The purpose of this thesis is to study the social construction of the legitimacy of the European Central Bank (ECB). This research addresses the research gap in literature on the legitimacy of the ECB. The research conceptualizes a constructivist concept of legitimacy as contestation that is shaped by norms and ideas. The theoretical framework is applied in a case study of the ECB’s policies during the European sovereign debt crisis. The textual data consists of statements by significant political actors in European economic governance. A qualitative content analysis is applied as a method of analysis. The main findings of the research are that the dominant legitimacy discourse during the European sovereign debt crisis was shaped by ordoliberal norms. Those norms were challenged, due to their moral commitments, by a communitarian democratic discourse. The thesis argues that the dominant legitimacy discourse establishes a wider framework of legitimacy for the EMU as a whole and does not only legitimate the policies of the ECB. In addition, the thesis contributes to the understanding of the role of norms and ideas as constitutive of legitimacy. In relation to the field of Global Politics, this study introduces a case of legitimacy in supranational global governance.

El entrepreneurship o actividad emprendedora es un área de estudio que se encuentra en pleno desarrollo debido por una parte al impulso de las administraciones (desde las locales a las internacionales), y por otra a que los emprendedores son generadores de riqueza y empleo en la sociedad. A nivel teórico aún no existe un marco consensuado que sirva de referencia para el análisis de este fenómeno y por tanto de uno de sus principales protagonistas: el emprendedor. En esta tesis abordamos el estudio del fenómeno del emprendimiento y analizamos competencias y pautas de comportamiento que caracterizan al emprendedor universitario. Para construir su perfil, que veremos que se diferencia del resto de empleados y autoempleados, se analizan en primer lugar 19.746 graduados europeos y se continúa con el análisis de 1.090 emprendedores de la Comunidad Valenciana (la mayoría de ellos con titulación universitaria). Durante el estudio se confirma la influencia que la formación ejerce sobre los emprendedores y la manera de afrontar decisiones ocupacionales. Los emprendedores demandan recibir mayor formación emprendedora y cercana a la realidad empresarial durante sus estudios, y posteriormente, como se demuestra con una muestra de 4.040 emprendedores, se confirma que acuden a acciones formativas que refuercen sus pautas de comportamiento emprendedor y sus conocimientos en Business y Management. Para concluir la tesis, se estudia en profundidad el caso del Instituto IDEAS de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, primera área de apoyo a emprendedores de la Universidad española. / Garzón Benítez, MD. (2010). Entrepreneurship y el papel de los emprendedores en la sociedad: el caso del Instituto IDEAS como pionero universitario [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/7523 / Palancia

This thesis examines Karl Jaspers' theory of the origin of man in a historical period 2500 years ago.Jaspers believes that it was then that man's current mental and spiritual consciousness was formed and developed. Jaspers was convinced that man should use the abilities of his origin as a counterforce in the struggle in modern reality, a development which in many respects was based on myths, dogmas and irrationality, and which characterized man's living conditions. After suffering the trauma of World War II until 1945, Jaspers decided to identify the good qualities that he believed all people should have in common, thereby creating new existential conditions. Jaspers started from the archaic and classical times in history and then found a period where man had obviously been endowed with specific soul gifts and cognitive qualities. He called the period "the axial age" in the book published in 1949, Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte, which was then translated into English in 1953 with the title The Origin and Goal of History. The English edition is the primary source in this study. In his book, Jaspers uses a philosophical-historical perspective on the origins and events that he associates with human development during the axial age, in order to draw attention to the normative image we have of our selves and others as human beings in the world. Jaspers pedagogically describes the life man lives in modernity in the same way as when Plato explains the world of ideas. As it is demonstrated in the thesis, Jasper's idea is based on a speculative reflection on the origin and properties of man and regards it as a "tabula rasa" with new existential conditions intended for man in the modern world, facing a charge and a prelude to the future. Furthermore, the thesis explores comments on and critique of this theory expressed by other scholars.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether and to what extent free association following exposure to written material would affect the memory of that material, and whether the effect upon memory would vary with age of the subject. A test of learning (immediate retention) resulted in a significant difference in performance between young and old women--the older learning less. Free association was not found to be significant as a mnemonic aid to either age group, and was compared with characteristics of other more common mnemonics. Suggestions for additional research are discussed.

This master thesis in History of Science and Ideas explores ideas held by Swedishimmigrants to the United States during the period 1859-1909: their opinions about the newlife in America compared to the life they had before in Sweden. Previous researchindicates that Swedish immigrants in general had a positive view on the possibility tosupport themselves by working in America, contrasted to the limited possibilities to do soin Sweden. Furthermore, they were attracted to America since workers there wereconsidered as equals to persons from upper social classes. Yet, Swedes also had to adaptto the new culture, for example by learning English. The immigrants did not likeeverything about America but most of them wanted to stay there for the rest of their life.The results in this study points to the same conclusions but the source material usedletterswritten by (mainly) workers- makes it possible to take the analysis a bit further, insome respects.

The purpose is to understand the reasons for changed perceptions about Swedish nuclear weapons during the time when Sweden considered acquiring these weapons. The main question is: which stories about Swedish nuclear weapons did key players in Sweden present from 1958 to 1963 and how did these stories change. Primary sources are texts from 1958– 1963, texts for or against Swedish atomic weapons, government investigations and political texts and bills. The theoretical perspective is framing analysis (Kuypers) and narrative analysis (Shenhav) unified in a method. Text-by-text, framing, agenda extension, and story are investigated and compared, supported by previous research. The analysis shows that stories can be divided into five categories, the military, the dystopian, the scientific, the state community building and the security policy stories. In 1958, the military story of nuclear weapons dominated as an issue of weapons development in the nuclear age. The following year, new stories came from opinion leaders, the yes side developed stories about the necessity of the bomb for the military and in foreign policy. The no side told stories about the consequences of a Swedish bomb as a dystopia for humanity and the collapse in foreign relations. Both told scientific stories about the effects which either ended in calming message to the people or created fear of radiation damage and the genetics of future generations. After 1959 both the Social Democrats and the military began to hesitate and changed their stories. Among other things, future civil nuclear power, economic realism and good relations with the US outweighed the idea of nuclear weapons guaranteeing a Swedish non-alliance policy. The change in the stories could also be interpreted as an early de facto no a conclusion shared by previous research. By 1963 the Social Democrats' story of a modern society without nuclear weapons dominated.

The aim of this paper is to examine the ideational leadership of the European Unions' executive institution, the European Commission, by studying its legislative response to the surge in irregular migration to the European Union in 2015 and 2016. In order to assess which form of ideational leadership the Commission expresses, key ideas, rooted in either liberalism or realism, were extracted from the selected documents with the help of an analytical tool, created for a deductive qualitative content analysis based on Watt Boolsens' seven step model. Ten legislative documents proposed by the Commission, deemed relevant to its response to irregular migration, ranging from the period May 2015 to June 2016, were selected. Meaningful entities of these documents were coded and designated a subcategory belonging to key ideas of either liberal or realist nature. These subcategories originate from the main categories: State & Individuals, Humanism & Rights, Borders & Security, and lastly International actors & Cooperation. This paper is thereby able to demonstrate which ideas prevail in the Commissions' legislative response to failures in policy during a time of crisis. The results indicate that the Commission expresses ideas predominantly rooted in realism, such as cooperation when deemed beneficial to the...

Den här uppsatsen undersöker den åttonde internationella orientalistkongressen i Stockholm och Kristiania 1889, efter vilken den vetenskapliga disciplinen orientalistik och dess internationella relationer och möteskultur ställdes under omförhandling. Genom att lansera en i dessa sammanhang ny och välkomnande hållning gentemot icke-européer orsakade kongressens generalsekreterare Carlo Landberg en konflikt med de orientalister som strävade efter att behålla kongressens tydligt europeiska och vetenskapliga prägel. Ytterligare en orsak till konflikt var den karaktär av utställning och spektakel som kongressen ansågs ha. Inledningsvis var konflikten ideologisk men kom senare att ta nationella uttryck, främst genom konkurrensen mellan franska och tyska orientalister. Tyskarna var i stor majoritet vid kongressen, och hade dessutom besegrat Frankrike i krig mindre än 20 år tidigare. Undersökningen visar att konfliktens olika sidor mycket väl kunde vara överens om allmänna uppfattningar gällande de så kallade ”österlänningarnas” icke-vetenskapliga karaktärer och låga vetenskapliga förmågor, och att konflikten snarare gällde i vilken utsträckning själva orientalistkongresserna skulle ha som uppgift att åtgärda denna ”österlänningarnas” brist på vetenskaplighet. När ett särskilt kongressutskott mot slutet av kongressen öppnar för att förlägga nästkommande kongress i ”Orienten” svarar franska och engelska orientalister, som inte fick vara med i utskottet, först med en skarp protest och senare med att hålla en mot-kongress i London. Gällande detta visar undersökningen att detta troligen grundade sig på en prestigeförlust för fransmännen, som var de första som höll i en orientalistkongress, och en engelsk strävan efter att styra kongressernas innehåll, bland annat att göra handeln till ett ämne för förhandlingarna.

This study investigates the impact that certain constructs of Leader Member Exchange (LMX) between supervisors and shop floor workers of South African manufacturing firms have on the willingness of the shop floor workers to introduce new ideas. In particular, the constructs; trust, development of skills and inclusion of the worker is examined. Since shop-floor workers are intimately involved with their day to day operations and work at the coalface, the ideas recommended by these individuals are suggested to often be antecedents of innovation. By gaining an understanding of the relationship between the aforementioned LMX constructs and the willingness of shop floor workers to introduce new ideas, certain modes of behavioural interaction can be implemented in order to enhance shop floor innovation. It is argued that such strategic intervention in turn will result in shop floor innovation as a source of competitive advantage for an organisation.The primary data was collected through physical interviews using a questionnaire that addresses all the mentioned constructs. All of the 50 dyads were usable in the correlation and regression models run. The outcome of this research supports the literature that trust and inclusion are positively correlated with the willingness of shop floor workers to introduce new ideas. Notably was the extent to which workers and supervisors perceived levels of worker inclusion differently. The regression analysis reveals that some of the willingness of workers to introduce new ideas can be explained by the presence of all three explanatory variables namely, trust, development and inclusion. The research has shown that trust contributes to willingness of workers to introduce new ideas, but in contrast to literature, development has a negative impact. The results provide insight into the relationships between these constructs and the willingness of shop floor workers in South African manufacturing firms to introduce new ideas. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The aim of this diploma thesis is the characterization of matches and differences representing everydayness within selected pairs; seniors and their descendants. Based on qualitative in- depth interviews, agreements and disagreements are found in the ideas of everyday life and their own presentation. These agreements or disagreements are further analyzed using the theories of everyday life that are presented in this thesis. Findings about ideas of everyday of each pair is further discussed with existing literature dealing with motives that play a crucial role in deciding of moving a senior, who is no longer able to take care of himself completely, into institutional or home care. Based on literature and research findings, it is discussed whether an interperspective idea of everyday life can be one of the other reasons for choosing home or institutional care for the elderly.