This thesis analysis four different sides of policy-making on EU-level: the Cardiff process, the white paper “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide”, the sixth Environmental Action Programme and the Sustainable Development Strategy. In those documents measures proposed for the freight transport sector are identified and used for interviews with key persons at Schenker AG. The aim with the interviews was to examine how Schenker AG was affected and felt committed by the proposed political measures. Following the arguments above the thesis discusses the role of Schenker AG in a society characterized by ecological modernization.

Many current debates in Ecology and Conservation Science center on how to navigate the interface between science, policy and practice with the aim of using science to support viable, effective solutions to environmental problems. This dissertation has the general aim of contributing to devise ways to navigate the science-practice interface by taking an interdisciplinary approach to identify (1) how the academic debate on this subject has been framed, and (2) how scientists and decision-makers have been thinking about the relationship between science and practice. In chapter 1, I present a literature review, based on 1563 sentences describing causes of the science-practice gap extracted from 122 articles published in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation journals. I use text analysis techniques to organize these causes into a process-based conceptual framework that describes three perspectives on the important processes, knowledges and actors in the science-practice interface. I then evaluate the predominance of these perspectives over time and across journals, and assess them in light of disciplines studying the role of science in decision-making, such as Political Science. The unchanged predominance over time of the perspective centered on a linear, unidirectional flow of scientific knowledge from science to practice suggests debates in Ecology and Conservation lag behind trends in other disciplines towards perspectives focusing on a bidirectional, integrative flow of knowledges between science and practice. In Ecology and Conservation, the integrative perspective seems primarily restricted to research traditions historically isolated from mainstream Conservation Biology, which in turn has been dominated by \"evidence-based conservation\" approaches. All identified perspectives represent superficial views of decision-making by not accounting for limits to human rationality, complexity of decision-making contexts, fuzzy science-practice boundaries, ambiguity brought about by science, and different types of knowledge use. Nonetheless, the integrative perspective emphasizing collaborative work between scientists and decision-makers may potentially allow for more democratic decision-making processes and explicit discussions of values. In chapter 2, I focus on scientists and decision-makers from Brazil, a tropical developing nation with a growing science and rich biodiversity, but currently facing several drawbacks in environmental policies. I used the three perspectives of the conceptual framework of chapter 1 to create a list of 48 statements describing how the science-practice interface should ideally be. Using Q-methodology from psychology, I asked 22 ecologists and environmental federal analysts to rank their agreement with these statements. Principal component analysis revealed three groups of participants with similar rankings of statements, thus holding shared ways of thinking about the science-practice interface. All ways of thinking assigned great importance to actors and knowledges from both science and practice, but differed on the roles assigned to science, scientists or decision-makers, indicating the need to openly debate expected roles for each actor in science-practice partnerships. Moreover, such partnerships seem to be hindered by a lack of organizational incentive rather than by cultural differences between scientists and decision-makers. In the final session of the dissertation, I integrate the conclusions from both chapters, highlighting the most important implications for a better understanding of the science-practice interface and for fostering productive science-practice linkages in Ecology and Conservation / A interface ciência-prática em Ecologia e Conservação: um esquema conceitual e modos de pensaDiversos debates atuais em Ecologia e Ciência da Conservação estão centrados em como navegar na interface entre ciência e prática com o objetivo de usar a ciência para apoiar soluções efetivas e viáveis para os problemas ambientais. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo geral contribuir com caminhos para navegar na interface ciência-prática ao identificar, através de uma abordagem interdisciplinar, (1) como o debate acadêmico sobre este assunto tem sido feito e (2) como a relação entre ciência e prática é percebida por cientistas e tomadores de decisão. No capítulo 1, apresento uma revisão da literatura, conduzida a partir de 1563 frases sobre as causas da lacuna ciência-prática extraídas de 122 artigos publicados em periódicos de Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade. Uso técnicas de análise de texto para organizar essas causas em um esquema conceitual que descreve três perspectivas sobre os processos, conhecimentos e atores importantes na interface ciência-prática. A seguir, averiguo a predominância dessas perspectivas ao longo do tempo e em diferentes periódicos, para depois avaliar as perspectivas à luz de disciplinas que estudam o papel da ciência na tomada de decisão, como a Ciência Política. A predominância ao longo do tempo da perspectiva centrada em um fluxo unidirecional de conhecimento da ciência para a prática sugere que o debate em Ecologia e Conservação não seguiu a tendência observada em outras disciplinas na direção de perspectivas enfatizando um fluxo bidirecional e integrativo de conhecimentos entre a ciência e a prática. Em Ecologia e Conservação, a perspectiva integrativa parece estar restrita a tradições de pesquisa historicamente isoladas da Biologia da Conservação, que, por sua vez, é dominada por abordagens de \"conservação baseada em evidência\". Todas as perspectivas constatadas representam visões superficiais da tomada de decisão ao desconsiderarem limites à racionalidade humana, a complexidade da tomada de decisão, fronteiras difusas entre ciência e prática, a ambiguidade trazida pela ciência e diferentes tipos de uso de conhecimento. Por outro lado, a perspectiva integrativa que enfatiza o trabalho colaborativo entre cientistas e tomadores de decisão permite potencialmente processos de tomada de decisão mais democráticos e discussões explícitas de valores. No capítulo 2, eu me volto para cientistas e tomadores de decisão do Brasil, um país tropical em desenvolvimento com uma ciência crescente e uma rica biodiversidade, mas cujas políticas ambientais vem sofrendo diversas ameaças. A partir das três perspectivas do esquema conceitual do capítulo 1, elaborei uma lista de 48 frases descrevendo como a interface entre ciência e prática deveria ser. Usando a metodologia Q advinda da Psicologia, pedi para 22 ecólogos e analistas ambientais do IBAMA ranquearem suas concordâncias com essas frases. Uma análise de componentes principais revelou três grupos de participantes com ranqueamentos similares, apresentando, portanto, modos de pensar compartilhados sobre a interface ciência-prática. Todas as formas de pensar conferiram grande importância para atores e conhecimentos da ciência e da prática, mas houve divergência nos papéis atribuídos à ciência, aos cientistas e aos tomadores de decisão, indicando a necessidade de debater abertamente os papéis que se espera que cada ator assuma nas parcerias entre ciência e prática. Além disso, a falta de estímulo organizacional parece ser um entrave maior para essas parcerias do que diferenças culturais entre cientistas e tomadores de decisão. Na última sessão da dissertação, eu integro as conclusões dos dois capítulos, ressaltando as implicações mais importantes para uma melhor compreensão da interface ciência-prática e para o fomento de parcerias produtivas entre ciência e prática em Ecologia e Conservaçãor compartilhados entre cientistas e tomadores de decisão

The aim of this thesis is to provide to the governmental decision-maker/user, an instrument that can assist him/her in improving the infrastructure investment decision in the economical, environmental and sustainable aspects. This means that, the Return on Investment (ROI) of the concerned transport infrastructure, satisfying environmental and sustainable constraints must be positive, and corresponding to an optimal investment cost. The decision support system can be applied in two dimensions. One dimension is where the real negotiation process is occurring between private and public stakeholders, called “real time negotiation process”. The second dimension is where the negotiation process is impelled by the user (public part) without private stakeholders interaction (but with interaction through simulation), called “virtual negotiation process”. The simulation and local optimization techniques, in phase with agent technology, used in the “virtual negotiation process” enable us to achieve a certain amount of alternative decisions to the primary/suggested decision to be evaluated. The CommonKADS methodology with mathematical modeling, and agent technology have been the support respectively for extracting and implementing the knowledge in the domain, monitoring, automating and updating the decision process. The principle of “Joint logistic” [1] in my effort concerns by the means of sharing financial and information resources; This leads to the empowerment of the supply chain feedbacks (roles), involved in the earlier stages of public transport decision making-process. It appears that within the decision-making process, the government is often dealing with the conflicting objectives, while interacting with the business stakeholders. For instance, the estimated investment cost of a specific transport infrastructure can exceed the income generated by this infrastructure, thus the ROI of the concerned transport infrastructure (TI) will be negative. From this perspective the government faces three choices: a) increase the rate of the taxes applied on that transport infrastructure or any other taxes, in order to make ROI positive, this can be matter of discussion/disagreement for the business community b) reduce the investment cost which means suggest a different TI with a lower quality standard compared to the previous; this can also be a matter of disagreement between the two concerned stakeholders. c) delay of the investment in the specific transport infrastructure. In fact in the most situations the government uses the first approach, which effects might be consequently unpredictable and disastrous in the economical and environmental sense for the government. From this point of view my attempt is to propose an intelligent decision support system for governments or project groups (e.g. East West project group), involving conceptually as components web portal, database, simulator and knowledge base, that bases on an approach, that enables this negotiation/information exchange at the earlier steps of decision-making situation. This is concretized by gathering in real time accurate and relevant information from the private sector; furthermore the knowledgebase of the designed system is conceived via the experience and historical knowledge of the concerned experts in the domain. / Please contact me via email : yjeanyv@hotmail.com or phone: +224 64 97 43 79

The aim of this thesis is to identify how forest management in Tanzania can contribute to global climate change mitigation while improving livelihoods of forest-dependent communities. A mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is meant to slow increases of atmospheric CO2 while channelling funds to developing countries. In Tanzania, pioneering work in participatory forest management (PFM) has promoted local-level control over forest resource use. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a linkage between REDD and PFM that maximises benefits for communities, forests and global climate. Three PFM projects with relation to REDD have been studied, primarily using semi-structured interviews with villagers, district officials, project facilitators, researchers, consultants and policy-makers. Analysis consists of comparing experiences at different levels and putting them in the theoretical context of climate change and forest conservation. The study identifies several issues: local and central government institutions cannot ensure equitable benefit sharing; cross-sectoral co-ordination to address fundamental causes of the problems is lacking; participation of local communities is not satisfactory. However, the process is at an early stage. Current activities will hopefully contribute to a future framework that properly addresses these and other obstacles. If this is accomplished, PFM and REDD can complement each other in a positive way.

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / This study seeks to understand and examine the role of public policy units with a specific focus on the South African National Parliament Policy Management Unit (PMU). The problem being investigated is that of a lack of constructive support and debate in understanding the role and functions of policy management units. Thus, the scope of the study is limited to policy management units with the South African Parliament PMU as a special reference. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the role of policy management units, with particular reference to the PMU in the South African Parliament. The secondary objectives will then be to provide a theoretical perspective of the role and functions of policy management units; and to develop a case of the PMU in Parliament for further analysis and examination. Examples of existing policy units and the support they have with parliaments will be produced, assessed, and explored. / South Africa

The study at hand aims at understanding the "twisted fate" of the EU's initiative to provide transparency of payments in oil, gas, and mining deals. The European Commission in October 2011 followed the lead of the US Dodd-Frank Act in establishing strict disclosure requirements for businesses in the extractive industries. Its initiative demanded annual reporting of any payments made by such enterprises to public authorities of commodity exporting countries, in order to mitigate corruption of public officials via transparency of payments. Praised by NGOs, the initiative was heavily opposed by the German government and experienced efforts by the very same to water its efficacy down. Germany's uncompromising position prolonged the search for an agreement between Council of Ministers and European Parliament until April 2013. It is hypothesized that the German opposition originates in highly effective interest representation of influential domestic actors, dismissive of a tight transparency regime. To validate this, Moravcsik's Liberal Intergovernmentalism is the theoretical framework of choice. At its core lies a genuine two-step of domestic societal actors, upgrading their particular interests to "national preferences" and the subsequent agency of their governments in rational bargaining with others. However, in order for this to apply in European everyday politics, theoretical amendments have to be made. Namely, the originally disregarded influence of supranational institutions as well as a shift of bargaining arenas has to be sufficiently respected by the theoretical frame.

Author deals with possibility of making communal family policy in Prague. Author shows the drafts, how such kind of policy can be developped. The first part of this study offers analysis of conteporary stage in the several levels - stakeholders analysis, where the key stakehlders, their attitudes, reciprocial relations and ways of communication are marked out. Another part of analysis is the comparison analysis - the specific characteristics of the city districts are analysed, as well as the characteristisc of the regions and the Capital of the Slovák Republic, Bratislava. The secondary data are ušed as well as the primary data derived from the author's research. The second part of the study deals with the designs of the communal family policy in Prague and the description of the policy tools, according to the findings another methods are ušed - e.g. construction of the problems and goals trees and the future scenarios. There are many supplements in the study, mainly the tabs, schemes and other materials in the appendix.

This diploma thesis deals with the process of creating an Audiovisual Act in the context of the transformation of audiovisual legislation in the Czech Republic after 1989. Although there was increasing pressure on change over time, as the original legislation did not reflect the epoch and was inadequate, this process lasted almost twenty years. The aim of the thesis is to understand the dynamics of the change in the process of creating audiovisual legislation, focusing on Act No. 496/2012 Coll. Next, identify the actors and factors that have had the greatest impact on policy change. To do so, this work uses and applies the theoretical framework of the Multiple Streams Framework, through which it sets the basic prerequisites for research. The methodological approach is a qualitative research and a research design of a single-case study. In terms of data collection, the text is based on six expert semi-structured interviews that form the base of primary research. Subsequent data are in the form of various documents, studies, press and annual reports, stenographies from the Chamber of Deputies, or, for example, the talk shows in which the process was discussed. Data analysis was conducted using thematic coding technique. Audiovisual legislation entered the political agenda in 2006, but it did not...

The Constitution, 1996 requires that the public participate in policy making and planning in local government. To ensure compliance, legislation prescribes that local government needs to establish mechanisms, processes and procedures for public participation. However, neither the Constitution, 1996 nor legislation describes what public participation is, and how it should be implemented. Moreover, different people view public participation differently. There is thus a lack of definition and implementation of public participation in the policy making and planning processes of local government. To understand what public participation means, a conceptual analysis was conducted, resulting in the delivery of a working definition of public participation. The definition conveyed indicators of public participation, namely, the public, the levels of participation, the mechanisms for participation, the scope of participation and public influence in decision-making in participation. These indicators were studied qualitatively for description in a metropolitan municipality in South Africa in a single case study using multiple methods. The methods used were a survey questionnaire, a document study and analysis and an interview questionnaire. The findings indicate that the public who participated in the policy making and planning processes in the metropolitan municipality were mainly advantaged instead of disadvantaged people. They participated at the levels of informing, consulting, implementing, and reviewing. Public participation was not attained at the levels of educating, deciding and reporting back. The study established that the municipality employed various public participation mechanisms for informing and consulting the public. The scope of public participation was found to be reasonably broad. Though evidence suggests that the public participated in decisions pertaining to budget ward allocations, no evidence could be found that the public had an influence in decision-making in participation on the whole. It was found that public officials had the influence over public participation decision-making while politicians had the final say. / Public Administration and Management / M. Admin. (Public Administration)

The master's thesis is focused on the use of behavioural insights in public policy making. It presents possibilities and limitations that this approach brings in general and in the case study of shared medication record, describes the legislative framework and explores the ethical issues perceived by relevant stakeholders. The shared medication record is based on the principle of presumed consent of access doctors and pharmacists to the database of prescribed and dispensed medicines of the patient. He or she may thus make no effort to allow consent. If the patient does not agree with their access, he or she has the option of so-called opt-out, the granting of a prohibition of access. This type of public policy measure, i.e., nudge, is based on the libertarian paternalism. The paternalistic aspect in the shared medication record is represented by the protection of all citizens from possible unwanted medication interactions, the libertarian aspect is the possibility of opt-out.