This thesis aims to explore heterodox ideological currents that developed in the Cultural Revolution, focusing on the background and writings of the “August 5” activists and the Li Yizhe group in Guangzhou. While the Cultural Revolution produced catastrophic consequences in many regards, this thesis intends to show that there are still ways in which young participants exercised their independent thinking and developed novel political ideas that significantly diverged from the official ideology. Beginning with an overview of the development of the Cultural Revolution in Guangzhou, I study the analyses of the “August 5” activists and the Li Yizhe group as well as examine how their heterodox views about China’s social and political system were inspired by their participation in the movement.

This thesis presents an analysis of Edmund Burke's place in intellectual history by examining his commentary on the French Revolution as well as his role in the Enlightenment itself. In doing so, it brings to bear the previously unexplored ideas of the twentieth-century historian Roy Porter. The thesis proposes that Burke's indictment of French philosophy as the cause of the French Revolution created enduring historiographic connotations between radicalism and the notion of enlightenment. Consequently, British thinkers of the eighteenth-century were invariably dismissed as conservative or reactionary and therefore unworthy to be regarded as enlightened figures. Porter's reconsideration of the British Enlightenment reveals Burke to be a staunch defender of hard-won enlightened values which British society had already long enjoyed.<p>The source material is, for the most part, primary. For Edmund Burke, his correspondence and his Reflections on the Revolution in France. For Roy Porter, his most relevant essays, journal articles and monographs.

This thesis explores the autonomy of the Crimean region in Ukraine in terms of its impact on Ukraine&rsquo / s relations with Russia in the post-Soviet era. Thesis analyzes also the impact of the relations between Ukraine and Russia on the autonomy of the Crimean region. Contrary to the views that consider the Crimean autonomy as a product of the ethno-territorial relations between the Crimea which is populated by mainly ethnic Russians and Kiev, thesis argues that the interstate relations between Ukraine and Russia have played a crucial role in the evolution of the autonomy of the Crimean region within Ukraine. Thesis is composed of six chapters. Following the introductory First Chapter, the Second Chapter examines the origins of the Crimean autonomy. The Third Chapter examines the Crimean Autonomous Region during the post-Soviet period until the signing of the Friendship Treaty between Ukraine and Russia in 1997. The Fourth Chapter explores the period between 1997 and 2004. The Fifth Chapter analyses the period in the aftermath of the Orange revolution in 2004. The Last Chapter is the Conclusion.

This thesis aims at studying representatives from three groups in the Egyptian society with an ethnographic method and with regards to their experiences, reflections and stories of the Egyptian revolution. The material of the thesis is based on ethnographic fieldwork and on interviews. The purpose of the study is to explore different themes in the informants’ stories related to society, freedom, social justice, human values, peace and civility. The purpose is also to examine the informants' stories with emphasis on various informal learning processes that occurred in the Egyptian social change. The study finds that according to the informants a society should be characterized, among other things, by human values, social justice, non-violence and peaceful methods and approaches. Various informal learning processes involving both individual citizens and active members of civil society and NGO groups were found to be practiced to be able to accomplish these changes in the Egyptian society to create a better future. The degrees of involvement of the various learning processes not only reflect differences between informants regarding the social and cultural background. Although informants' involvement in the ongoing development of society and how different informal learning processes have affected the informants.

AbstractTitle: Incumbent firms and Response to Disruptive Innovation through Value Network Management - Lessons from Eastman Kodak‟s failure in the digital eraAuthors: Helen Gebremeskel Tesfaye &amp; Thi Hong Nhung NguyenSupervisor: Marie BengtssonBackgroundThe question of why incumbent or established firms get into difficulties when they are faced with disruptive innovations has been extensively researched and discussed by many authors. Many explanations given for such failure seem to take “inside-out” approach by focusing on problems of organizational inertia, complacency, lack of insight and incompetence. On the other hand, Christensen‟s (1997; 2003) explanation takes an “outside-in” approach by focusing on the role of established firms‟ value network, particularly mainstream customers, as a determining factor to what incumbent firms can and cannot do.Purpose(i) Examine comprehensively the impacts of the value network on the incumbent firms when they are challenged by the arrival of disruptive innovations; (ii) Developing a model for the incumbent firms to recognize and manage effectively changes occurring in the value network in the face of disruptive innovations; and (iii) Gain a new insight into Kodak‟s failure in the reign of digital technology from the value network management perspective.DefinitionsDisruptive Innovation: Disruptive innovations in this study are considered as new products based on new technologies and which provide different attributes or product characteristics than what the company‟s mainstream or established customer segments historically value, while at the same time bringing new performance attributes to the market.iiValue Network: Value network is the context or environment within which a firm identifies and responds to customers‟ needs, solves problems, procures input, reacts to competitors and strives for profit.ResultsA Value Network Management model is developed for the incumbent firms to recognize and manage effectively changes occurring in the value network caused by the arrival of disruptive innovations. More specifically, the model aims at helping firms to overcome insight and action inertia and to choose the right partners among various new actors entering the value network. This model is iterative in essence and incorporates steps of searching/scanning, value network analysis and partner selection on the basis of appropriate role selection in the value network.

This thesis presents an analysis of Edmund Burke's place in intellectual history by examining his commentary on the French Revolution as well as his role in the Enlightenment itself. In doing so, it brings to bear the previously unexplored ideas of the twentieth-century historian Roy Porter. The thesis proposes that Burke's indictment of French philosophy as the cause of the French Revolution created enduring historiographic connotations between radicalism and the notion of enlightenment. Consequently, British thinkers of the eighteenth-century were invariably dismissed as conservative or reactionary and therefore unworthy to be regarded as enlightened figures. Porter's reconsideration of the British Enlightenment reveals Burke to be a staunch defender of hard-won enlightened values which British society had already long enjoyed.<p>The source material is, for the most part, primary. For Edmund Burke, his correspondence and his Reflections on the Revolution in France. For Roy Porter, his most relevant essays, journal articles and monographs.

Den här studiens syfte är att undersöka hur fyra svenska medier (Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet och SR Ekot) rapporterat om revolutionen i Egypten under 2011 och början av 2012. I enlighet med postkoloniala teorier visar undersökningen hur reportagen bär spår av eurocentrism, alltså idén att så kallade västerländska normer är bättre än andra normer, i detta fall muslimska. Reportagen reproducerar även stereotypa uppfattningar av i synnerhet personer med anknytning till muslimska partier. Det framstår även som trovärdigt att dramaturgiska grepp förstärker behoven av dessa förenklingar. Under året förändrades tonläget i reportagen. Under första delen av revolutionen var inställningen till revolutionen och demonstranternas mål positiv. Senare under året var tonen mer negativ. I början beskrevs demonstranter och folk som en enhet, senare särskilde reportagen ofta muslimer och kristna. Trots att Egyptens befolkning till 90 procent består av muslimer så kom kristna oftare till tals än muslimer. Resultatet av denna undersökning visar på tendensen att det i den svenska medierapporteringen fanns förhoppningar att ”de” (Egyptens folk) skulle bli mer som ”vi”(européer). För att komma fram till detta resultat har arton gestaltande reportage studerats med kritisk diskursanalys enligt Roger Fowler. Reportagen är strategiskt valda från specifika perioder i anslutning till tre nyckelhändelser - revolutionens inledning, valet och årsdagen. Den teoretiska ramen formas av postkoloniala teorier om ”vi” och ”de andra” samt dramaturgi, framför allt användandet av polemik och retoriska grepp.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of community involvement on management of water tanks in the Arkavathi sub-basin in the state of Karnataka, South India. Water management was analysed from a socio-environmental perspective, with emphasis on village-level stakeholders’ roles and perceived responsibility. The efficiency of community participation was investigated by comparing two villages having undergone the same World Bank launched program to restore water bodies traditionally used to sustain the livelihood of the rural population. In one village there was a resistance towards how the implementation of the tank rejuvenation project had been performed, in the other there was no local involvement. A minor field study was conducted by visiting the two villages. Qualitative interviews were held with village-level stakeholders of three age groups, to analyse changes over time in knowledge and attitudes. Additionally, ocular observation and photo documentation were made of the study areas. Some informal interviews were carried out with members of an external non-governmental organisation and locals in the study villages. The collected data were analysed by comparing the results for the two villages, as well as the results of the different age groups and genders. There were significant differences in awareness and sense of responsibility, but not knowledge, between the two villages. In the village with a community involvement resisting the governmental scheme for tank renovation, this involvement had proved to be of some advantage to the local community. Contrary to the guidelines, the governmental implementation of the water management strategy did not include local stakeholders’ participation, nor were the tanks restored. Overall, the villagers considered the tank management to be the responsibility of external authorities. There were generally no significant differences between the age groups or men and women, though there were indications of a lower level of knowledge and awareness in women. Absence of effective institutions for water management on all levels as well as difficulties in mainatining efficient village level leadership for community participation are factors causing a major gap between planning and implementation.

Huvudsyftet med denna uppsats är att finna de huvudsakliga orsakerna bakom uppkomsten och framväxten av den moderna islamiska fundamentalismen i länderna Iran och Afghanistan. Jag kommer att arbeta utifrån tesen att denna extrema form av religiositet främst är ett politiskt och socialt fenomen snarare än ett religiöst.

This paper examines the relation between climate change discourse and freedom which is held both as a self-evident value and a vital attribute for modern democracy. I argue that the discourse refutes individual freedom. It does so both through the goals and ends it promotes as well as the solutions it puts forward to achieve them, in other words through means, in the areas of economy, rights and political organization which reduce choices and diminish space of action for individuals. It opens the path to authoritarian regimes and the like by disempowering people in the name of natural order. This and other anomalies within the discourse make it the opposite of what it pretends to be - a revolutionary one; at least, unless it solves the question of freedom that resembles human nature.