The global climate threat has intensified Sweden’s ambitions to build wind power stations. This thesis explores the planning of, and opposition to, wind power in the inland rural and forest regions of Sweden. It is in these autonomous communities that the plans are implemented and the aim of the thesis was to, from a local perspective, understand and analyse the planning and acceptance challenges that large-scale wind power development faces in places that are both sparsely populated and have good wind conditions. This thesis is based on qualitative methods and was conducted as two studies. The case study area comprises four municipalities in Dalarna County. The first study analyses the planning and establishment process in three municipalities using interviews and an analysis method called process tracing. The second study analyses one wind power establishment, in which the interviews form the basis for a discourse analytical approach. One striking finding highlights the relationship between the global and the local. Global environment and energy aspects are absent in the local process, and wind power becomes a technical land issue that clashes with other local land interests. Another finding of the study reveals that planning for wind power establishment follows a rational planning tradition. The feelings and memories of the individual – different views regarding the landscape – play a background role in the formal permit process, while measurable observable conditions have a more prominent role. Wind power developers thereby acquire a more significant position than what they probably would have had if the planning had included local residents’ views on wind power in the landscape at an early stage.

Il existe actuellement des différends frontaliers entre les États circumpolaires-Nord qui entravent la bonne gouvernance de la région. Afin d'identifier des pistes de solution pour améliorer la gouvernance en Arctique et faciliter la coopération, nous analysons le processus qui a mené, à l'autre pôle, à la création du Traité sur l’Antarctique de 1959. Nous utilisons une approche néolibérale institutionnelle comme cadre théorique ainsi qu’une méthodologie basée sur le traçage de processus. Nous avons identifié quatre variables (les intérêts des États, le contexte politique, le leadership, et l’Année géophysique internationale [AGI]) que nous avons étudiés au cours de trois périodes historiques et dont l’évolution a contribué à la formation du régime antarctique. Les étapes menant à l'élaboration d'un régime identifié dans la théorie institutionnaliste dynamique de Frischmann s'appliquent aux différentes périodes que nous avons déterminées. La première période historique correspond à l'identification du problème d'interdépendance. Les États ont d’abord tenté d’assouvir leurs intérêts particuliers envers le continent antarctique par l’intermédiaire de stratégies individuelles. Le statut imprécis du continent antarctique caractérisé par des revendications territoriales conflictuelles, la volonté des superpuissances d’effectuer d’éventuelles revendications territoriales et le leadership exercé par les États-Unis ont toutefois permis de faire évoluer les États vers des stratégies coopératives. La deuxième période historique correspond à l'étape de la négociation de l’entente. Le leadership d’un groupe de scientifiques et des États-Unis ainsi que le contexte politique de la Guerre froide ont favorisé la cohésion des États intéressés par les affaires antarctiques et leur investissement dans une coopération multilatérale souple dans le cadre d’un événement ponctuel, l’AGI. La troisième période correspond à la mise en oeuvre de l’entente, soit l’AGI. Lors de cet événement, une entente tacite, un engagement d’honneur, qui suspendait les considérations territoriales en Antarctique, a été respectée par les parties. La coopération dans le cadre de l’AGI s’est avérée un succès. Les États se sont montrés satisfaits des gains que comportait la coopération scientifique dans un environnement pacifique. L’AGI a permis aux États d’expérimenter la coopération multilatérale et d’observer le comportement des autres participants au sein de l’institution. En raison de la satisfaction des États vis-à-vis la coopération dans le cadre de l'entente souple, l'élaboration du traité de 1959 a été facilitée. Notre étude nous a permis d’identifier des éléments clefs qui ont favorisé la formation du régime antarctique et qui pourraient servir d’inspiration pour l'élaboration de futurs régimes. La présence d’un leadership tout au long du processus a permis de promouvoir les avantages de la coopération sous différentes formes et de renforcer les relations entre les États présents dans les affaires antarctiques. La réalisation d'une entente souple dans le cadre de l'AGI, centrée autour des intérêts communs aux parties, comprenant un engagement d’honneur, permettant de mettre de côté les points de discorde, ont aussi été des points centraux dans la réussite et la poursuite de la coopération au-delà de l’AGI. Cette approche graduelle allant du droit souple vers le droit contraignant est sans aucun doute l’élément le plus important ayant facilité le rapprochement des différentes parties et éventuellement la création du Traité sur l’Antarctique. / There are currently border disputes between North circumpolar states that impede the good governance of the region. In order to identify possible solutions for improving the governance in the Arctic and to facilitate cooperation, we analyze the process that, at the other pole, led to the creation of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. We use a neoliberal institutional approach as a theoretical framework and a methodology based on the process tracing. We identified four variables (states' interests, the political context, leadership, and the International Geophysical Year [IGY]) that we studied through three historical periods and whose evolution has contributed to elaborating the Antarctic regime. The steps leading to the development of a regime, identified in Frischmann’s dynamic institutionalism theory, apply to the three periods that we have identified. The first historical period corresponds to identifying an interdependency problem. States first tried to satisfy their particular interests pertaining to the Antarctic continent through individual strategies. The unclear status of the Antarctic continent characterized by conflicting claims, the will of the superpowers to potentially make territorial claims, and the leadership of the United States, however, facilitate the states to move to more cooperative strategies. The second historical period corresponds to negotiating the agreement. The leadership of a group of scientists and the United States in addition to the political context of the Cold War facilitated the cohesion of states interested in Antarctic affairs and their investment in a soft multilateral cooperation, the IGY. The third period corresponds to implementing the agreement, that is IGY. During this event, the parties have respected a tacit agreement, a gentlemen’s agreement, which suspended territorial considerations in Antarctica. The cooperation during the IGY proved to be a success. States were satisfied with their gains from the scientific cooperation in a peaceful environment. The IGY has allowed states to experiment multilateral cooperation and to observe the behavior of other participants within the institution. Due to the satisfaction of the states vis-à-vis the cooperation, the development of the 1959 Treaty was facilitated. Through our study, we identified key elements that led to the creation of the Antarctic regime and could serve as an inspiration for the development of future regime. The continuous of leadership throughout the process helped to promote the benefits of cooperation and to strengthen relations between the states involved in Antarctic affairs. The accomplishment of a soft agreement, during the IGY, centered around the parties common interests, and of a gentlemen’s agreement, which put aside divisive issues were also central points in the success and the extension of the coopération after the IGY. This gradual approach from soft law to hard law is undoubtedly the most important element that facilitated the cohesion of parties and the creation of the Antarctic Treaty.

The global climate threat has intensified Sweden’s ambitions to build wind power stations. This thesis explores the planning of, and opposition to, wind power in the inland rural and forest regions of Sweden. It is in these autonomous communities that the plans are implemented and the aim of the thesis was to, from a local perspective, understand and analyse the planning and acceptance challenges that large-scale wind power development faces in places that are both sparsely populated and have good wind conditions. This thesis is based on qualitative methods and was conducted as two studies. The case study area comprises four municipalities in Dalarna County. The first study analyses the planning and establishment process in three municipalities using interviews and an analysis method called process tracing. The second study analyses one wind power establishment, in which the interviews form the basis for a discourse analytical approach. One striking finding highlights the relationship between the global and the local. Global environment and energy aspects are absent in the local process, and wind power becomes a technical land issue that clashes with other local land interests. Another finding of the study reveals that planning for wind power establishment follows a rational planning tradition. The feelings and memories of the individual – different views regarding the landscape – play a background role in the formal permit process, while measurable observable conditions have a more prominent role. Wind power developers thereby acquire a more significant position than what they probably would have had if the planning had included local residents’ views on wind power in the landscape at an early stage.

Meta-governance recently emerged in the field of governance as a new approach which claims that its use enables modern states to overcome problems associated with network governance. This thesis shares the view that networks are an important feature of contemporary politics which must be taken seriously, but it also maintains that networks pose substantial analytical and political challenges. It proceeds to investigate the potential possibilities and problems associated with meta-governance on both theoretical and empirical levels. The theoretical discussion examines meta-governance in relation to governmentality, and it puts forward the claim that meta-governance may be understood as a specific type of neo-liberal governmentality. The meta-governance perspective regards networks as a complementary structure to traditional administration that can be utilized in the implementation and realization of public policy, but which also preserves the self-regulating and flexible character of networks. This generates a contradiction between the goals of public management and the character of networks that requires further investigation. The combination of the specific dynamics of the political field of security, the diminishing role of sovereign powers, the emergence of security networks, and the meta-governance stance adopted by the Swedish state constitutes a situation that should have been favorable for the successful employment of meta-governance. The empirical investigation of meta-governance is divided into two parts. The first part reviews the historical process involved and shows how the Swedish government and public authorities have adopted a meta-governance stance. The second analyzes the specific instruments and strategies that have been deployed in the governance of security communications and in the management of Sweden’s new security communications system which is an important aspect of security networks. The historical study together with the analysis of the meta-governance tools deployed reveals that the meta-governors neither reached the goals specified, nor fulfilled the overall purpose of successful security communications. I argue on the basis of the theoretical and empirical findings obtained in the present study that it is very difficult to successfully employ meta-governance in respect to security and crisis management, and that we have sound reasons to suspect that meta-governance will run into similar difficulties in other political fields as well. I conclude that meta-governance is a far more difficult practice than has been anticipated by existing theories and policy recommendations. Turning to meta-governance as a way to govern and control organizations may in fact lead to further fragmentation and distortion of public politics.

Il existe actuellement des différends frontaliers entre les États circumpolaires-Nord qui entravent la bonne gouvernance de la région. Afin d'identifier des pistes de solution pour améliorer la gouvernance en Arctique et faciliter la coopération, nous analysons le processus qui a mené, à l'autre pôle, à la création du Traité sur l’Antarctique de 1959. Nous utilisons une approche néolibérale institutionnelle comme cadre théorique ainsi qu’une méthodologie basée sur le traçage de processus. Nous avons identifié quatre variables (les intérêts des États, le contexte politique, le leadership, et l’Année géophysique internationale [AGI]) que nous avons étudiés au cours de trois périodes historiques et dont l’évolution a contribué à la formation du régime antarctique. Les étapes menant à l'élaboration d'un régime identifié dans la théorie institutionnaliste dynamique de Frischmann s'appliquent aux différentes périodes que nous avons déterminées. La première période historique correspond à l'identification du problème d'interdépendance. Les États ont d’abord tenté d’assouvir leurs intérêts particuliers envers le continent antarctique par l’intermédiaire de stratégies individuelles. Le statut imprécis du continent antarctique caractérisé par des revendications territoriales conflictuelles, la volonté des superpuissances d’effectuer d’éventuelles revendications territoriales et le leadership exercé par les États-Unis ont toutefois permis de faire évoluer les États vers des stratégies coopératives. La deuxième période historique correspond à l'étape de la négociation de l’entente. Le leadership d’un groupe de scientifiques et des États-Unis ainsi que le contexte politique de la Guerre froide ont favorisé la cohésion des États intéressés par les affaires antarctiques et leur investissement dans une coopération multilatérale souple dans le cadre d’un événement ponctuel, l’AGI. La troisième période correspond à la mise en oeuvre de l’entente, soit l’AGI. Lors de cet événement, une entente tacite, un engagement d’honneur, qui suspendait les considérations territoriales en Antarctique, a été respectée par les parties. La coopération dans le cadre de l’AGI s’est avérée un succès. Les États se sont montrés satisfaits des gains que comportait la coopération scientifique dans un environnement pacifique. L’AGI a permis aux États d’expérimenter la coopération multilatérale et d’observer le comportement des autres participants au sein de l’institution. En raison de la satisfaction des États vis-à-vis la coopération dans le cadre de l'entente souple, l'élaboration du traité de 1959 a été facilitée. Notre étude nous a permis d’identifier des éléments clefs qui ont favorisé la formation du régime antarctique et qui pourraient servir d’inspiration pour l'élaboration de futurs régimes. La présence d’un leadership tout au long du processus a permis de promouvoir les avantages de la coopération sous différentes formes et de renforcer les relations entre les États présents dans les affaires antarctiques. La réalisation d'une entente souple dans le cadre de l'AGI, centrée autour des intérêts communs aux parties, comprenant un engagement d’honneur, permettant de mettre de côté les points de discorde, ont aussi été des points centraux dans la réussite et la poursuite de la coopération au-delà de l’AGI. Cette approche graduelle allant du droit souple vers le droit contraignant est sans aucun doute l’élément le plus important ayant facilité le rapprochement des différentes parties et éventuellement la création du Traité sur l’Antarctique. / There are currently border disputes between North circumpolar states that impede the good governance of the region. In order to identify possible solutions for improving the governance in the Arctic and to facilitate cooperation, we analyze the process that, at the other pole, led to the creation of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. We use a neoliberal institutional approach as a theoretical framework and a methodology based on the process tracing. We identified four variables (states' interests, the political context, leadership, and the International Geophysical Year [IGY]) that we studied through three historical periods and whose evolution has contributed to elaborating the Antarctic regime. The steps leading to the development of a regime, identified in Frischmann’s dynamic institutionalism theory, apply to the three periods that we have identified. The first historical period corresponds to identifying an interdependency problem. States first tried to satisfy their particular interests pertaining to the Antarctic continent through individual strategies. The unclear status of the Antarctic continent characterized by conflicting claims, the will of the superpowers to potentially make territorial claims, and the leadership of the United States, however, facilitate the states to move to more cooperative strategies. The second historical period corresponds to negotiating the agreement. The leadership of a group of scientists and the United States in addition to the political context of the Cold War facilitated the cohesion of states interested in Antarctic affairs and their investment in a soft multilateral cooperation, the IGY. The third period corresponds to implementing the agreement, that is IGY. During this event, the parties have respected a tacit agreement, a gentlemen’s agreement, which suspended territorial considerations in Antarctica. The cooperation during the IGY proved to be a success. States were satisfied with their gains from the scientific cooperation in a peaceful environment. The IGY has allowed states to experiment multilateral cooperation and to observe the behavior of other participants within the institution. Due to the satisfaction of the states vis-à-vis the cooperation, the development of the 1959 Treaty was facilitated. Through our study, we identified key elements that led to the creation of the Antarctic regime and could serve as an inspiration for the development of future regime. The continuous of leadership throughout the process helped to promote the benefits of cooperation and to strengthen relations between the states involved in Antarctic affairs. The accomplishment of a soft agreement, during the IGY, centered around the parties common interests, and of a gentlemen’s agreement, which put aside divisive issues were also central points in the success and the extension of the coopération after the IGY. This gradual approach from soft law to hard law is undoubtedly the most important element that facilitated the cohesion of parties and the creation of the Antarctic Treaty.

This essay is an analysis of the Swedish crisis management, as a policy subsystem using the Advocacy Coalition Framework. By applying a Causal Process Tracing method, the main issues of division within the policy subsystem will be examined, and the effects of the 2004 South East Asian tsunami as an incitement of policy change. The major finding is that the reforms that followed the tsunami investigations, to a large extent were planned prior to the tragic event, the main changes seem to have been halted by the 2006 election and change of Office. The cross-party coalitions that were found have theoretical implications for the ACF research.

How do experienced lenders make decisions? This dissertation addresses this question by investigating judgment and decision-making behavior of loan officers in banks as well as credit managers in supplying companies. The dissertation applies an integrated economic-psychological perspective and consists of seven parts: a comprehensive literature review and six separate empirical papers. Reviewed areas are research on judgment and decision-making (JDM), research on expert decision-makers, and earlier empirical work on experienced lenders. The six papers shed light on: (1) desirable personal attributes of expert credit analysts; (2) the use of software to track JDM behavior; (3) differences between novices' and experienced loan officers' JDM behavior; (4) the relationships between information acquisition, risk attitude, and experience; (5) attitudes towards credit decision support systems; and (6) attitudes towards requesting collateral. Employed methods were in-depth interviews, a nation-wide survey, and a computer-based experiment.On the whole, the empirical findings give an ambiguous picture of the alleged superiority of experienced lenders' judgment and decision-making behavior. On the one hand, experienced lenders seem to be capable, careful, and conscious of their responsibility. On the other hand, they tend to disagree and make contradictory judgments and decisions. The applied perspective and methodology are not only aimed at providing better insights into how experienced lenders make decisions, but can also stimulate future research on how professionals in other domains than credit granting make decisions. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001

Between 1999 and 2009 the Swedish Armed Forces underwent an immense reformation. This thesis aims to contribute to the discussion on small state foreign policy behaviour within the wider field of international relations by explaining why Sweden decided to reform their national defence from an invasion-based defence to a mission-based defence. Using a neoclassical realist approach and a process tracing methodology, two hypotheses are tested to analyze a predicted causal relationship between systemic imperatives, the search for influence, and the decision to reform the Armed Forces. The first hypothesis is that when a state’s relative power rises it will initially seek, but ultimately attempt to gain, more influence abroad. The second hypothesis is that the search for influence is the driving force behind the reformation of the Armed Forces. The analysis corroborates both hypotheses, although the former with a relative amount of uncertainty, and argues that both system and intervening unit-level variables matter. The main conclusion is that the favourable situation in the international system has permitted an increased search for influence. This search for influence has in turn been the driving force behind the reformation. Since the first hypothesis has a relative amount of uncertainty connected to it, the certainty of the conclusions in this thesis can be discussed, and must therefore be subject to further empirical research.

When the Tsunami occurred on Boxing Day 2004 it caused a major stress upon the governmental agencies in not only the affected areas but also in states that had a large number of citizens in the affected area. The governmental agencies were not prepared for the demands from the citizenry in these countries to deal with rescue and crisis management in areas situated halfway around the globe. This thesis main purpose is to research what the causal mechanisms of Sweden’s and Finland’s crisis management were through the method of process tracing. Taking its theoretical stance in Allison’s & Zelikow’s three models of decision making, the thesis compares the course of events of the first two critical days in Sweden and Finland to establish what mistakes were made during this critical period. The main findings of the essay show that none of the theories is on its own capable of explaining the chain of events, but a combination of the organisational model and the governmental politics model do prove the necessity of trained crisis personnel as decision-makers early on in crisis management as well as the need for an organisational structure with a linear and clear chain of command.

The thesis is concerned with the issues related to the development of the system that helps the disabled people to integrate into the labour market in the Czech Republic using the theory of social construction of target groups. The aim of this thesis is to understand the development of the form of the observed policy that arises from the expected development of social construction of the chosen target group and its political power within a given period of time. To understand the problem and putting the topic was based on thematic analysis and study of the documents presented to readers of historical and social development status of persons with disabilities in society. Monitored period from the nineties to the present, which was divided into shorter periods. In these periods, the final policy design was identified by way of the interviews with addressed experts. The experts expressed their opinions also on the development of social construction and political power of the target group, which was supported by the study of the documents. The contents of the targeted policies were observed and the benefits or burdens for the target group were distinguished within the contents. The results of the analysis showed the relationship between the development of social construction of target group and the...