O presente estudo tenta compreender as causas das trajetórias divergentes de três diferentes modelos de Welfare State: o liberal, o conservador/corporativista e o social-democrata. Para tanto são selecionados três países que representam tipos ideais destes modelos: Reino Unido, França e Suécia, respectivamente. São utilizadas as ferramentas do institucionalismo com o objetivo de estabelecer uma relação entre o enraizamento dos valores em cada sociedade selecionada e suas instituições formais. As trajetórias são analisadas no contexto de uma crescente integração econômica e da pressão da União Europeia para a convergência dos modelos de proteção social. Pode-se perceber a partir da pesquisa que alguns modelos de Welfare State são mais resilientes que outros e que as trajetórias são dependentes das trajetórias passadas (path dependency). Os modelos e suas transformações refletem os valores socio-culturais dos países selecionados, e essa relação não determinística faz a convergência das políticas sociais, obejetivo da União Europeia, difícil e improvável de ser realizada no curto/médio prazo. Para a análise dos valores culturais são usadas as respostas dos questionários da World Values Survey. A partir destes dados, é estabelecida a relação entre a cultura/valores e os indicadores socioeconômicos relacionados com o Welfare State. O trabalho busca demonstrar que o Welfare State é um reflexo de um processo cumulativo e que o objetivo das instituições supranacionais de convergência dos modelos vai enfrentar restrições institucionais. / The present study tries to understand the causes of the divergent trajectories of three different models of Welfare State: the liberal, the conservative/corporatist and the social-democratic. To reach this goal it is selected three countries that are ideal types of these models: United Kingdom, France and Sweden respectively. Using the tools of the institutionalism is established a relationship of the embeddedness of the values in each selected society and its formal institutions. The trajectories are analyzed in the context of an increasing economic integration and pressure from the European Union to converge the models of social protection. It can be perceived from the research that some models of Welfare State are more resilient than others and that the trajectories are path dependents. The models and its transformations reflect the cultural embeddedness in the selected countries, and this non deterministic relationship makes the convergence of the social policies aimed by the European Union difficult and improbable in the short/medium term. To analyze the cultural values it is used as proxies the answers from questionnaires in the World Values Survey. From these data is established the relationship between the culture/values and the socioeconomic indicators related to the Welfare State. The work found out that the Welfare State is a reflection of a cumulative process and that the aim of the supranational institutions to converge the models will face institutional constraints.

China and Russia – two giants in the group of emerging markets – continue to attract wide attention as evolving science and technological superpowers. However, both countries demonstrate mixed success in innovation development and are struggling to overcome the legacies of the former state planning system and accelerate their transition to effective national innovation systems. This study employs a number of theoretical constructs and evidence sources to evaluate the existing path dependencies and compare the achievements of China and Russia in fostering development and effective systems of innovation and governance. A detailed analysis of the state planning legacies is provided together with a study of innovation system transformation and the role of public policy in (re)building national innovation capabilities in China and Russia. The system-evolutionary approach is applied to provide a detailed assessment of the strategic effort undertaken by the governments of both countries. Several government failures and path dependencies seem to prevent the nations from implementing a more effective reform. Yet, there are a number of complementarities and opportunities for mutual learning where both countries can benefit from closer collaboration. The challenges of turning universities into research institutions, increasing productivity of state-owned enterprises, constructing effective science parks, promoting indigenous innovation, ensuring more even distribution of innovation development across regions, turning ‘brain drain’ into ‘brain gain’, and improving intellectual property rights protection are common in Russia and China. As a lens through which to identify and assess innovation systems transformation, the thesis examines emerging nanotechnology development in China and Russia. Nanotechnology is a new science and technology area where policies seem to be independent of many system weaknesses and contribute to breaking existing development lock-ins due to its explorative nature and assumed transformative capacity. Yet, a number of path dependencies do exist in this area but seem to play a marginal role in its progression. An early assessment is provided of nanotechnology impacts on broader socioeconomic development of China and Russia in six key areas: institutional development, knowledge flows, and network efficiency; research and education capabilities; industrial and enterprise growth; cluster and network development; regional spread; and product innovation.The conclusion summarizes the main findings, revisits the major research questions, links the analysis to the conceptual framework, and offers a number of policy recommendations that seem relevant to both Russia and China with a need to increase the transparency of innovation policy, improve the regulation for innovation process, and promote growth of the private sector to ensure effective technology transfer.Results from this study have been reported in various forms in the author’s articles published in Research Policy, Science and Public Policy, Review of Policy Research, International Journal of Economics and Business Research, and European Journal of Development Research as well as presented at a number of international conferences (see Appendix).

Homeownership and suburbanisation are two sides of the same coin in the context of Australia. This thesis explores the housing system that facilitates homeownership under a framework of institutional path dependence and how that has facilitated spatial patterns of suburbanization in contemporary Melbourne. Australia has been considered a homeowner society for the larger part of the 20th century. Living and owning a house on a ‘quarter acre block’ in one of its major cities is said to have been a virtue even before homeownership was in reach for the majority of the Australian population. The years after WWII enabled up to 70 per cent of the population to access homeownership tenure. In that, this thesis analyses the institutional, societal and economic configurations that enabled increased homeownership provision, but also the historical processes that further facilitated a system around a dominant tenure. Path dependency theory, developed in the field of historical institutionalism, offers an analytical toolbox to examine long-term processes. In a broad sense, path dependency refers to the continuous reproduction of institutional systems in place. The second part of this thesis examines urbanisation processes in Melbourne, under a framework of institutional and spatial change. Cities are changing environments that, although, they inhabit determinist and reinforcing spatial patterns and institutions, transition over time. By looking at historical and contemporary institutional processes, this thesis examines metropolitan strategies to consolidate the outward growth in the city of Melbourne. Under the aspect of change, current challenges to the built environment are presented. A third analysis connects the macro discussion with a case study of a local housing provider in Melbourne, that in some regards may be viewed as antithesis to the contemporary building regime in the Australian and Melbourne context. As the first in-depth path dependency analysis in the Australian context, this thesis can be viewed as a contribution to the growing body of path dependency literature with a housing focus that also combines the spatial nature of urban environments.

Grunden till uppsatsen är Sveriges klimatpolitiska ramverk där följande mål satts upp: “senast år 2045 ska Sverige inte ha några nettoutsläpp av växthusgaser till atmosfären, för att därefter uppnå negativa utsläpp.” (Naturvårdsverket 2019b). Landsbygden är i fokus och relationen mellan stad respektive land beskrivs liksom attityder och beteenden kopplat till klimatfrågan. Uppsatsen berör därigenom historiska beslut, ojämlikheter och maktpositioner som ligger till grund för de förutsättningar som landsbygden har idag. Intervjuer med landsbygdskommuner har gjorts vilket syftar till att kunna studera möjligheter och hinder för landsbygden att bli fossilfri till senast år 2045. Genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys lyfts för- och nackdelar inom sju teman som påverkar förutsättningar och därmed också möjligheter och hinder i landsbygdskommuner arbete i målet. För att kunna diskutera ämnet djupare beskrivs teorierna path dependency, ekologisk modernisering, risksamhället, politisk ekologi samt centrum/periferi-teorin. Uppsatsen diskuterar bland annat hur samarbete kan påverkas genom maktrelationer liksom förklarar hur landsbygden befinner sig i en inlåsning på grund av tidigare beslut som samhället har tagit. Beslut som lett till hinder i nuvarande och framtida arbete. Det belyses även hur viktigt det är med ett personligt engagemang när landsbygdskommunerna ska ta sig an klimatfrågan. / The essay is based on Sweden's climate policy framework where the following goals have been set: "by 2045, Sweden will have net zero carbon dioxide emission, in order to achieve negative emissions thereafter." (Naturvårdsverket 2019b). The countryside is the focus of the essay, where the relationship between city and countryside is described as well as attitudes and behaviors linked to climate change. The essay refers to historical decisions, inequalities and power, factors that shaped the rural areas and their conditions to work with climate mitigation and adaptation. Interviews with rural municipalities have been conducted, which aims to study the possibilities and barriers for the countryside to become fossil-free by the year 2045. A qualitative content analysis highlights the pros and cons of seven themes that affect the conditions both opportunities and obstacles in rural municipalities work to reach the target. To be able to discuss the topic more deeply, following theories are described; path dependency, ecological modernization, the risk society, political ecology and the center-/periphery theory. The essay discusses how cooperation can be affected by power and explains how the countryside is in lock-ups depending on historical decisions, which leads to obstacles in current and future work. It is also highlighted how important it is with a personal commitment when the rural municipalities work with climate mitigation and adaptation.

This thesis aims to clarify how the Single market policy and the Social policy of the European Union has changed since the Treaty of Rome (1957) and what opportunities and/or constraints there might be for integrating gender mainstreaming within the policies.  In order to determine how the policy development affects the prospects of integrating gender mainstreaming, a case study supplemented with the method of content analysis is carried out. Furthermore, the thesis adopts a historical institutionalist perspective. Thereby, policy change is operationalised with the help of Peter Hall ́s theory of the three orders of change. It is therefore assumed that the concept of path dependency will explain how policy changes opens up opportunities for or constrain the integration of gender mainstreaming in the policy-making process.  The main findings show that the Single market policy mostly changed in accordance with the first order of change and that the Social policy mostly changed in accordance with the second order of change. These findings imply that a paradigm shift of the fundamental ideas and objectives of the policies have not occurred since the signing of the Treaty of Rome which complicates future integration of gender mainstreaming in the policies.

Kandidatuppsatsens syfte är att undersöka och skapa förståelse för hur Malmö stad arbetar med hållbar mobilitet, hur det implementeras samt vilka utmaningar som kan uppstå. Detta för att öka kunskapen hos planerare med flera som behandlar frågor om hållbar mobilitet. Undersökningens empiriska material grundas i en dokumentstudie där policy- och strategidokument studeras, samt en intervjustudie med kvalitativa intervjuer där fem tjänstepersoner från tre av Malmö stads förvaltningar. Med hjälp av Banisters (2008) fyra policyprinciper för hållbar mobilitet - teknologi, styrning av efterfrågan, utvecklande av markanvändning samt acceptans - och genom teorin om stigberoende analyseras Malmö stads arbete med hållbar mobilitet. Slutsatsen är att komplexiteten i begreppet hållbar mobilitet bidrar till olika tolkningar av vad begreppet innefattar, vilket i sin tur kan leda till otydliga policyer och strategier. Dessa utmaningar kan leda till trög beslutsfattning och långsam implementering av åtgärder, vilket förklaras av teorin om stigberoende. Vi beskriver detta som en rundgång då utmaningarna både påverkar och påverkas av varandra. För att bryta ett eventuellt stigberoende i Malmö stads organisation föreslår vi ett större mod att våga planera, besluta och testa olika åtgärder som främjar hållbar utveckling. Detta kan leda till att Malmö stad kan arbeta effektivt för en förändring från konventionell transportplanering till hållbar mobilitet. / The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to investigate and create an understanding of how the City of Malmö works with sustainable mobility, how it is implemented and what challenges may arise. This is to increase the knowledge of planners and others who deal with issues of sustainable mobility. The empirical material for the study is based on a document analysis of policy and strategy documents, as well as a qualitative interview study involving five och officials from three administrative departments of the City of Malmö. Using Banister's (2008) four policy principles for sustainable mobility - technology, demand management, land usedevelopment and acceptance - and the theory of path dependency, the City of Malmö's work on sustainable mobility is analyzed. The conclusion is that the complexity of the concept of sustainable mobility contributes to different interpretations of what the concept entails, which in turn can lead to unclear policies and strategies. These challenges can lead to slow decision-making and slow implementation of measures, as explained by the theory of path dependency. We describe this as a feedback loop, as the challenges both influence and are influenced by each other. To break the potential path dependence within the organization of the City of Malmö, we propose a more courageous approach to planning, decision-making, and testing various measures that promote sustainable development. This may enable the City of Malmö to effectively work towards a shift from conventional transportation planning to sustainable mobility.

Förändringar i klimatet som följd av människans sätt att leva utgör ökade risker och större sårbarhet för samhället, där behovet av anpassning inför de effekter som klimatförändringarna leder till blir allt mer påtagligt. Arbete med att hantera dessa frågor utförs såväl globalt, nationellt som lokalt, där det gemensamma målet är att ställa om samhället för att nå en hållbar utveckling och stå robust inför framtida klimatscenarier. Mycket av det arbete som innebär att praktiskt uppfylla de både internationella och nationella målsättningarna kring klimatanpassning utförs på lokal nivå och kommuner bär ett stort ansvar att balansera åtgärder för klimatanpassning med övriga intressen i den långsiktiga planeringen. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur klimatanpassning tas upp i den långsiktiga planeringen för svenska kommuner. Metoden som använts för studien är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys där översiktsplaner för fyra mindre kommuner i södra Sverige analyserats. Resultatet visar att samtliga kommuner tar upp behovet av anpassning till klimatförändringarnas effekter, om än i något varierande omfattning. Samtliga kommuner belyser främst behovet av framtida anpassningsåtgärder och en generell hänsyn vid planering och utveckling av kommunen. Klimatanpassning uttrycks även i relation till kunskapsspridning, redan genomförda åtgärder och specifika handlingsplaner. Resultatet tar stöd av path dependency – stigberoende – för att förklara hur den politiska strukturen påverkar utveckling och kan utgöra ett hinder för att åstadkomma nödvändig och brådskande anpassning.

In this dissertation the construction of two coastal railways, the East Coast Line and the Bothnia Line, in the Norrland region of northern Sweden is used as a case study of how regionally based interest groups are formed, and how they gain access to decision-making processes on a national level. In periods when a number of preconditions were in place, a window of opportunity opened for the coastal railway that the regional elites could exploit. Among these was the ability to form a coherent regional interest group, through institutions that created platforms and power-bases that enable regional elites to co-operate and act on regional and national levels.The existence of an institutional framework that was adapitve towards regional railway promotion was also important. The study shows that the coastal railway had a very flexible role on the agenda, as it provided a fixed solution against which actors could pin a multitude of different problems. An important factor for explaining the development of the coastal railway question in Norrland was the ideological notion of the region itself. Being a vast, resource-rich and sparsely populated region, Norrland had almost always received special consideration in both public opinion and national policy making. It also created a remarkable stubbornness among the regional actors in working for the coastal railway. Regional interest groups had also learnt that linking their claims to Norrland's peripheral position had high legitimacy on the national arena, by claiming the need for regional fairness and/or the national importance of the regional export-intensive industries. This was instrumental in justifying the repeated exemptions from the national railway policy regimes that ultimately were decissive in making the regional elites successful.

The main aim of this study is to analyze how secular organizations deal with religion in international development work, both officially and practically, and how they describe the meeting between the secular ideology and the religious context. To answer these questions we have interviewed seven employees of different secular organizations who are well familiar with the organization’s operational as well as strategic work. The study also examines the official documents of each organization. The result show that none of the organizations has any policies about religion and that there is no active dialogue about how to deal with religion within the organizations. The results also show that religion is described as a tool and a resource for change rather than is implemented in the development work. Further, the dialogue around religion is often translated into secular terms. In order to problematize and to analyze the results, the study has mainly been inspired by theories of postcolonialism, secularism, path dependency and historical institutionalism which all together highlight the issue of secularism, religion and development. / Syftet med studien har varit att kritiskt analysera hur sekulära organisationer förhåller sig till religionsfrågor i utvecklingssamarbete i religiösa kontexter. Våra frågeställningar berör hur organisationerna förhåller sig officiellt till religionsfrågor i utvecklingssamarbetet, hur de förhåller sig till dessa frågor i praktiken samt hur organisationerna beskriver mötet mellan den sekulära ideologin och den religiösa kontexten. För att ta reda på detta har vi utfört sju kvalitativa intervjuer med anställda inom sekulära organisationer som är väl insatta i organisationernas strategiska och operationella arbete samt i deras ideologiska grunder. Vi har även studerat organisationernas officiella dokument. Studiens resultat visar att samtliga organisationer saknar riktlinjer kring religion, att det inte förs någon aktiv dialog kring religionsfrågor inom organisationerna samt att organisationerna till stor del förhåller sig till religionsfrågor genom att bekräfta och respektera dess förekomst i arbetet. Det framkommer även att religiösa ledare ses som en tillgång och att religion ses som ett verktyg när det kommer till att förankra arbetet. Resultatet visar vidare på att organisationerna delvis förhåller sig till frågorna genom att beskriva dem i mer sekulära termer och pratar snarare om exempelvis mänskliga rättigheter och demokrati än om religion i arbetet i de religiösa kontexterna. I analysen av det insamlade materialet har vi utgått från teorier om sekularisering, postsekularisering, stigberoende, historisk institutionalism samt postkolonialism och även tidigare forskning inom det aktuella området, vilka på olika sätt belyser området kring sekularitet, religion och utveckling.

Submitted by William Justo Figueiro (williamjf) on 2015-08-20T17:56:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 18e.pdf: 3571110 bytes, checksum: 0630bd9741c0fc9e3717871ac10256d7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-08-20T17:56:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 18e.pdf: 3571110 bytes, checksum: 0630bd9741c0fc9e3717871ac10256d7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-14 / Nenhuma / A mobilização de recursos que as organizações constantemente impetram reflete as mudanças estratégicas que buscam implementar. Ao longo do tempo, estes recursos são erigidos no intuito de criar diferenciação perante seus competidores. Nas últimas décadas, a profusão da concorrência, de diversas origens, atuando no mercado internacional, traz novas dimensões a serem estudadas. O ambiente competitivo, que, durante o século XX, vinha sendo avaliado em duas principais esferas, organizacional e industrial, passou a receber maior carga de influência dos aspectos institucionais. As análises do ambiente competitivo, portanto, tornaram-se mais complexas e fez-se necessário que decisões estratégicas envolvessem mais variáveis. A importância da história da organização e o papel que determinados posicionamentos tem no planejamento de ações futuras passa a ser um ponto a ser mais bem investigado. Assim, a dependência de trajetória, como vantagem ou como desvantagem precisa ser mais bem avaliada no que tange à mobilização de recursos para a inserção internacional e a reconfiguração de suas estratégias globais. Como pano de fundo desta investigação, a indústria calçadista mostrou-se um campo fértil a ser pesquisado, uma vez que é uma indústria madura com tradição exportadora de longa data. Dentro do objetivo geral de compreender como os recursos foram reconfigurados, ao longo do tempo, segundo o enfoque da Visão Baseada em Recursos (RBV – Resourced-Based View), e como foram capazes de contribuir ou responder às estratégias de atuação em mercados internacionais de empresas calçadistas do Rio Grande do Sul, buscou-se responder como a reconfiguração de recursos se relaciona com tais mudanças. Para tanto, como estratégia investigativa, optou-se por um estudo de dois casos de empresas exportadoras que tiveram diferentes trajetórias. Inicialmente, foram entrevistados três profissionais com historicidade dentro da indústria, que não estavam atuando nas empresas estudadas e, posteriormente, se fez três entrevistas em cada uma delas, com pessoas chave na configuração de recursos ao longo do tempo. Concluiu-se que a mobilização de recursos está atrelada a decisões no passado e podem gerar novos pontos de inflexão que podem balizar movimentos estratégicos futuros. Ainda, que avaliações do ambiente institucional e de historicidade devem fazer parte das análises contra factuais que os gestores enfrentam cotidianamente. Percebeu-se, que os estudos sobre estratégias de internacionalização, erigidos em países avançados, necessitam aprofundamentos para entender a complexidade dos ambientes de economias emergentes. / The mobilization of resources that organizations constantly do reflects the strategic changes that aim to implement. Over time, these features are built in order to create differentiation against its competitors. In recent decades, the profusion of competition, from diverse backgrounds, working in the international market, brings new dimensions to be studied. The competitive environment, which, during the twentieth century, had been evaluated in two major spheres, organizational and industry, began to receive greater burden of influence of the institutional perspective. The analysis of the competitive environment, therefore, becomes more complex. Hence, it was necessary to involve more strategic decision variables. The importance of the organization's history and the role that certain positions have in the planning of future actions becomes a point to be further investigated. Thus, the path dependence, as an advantage or a disadvantage to be better evaluated with regard to resource mobilization for international integration and reconfiguration of entry strategies. As background to this research, the footwear industry has proved a fertile field to be searched, since it is a mature industry with long-standing tradition of exporting. Within the overall goal of understanding how resources have been reconfigured, over time, depending on the approach of the RBV (Resourced-Based View), and how they were able to contribute or respond to the action strategies in international markets of footwear companies from Rio Grande do Sul, we sought answer how the reconfiguration of resources relates to such changes. To do so, as a research strategy, we chose to study two cases of export companies that have different trajectories. Initially, we interviewed three professionals with historicity within the industry; they were not acting in the companies studied and later became three interviews in each of them, with key persons in the configuration of resources over time. we concluded that the mobilization of resources is linked to decisions in the past and can generate new inflection points that will mark out the future strategic moves. Thus, those assessments of the institutional and historical analysis should be part of the evidence against that managers face daily. We also noticed that the studies on internationalization strategies, erected in advanced countries, must be studied harder to understand the complexity of the environments of emerging economies.