As set in the Indonesian context of changing policies regarding the language of instruction in a particular stream of public schools, known as the International Standard Schools (ISSs), the study reported in this thesis explored the experiences of Science and Mathematics teachers regarding the introduction, implementation, and reversal of the use of English as the medium of instruction (EMI). Through this study, I aimed to develop insights with regard to teachers' experiences of educational language policy change and reversal. A qualitative, narrative-based approach to the study was adopted. I sought to attend to the meanings that seven Science and Mathematics teachers attributed - through their narration with me - to their experiences of the language of instruction policy change and reversal. A broader context for their meaning-making narratives was gained from the narrativised experiences of one curriculum leader and one teacher trainer. The narrations took place in the participants' preferred language of Bahasa Indonesia with a mixture of some vernacular languages, and, having restoried their narrations into reader friendly texts in the original language(s), I then analysed them from holistic and categorical content perspectives. Next, as informed by this analysis and my reflexively-surfaced understandings of this context, I explored the influences that may have shaped the teachers' experiences. This study identified main patterns in the teacher experiences of change, namely: i) a willingness to embrace change - struggle - fulfilment - disappointment; ii) a willingness to embrace change - excitement - fulfilment - disappointment; and iii) a resistance to change- struggle - fulfilment - relief. There were both internal and external shaping influences on these patterns. Such internal influences include teachers': i) language confidence; ii) perceptions of EMI, and iii) stage of career. These internal influences may have shaped teachers' willingness either to make the most of their involvement in the programme or to simply be part of the programme without many expectations. Possible external shaping influences include: i) societal perceptions of EMI; ii) support from school and government; iii) opportunities to interact with other teachers; and iv) support from colleagues. These external influences seemed to have created an environment which either facilitated or hindered the teachers' performance as EMI teachers and their continuing development for and through the EMI programme. My study also identified three stages of experiences of reversal, i.e.: Stage One - turbulence, intense-emotions, and feelings of nostalgia; Stage Two - readjustments; and Stage Three - acceptance and adaptation. The teachers who responded negatively towards the reversal tended to experience all the three stages. Meanwile, those who were relieved by the reversal directly moved to Stage Three: acceptance and adaptation, without experiencing Stage One and Stage Two. My study has implications for how educational language policy change and reversal may be addressed in countries with a complex linguistic landscape, e.g. Indonesia. It also offers some suggestions for policy makers and teacher educators regarding teachers' experiences and needs when potentially reversing existing or introducing a new educational language policy.

<p>One of the distinguishing features of successful societies is the ability to adapt to change, both</p><p>social but also natural changes like climate change. Climate change is a complex, dynamic,</p><p>non-linear process with a great deal of uncertainty concerning the time perspective, risks and</p><p>consequences. A combination of factors like climate change, geographical vulnerability, a</p><p>densely populated and highly built up coast line along with factors like deficient handling of</p><p>surface runoff and a large usage of ground water leads to an increasingly vulnerable society. It</p><p>also puts a greater pressure on the society to have preventive measures in place.</p><p>The number of actors working with preparing society to the expected impacts of climate</p><p>change and variability is increasing. However more than half of Sweden’s municipalities do</p><p>not consider changing climatic conditions when planning, and many times even allow the</p><p>construction of new living areas in known climatically vulnerable areas. Certain geographical</p><p>areas in Sweden are characterized by environmental problems which enhance the predicted</p><p>effects of climate change. The coast of Scania (Skåne) is one such area, where people for a</p><p>long time have had to adjust to conditions like coastal erosion, recurring high tides, low lying</p><p>areas and sinking land.</p><p>The following study elaborates the politics of adaptive capacity. It is based on a comparative</p><p>case study of two different policy processes regarding adjustments to climatic conditions in</p><p>the coastal municipalities of Vellinge and Lomma in south-western Scania. In other words,</p><p>this study explores the underlying factors that can explain what drives anticipatory measures</p><p>to strengthen the ability and possibility to handle effects related to climate change. The</p><p>theoretical framework consists of theories regarding policy changes in social ecological</p><p>systems, and adaptation to climate. Structural actor based perspective, as well as system</p><p>oriented and process oriented have been applied.</p><p>The results are based on 14 interviews with key politicians, officials and stakeholders from</p><p>non-governmental organizations. The study is also based on reports, a citizen’s survey from</p><p>Statistics Sweden (SCB), newspaper articles, municipal documents, web sites and literature.</p><p>The results show that the municipality of Vellinge implemented adaptation strategies years</p><p>before Lomma municipality. Policy change was triggered by observed vulnerabilities in</p><p>ecological systems which affected the social systems. It resulted in an intense debate (a</p><p>window of opportunity), which in turn opened a policy window.</p><p>The driving forces in policy process are central actors and shadow networks with access to</p><p>knowledge. The results show that knowledge and understanding of ecological systems is</p><p>essential for policy changes in climate adaptations. Research is needed, but research by itself</p><p>will not be sufficient, research and knowledge must be transferred to decision-makers.</p><p>Knowledge transferring is even important for officials and public. That means that an</p><p>understanding of ecological systems is necessary for forming attitudes and for planning a</p><p>society with the ability to meet climate change and the insecurities which are connected with</p><p>it.</p>

<p>This dissertation consists of three interrelated essays examining the role of crisis events in Swedish nuclear energy policymaking. The study takes stock of the idea of ‘crisis exceptionalism’ raised in the literature, which postulates that crisis events provide openings for major policy change. In an effort to explain crisis-induced outcomes in Swedish nuclear energy policy, each essay explores and develops theoretical assumptions derived from the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The introduction discusses the ACF and other theoretical perspectives accentuating the role of crisis in policymaking and identifies three explanations for crisis-induced policy outcomes: minority coalition mobilization, learning, and strategic action. Essay I analyzes the nature and development of the Swedish nuclear energy subsystem. The results contradict the ACF assumption that corporatist systems nurture narrow subsystems and small advocacy coalitions, but corroborate the assumption that advocacy coalitions remain stable over time. While this analysis identifies temporary openings in policymaking venues and in the advocacy coalition structure, it is argued that these developments did not affect crisis policymaking. Essay II seeks to explain the decision to initiate a referendum on nuclear power following the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. Internal government documents and other historical records indicate that strategic considerations superseded learning as the primary explanation in this case. Essay III conducts an in-depth examination of Swedish policymaking in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl accident in an effort to explain the government’s decision not to accelerate the nuclear power phaseout. Recently disclosed government documents show that minority coalition mobilization was insufficient to explain this decision. In this case, rational learning and strategic action provided a better explanation. The main theoretical contribution derived from the three essays is to posit the intensity and breadth of political conflict, strategic action, and analogical reasoning as key factors affecting the propensity for crisis-induced policy change.</p>

This thesis aims to analyse the change and continuity issue in German Foreign Policy. In this study, the basic aim is to identify the basic parameters of the West German foreign policy during the Cold War and identify the implications of the reunification on foreign policy of Germany. Actually, after the reunification, the economically giant Germany has started to pursue a more self-reliant foreign policy course but there is not a radical shift from the basic parameters and the core values. The concept of &amp / #8216 / civilian power&amp / #8217 / and the international climate within which the foreign policy is formulated, will be given priority. It is argued that from the Gulf War in 1990-1991 to the Kosovo War of 1999, German contribution to military operations has increased. However, Germany has done this within a multilateral context and the aim has been to keep the values of respect for democracy and human rights. Thus, continuity dominates over change in German foreign policy, with regard to its policy record during the 1990s.

Europeanization has been the subject of various studies in the last decades. It has been operationalized as a historical process, as a cultural diffusion of European values, as a process of institutional adaptation of institutions and lastly as the adaptation of policies. Taking the last approach, this thesis aims to examine the nature and the extent of the impact of the European Union&rsquo / s poverty and social exclusion strategy on Turkish poverty and social exclusion regime in the EU accession process. It takes up a bottom-up research design by employing the domestic change as the dependent and the possible impact of the EU as the independent variable and questions whether and to what extent the EU accession process has an impact on the degree, nature and direction of domestic change in the field of poverty and social exclusion in Turkey in the last decade. It concludes that there has been a change in poverty and social exclusion policies in the last decade to varying degrees with respect to objectives, principles, procedures and instruments / however, the impact of the EU has been limited to policy learning.

The National School Lunch Program, established in 1946 under the National School Lunch Act, has grown from a commodity surplus distribution program in its early days, to its current incarnation as a nutrition program for lower income students. This paper addresses the following question, “are particular framing choices influenced by a representatives’ district or individual characteristics, or are party considerations more important in determining framing language?” Certain frameworks may be more effective for creating policy change, and given that framing shapes the way humans conceptualize a problem space, framing should be a deliberate tool used in order to constrain the debate around certain problems. In support of this claim, existing framing literature and literature on human cognition indicates that framing plays a vital role in defining the terms of debate and mobilizing the public around certain issues. However, the actual details of debate shifts and issue framing often become a ‘black box’ in theories of policy change. Content analysis of floor statements made over a 16-year period regarding the National School Lunch Program reveals that policy framing is highly dependent on district characteristics, but that language use itself does not appear to have changed significantly in the time period studied. / text

This dissertation consists of three interrelated essays examining the role of crisis events in Swedish nuclear energy policymaking. The study takes stock of the idea of ‘crisis exceptionalism’ raised in the literature, which postulates that crisis events provide openings for major policy change. In an effort to explain crisis-induced outcomes in Swedish nuclear energy policy, each essay explores and develops theoretical assumptions derived from the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The introduction discusses the ACF and other theoretical perspectives accentuating the role of crisis in policymaking and identifies three explanations for crisis-induced policy outcomes: minority coalition mobilization, learning, and strategic action. Essay I analyzes the nature and development of the Swedish nuclear energy subsystem. The results contradict the ACF assumption that corporatist systems nurture narrow subsystems and small advocacy coalitions, but corroborate the assumption that advocacy coalitions remain stable over time. While this analysis identifies temporary openings in policymaking venues and in the advocacy coalition structure, it is argued that these developments did not affect crisis policymaking. Essay II seeks to explain the decision to initiate a referendum on nuclear power following the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. Internal government documents and other historical records indicate that strategic considerations superseded learning as the primary explanation in this case. Essay III conducts an in-depth examination of Swedish policymaking in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl accident in an effort to explain the government’s decision not to accelerate the nuclear power phaseout. Recently disclosed government documents show that minority coalition mobilization was insufficient to explain this decision. In this case, rational learning and strategic action provided a better explanation. The main theoretical contribution derived from the three essays is to posit the intensity and breadth of political conflict, strategic action, and analogical reasoning as key factors affecting the propensity for crisis-induced policy change.

The preschool class was built in 1998 in an effort by the Swedish government to achieve a smooth transition for the children from preschool to compulsory school. This voluntary, one-year class was envisioned as a bridge between preschool and compulsory school, and the activities would be unlike those in preschool or school. Nevertheless, presently the role of the preschool class seems to be unclear to the preschool class teachers. This is all the more concerning given that in 2018 this class will become mandatory children. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate how teachers understand preschool class and “preschool class pedagogy” as a distinct practice, that is “not preschool” and “not school”, and if and how in that case, mandatory attendance in preschool class will change their view. In this qualitative study, transition theories were applied to characterize teachers’ understanding of the preschool class meaning as a transition year, its preparatory role, and the teachers’ perspectives on this transition class. The sample consisted of four preschool class teachers who were either former or current preschool class teachers. The study data was based on semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. This study found that the preschool class teachers understand this class as a one-way bridge to primary school and emphasized the importance of the new policy of the mandatory attendance as a beneficial change for the children.

Esta tese investiga as mudanças ocorridas nas políticas sobre drogas no Brasil e em Portugal na última década do século XX e na primeira do século XXI. O argumento central, tomado em parte dos debates existentes entre as vertentes neoinstitucionais, é que tais mudanças só podem ser interpretadas a partir do conhecimento a respeito das trajetórias históricas das políticas e sua relação com o contexto internacional mais amplo no qual estão inseridas. Desta forma, construiu-se uma narrativa a respeito das mudanças em um processo indutivo baseado em investigação empírica que se articula em torno do conceito de dependência da trajetória. Nesse sentido, a ideia central da tese é que as diferentes naturezas das mudanças nas políticas analisadas podem ser compreendidas a partir da sua contextualização histórica e da importância dos efeitos que as escolhas e decisões tomadas em um dado momento têm no desenvolvimento posterior das políticas. / This thesis investigates the changes ocurred in the drug policies in Brazil and in Portugal in the last decade of the XXth century and in the first decade of the XXIst century. The central argument, taken in part of the existing debates within the neoinstitucionalist approaches, is that such changes can only be interpreted based on the knowledge regarding the historical trajectories of the policies and its relation with the broader international context in which they are imbedded. This way, a narrative was built concerning the changes on drug policies in these both countries, in an inductive process, grounded on empirical research that articulates itself around the concept of path dependence. In this sense, the central idea of the thesis is that the different natures of the changes in the analysed policies can be understood based on its historical contextualization and the importance of the effects that the choices and decisions taken in a certain moment have in the ulterior development of the policies.

The current study examined the social factors that have influenced the rising female incarceration rates in Japan between 1970 and 2011, based on two theoretical explanations: Women's behavioral change thesis (women's liberation thesis and economic marginalization thesis), and policy change thesis (arrest and prosecutorial effect). Based on the secondary data obtained from the Japanese government's statistics, time series analysis was conducted. The results didn't support liberation thesis, whereas economic marginalization thesis and policy change thesis (prosecutorial effect) were supported to explain the rising female incarceration rate for special law crimes in Japan. On the other hand, two general indicators of ecoomic and political conditions in Japan had strong impact on the female incarceration rate for both penal code and special law crimes. Implications were discussed, basing on the cultural backgrounds of gender stratification, criminal justice processing and the broader economic and political conditions in Japan.