This qualitative comparative case study examined factors related to politics that might explain the notably different active transportation (AT - walking, cycling, and public transit use) rates achieved in Helsinki, Finland (a leading European city in AT, where 77 per cent of people use primarily AT for daily transportation) and Ottawa, Canada (a leading North American city in AT, but where the AT rate is 28.5 per cent). Applying the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) - a policy process theory - individual focused interviews were conducted with 47 active transportation experts from the two cities. Document review was employed as a secondary method. The results are discussed in three articles written for peer reviewed journals – the first two concentrating on the findings from Helsinki and Ottawa respectively, and the third article comparing the findings from both cities. Overall, differences stemming from the ACF category of relatively stable parameters (i.e., stable background-level factors) including land use, transportation planning traditions, and political systems were identified as likely important in explaining the discrepancy in AT rates.

Bostadsfrågan har blivit allt större då bristen av bostäder har spridit sig från större städer till mindre orter i landet. Lösningen på problemet är olika för de olika riksdagspartierna eftersom deras övertygelser ligger till grund för deras respektive policy. Genom att analysera dessa övertygelser kan möjliga koalitioner identifieras över en längre tid. Syftet med denna uppsats är att lyfta fram de olika policyer som partierna har genom att analysera deras valmanifest. Som teoretiskt ramverk används Advocacy Coalition Framework med fokus på Policy Core Belief. Som metod används en kvalitativ textanalys för att identifiera partiernas policy från deras valmanifest, motioner och propositioner. Resultatet visar att olika koalitioner har kunnat uppstå över en längre tid då partiernas Policy Core Belief har skiftat. Detta resultat belyser hur möjliga koalitioner kan uppstå och även att avsaknaden av förändring grundar sig i bristande samsyn på policyfrågor. Detta kan eventuellt förklaras med partiernas Deep Core Belief samt brist på en policyförändring, något som skulle kunna leda till fortsatt problematik längre fram i tiden.

Klimatförändringar innebär att Sverige i allt större utsträckning utsätts för problematik relaterat till havsnivåhöjningar, erosion, ras och skred, vilket kommer bli mer påtagliga i framtiden. Det finns alltså ett behov av att klimatanpassa svenska samhällen och det finns växande förväntningar att den fysiska planeringen ska kunna hantera och främja strategiskt nytänkande i klimatanpassningsfrågor. Idag finns flera metoder och strategier för hur klimatanpassning kan ta form, men det är främst så kallade hårda åtgärder, såsom vallar och murar, som verkställs i praktiken. Vad händer om en vall brister eller feldimensioneras? För att lösa denna problematik krävs nya tankesätt och typer av klimatanpassningsmetoder, såsom planerad reträtt, vilket krasst innebär att delar av samhället förflyttas bort från riskutsatta områden. Men planerad reträtt är nästan helt outforskat i en svensk kontext. Till följd av praktisk frånvaro råder förvirring kring metoden, vilket begränsar dess relevans och bidrar till det inte övervägs som en legitim klimatanpassningsmetod. Det finns alltså en deskripans mellan den svenska klimatanpassningsplaneringen och målsättningar om långsiktig resiliens. Därför finns det ett behov av att undersöka hur svensk planerings- och klimatanpassningspolicy förhåller sig till planerad reträtt och hur det kan bli en aktuell klimatanpassningsmetod. Denna uppsats ämnar att undersöka vilka förutsättningar som finns och behöver finnas för att planerad reträtt ska vara en aktuell klimatanpassningsstrategi i en svensk kontext, samt bredda kunskapen för beslutsfattande om förhållningssätt och ställningstagande i det fortsatta klimatanpassningsarbetet. Genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av intervjuer och dokument används Advocacy Coalition Framework för att analysera och kartlägga policyläget för planerad reträtt i en svensk kontext. Resultatet visar att en version av planerad reträtt redan bedrivs idag, men att det finns ett behov av formellt ansvarstagande och institutionsövergripande samarbete för att planerad reträtt ska bli en aktuell strategisk klimatanpassningsmetod i Sverige.

Since the introduction of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) as a public policy framework in the 1980s, much ACF literature has tried to develop policy-process theories by demonstrating how policy-network approaches can be combined with policy-process theories and by reviewing how group dynamics can influence policy outcomes. However, the limitations of previous ACF literature demand the need for this study to develop some conceptual steps for moving beyond the previous ACF approaches to produce better policy-process theories. This study focuses on three issues: (1) unit of analysis, (2) collective action in developing policy-process theories, and (3) the role of macro-level factors in applying policy-process theories to various cultural configurations.

Police supervisors who enjoy membership in their subordinates' police union may contribute to organizational discord by failing to enforce organizational policy among their subordinates. The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine the perceptions of 9 municipal chiefs from a west coast state in the United States regarding how supervisors' membership in their subordinates' police union affects policy enforcement and how supervisor enforcement of policy may impact police officer discipline. The conceptual framework was based on dual-commitment conflict theory. Data were collected using semi structured interviews and e-mail questionnaires. Data were member checked and cross-interpreted through coded analysis. Findings indicated that supervisors' membership in their subordinates' police union affected disciplinary outcomes. Participants' recommendations to address dual-commitment conflict included removal of supervisors from their subordinates' union, removal of supervisors' investigative duties, and outsourcing of critical investigations involving subordinates. The implications for social change can be observed in increased organizational transparency and police accountability, which may assist in enhancing police-community relationships.

No description available.

This study seeks to identify and examine issue transformation in public policies, and to understand the relationship between issue transformation and policy change. The focus for this investigation, the information resources management (IRM) policy subsystem, is examined as a 28-year case study, concluding at the end of 2002. Study results are documented textually, and visually in an exploratory, "virtual reality-based" Policy World. This study examines the questions: "In what ways are the core issues underlying public policies transformed over time, and what is the relationship between issue transformation and policy change?" Using the advocacy coalition framework (ACF) for explaining policy change over considerable periods of time, this research identifies and examines the issues over which policy coalitions contend, and seeks to identify issue transformation in the IRM policy subsystem's 28-year history. Augmenting the traditional paper-based dissertation is an exploratory, "virtual reality-based" case study, called "Policy World," that visualizes both the policy subsystem environment and critical elements of the external policy system. Visually depicting the richness, texture, and artifacts of policy activities aids policy learning, and promotes understanding of the dynamic and complex environment of issue transformation and policy change. In confirming issue transformation, this study contributes to the advocacy coalition framework by detailing the initiation and maturation of a policy subsystem. In demonstrating issue transformation's role as facilitating policy continuity through policy change, this study contributes to policy theory. As a chronology of IRM's issue transformation and policy change, this study documents the rise of IT-enabled governance for public administrators and educators. Policy World provides an interactive, experiential learning environment for public administration scholars and practitioners wanting substantive knowledge of both policy theory and Federal IRM policies. Public administration literature notes both the need for and the lack of an information resource management component to public administration education. Information visualization concepts are combined with interactive designs and hosting on the World Wide Web, to provide wide access to Policy World and extend educational opportunities in public policy and information resources management wherever desired. / Ph. D.

Esta dissertação analisa o resultado da COP 21, que aconteceu em Paris no ano de 2015, através da capacidade que as coalizões domésticas, dentro de China e Estados Unidos, tiveram em influenciar a política climática durante o período que vai de 1992 até 2015. É através da identificação das coalizões domésticas (ambiental e pó-desenvolvimento econômico) que buscamos explicar como o processo político doméstico, nos dois países, foi moldado a partir das articulações e interações entre os grupos que compõe as coalizões. Até a COP 21, a política climática global parecia não avançar em vistas a uma solução do aquecimento global, a COP 15 é referenciada neste trabalho como o fracasso dos acordos climáticos, no entanto, 5 anos mais tarde, em 2015, juntos EUA e China, o dois maiores emissores da atualidade, anunciam suas metas de redução dos gases de efeito estufa. O que explica essa mudança de posicionamento, segundo a hipótese deste trabalho, é o amadurecimento e a articulação das coalizões doméstica dentro dos dois países, em primeiro lugar, e os acordos bilaterais que ambos promoveram entre os anos de 2009 e 2015 para trata das questões climáticas fora do sistema ONU de tomada d decisão. O resultado encontrado é que de fato, até 2009, a coalizão pró-desenvolvimento econômico conseguiu que sua influencia no processo político da condução da politica climática prevalecesse, no entanto, do período posterior a 2009 até 2015, pudemos ver que a coalizão ambiental conseguiu que sua influencia causasse, inclusive, um transbordamento para a arena internacional. / This essay analyze the COP 21 outcomes, that was held in Paris in 2015, through the domestic coalitions capacity, inside China and USA, had to influence the climate policy during the period that goes from 1992 until 2015. It is through the identification of domestic (environmental and economic development) coalitions that we seek to explain how the domestic political process, in both countries, was shaped by the articulations and interactions between the groups that make up the coalitions. Until COP 21, global climate policy did not seem to advance towards a solution to global warming, COP 15 is referred to, in this paper, as the failure of climate agreements, however, 5 years later in 2015, U.S and China together, the two largest emitters today, announce their targets for reducing greenhouse gases. What explains this change of position, according to the hypothesis of this work, is that the maturation and articulation of domestic coalitions within both countries, first, and the bilateral agreements that both promoted between the years of 2009 and 2015 to deal with the climate change issues outside of the UN system of decision-making. The result was that in fact, until 2009, the economic development coalition had its influence on the political process of climate policy prevailing, however, from the period after 2009 until 2015, we could see that the environmental coalition succeeded in its influence would even cause an overflow to the international arena.

Esta dissertação analisa o resultado da COP 21, que aconteceu em Paris no ano de 2015, através da capacidade que as coalizões domésticas, dentro de China e Estados Unidos, tiveram em influenciar a política climática durante o período que vai de 1992 até 2015. É através da identificação das coalizões domésticas (ambiental e pó-desenvolvimento econômico) que buscamos explicar como o processo político doméstico, nos dois países, foi moldado a partir das articulações e interações entre os grupos que compõe as coalizões. Até a COP 21, a política climática global parecia não avançar em vistas a uma solução do aquecimento global, a COP 15 é referenciada neste trabalho como o fracasso dos acordos climáticos, no entanto, 5 anos mais tarde, em 2015, juntos EUA e China, o dois maiores emissores da atualidade, anunciam suas metas de redução dos gases de efeito estufa. O que explica essa mudança de posicionamento, segundo a hipótese deste trabalho, é o amadurecimento e a articulação das coalizões doméstica dentro dos dois países, em primeiro lugar, e os acordos bilaterais que ambos promoveram entre os anos de 2009 e 2015 para trata das questões climáticas fora do sistema ONU de tomada d decisão. O resultado encontrado é que de fato, até 2009, a coalizão pró-desenvolvimento econômico conseguiu que sua influencia no processo político da condução da politica climática prevalecesse, no entanto, do período posterior a 2009 até 2015, pudemos ver que a coalizão ambiental conseguiu que sua influencia causasse, inclusive, um transbordamento para a arena internacional. / This essay analyze the COP 21 outcomes, that was held in Paris in 2015, through the domestic coalitions capacity, inside China and USA, had to influence the climate policy during the period that goes from 1992 until 2015. It is through the identification of domestic (environmental and economic development) coalitions that we seek to explain how the domestic political process, in both countries, was shaped by the articulations and interactions between the groups that make up the coalitions. Until COP 21, global climate policy did not seem to advance towards a solution to global warming, COP 15 is referred to, in this paper, as the failure of climate agreements, however, 5 years later in 2015, U.S and China together, the two largest emitters today, announce their targets for reducing greenhouse gases. What explains this change of position, according to the hypothesis of this work, is that the maturation and articulation of domestic coalitions within both countries, first, and the bilateral agreements that both promoted between the years of 2009 and 2015 to deal with the climate change issues outside of the UN system of decision-making. The result was that in fact, until 2009, the economic development coalition had its influence on the political process of climate policy prevailing, however, from the period after 2009 until 2015, we could see that the environmental coalition succeeded in its influence would even cause an overflow to the international arena.

At the end of 2016, the Swedish petroleum and biofuel company Preem applied for an environmental permit to convert high-sulfur bunker oil to low-sulfur petrol and diesel at Preemraff Lysekil. Something that required an expansion of the refinery. The process ended abruptly in September 2020 when Preem chose to withdraw their application. In connection with the process, two actor coalitions were formed, with one being for an expansion and the other against. Both coalitions had the explicit goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing climate change. The difference, however, was their view on whether this could be achieved thanks to an expansion of Preemraff Lysekil, or if it could only happen without it. Through their actions the coalitions have tried to influence the policy process in a direction that is desirable for them. This study aims to systematically map the coalitions and their actions and contribute to a deeper understanding of their actions and impact on the process of the planned expansion project of Preemraff Lysekil. The study is designed as a qualitative case study and is based on The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), which can be used to explain and understand beliefs and policy change when multiple actors are involved in a policy process. According to the ACF, actors who share similar policy core beliefs come together in coalitions to increase the chances of policy change. The study also uses urban regime theory to understand the informal and unspoken agenda between Preemraff Lysekil and Lysekil municipality. The results from previous research show several common denominators with the Preemraff Lysekil case. The analysis shows that the actors who were against an expansion had similar deep core beliefs and consistent policy core beliefs, they also had a consensus on how the policy change should be implemented. They have tried to influence the process by appealing court decisions and tried to get the Swedish government to take over the assessment of the application, which also happened. The analysis shows that the actors who were in favor of an expansion had more dispersed deep core beliefs but were consistent in their policy core beliefs and secondary beliefs. They have made attempts to stop the government from taking over the case from the court. As these attempts have been unsuccessful, they instead tried to get the government to allow an expansion. By using different forms of resources, both coalitions have tried to get the public and decision-makers to support their own proposal for policy change, with varying results. What ultimately led Preem to withdraw the application is not clarified. Maybe the pressure from those who were against an expansion became too powerful, maybe the COVID-19 pandemic left such a big mark on international production chains and the global market that an expansion was no longer profitable. There is also a possibility that Preem's decision is based on both parts, but we will probably never know.