Ce travail de recherche vise à utiliser la sociologie néo-institutionnelle et ses concepts clés tels que les logiques institutionnelles et le travail institutionnel pour analyser comment les acteurs agissent sur les institutions au niveau d'une filière agricole. Nous avons choisi de vérifier l'applicabilité de notre cadre théorique dans un contexte empirique subissant un changement institutionnel, la filière légumes mauricienne. Pour valider le cadre théorique choisi, nous avons tout d'abord mené un terrain exploratoire. A travers une analyse thématique des enquêtes, nous avons identifié les logiques institutionnelles qui orientent les actions de nos principaux acteurs dans la filière légumes mauricienne, et les types et formes de travail institutionnel entreprit par les acteurs en place et nouveaux de la filière légumes. Cette thèse permet de conclure que l'étude du travail institutionnel dans une dynamique de filière agricole a toute son importance car l'approche sociologique permet aux chercheurs de mieux appréhender le comportement des acteurs de la filière.Mots clés : sociologie néo-institutionnelle, logique institutionnelle, travail institutionnelle, filière agricole, analyse de contenu thématique, analyse qualitative comparée. / This research work aimed at using sociological neo institutionalism and its key concepts, institutional logics, and institutional work to understand the work undertaken by actors in an agricultural value chain. We have chosen the Mauritian vegetable value chain, in the context of an institutional change, as a field of study to apply the theoretical concepts. An exploratory study was carried out to validate the theoretical framework selected. Thematic content analysis allowed us to identify the institutional logics of the vegetable value chain as well as the different types and forms of institutional work undertaken by the incumbent and new actors. This research work allows us to conclude that the use of the concept of institutional work to understand the dynamics of an agricultural value chain is important as the sociological lens enables researchers to better understand actors' behavior in a value chain.Key words: sociological neo institutionalism, institutional logics, and institutional, agricultural value chain, thematic analysis, qualitative comparative analysis

A política comercial brasileira e o arcabouço institucional em que é coordenada e formulada passaram por importantes transformações a partir da abertura econômica em 1990. Suas estruturas administrativas foram completamente remodeladas. Estas mudanças incentivaram a politização e pluralização da política comercial de forma que a sua tomada de decisão e implementação passaram a ocorrer em um novo contexto, marcado por novos condicionantes e demandas num ambiente de comércio exterior muito mais complexo e competitivo. A complexificação da agenda comercial mobilizou novos atores burocráticos que não haviam participado da política comercial desenvolvimentista, tornando evidente o aumento do seu grau de politização. Posto isto, analisamos o processo de construção das instituições que regem a política de comércio exterior pós-abertura econômica, tendo como foco analítico as relações entre a mudança institucional e a dinâmica político-burocrática interna do Poder Executivo. Analisamos aqui o conflito interno ao Poder Executivo entre as diferentes agências e órgãos burocráticos que tinham ou tenham competências e interesses envolvidos neste campo mais complexo no qual a política comercial atual foi e é disputada e produzida e como foi a ação da Presidência da República em termos de seu grau de envolvimento efetivo em cada uma dessas alterações. Optamos por analisar as instituições que compõem o quadro de coordenação desta política. O primeiro corte de estudo foi o processo de extinção da Carteira de Comércio Exterior do Banco do Brasil (Cacex), principal símbolo e a síntese da institucionalidade do modelo desenvolvimentista de industrialização por substituição de importações sobre o comércio exterior. O segundo estudo analisa a formação, reformas e consolidação da institucionalidade do modelo da Câmara de Comércio Exterior (Camex) adotado no início do governo Cardoso e, após algumas transformações, consolidado no governo Lula. A pesquisa foi dividida em duas etapas distintas, mas com interconexões mútuas. A primeira etapa consistiu na proposição de um quadro teórico que permitisse a derivação das hipóteses utilizadas na pesquisa empírica a partir de uma avaliação crítica do que já foi produzido sobre a influência e as implicações da participação da burocracia no jogo político. Na segunda parte 7 foi realizada a pesquisa empírica na qual se avaliou o impacto da política burocrática na construção das instituições da política comercial brasileira. Para a execução empírica da pesquisa foi feito um levantamento dos dispositivos legais que alteraram o aparato institucional, das preferências reveladas dos atores e percepções de atores e pesquisadores que participaram dos processos decisórios e, finalmente, de outros instrumentos analíticos mais objetivos e menos sensíveis a questões subjetivas. Por fim, a partir do exame dos dados obtidos, ponderou-se ao final da pesquisa que o conflito interno no Poder Executivo foi uma variável importante, embora não tenha sido a única determinante do processo de construção institucional da política comercial brasileira pósabertura econômica, e que o quadro analítico forneceu conceitos fundamentais para a análise e explicação das interações entre a política burocrática e esta construção institucional. / The Brazilian trade policy and its institutional framework have undergone major changes since the economic opening in 1990. Its administrative structures have been completely rebuilt. These changes have encouraged the politicization and pluralization of the trade policy so that decision making and policy implementation have begun to occur in a new context, characterized by new constraints and demands in a foreign trade environment more complex and competitive. The complexity of the new trade agenda has mobilized bureaucratic actors who had not participated of the developmentist trade policy, demonstrating the increase in its degree of politicization. We analyze the building process of the institutions that conduct the post-economic trade policy liberalization, focusing on the analytical relationships between institutional change and the bureaucratic politics dynamics inside the executive branch. Here we analyze the internal conflict in the executive branch among the different agencies that have competences and interests involved as well as how was taken the Presidential action in terms of its actual degree of involvement in each of these changes. We choose to study the institutions that compose the coordination framework of the Brazilian trade policy. In the first cut, we study the process of extinction of the Carteira de Comércio Exterior do Banco do Brasil (Cacex), the main symbol and synthesis of the developmentist institutional model of industrialization through import substitution in the foreign trade. In a second step, we study the process of formation, reforms and consolidation of the Camex model, adopted in the beginning of Cardoso\'s government and, after some transformations, consolidated under Lula\'s government. The research strategy was divided in two distinctive stages, but with mutual interconnections. The first one consisted of the proposition of a theoretical framework that would allow the derivation of the hypothesis used in the empirical research from a critical assessment of what had been produced about the influences and implications of the bureaucratic participation in the political process. In the second one, it was conducted an empirical research in which it was assessed the impact of the bureaucratic politics in the trade policy institutional building. In order to implement the empirical research, the legal devices that changed the institutional 9 apparatus has been surveyed as well as the revealed preferences of actors and perceptions of actors and researchers who have had a participation in decision making processes and, ultimately, other objective analytical tools less sensitive to subjective issues. Finally, from the obtained data, it was pondered that the internal conflict within the Executive Branch was an important variable, although not the sole determinant of the process of institutional building of the Brazilian trade policy after the economic opening, and that the analytical framework has provided fundamental concepts for the analysis and for the explanation of the interactions between politics and bureaucracies and this institution-building process.

Opinions on what is best way to provide more people in low income countries with adequate water and sanitation services have changed over time. A recent policy paradigm suggests that private companies should be involved in WSS service provision to improve the situation for those in need. This study looks at how issues of water supply and sanitation (WSS) have been confronted by the international donor community and how strategies to improve performance in this sector have changed from the early 1970’s up until today. The evolution of ideas and strategies are linked to overall development policies in order to better understand the forces that have shaped policy redirections in the sector. In addition, the case study of Ghana gives a preliminary picture of how donor policies have been played out in a national context. The concept of problem frames is used as an analytical tool in order to highlight how ideas change and replace each other but also to illustrate how problem frames are becoming more inclusive as new knowledge and experiences are gained. The study finds that while hardware knowledge such as engineering skills were put at the forefront to begin with, software matters such as capacity building and appropriate management of the sector gained increased attention with time. As the water challenge becomes increasingly framed as a matter of managing scarcity, the economic value of water is emphasized and private sector participation is promoted on a larger scale. With time the cross sectoral nature of the WSS issue gains increased attention as its overall impact on poverty reduction and environmental sustainability is emphasized. This holistic approach also contributes to an increased emphasis on sanitation as important to sustainable WSS systems and services. The case study of Ghana shows that all in all, institutional change within the Ghanaian WSS sector during the post independence era, mirror international policy trends. Power is moving out from the state in different directions and responsibilities are gradually hived off from the central organization to local authorities or other agencies working on specific issues. Subsidies on water tariffs are abolished and at the end of the period the private sector is also invited to act in the sector. However, recent trends indicate that as democracy deepens and civil society is growing stronger this also effects policy development in the Ghanaian WSS sector.

<p>Ineffective hill management policy at the national level and weak enforcement by thelocal authorities has created space for developing many informal settlements alonglandslide prone hillslopes in Chittagong city, Bangladesh. These settlements areconsidered illegal by the formal authorities, the settlers perceive their presence inthose areas as legal occupants, which have caused land tenure conflicts with formalauthorities over the last decades. The continual land tenure conflict has weakenedinstitutional arrangement for reducing vulnerability to landslides in the informalsettlements. The thesis paper is prepared based on the findings of a case study on thelandslides which occurred in 2007 in Chittagong city. The fieldwork of the study wascarried out using qualitative tools such as individual interviewing of organisationalrespondents and a focus group interview in Matijarna informal settlement to examinewhat institutional changes have occurred for reducing social vulnerability of informalsettlers to landslides in Chittagong city. The study finds that the institutional changeshave occurred as short-term mitigation policies like establishing structural measuresalong hillslopes for adjustment and relocation of the most vulnerable informal settlers.Anchoring on institutional change theory, the study suggests that new policies mayreduce social vulnerability of informal settlers to landslides through addressing thefollowing issues. First, previous institutional arrangements and how those shapedpresent vulnerability of informal settlers to landslides must be understood. Second,land tenure security of the informal settlers must be well incorporated in currentmitigation policies. Third, organisational coordination should be strengthened fromnational to local level, as well as, between government agencies and otherorganisations like NGOs and civil society to facilitate policy implementation process.</p>

<p>This dissertation examines the last thirty years of internal reforms in the Swedish Government Offices. Analysis of the evolution of personnel politics, the formation of one agency and the attempts to introduce a collective activity planning model, show that the immediate problems of the early 1970’s – an over dimensioned staff, territory battles and unclear division of responsibility for personnel and organisation – remains to this day, notwithstanding the many reforms to approach them. One principal explanation behind this is that the key players for successful reorganisations – the politicians – do hardly ever partake. Instead, and on the basis of the perspective of bureaucratic politics, this dissertation demonstrates that the internal development of the Government Offices should be explained as the result of struggles between different bureaucratic actors, with diverse views on problems and their solutions, and with various prospects and strengths to affect the outcome. Due to the choice of politicians to leave this policy field open to bureaucratic politics, the policy is essentially shaped and decided within a bureaucratic context. The dissertation ends in a conclusion that there is an almost constant bureaucratic battle behind internal organisation of the Government Offices, a conflict where tradition, values and strong bureaucratic actors play an important part, and where institutional change is exceptional, since the preserving powers in these processes have the upper hand. But politicians can change – in spite of these traditions, values and bureaucratic agents – if they have the determination. The theoretical aim of this dissertation, through a critical assessment of the bureaucratic politics perspective – an evaluation motivated by the empirical data and inspired by two challenging and related theoretic models; sociological and historical institutionalism – is to display the qualities and shortcomings of the bureaucratic politics model, to develop and improve the original model of bureaucratic politics, and making it more expedient for future studies of institutional change in central political organisations.</p>

<p>Opinions on what is best way to provide more people in low income countries with adequate water and sanitation services have changed over time. A recent policy paradigm suggests that private companies should be involved in WSS service provision to improve the situation for those in need.</p><p>This study looks at how issues of water supply and sanitation (WSS) have been confronted by the international donor community and how strategies to improve performance in this sector have changed from the early 1970’s up until today. The evolution of ideas and strategies are linked to overall development policies in order to better understand the forces that have shaped policy redirections in the sector. In addition, the case study of Ghana gives a preliminary picture of how donor policies have been played out in a national context. The concept of problem frames is used as an analytical tool in order to highlight how ideas change and replace each other but also to illustrate how problem frames are becoming more inclusive as new knowledge and experiences are gained.</p><p>The study finds that while hardware knowledge such as engineering skills were put at the forefront to begin with, software matters such as capacity building and appropriate management of the sector gained increased attention with time. As the water challenge becomes increasingly framed as a matter of managing scarcity, the economic value of water is emphasized and private sector participation is promoted on a larger scale. With time the cross sectoral nature of the WSS issue gains increased attention as its overall impact on poverty reduction and environmental sustainability is emphasized. This holistic approach also contributes to an increased emphasis on sanitation as important to sustainable WSS systems and services.</p><p>The case study of Ghana shows that all in all, institutional change within the Ghanaian WSS sector during the post independence era, mirror international policy trends. Power is moving out from the state in different directions and responsibilities are gradually hived off from the central organization to local authorities or other agencies working on specific issues. Subsidies on water tariffs are abolished and at the end of the period the private sector is also invited to act in the sector. However, recent trends indicate that as democracy deepens and civil society is growing stronger this also effects policy development in the Ghanaian WSS sector.</p>

This dissertation examines the last thirty years of internal reforms in the Swedish Government Offices. Analysis of the evolution of personnel politics, the formation of one agency and the attempts to introduce a collective activity planning model, show that the immediate problems of the early 1970’s – an over dimensioned staff, territory battles and unclear division of responsibility for personnel and organisation – remains to this day, notwithstanding the many reforms to approach them. One principal explanation behind this is that the key players for successful reorganisations – the politicians – do hardly ever partake. Instead, and on the basis of the perspective of bureaucratic politics, this dissertation demonstrates that the internal development of the Government Offices should be explained as the result of struggles between different bureaucratic actors, with diverse views on problems and their solutions, and with various prospects and strengths to affect the outcome. Due to the choice of politicians to leave this policy field open to bureaucratic politics, the policy is essentially shaped and decided within a bureaucratic context. The dissertation ends in a conclusion that there is an almost constant bureaucratic battle behind internal organisation of the Government Offices, a conflict where tradition, values and strong bureaucratic actors play an important part, and where institutional change is exceptional, since the preserving powers in these processes have the upper hand. But politicians can change – in spite of these traditions, values and bureaucratic agents – if they have the determination. The theoretical aim of this dissertation, through a critical assessment of the bureaucratic politics perspective – an evaluation motivated by the empirical data and inspired by two challenging and related theoretic models; sociological and historical institutionalism – is to display the qualities and shortcomings of the bureaucratic politics model, to develop and improve the original model of bureaucratic politics, and making it more expedient for future studies of institutional change in central political organisations.

This thesis analyses the development of urban water supply and sanitation services in Ghana from 1909 to 2005.  Special focus is put on institutional arrangements with regard to networked, large scale and centrally managed water and sewerage services. The national and international historical context is highlighted as a way to understand policy redirections in the sector. Further on, the concept of frames is used as an analytical tool in order to put light on the assumptions, arguments and reasons behind institutional reforms. The thesis finds that it was not until the water and sanitation challenge was framed from a productivity perspective, as opposed to a pure humanitarian “health frame”, that funds were released for investments in WSS infrastructure. To begin with, development strategies were largely focussed on “filling the gaps” in terms of manpower, technical and financial resources. As the water challenge was increasingly framed as a matter of managing scarcity, a new thinking gradually emerged which emphasized entrepreneurship, business mindedness and management skills as a way to achieve more efficiency within the sector. This development was also paralleled by a shift in the favoured organisational structure from an extremely centralised state utility model to a gradual focus on decentralisation and unbundling of the sector. Here a strong focus was put on private sector participation in urban water supply whereas the non-commercially viable task of sewerage development was decentralised to local authorities. The study finds that formal institutional change in the sector has been largely donor driven. However, the privatisation element of the recent urban water sector reform did not go unquestioned and a strong opposition movement concerned with the possible negative effects of privatisation was formed. Eventually the initial lease arrangement was transformed into a management contract where its signing was brought to closure in 2005. Besides changing frames strong elements of continuity in the urban water supply and sanitation sector development in Ghana are identified. Historical evidence demonstrate that urban water delivery was a highly political issue in Ghana already during colonial times which, just as today, was closely connected to the framing of water as independence and national integrity. The issue of finance and pricing has remained a constant concern and so the debate cannot be categorized as a novel issue that solely emanates from neo-liberal political trends during the 1980’s and 1990’s. The thesis argues that a legacy of a colonial frame tends to continue normalising inequalities in access and consumption.  Continuity can also be found in a neglect of the issue of sanitation which persistently lags behind the development of water distribution. The dissertation concludes that the perceived space for policy alternatives in Ghanaian WSS sector development has been largely constrained by the historical context and contemporary development theories. Therefore, to constantly strive towards a frame reflective policy dialogue is strongly encouraged as a way for policy planners and decision makers to make well informed decisions for the future.

In this study a population of 60 family owned businesses acquired in 1971 are analysed over a period of 15 years. The firms are followed historically for four years before and ten years after the merger. The aim is to identify dominating processes and behaviour in different variables during the period 1967-81. This will be done through the following: - on an aggregated level, identify and analyse characteristic processes and patterns by the acquired businesses before and after the acquisition - on an aggregated level compare the pre- and post-merger performances - on an individual business level illustrate, validate and theoretically interpret results and conclusions. Primarily this study has not a theoretical but an empirical point of departure. A working paradigm is that the "confrontation" between the firms 1 "external environment and internal resources" results in dynamics having an impact on the firms. The processes are classified in taxonomies/typologies, in an attempt to answer what has happened. Interpreting the forces behind the development is the attempt to answer why it has happened. The empirical data was collected through three different surveys resulting in quantitative and qualitative observations combined in different perspectives in a multimethological approach. The first is economic data (sales, financial ratios etc) gathered from the firms' external account statements. However, several firms were found to have gone bankrupt, closed down etc. This initiated a second, follow-up study, which had a longitudinal "geography of enterprise" approach and was implemented through a telephone inquiry. The third collection is a case-study of five firms from the population carried out by discussions with representatives of the merging companies. The merged businesses turned out to be extremes compared to branch characteristics respectively. Refinements of the patterns made it possible to construct a three-dimensional typology showing four principal processes. Ten years after the merger there followed five principal spatial and institutional changes. Closures, removals from community and amalgamation with group companies, reduction to production units only, the joining of premises with group companies in the same community and relatively "indépendant" affiliations. One third of the population have been closed down or removed. One half do not exist as "indépendant units". Only one third have escaped larger infringement. Thirty businesses have once more been acquired. Some more than once. When comparing the pre- and post-merger performances, a convergence phenomenon was identified. Oscillating and deviating pre-merger trends later converged towards standard variable values and equilibrium, searching for an optimum group course. The different changes and restructuring activities conducted after the acquisitions, can be summarized in three principal post-merger processes: - liquidation and adjustment of output capacity to market demand. - reorientation through new product and market combinations. - growth and development through "multiplying by splitting" and emancipation of expansion potential. / <p>Diss. Umeå : Univ., 1986</p> / digitalisering@umu

Canada’s official languages policy makes English and French the country’s official languages in federal institutions. The policy has succeeded in fostering equitable representation of both official languages groups in the federal public service and has improved capacities for the public service to serve the citizenry in its official language of choice. It is a puzzle however, that despite these advances, the Canadian federal public service continues to operate predominantly in English when both official languages on paper are equal languages of work. To explore this puzzle this dissertation asks: why, despite the promise of the Official Languages Act (OLA) 1969 for choice in language of work and the OLA 1988 that made the choice a claimable right, is there inequitable access to French as a language of work in the federal public service? Framed through a historical institutionalist approach and layering, this project analyzes the implementation of the official languages program in the federal public service from 1967-2013. This thesis argues that the implementation of the official languages program could not challenge the federal public service’s path dependency to operate predominantly in English. By analyzing the roles of actors and institutions that influenced the process, this dissertation finds that lack of structural change, inadequate managerial engagement and a false sense that official languages are engrained in the public service, can explain the persistence of English as the dominant language of work.