The continued rise of socio-economic inequality over the past decades with its connected political outcomes such as the Brexit vote in the UK, and the election of Donald Trump are currently a matter of intense debate both in academia and in journalism. One significant sign of the heightened interest was the surprise popularity of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the twenty-first Century. The book reached the top of the bestseller lists and was described as a "media Sensation", with Piketty himself as a "rock star Economist". This paper, drawing from a major international and cross-disciplinary study, investigates the print media treatment in four European countries of economic policy proposals presented in Capital. Applying social semiotic and critical discourse analysis, we specifically focus on articles which are in disagreement with these proposals and identify five categories of counterarguments used against Piketty: authorisation, moralisation, rationalisation, portrayal of victimhood and inevitability. Providing textual and linguistic examples we demonstrate how the use of linguistic resources normalises and conventionalises ideology-laden discourses of economic means (taxation) and effects, reinforcing particular views of social relations and class as common sense and therewith upholding and perpetuating power relations and inequalities.

This thesis aims at clarifying the very basic characteristics of Wu Ze Tian&rsquo / s reign and her utilization of religious and symbolic propaganda for legitimizing her authority. Wu Ze Tian is the only female emperor of China&rsquo / s long dynastic history who founded her own dynasty, Zhou dynasty after overthrowing the Tang dynasty in 690. The political ideal presented by Confucianism, which is the traditional state doctrine of the imperial China, refuses female participation to political arena and identifies the emperor as the Son of Heaven. In order to overcome the Confucian obstacle, Wu Ze Tian referred to the symbols and rituals of the antiquity, highly appraised by the Confucians, which enabled her participation to the political sphere. Moreover, for legitimizing herself as a female ruler, she utilized the Buddhist scholarship and concepts as tools of political propaganda. It was also a matter of fact that due to the northwestern nomadic influence on the society, female rulership was not conceived to be impossible in the Tang dynasty, as it was in the previous dynasties. Benefitting from this sociopolitical atmosphere, Wu Ze Tian occupied the throne first as the empress and later as the empress dowager for almost 35 years and at last ruled over the whole Chinese soil as the female emperor of the Zhou dynasty for 15 years. Wu Ze Tian proved herself as a capable ruler under whose dominion the whole country reached its broadest borders and the economy flourished considerably. Not only owing to the power of her political propaganda but also mostly because of her talent in rulership and her social and political reforms, Wu Ze Tian is one the most important Chinese rulers who left a remarkable influence on the governmental tradition of China.

Zugl.: Wuppertal, Univ., Diss., 2009 u.d.T.: Stelzer, Franziska: Zu den Effekten von Legitmierungsstrategien junger Unternehmen

Zugl.: Kiel, Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.

Uni Leipzig, Diss., 2007.

Überarb. Fassung der Diss. Frankfurt am Main.

This thesis aims at deepen our understanding of the Swedish arms exports, especially the relationship between the spoken words of politicians and actual policy outcome. The research question for the thesis is “To what extent do specific frames deployed by the media and politicians about the character of the importing state, the type of arms exported, the inter-state relationship and the economic interests lead to a legitimation crisis in an arms exporting nation which ends arms exports and military cooperation?” This thesis is especially looking at Swedish arms deals with Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Thailand. In a content analysis of the Swedish media and politicians, and by using theories of legitimation and framing, the thesis analyses how these frames can affect the legitimation of an arms deal, and explaining different policy outcomes. The analysis shows that the most common frame to use to frame a receiving country or an arms deal negatively is to frame the character of the importing state in negative terms and also connect the arms exports to the regime in the receiving country. On the other side, to defend an arms deal it is most common to frame it as an economic interest that are of national interest. Lastly, the thesis can show that the Swedish arms deal with Saudi Arabia created a legitimation crisis, which was not the case for the deals with Thailand and South Africa, and this can help us understand why the military cooperation agreement between Sweden and Saudi Arabia was ended.

This research explores how an open strategy approach can be used to manage organisational legitimacy in a pluralistic context, characterised by the competing demands of key stakeholders. Open strategy demonstrates an interest in strategising processes becoming more inclusive and transparent (Hautz et al., 2016). Open strategy work to date has focused on its uses and implications, and how strategic inclusion and transparency are being displayed in different organisational contexts. Much open strategy literature also associates the central purpose of open strategising activity with organisations seeking to manage legitimacy (e.g. Chesbrough and Appleyard, 2007; Whittington et al., 2011; Tavakoli et al., 2017), particularly through ensuring that their actions are desirable in the opinion of key stakeholders (Suchman, 1995). Whilst a small number of studies have explicitly focused on open strategy and legitimacy, these do not go beyond illuminating legitimacy as a potential effect (Gegenhuber and Dobusch, 2017) or outcome (Luedicke et al., 2017). Absent has been research attempting to specifically understand open strategy as a process of legitimation (Uberbacher, 2014), and there remains a need to unpack and elevate the significant potential of open strategy approaches for managing legitimacy further. To address this gap, this research presents an in-depth single case analysis of an organisation undertaking the development of a new four-year strategic plan using an open strategy approach. A number of data collection methods were used, including completion of 30 semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and collection of significant social media and documentation data, to explicate the concepts of open strategy and organisational legitimacy, addressing the question; How does an open strategy approach represent a process of legitimation for managing the competing demands of organisational stakeholders? . A pluralistic context, a UK-based professional body, is the basis for the empirical work. It is acknowledged that interrogating the intricacies of strategising in pluralistic contexts, and the inherent competing demands of stakeholders, might offer new perspectives, and a useful means of expanding the contextual base of practice-based strategy work (Jarzabkowski and Fenton, 2006). However, studies of open strategy in pluralistic contexts remain near non-existent in the literature (Lusiani and Langley, 2013). In the organisational legitimacy literature, there is much discourse on how legitimacy is managed and gained through specific legitimation processes and strategies, and increasingly such a focus has been adopted to recognise how organisations might manage legitimacy demands in contexts defined by plurality, amidst diffuse power and divergent objectives (Denis et al., 2007). In this study, a practice-based activity theory framework is used (Jarzabkowski 2005; Jarzabkowski and Wolf, 2015) to explore legitimacy in relation to organisational direction and priorities, and as a means of redefining the organisation s core goals in an enactment of strategic openness. The work here conceptualises how the case organisation has adopted a plethora of open strategising practices for legitimacy effects (Suddaby et al., 2013), providing a detailed account of how different dynamics of open strategising activity connect to specific forms of legitimation over time. The findings indicate that different open strategy dynamics represent the case organisation switching between distinct approaches to legitimation, as a means of managing the competing legitimacy demands of organisational stakeholders in a flow of activity. Through this narrative, a greater perception of legitimation as a core purpose of open strategy is provided. Overall, this research offers an important contribution by accentuating the principal relevance of organisational legitimacy in open strategising, particularly through elevating legitimacy beyond being understood as an effect or outcome in open strategy work. Further, this more explicitly brings open strategy into close alignment with the organisational legitimacy literature and its theoretical conceptions (Lawrence et al., 2009; Suddaby et al., 2013), which is imperative for understanding the potential importance of open strategy as a means of legitimation.

MONTEIRO JÚNIOR, Francisco Hélio. O Dragão de Itataia: mineração e modos de contestação e de legitimação dos discursos do desenvolvimento. 2017. 226f. – Tese (Doutorado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia, Fortaleza (CE), 2017. / Submitted by Gustavo Daher (gdaherufc@hotmail.com) on 2017-05-31T11:00:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_tese_fhmonteirojunior.pdf: 2593057 bytes, checksum: 8485421b131faa56e4293db72d37155b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-06-01T10:41:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_tese_fhmonteirojunior.pdf: 2593057 bytes, checksum: 8485421b131faa56e4293db72d37155b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T10:41:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_tese_fhmonteirojunior.pdf: 2593057 bytes, checksum: 8485421b131faa56e4293db72d37155b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017 / This thesis aims to understand the ways of contestation and legitimization of development gestated during the installation of the Itataia’s Mineral Industrial Complex by those who conform a playing field on the effects of the operation of the uranium and phosphate mine, in municipality of Santa Quitéria, located in the semi-arid region of Ceará. The ways of challenging the discourse of development are related to the positions, the interpretations of social movements gathered in the Antinuclear Articulation of Ceará (AACE) and how social actors are against the enterprise, highlighting its threat and risks to the environment, Health and sustainable socioeconomic activities in the locations where the Santa Quiteria Project will be installed. The three modes of legitimation of development are: the discourse of abundance of natural goods such as uranium and phosphate that would justify mining; The discourse of sustainability that defends the option of generating nuclear energy as cleaner and sustainable; And properly the discourse of the redemption of the semiarid, emphasizing the generation of jobs to come and the hypothetical economic advantages for the municipality. Development as redemption refers to the discourses and actions aimed at legitimizing the Santa Quitéria Project (SQP) for its power to transform the semi-arid region of Ceará by building and enhancing development for a region marked by unequal access to natural assets. Part of the research was fieldwork, specifically at the headquarters of the municipality of Santa Quitéria and in two of its rural districts, Riacho das Pedras and Morrinhos. Another part was held at public hearings concerning the project with large scale uranium mining and phosphate. I also referred to the documents produced within the framework of a planned management of energy resources and the generation of nuclear energy by the Federal Government and those produced by the social movements and civil entities that are against the mining project. A research in the communication vehicles was also important to collect data and affirmations of the subjects involved in the defense and in the contestation to the Santa Quitéria Project. Conclusively, conflicts arising from this relationship and socio-environmental conflicts resulting from the long process that precedes the mine’s operation highlight the conflicting perceptions about the idea of development. / Esta tese tem como objetivo compreender os modos de contestação e de legitimação do desenvolvimento gestados no tempo de instalação do complexo mínero-industrial de Itataia, por aqueles que conformam um campo de disputa sobre os efeitos decorrentes da operação da mina de urânio e de fosfato, localizada no município de Santa Quitéria, situado no semiárido cearense. Os modos de contestação ao discurso do desenvolvimento se referem aos posicionamentos e às interpretações dos movimentos sociais reunidos na Articulação Antinuclear do Ceará (AACE) e atores sociais que se colocam contrários ao empreendimento, ressaltando a sua ameaça e os seus riscos ao meio ambiente, à saúde e às atividades socioeconômicas sustentáveis realizadas nas localidades onde o Projeto Santa Quitéria se instalará. Os três modos de legitimação do desenvolvimento são: o discurso da abundância dos bens naturais, como urânio e fosfato, que justificaria a mineração destes; o discurso da sustentabilidade, que defende a opção da geração de energia nuclear como mais limpa e sustentável; e o discurso da redenção do semiárido propriamente, que ressalta a geração de empregos que virá com o empreendimento e suas hipotéticas vantagens econômicas para o município. O desenvolvimento como redenção refere-se aos discursos e ações que visam legitimar o Projeto Santa Quitéria (PSQ) pelo seu poder de transformar a região do semiárido cearense pela construção e enaltecimento do desenvolvimento para uma região marcada pelo acesso desigual aos bens naturais. A pesquisa foi realizada uma parte dela em campo, especificamente na sede do município de Santa Quitéria e em dois de seus distritos rurais, Riacho das Pedras e Morrinhos. Outra parte foi realizada nas audiências públicas concernentes ao projeto de grande escala de mineração de urânio e fosfato. Também recorri aos documentos produzidos no âmbito de uma gestão planejada dos recursos energéticos e da geração de energia nuclear pelo Governo Federal e àqueles produzidos pelos movimentos sociais e entidades civis que são contra o projeto de mineração. Uma pesquisa nos veículos de comunicação também foi importante para coletar dados e afirmações dos sujeitos envolvidos na defesa e na contestação ao Projeto Santa Quitéria. Finalmente, concluo que os conflitos decorrentes dessa relação e os conflitos socioambientais que resultam do longo processo que antecede a operação da mina colocam em relevo percepções conflitantes sobre a ideia de desenvolvimento.

A partir da identificação de fraturas no discurso dogmático do direito de propriedade, o trabalho propõe uma nova sistematização em torno do marco teórico da legitimação. Para tanto, serão utilizados as metodologias da análise do discurso, do estruturalismo e do funcionalismo. Num primeiro momento, haurem-se as estruturas que emolduram a discussão dominial no discurso ideológico de legitimação da propriedade. Tais estruturas servirão, numa etapa final, para dar coerência ao novo discurso dogmático. Após, apresenta-se o conflito entre o discurso dogmático tradicional do direito de propriedade, descrito conforme as lições dos manuais e tratados clássicos, e os elementos indicativos de um novo discurso. Embora a infiltração dos novos elementos discursivos tenha ocorrido de forma difusa, tenta-se traçar suas relações ocultas. Por fim, apresenta-se uma proposta de novo discurso dogmático, mais adequado às estruturas do discurso ideológico e ao atual contexto social, baseado, principalmente, em dois fatores de legitimação: a função individual e a função social da propriedade. / From the identification of fractures in the property rights dogmatical discourse, the work proposes a new systematization around the theoretical mark of legitimation. For this intent, the methodologies of the discourse analysis, the structuralism and the functionalism will be used. In a first moment, the structures that frame the property discussion are drawn in the property legitimations ideological discourse. These structures will be useful to give coherence to the new dogmatical discourse in a final stage. Later, the work presents the conflict between the property rights traditional dogmatical discourse, described following the lessons in classical manuals and treaties, and the elements which indicates a new discourse. Although the infiltration of the new discursive elements has occurred in a diffuse way, it tries to trace their hidden relations. In the end, it offers a proposal for a new dogmatical discourse, more adequate to the ideological discourses structures and to the present social context, based, mainly, in two legitimation factors: the individual function and the social function of property.