The current TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement established by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is a major determinant of accessibility to drugs. In International Relations (IR), the discourse surrounds the role of these intellectual property rights on the global economic order. Pogge argues that the TRIPS agreement is immoral since it creates a global economic order that harms the poor mostly concentrated in the global south, whereas defenders of TRIPS argue that it is the only way to efficiently incentivise innovators whilst maintaining an open market. This thesis has fulfilled two purposes; firstly, to investigate the causal relationship between the TRIPS agreement and access to covid-19 vaccines in India and secondly, to analyse the ethical implications of the TRIPS agreement using International Political Theory (IPT). This thesis couples Pogge’s global justice theory with postcolonial theory and argues that it serves as a good framework to critique the TRIPS agreement. The methodological framework used to address the causal relationship between TRIPS and access to drugs is one of Bayesian process tracing. It was found that factors such as regulatory sabotage, production deficits and American trade law could be larger issues than TRIPS when it came to vaccine accessibility in India.

The presented thesis The causes of insufficient use of EU funds in Slovakia during the 2007- 2013 programming period addresses a system of utilisation of the EU funds in Slovakia which were provided by the European Union's Cohesion Policy in 2007-2013 programming period. The period is the first Cohesion Policy's programming period that could be fully benefited by Slovakia, and although Slovakia was economically highly evaluated even with regards to the economic crisis, at the end of the period the exceptional prolongation of the n+2 rule was demanded, and eventually approved. Therefore, the aim of the thesis is to find and explore possible causes of the lack of benefit of the EU funds that lead to obtaining the exception. The first part of the thesis analyses the theory of regional policy which provides multiple possible alternative hypotheses that answers to the research question. These potential answers constitute the chapters in the second part of the thesis: the responsibility of the utilisation on the regional level, the problems in settings and functioning of the bodies on national level, the external factors impact, and finally the rules posed by the EU. All hypotheses are analysed by the process-tracing method tracking the process of using of the funds. The method tests the key moments in...

The Swedish death rate related to narcotics is amongst the highest within the EU. The purpose of this study is to use process tracing while investigating and understanding the high death rate among people who use narcotics in Sweden. The focus is on whether the Swedish drug policy is driven by morals instead of scientific proof and asks whether morals are the main cause of the high death rate in Sweden. The study utilizes the “threshold theory” and the theory of “symbolic politics.” To do this the following questions are being answered: “How has the Swedish zero tolerance towards narcotics looked like since the 1970s until present day?” and “are there any signs to proof that the Swedish drug policy is driven more by morals than by scientific evidence, and if so, what are they?” The study also tests the hypothesis that the high death rate is related to the restrictive drug policy in Sweden. In order to answer this the study collects data and regulations from different time periods in Sweden thru a qualitative method. The study confirms that the Swedish drug policy is driven by moral while overlooking scientific proof and it is also likely that the hypothesis of the study is true.

Submitted by Patrick Sales (patrick_laser@yahoo.com.br) on 2015-12-18T18:01:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação patrick sales versão deposito.pdf: 1192037 bytes, checksum: 1e8db5024665664af6fc9e5263ffc78a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2015-12-18T19:28:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação patrick sales versão deposito.pdf: 1192037 bytes, checksum: 1e8db5024665664af6fc9e5263ffc78a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2015-12-21T18:15:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação patrick sales versão deposito.pdf: 1192037 bytes, checksum: 1e8db5024665664af6fc9e5263ffc78a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-21T18:15:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação patrick sales versão deposito.pdf: 1192037 bytes, checksum: 1e8db5024665664af6fc9e5263ffc78a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-26 / A modernização da Marinha do Brasil se faz necessária em face de fatores relacionados à obsolescência dos meios, incremento tecnológico e outros incentivos de ordem doméstica e internacional. No caso brasileiro, apesar de haverem diversos programas de reaparelhamento desde a proclamação da república, os programas de maior envergadura e que geraram resultados importantes ocorreram em 1910, 1977 e 2007. O Reaparelhamento da Marinha do Brasil responde principalmente a incentivos de ordem sistêmica e doméstica. A sua efetividade é o principal objetivo de um programa de incremento material, e muito mais do que orientação à defesa da pátria, os objetivos expressos na grande estratégia de um país devem preceder a decisão de repotencialização da Força. O trabalho utiliza a metodologia histórico comparativa, por meio do método denominado Process Tracing. Essa incipiente metodologia permite verificar as evidências ao longo de processos e verificar a hierarquização de cada fator por meio de testes empíricos baseados na minuciosa descrição histórica dos casos. As teorias realistas buscam explicações para o comportamento dos países em relação ao Sistema Internacional. O ambiente anárquico em que se encontram os países definem suas preferências, mas o aspecto doméstico responde fortemente a esses incentivos sistêmicos e justifica as diferentes conduções de políticas externas em ambiente similar. A teoria neoclássica considera os fatores domésticos como intervenientes neste processo. Por meio do modelo desenvolvido por Schweller (2006), este trabalho verificou que o aspecto sistêmico é determinante para o reaparelhamento da Marinha, e no âmbito doméstico o consenso e coesão das elites são necessárias, entretanto a coesão social passou de coadjuvante a uma das condições necessárias a partir do início do século XXI no processo de reaparelhamento. / The Brazilian Navy’s modernization is needed in the face of factors related to obsolescence, technological advances and other domestic and international incentives. In Brazil, although there are several refit programs since beginning of Republic, the biggest programs and whose generated important results occurred in: 1910, 1977 and 2007. The Modernization of the Brazilian Navy responds mainly to systemic and domestic incentive. Its effectiveness is the main goal of a material increase program, and more than orientation to country’s defense, the objectives expressed in the grand strategy should precede the Armed Forces re-powering decision The paper uses historical comparative method, using the method called Process Tracing. This incipient methodology for verifying the evidence over processes and verify each factor’s hierarchy through empirical tests based on thorough historical description of cases. Realistic theories seek explanations for countries’ behavior on International System. The anarchic environment in which they are, define their preferences, but the domestic aspect responds strongly to these systemic incentives and justifies the different conduction of foreign policies in a similar environment. The neoclassical theory considers the domestic factors as stakeholders in this process. Through the model developed by Schweller (2006), this study found that the systemic aspect is crucial to the reequipping of the Navy, and domestic consensus and cohesion of the elites are necessary, however social cohesion went from supporting one of the conditions necessary from the beginning of the XXI century in the repowering process.

The aim of this study is to analyse the Moderate Party and the Swedish Democrats idea development in the issue of migration in 2010-2018. The inquiry consists of the following two research questions. How has the Moderate Party and the Swedish Democrats positions regarding migration developed in 2010-2018? How can institutional theories explain the Moderate Party and the Swedish Democrats idea development? The study is encompassed by three theoretical perspectives also recognised as rational-choice institutionalism, historical institutionalism and discursive institutionalism. In regard to the methodological approach, the study employs the comparative case study design with the most-similar system and is essentially an idea analytical study. The main results reveal that both the Moderate Party and the Swedish Democrats have adjusted their migration policies but to different degrees. The Swedish Democrats promote similar policies in 2010 as in 2018 with smaller alterations while the Moderate Party has customised larger alterations, distinguishing the party’s migration policy from 2010 and 2018. These policy alterations are primarily explained as a result of rational action, societal discourses and critical junctures.

North Korea twice conducted ballistic missile tests close to Japan in 1998 and 2006. While Japan responded with non-coercive condemnations to demonstrate its disapproval in 1998, it imposed unilateral economic sanctions in 2006, marking the first instance in post-World War II of applying a substantial coercion to punish a neighbouring state. The research asks why Japanese policy toward the North shifted for a seemingly identical type of provocation. The dissertation seeks contextual explanations by using inductive process-tracing, a type of ‘middle approach’ between historical narratives and parsimonious theories. It is applied to highlight the underlying mechanism through which public discursive changes concerning national security and North Korea during this eight-year period influenced the subsequent policy shift in 2006. The dissertation concludes that the unilateral sanctions were not necessarily a calculated strategic response to punish the missile launch (or North Korean nuclear programs) per se, but were a direct consequence of a deeper shift in societal discourse taking place beforehand. During the eight-year period, there had been other visible provocations and shocks originating from the North, especially the sensational revelation in 2002 of past North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens. These highly-publicized incidents facilitated the Japanese public to be increasingly conscious about Japan’s security weaknesses and re-evaluate its historical relations with its neighbour, leading to a hardened domestic environment in which the new idea of pressuring the North became a feasible option even before 2006. These North Korean provocations and the resulting societal security discourse, along with concurrent structural changes in the Japanese government and mass media which made them both highly susceptible to discursive currents among citizens, mutually interacted to produce the policy result when the opportunity arose. The research, however, also challenges the popular view that the sanctions are the first example of the wholesale transformation of Japan’s post-war ‘pacifist’ security principles. It argues that the confined means (economic) by which the sanctions were imposed reflects the highly nuanced discourse, which endorses Japan’s legitimate right to specifically punish the North for the harms done, but that the societal momentum is not equally supportive of the more controversial areas concerning military usage and the current constitution.

North Korea twice conducted ballistic missile tests close to Japan in 1998 and 2006. While Japan responded with non-coercive condemnations to demonstrate its disapproval in 1998, it imposed unilateral economic sanctions in 2006, marking the first instance in post-World War II of applying a substantial coercion to punish a neighbouring state. The research asks why Japanese policy toward the North shifted for a seemingly identical type of provocation. The dissertation seeks contextual explanations by using inductive process-tracing, a type of ‘middle approach’ between historical narratives and parsimonious theories. It is applied to highlight the underlying mechanism through which public discursive changes concerning national security and North Korea during this eight-year period influenced the subsequent policy shift in 2006. The dissertation concludes that the unilateral sanctions were not necessarily a calculated strategic response to punish the missile launch (or North Korean nuclear programs) per se, but were a direct consequence of a deeper shift in societal discourse taking place beforehand. During the eight-year period, there had been other visible provocations and shocks originating from the North, especially the sensational revelation in 2002 of past North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens. These highly-publicized incidents facilitated the Japanese public to be increasingly conscious about Japan’s security weaknesses and re-evaluate its historical relations with its neighbour, leading to a hardened domestic environment in which the new idea of pressuring the North became a feasible option even before 2006. These North Korean provocations and the resulting societal security discourse, along with concurrent structural changes in the Japanese government and mass media which made them both highly susceptible to discursive currents among citizens, mutually interacted to produce the policy result when the opportunity arose. The research, however, also challenges the popular view that the sanctions are the first example of the wholesale transformation of Japan’s post-war ‘pacifist’ security principles. It argues that the confined means (economic) by which the sanctions were imposed reflects the highly nuanced discourse, which endorses Japan’s legitimate right to specifically punish the North for the harms done, but that the societal momentum is not equally supportive of the more controversial areas concerning military usage and the current constitution.

This paper examines causal mechanisms of the process leading up to the Russian military intervention in Syria that began in September 2015. It aims to concretize the causal processes of three different hypotheses that are based on commonplace assumptions of Russian foreign policy on Syria. It thoroughly explores three different causal paths, mapping events that may have had implications to the apparent change of heart within the Russian leadership. The paper analyses the relevance of these processes through a rational choice theory framework.

This paper seeks to conduct a first test of the explanatory potential of the poliheuristic theory of foreign policy decision-making in the context of small states. The case studied is the Swedish decision to contribute to the UN-sanctioned and NATO-led Operation Unified Protector in 2011. The paper conducts a theory-testing Causal Process Tracing (CPT) study drawing on a variety of different sources including news articles, parliamentary records, government bills, official statements and remarks made by key individuals, and secondary sources. The result of the analysis demonstrate the potential validity of the poliheuristic understanding of the decision- making process operating in a small state, but fall short of demonstrating actual validity. The final results are thus more akin to results typically found in a plausibility probe case study, and future research is deemed merited based on the potential validity found.

This thesis deals with policy failure and policy success and aims at introducing this issue into the context of the Czech Republic. The main perspective of the thesis follows approaches to analysis of policy success and policy failure developed by Mark Bovens, Paul 't Hart, and Allan McConnell. Their theoretical assumption is complex, as they evaluate the policies upon the criteria of the more general dimensions (process, program, and politics). The goal of the thesis is not only to utilize their theoretical background but also to refine and reconceptualize current theory of policy success and policy failure, respectively. The thesis is based on case study research design. The chosen case - organizational reform of labor offices - is considered as a typical policy failure. I describe and analyze in detail the selected case with a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods. This reform was extensive and was realized in two stages. The first stage focused on the organizational structure (from decentralized to centralized management). The second stage included changes in the content of the public employment services provided by the labor offices (the newly introduced services were all non-insurance social benefits). The analysis of labor offices reform seeks to answer the following questions,...