This dissertation presents an historical analysis of teachers’ participation in policy making with specific reference to the South African Schools’ Act (SASA) of 1996. The central aim of the study was to explore the opportunities, extent and outcomes of teachers’ participation in the development of SASA and the various factors that attest to its complexity. Main argument and claims While acknowledging the broader political, ideological and economic context of teacherstate relations in policy making, this study contends that macro-forces in themselves are insufficient in explaining the dynamics of policy making and teachers’ role in it. Teachers’ participation in policy making is shaped, as powerfully, by factors such as partisan alliances and policy capacity, and by specific school contexts. Fundamental to this argument is the importance attached to the notion of ‘historical specificity’, which provides the overall thread that binds the diverse forces and factors that shaped the nature of teachers’ participation in policy making. In making the above argument, this thesis posits the following main claims: • Teachers’ participation in the development of SASA was historically-determined and shaped by the ambiguous and political nature of teacher-state relations, underpinned by ideological allegiance and flexibility. Key factors that shaped this relationship were government and teacher unions’ harnessing of the ideologies of unionism and professionalism, the ability of teacher unions’ to resist state cooptation and teacher unions’ agency in the cultivation of policy networks, especially partisan and non-partisan alliances; • Teachers’ participation was influenced by the specificity of South Africa’s transition to democracy, particularly the developmental tendency of the postapartheid education state and the politics of compromise that underpinned the Teachers’ participation in policy making: The case of the South African Schools Act vi political transition. Thus, in spite of ‘global’ forces, ‘local’ dynamics were ultimately more instrumental in determining the nature and impact of teachers’ participation in the policy making process; • The ‘stakeholder’ or ‘representative’ form of participation which characterized SASA’s development has underlined the limits of participation founded on a western, liberal model of democracy and stressed the value of direct (participatory) and deliberative models of democracy. Teachers as individuals, therefore, experience ‘dual marginalization’ in the policy arena, firstly, because state policy makers do not consult or engage them, and secondly because teacher unions themselves are often unable to adequately involve grassroots’ members in policy formulation activities within their organisations; • Teachers’ participation in the development of SASA has been dominated by the adoption of a rational and expert-driven model of policy making, wherein the views and contributions of experts are more highly valued than those of ordinary citizens, including teachers. At the same time, the study underlines the importance of a strong organisational basis for teachers’ participation in policy making, particularly the need for well-functioning organizational structures and policy expertise within the ranks of teacher unions themselves; and • Teachers’ participation in policy making is not confined to hopes of influencing policy outcomes. It is about social and policy learning and its implications for teachers’ daily practice and for the organizational development of teacher unions. Main theoretical and methodological contributions The study offers an eclectic conceptual framework for research into teachers’ participation in policy making, drawing on the disciplines of history, political science and education policy, which can be considered by researchers undertaking similar studies especially in transitional contexts. In so doing, the study makes the following contributions: Teachers’ participation in policy making: The case of the South African Schools Act vii It presents teacher unions and policy makers with a more comprehensive perspective to consider when formulating policy; It contributes a novel perspective for examining the relationship between education, civil society and the state in South Africa and countries undergoing transition worldwide; and It provides substance for comparative discussions on teachers’ participation in policy formulation globally. Finally, the study reclaims history as a method of social enquiry in policy analysis and in contrast to existing studies with its largely a-historical policy implementation bias, refocuses the empirical analysis on the policy development process and dynamics.

As researchers provide compelling evidence pointing to climate change, governments and civil society actors are getting stimulated to act and reverse the negative impacts of extreme climate change. The impact of climate change on Kenya is profound and staggering. It is estimated that Kenya’s landmass is 582,350 km2, of which only 17% is arable, with 83% consisting of semi-arid and arid land. Climate change and human activities are resulting in desertification and increasing total semi-arid and arid land. Researchers further estimate that 17% of Mombasa or 4600 hectares of the region’s land area will be submerged as a result of sea-level rise. This situation demands policy actions to combat the situation. As developing countries wade into combating climate change, the government of Kenya is implementing far reaching polices to fight climate change including its 2006 water quality regulation and 2009 regulation of wetlands, riverbanks, lakeshore and sea management regulations of 2009. In addition, development partners such as the UNDP and civil society actors working on climate change have played a critical role complementing government policy actions. Working through the Africa’s Adaptation Programme (AAP), civil society organizations (CSOs) are participating in agenda setting, and increasing awareness that promote climate change adaptation through civic engagement. Civic engagement serves as an important tool for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to promote a more effective response to the hazardous effects of extreme climate change. Despite this, researchers and policy analyst argue that civil societies work within the environmental sector is not based on rigorous research, their actions are uncoordinated, and outcomes are poorly communicated. As a focal point, this report examined how CSOs organize around key policy issues and work through the AAP to set the agenda and influence climate change policymaking in Kenya. The study is based largely on an evaluation of secondary data sources including websites, Programme documents and academic articles. I also benefited from a summer internship at UNDP offices in Nairobi in 2010. The study explored how AAP is professionalizing and how that increases its leverage and strengthens NGOs to actively participate in policy influencing. The study summarizes scattered pieces of information into one report to enhance the AAP’s database building efforts. Finally, this serves as resource for CSOs policy engagement in Kenya and beyond. Overall, the report reveals that the AAP is bridging ties between CSOs working within the climate change sector by bringing them under one umbrella. This social bonding behavior serves as social capital to influence policy. However to increase leverage for effective policy engagement, the AAP needs to incrementally apply rigorous evidenced based research to generate more compelling information that transforms policies. It further suggests commercializing clean energy technologies by charging affordable rates for deploying such infrastructure to households. Finally, using policy entrepreneurs can dramatically improve policy advocacy in Kenya. / text

Yes / We use data from in-depth interviews with business lobbyists in Brussels to investigate why they choose to join lobbying coalitions. We find that lobbyists face two competing institutional incentives. First, they are confronted with incentives to ally with other European organisations, develop multilateral policy messages, and communicate messages to the Commission and the Parliament. Simultaneously, they face inducements to join narrower coalitions, develop bilateral policy messages, and direct those messages at the Council. Lobbyists’ receptivity to these incentives – and thus their choices of lobbying coalitions – differs with their age, educational background, and with the type and ownership structure of the organisations they represent. Combined, our findings contribute to the limited, mainly American literature on interest coalitions by demonstrating that lobbyists operate in complex institutional environments, and that their interpretations of and reactions to institutional complexity are shaped by individual- and organisational-level factors.

本論文旨在論述中國大陸學術界在中共外交政策的決策過程中所扮演的角色，並聚焦在值得外界特別關注的個案─中國大陸的歐洲研究學界與中共的歐盟政策。在面對愈來愈複雜的外交關係環境下，無論是在正式或非正式的層面，有更多外圍組織或人員被納入中共的外交決策結構之中，其中最貼切的例子就是學術界。隨著中國大陸地區外交相關科系或研究機構的演變、多元性和優質化的發展，其對外交政策之決策過程與範圍的潛在影響力正在增長。學者與其相關的研究機構透過各種可能影響的途徑、層次和來源，來鞏固其研究的影響力。中國大陸歐洲研究的領域目前正蓬勃發展，有些傑出的專家經常被約見來提供建言或評論。除此之外，2003年中國政府公布了中共的歐盟政策官方文件，這是中共有史以來唯一宣布過的外交政策文件，其展現中歐關係的重要性。本研究除了將論文中所界定的學術影響力框架應用於該歐洲研究的個案之外，也提供學界對此一領域主要研究範圍和學術論述的一個初步調查，以及其對中共的歐盟政策決策上實務性的關聯。 / This thesis discusses the role of academia in foreign policy-decision making in the People’s Republic of China, considering in particular the case of European Studies academia and China’s European Union policy, which merits greater scrutiny by outside observers. Faced with ever more complex foreign relations, the structure of Chinese foreign policy making is incorporating a growing number of external actors at both formal and informal levels. Academic circles are a case in point; as foreign policy research institutes evolve, diversify and optimise, their potential influence within policy making processes and circles is expanding in scope, and academics and their respective institutes are able to consolidate the impact of their research through a range of pathways, levels, and sources of influence. The European Studies field in China is robust and certain noteworthy experts are regularly called upon for advice and comment. What’s more, China’s only ever foreign policy paper in 2003 dealt with European Union policy, demonstrating the significance of Sino-European relations. In addition to applying the framework of academic influence identified herein to the case of the European Studies field, this thesis also provides a preliminary investigation of some of the field’s key research issue areas and current academic discourse, as well as connections with China’s European Union policy decisions in practice.

Diploma thesis "the European Union's influence on the Middle East" is focused on problems of the European Union and its role and influence in that region. From this thesis is evidence that Europe or the EU took and still take interest in the Middle East and that its influence on that region from 90's of 20th century is getting bigger because of emergent common policy of EU in face of that region. EU increasing influence on the Middle East will be looked about EU foreign policy on the Middle East aimed at its economic and politic or security aims. This thesis is stressed at power-political and human-cultural structure among regions like the basis for understanding of complete influence the EU on that region. In next step the research characterizes foreign policy of the EU on the Middle East from the view of rise and development, actors, instruments and economic and politic or security aims. From the view of economic aims the thesis point out the energetic links focusing on oil and natural gas. From the view of politic or security aims the thesis approves that EU has increased its presence on the Middle East particularly by civil missions in Palestine and Iraq. The rise of Union for the Mediterranean in 2008 with the aim to institutionalize the running cooperation between the EU and...