalism and theories related to learning organizations, my research shows that planning departments appear to have set norms and rules of operating that preclude both significant public involvement and learning from prior hazard events.

Bibliografický záznam TAUCHMANOVÁ, Barbora. Evropský systém obchodování s emisními povolenkami (EU ETS), jeho fungování a úspěšnost. Praha, 2017. 81 s. Diplomová práce (Mgr.) Univerzita Karlova, Fakulta sociálních věd, Institut mezinárodních studií. Katedra evropských studií. Vedoucí diplomové práce doc. Mgr. Tomáš Weiss, M.A., Ph.D. Abstract This thesis European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS), its functioning and success analyzes EU's emission trading scheme that has been created in 2005. This system has gone through a considerable development but his most visible and very important parameter - price of one emission allowance - still points out the problems of the whole system through its value (or the lack of it). In this work, the ETS is understood as an institution and is looked at through the optics of combination of rational and historical institutionalism. The aim of the thesis was to answer two questions - why can be the emission trading system considered dysfunctional despite a series of reforms and, consequently, why this system stays preserved in its current form and settings. As the work explains, considerable role in the long-term price failure had been played by economic crisis. But its influence can be tied only to a certain time period, so the continuing problems have to be ascribed...

Native nation building is a phenomenon largely neglected by mainstream political science. There are empirical and theoretical gaps in the study of political structures of Native nations. The empirical focus of this dissertation is on the rebuilding process of the White Earth Nation located in northwestern Minnesota. The objective is to investigate the long-term process of White Earth governance in order to get insights into the background of the present state of the White Earth institutional stalemate. I trace external and internal factors that influenced the formation, preservation, and transformation of the White Earth government established as part of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe under the Indian Reorganization Act provisions in 1936. To understand this process, it is necessary to include the historical context of the White Earth constitutionalism from 1913 to the present. I analyze some hitherto unknown archival materials using a flexible theoretical framework which I designed specifically for the purpose of studying the White Earth nation-building process. This case-specific framework eclectically uses a combination of theoretical approaches of Native American studies, genealogy, Vincent Pouliot's practice tracing, and new institutionalism. My findings suggest that the White Earth...

Det klimatpolitiska ramverket antogs i Sverige 2017 till syftet att hålla den exekutiva makten ansvarig för att bedriva klimatpolitisk hänsyn. En grundläggande målsättning som ligger till bakgrund är att integrera klimatfrågan i samtliga politiska områden. Problemområdet berör svårigheter att uppnå klimatpolicyintegrering på nationell nivå i och med avsaknaden av sanktionsmöjligheter och på lokala nivån som inom ramen för självstyrelse likväl behöver förhålla sig till lokala institutioner och faktorer. Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga hur denna integrering av klimatpolitik har tagit vid på den nationella nivån för att sedan undersöka huruvida detta har haft någon inverkan på den lokala nivåns klimatarbete på energiområdet. Studien avser i detta genomförande att undersöka hur värderingar och lokala förutsättningar påverkar klimatpolicyintegrering inom sex svenska kommuner. Med hjälp av kvalitativ textanalys och samtalsintervjuer kommer studien fram till ett antal slutsatser. Resultatet visar att den kartlagda klimatpolicyintegreringen är svag och därmed ger klimatmålet likvärdig hänsyn i relation till sektoriella mål såväl nationellt som lokalt. Inom kommuner har värderingar förmåga att i vissa fall stärka klimatpolicyintegrering medan kontextuella faktorer i form av ekonomiska resurser kan vara en hindrande omständighet i sammanhanget. / Sweden adopted its Climate Act and Policy Framework in 2017 which holds the government responsible to pursue climate policy based on the goals formulated by the Swedish Parliament. The main objective is to integrate climate policy within all political areas. The study revolves around the difficulties that may emerge on a national level where the possibility for sanctions are absent, and on a local level where the autonomy of municipalities have to take local institutions and contexts into account. The aim of this study is thus to identify how the integration of climate policy takes place on the national level and subsequently explore whether influence has occurred in the energy sector of the municipalities. This is accomplished by analyzing how values and local conditions affect climate policy integration in six Swedish municipalities. After applying qualitative methods, text analysis and interviews, two conclusions can be made. The results show, that on the one hand, although climate policy integration has occurred on the national and local levels, it has been weak by giving equal consideration to climate policy to sectorial issues. On the other, values can strengthen climate policy integration while economic resources may be a hindering circumstance.

Research policy has become increasingly important for policymakers in Europe as it is considered to be a driving force behind the global knowledge-based economy. An array of new tools for the evaluation and funding of research have been implemented both by the European Union and its Member States; particularly distinctive are those that have been developed in the Czech Republic and Sweden. This dissertation, through four cases studies, investigates why these tools have appeared and what effects they have on the practice of research. Using a conceptual framework of public administration ideal-type narratives, the dissertation shows that these new tools can be considered as New Public Management type reforms. Further, the dissertation creates a theoretical model in which institutional theories are operationalized and used to reveal the politics behind the policy tools and the way that they affect individual behavior in the academic environment. The results demonstrate that strong influences are exerted by the rational choice logics embedded in New Public Management tools, which do distort the practice of research, yet these influences are also tempered by other historically and normatively-based logics within the complex system of research in higher education institutions. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

European Union faced several external challenges in the beginning of the 21st century. Its enlargement to 24 member states led to a state of dissimilar and not well interconnected economies in need of a new model of external competitiveness. Finding the model and, more importantly, delivering it on community level, was a new task of the European Commission, especially after re-launch of the Lisbon strategy in 2005. Yet, there was another challenge for EU that was not so easy to address by the Commission: the relative weakening of EU's external economic action comparing to new increasingly assertive policies of other international players, especially BRICs. Was it possible for the Commission focus only on supporting EU competitiveness without any external action, as was expected by articles of the Treaty of Nice? As the thesis argues, indeed there was an external action of the Commission before the Lisbon treaty, through its public support of SME internationalization within the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). A neoinstitutional analysis of the issues on two levels is carried out: Firstly on the level of European institutions (motives, relevant contexts and institutional rules), secondly, on the level of secondary actors (SMEs, NGOs, CIP executive agency EACI), where the...

This diploma thesis focuses on the development of the common EU security policy between the years 2014-2019. Its aim is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the rapid progress of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in recent years, as well as to an explanation of their current functioning. The work seeks to achieve this through the three dominant strands of new institutionalism (historical, rationalist and sociological), which have already proven to be the theories able to clarify the European integration process. The thesis examines the process of EU security integration and its strengthening through the creation of new tools in the security-political dimension. Each theoretical variant focuses on different issues and different part of reality, this way the thesis leads to a more comprehensive explanations. The basic research question set out is as follows: How can we explain the unprecedented development of a common EU security policy using the dominant strands of new institutionalism in the period 2014-2019? From a methodological point of view, it is conducted as a one-case qualitative study.

In 2020, the corona virus was officially classified as a pandemic. Most countries’ economywas badly affected, and many companies were in need of state aid to survive. However, due to the European single market and its competition policy, the European commission has strict state aid rules. Hence, because of the circumstances, the commission implemented a temporary framework for state aid, which enabled for economic assistance that would normally not be in accordance with the competition policy. Because some countries had expressed concern for more generous state aid rules to threaten the single market, the commission needed to be strategic with their communication, in order for the member states to see it as necessary and legitimate. The aim of this study is to illustrate and analyze how the commission framed the temporary state aid rules to legitimize it. The method of use isframing analysis. The main results are that the two frames the commission used to legitimize the temporary state aid rules were that the crisis needed to be solved mutually, and the fact that it was an economic crisis. In conclusion, the commission framed the temporary state aidrules by alluding to common interests among the member states, such as the importance of European cooperation and the single market. They did this to legitimize the temporary state aid rules.