The resurgence and increased use of the total defense concept in the political landscape of Sweden comes in a time of global geopolitical uncertainties and multifaceted security crises. Despite its stated importance, how the private sector should be incorporated into this structure remains somewhat unclear. As such, the aim of this thesis was to analyze the interconnection between organizational and human behavior from the perspective of public-private cooperation in today’s Swedish total defense. To achieve this aim, six interviews were conducted with representatives from government agencies and business organizations in the civil preparedness sector of food supply and drinking water. The study sought to identify key factors defining this public-private relationship, use a theoretical framework based on rationalist organizational and social-psychological perspectives, and discern what combined impact they have on contemporary inter-organizational crisis cooperation.  The analysis indicates that the preparedness sector of food supply and drinking water is inherently robust, with a great deal of trust between individual agencies and private actors. However, there is a needfor greater organizational clarity and clear expectations, while a general lack of personnel and resources means that the risk of economic loss often takes precedence over further investments in civil preparedness. Furthermore, the establishment of the preparedness sector entailed a greater capacity for coordinating inter-organizational preparedness efforts but may have created an uncertain hierarchy with informational blind spots. Also, it is argued that government agencies have clearer expectations and goals within the total defense in general due to their identity in crisis and preparedness being firmly established, something that private actors lack

No description available.

There is a lack of academic knowledge concerning mechanisms through which sustainable transitions are promoted. Sustainable transitions in the infrastructure system are key to achieve multiple other SDGs, and the infrastructure development gap is particularly critical in developing countries. Agenda 2030 clearly states the importance of joint action. It is, therefore, relevant to investigate how sustainable transitions can be promoted through collaborations between public and private actors. Specifically, how sustainable transitions in the infrastructure system in low-income countries can be promoted. The notion of public-private partnerships (PPPs) was used to describe collaboration, and sociotechnical system (STS) transitions were used to describe transitions. To examine how PPPs can promote transitions in STS, an Ethiopian case study was conducted. The case used was a technical and vocational school called HDECOVA located in Addis Ababa. A collaborative project between public and private actors. The empirical data was obtained from key actors in the partnership surrounding HDECOVA, both in the form of interviews and documents. To analyze the empirical data, a theoretical and conceptual framework was synthesized borrowing from theories on STS, PPPs, the holistic transition framework Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) and Principal-Agent Theory. The result showed HDECOVA has affected sustainable transitions in the infrastructure system, mainly through effects on the labor market and the education system. The results showed that the mechanisms, through which HDECOVA has promoted shifts in systems, are mainly scaling up and decreasing skill gaps. The results suggest that HDECOVA has successfully promoted sustainable transitions by being aligned with identified development challenges in the infrastructure system. On this basis, it can be suggested that PPPs can promote sustainable transitions by affecting regime- and niche levels of the system.

We studied a live video conferencing project based in Ghana, because we wanted to determine whether this is one area where Information Communication Technology (ICT) can have an impact on communication for development. We also wanted to better understand whether live video conferencing is a viable way to go forward with Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) and, if so, what benefits it has to offer. To complement the study, we also looked at two other NGOs which are also using similar technology and have a purpose similar to the WPD live video-conference program, which is to create a space for knowledge and cultural exchange with the help of ICT. The additional programs will add a complementary comparative dimension to the analysis of the case study of WPD. It is important to have these two projects in mind since they use two vastly different methods and can provide a reflective understanding on how WPD can move forward as they are in a transitional phase and are currently exploring different ways to develop the project, mainly involving changes in management structure and technology. We studied the WPD project with the complementary information from the other two projects from an academic perspective to document and analyze the outcomes in order to determine which good practices are available when undertaking similar initiatives. From a theoretical perspective, we analyze the projects using research related to participatory communication, the public sphere, and the digital divide. From a practical perspective, we again examine issues related to the digital divide and the growing influence of communications technologies companies due to public-private partnerships.

This master thesis is written on behalf of KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI). The study investigates how infrastructure ownership could affect the transition from small-scale to large-scale electric road systems (ERS) and how infrastructure ownership affects the foreseen future roles of the ERS stakeholders. The authors have used a qualitative research method, including a literature study within the areas of infrastructure transitions and infrastructure ownership and a case study on ERS. Conclusions are based on the chosen theoretical framework and the empirical findings from conducted interviews within the following stakeholder segments; agencies, electric utilities, road carriers, construction firms and road power technology firms. The transport system is a large sociotechnical system, which is characterized by a high level of complexity, capital intensity and asset durability which makes it difficult to accomplish radical system transitions. Political regulations and progressive environmental targets have created a demand for new solutions within the transport system. One widely discussed, possible solution is ERS, which are considered to be beneficial from both an environmental and socio-economic perspective. The main identified barriers for a transition to ERS are related to the complex system design. Further, the matter of how the ERS infrastructure should be owned and financed remains unclear. It will be argued that the government needs to play a key role, both as a coordinator and financier, during the initial phase of an ERS expansion. In order to obtain a high level of competence, which is considered as vital, it is important with close cooperation between different public and private stakeholders and to have a procurement process which is strongly focused on functionality. The authors suggest that in order to decrease system complexity and increase stakeholder cooperation, cross-sectorial system suppliers should be formed. During an initial deployment of ERS towards a national system, it is suggested to only have one cross-sectorial system supplier which manages the constructions and operations of ERS, in order to decrease complexity and increase knowledge. As the system and technology matures and knowledge regarding ERS has been established, it is suggested by the authors to introduce competition at the cross-sectorial system supplier level nationally. There are many barriers for public private partnerships (PPP) during an initial expansion phase of ERS due to large investments, immature technology and the necessity for an overall control of a large-scale system. In addition, early investments in a large-scale system is considered as unattractive among private actors due to the high risks. However, it will be argued that PPP structures or private ownerships are suitable in closed systems as the level of complexity is lower. These systems should be subsidized by the government as they will drive innovation and stimulate the development. Depending on the degree of capital intensity and governmental regulations, PPP structures could become suitable also in a national system, when the system has matured. The suggested stakeholder structure with cross-sectorial system suppliers facilitates for a possible future PPP structure. / Denna masteruppsats är skriven på uppdrag av Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan och Statens väg- och transportforskningsinstitut (VTI). I studien undersöks hur ägarskap av infrastruktur skulle kunna påverka skiftet från småskaliga till storskaliga elvägssystem och hur ägarskapet av infrastrukturen påverkar de förutsedda framtida rollerna hos elvägssystemets intressenter. Författarna har använt sig av en kvalitativ forskningsmetod, vilken inkluderar en litteraturstudie inom områden för infrastrukturskiften och ägarskap av infrastruktur samt en fallstudie inom elvägssystem. Slutsatser är baserade på det valda teoretiska ramverket och de empiriska resultaten från de genomförda intervjuerna inom följande intressentsegment; myndigheter, energibolag, godstransportörer, konstruktionsfirmor och tillverkare av elvägsinfrastruktur. Transportsystemet är ett stort sociotekniskt system, vilket karakteriseras av en hög nivå av komplexitet, kapitalintensitet och lång livslängd på tillgångar, vilket gör det svårt att uppnå radikala systemskiften. Politiska regleringar och progressiva miljömål har skapat ett behov för nya lösningar inom transportsystemet. En diskuterad möjlig lösning är elvägssystem, vilket anses vara fördelaktigt både från ett miljömässigt och socioekonomiskt perspektiv. De huvudsakliga identifierade barriärerna för ett skifte till ett elvägssystem är relaterade till den komplexa systemdesignen. Vidare är frågan rörande hur infrastrukturen till ett elvägssystem ska ägas och finansieras fortfarande oklar. Det kommer att argumenteras för att staten behöver ha en nyckelroll, både som koordinator och finansiär, under den initiala expansionsfasen av ett elvägssystem. För att uppnå en hög nivå av kompetens, vilket anses vara avgörande, så är det viktigt med ett nära samarbete mellan olika statliga och privata intressenter och att ha en upphandlingsprocess som starkt fokuserar på funktionalitet. Författarna föreslår att för att minska systemets komplexitet och öka intressenternas samarbete, så borde tvärsektoriella systemleverantörer formas. Under en initial utbredning av elvägssystem mot ett nationellt system, så föreslås det att enbart ha en tvärsektoriell systemleverantör som sköter konstruktion och verksamhet av elvägssystemet för att minska komplexiteten och öka kunskapen. Allt eftersom att systemet och teknologin mognar och kunskap om elvägssystem etableras, så föreslår författarna att konkurrens ska introduceras på tvärsektoriell systemleverantörsnivå nationellt. Det finns många barriärer för offentlig-privat samverkan (OPS) under den initiala expansionsfasen av elvägssystem på grund av stora investeringar, omogen teknologi och behovet av övergripande kontroll i ett storskaligt system. Dessutom anses tidiga investeringar i ett storskaligt system vara oattraktivt hos de privata aktörerna på grund av de höga riskerna. Det kan dock argumenteras för att OPS-strukturer eller privat ägande är passande för slutna system då nivån av komplexitet är lägre. Dessa system borde subventioneras av staten då de kommer driva innovation och stimulera utvecklingen. Beroende på graden av kapitalintensitet och statliga regleringar, skulle OPS-strukturer också kunna vara lämpliga för ett nationellt system, när systemet har mognat. De föreslagna intressentstrukturerna med tvärsektoriella systemleverantörer underlättar för en möjlig framtida OPS-struktur

This thesis discusses the Old Philadelphia Development Corporation (OPDC), a public-private redevelopment agency, and its work in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s promoting the redevelopment of several areas and neighborhoods located in the Center City district of downtown Philadelphia. Leading up to and during its involvement in the planning of the Market Street East (formerly, East Market Street) and The Gallery mall projects, the OPDC imposed on its ventures a set myths about the city's place within the American legend, Market Street's history as a majestic shopping corridor, and the centrality of Philadelphia's downtown to the metropolitan region. It did so as a means for controlling various aspects of Center City urban renewal and for bringing suburbanites back downtown to shop and enjoy leisure time. This thesis argues that although these myths remembered East Market Street as the domain of middle class and affluent whites, the OPDC ignored the realities of changing metropolitan economic, cultural, and population trends in favor of adherence to its self-created narrative, leading the corporation and its redevelopment cohort to make many miscalculations and missteps in its attempts to revitalize the area. / History

Seit einigen Jahren erfolgt in Deutschland eine verstärkte Einbindung von privatwirtschaftlichen Akteuren bei der Bereitstellung öffentlicher Leistungen. Insbesondere im Bereich der Infrastrukturbereitstellung haben sich Öffentlich-Private-Partnerschaften als eine alternative Beschaffungsvariante etabliert. Diese Vertrags-ÖPP sind in den Kontext einer allgemeinen Privatisierungskritik geraten, vor allem wird die Wirtschaftlichkeit dieser Variante bzw. deren Berechnung diskutiert. Vor diesem Hintergrund liegt das Ziel der Studie darin, die geringe empirische Datenlage zum Status quo der Umsetzungspraxis zu vergrößern, die Beschaffungsalternativen konventionelle Beschaffungsvariante (KBV) und ÖPP komparativ gegenüberzustellen und dabei auch auf Aspekte einzugehen, die im Erfahrungsbericht der Rechnungshöfe nicht behandelt werden, da dieser ausschließlich die Wirtschaftlichkeit von ÖPP fokussiert. Der Untersuchungsgegenstand fokussiert nur kommunale ÖPP-Projekte die einen Lebenszyklusansatz verfolgen, folglich Infrastruktureinrichtungen wie Schulen, Kindertagestätten und Verwaltungsgebäude. Allen diesen Projekten ist inhärent, dass während der Vertragslaufzeit kein öffentliches Eigentum veräußert wird, die Aufgabenverantwortung folglich stets bei der öffentlichen Hand verbleibt und somit auch keine Privatisierung öffentlichen Eigentums erfolgt. Die Studie zeigt, dass bei vielen KBV-Projekten die Betriebskosten in den anfänglich zu erstellenden Wirtschaftlichkeitsvergleichen keine oder nur eine untergeordnete Rolle spielen, während bei ÖPP in der Regel von Anfang an der gesamte Lebenszyklus der Infrastruktureinrichtung betrachtet wird, da der Großteil der Gesamtkosten der Infrastrukturmaßnahme während der Betriebsphase anfällt. (Kostensparende) Synergieeffekte bleiben deshalb bei den KBV vielfach ungenutzt. Die Nutzung von ABC-Ausschreibungen löst dieses Problem nur bedingt, da durch sie Aufwand und Transaktionskosten enorm gesteigert werden. Die Betrachtung unterschiedlicher Wertschöpfungsstufen (Planung, Bau, Finanzierung, Betrieb, Verwertung) stellt den entscheidenden Punkt für die Wirtschaftlichkeit von ÖPP-Projekten im Vergleich zur KBV dar, da die private Seite veranlasst ist, die Bauleistungen betriebsoptimierend zu planen und durchzuführen. Ferner zeigt die Studie, dass die von den Rechnungshöfen angemahnte Verfahrenstransparenz eine Herausforderung bei allen öffentlichen Beschaffungsvarianten darstellt und das Fehlanreize, die durch die Prinzipal-Agent-Problematik entstehen, ebenfalls kein singuläres Defizit des ÖPP-Ansatzes sind. Dem Vorwurf, dass ÖPP-Projekte dazu genutzt würden, Schulden in öffentlichen Haushalten zu verschleiern und Kosten möglichst intransparent darzustellen, wird mit der schrittweisen bundesweiten Umstellung der Kommunen auf doppische Haushaltsführung weitestgehend der Boden entzogen, da ÖPP-Projekte mit Forfaitierung sogar Transparenzvorteile gegenüber den KBV aufweisen. Ziel der Studie ist nicht, die ÖPP als „Königsweg“ der öffentlichen Beschaffung darzustellen, sondern den Versuch zu unternehmen, einen kritischen Blick auf die Beschaffungsvariante selbst und die an ihr geäußerte Kritik zu werfen. Es gilt: Vor dem Hintergrund der langfristigen Bindung des privaten Partners und der damit verbundenen Verantwortungs- und Risikoteilung ist es nach wie vor möglich, dass wirtschaftlichere und bedarfsgerechtere Lösungen als bei der KBV gefunden werden.

This thesis explores social relations in Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018) through Doreen Massey’s conceptualisation of space. With the assumption that social relations are formed through and by space, the thesis analyses the protagonist’s interactions with space in the novel. It is explored how the protagonist navigates space through unconscious actions, blurring imagined public/private distinctions, as well as how occupying space may be an alienating experience, pointedly sensed as a growing distance between body and mind. Continuing, the thesis examines the protagonist’s attempts to negotiate space and problematises the effectiveness of these attempts against the ubiquity of space. Following this is a reflection on the limitations of Massey’s theory, along with concluding remarks concerning potential shortcomings and opportunities for further research.

No / The World Health Organization (WHO) was intended to serve at the forefront of efforts to realize human rights to advance global health, and yet this promise of a rights-based approach to health has long been threatened by political constraints in international relations, organizational resistance to legal discourses, and medical ambivalence toward human rights. Through legal research on international treatyobligations, historical research in the WHO organizational archives, and interview research with global health stakeholders, this research examines WHO's contributions to (and, in many cases, negligence of) the rights-based approach to health. Based upon such research, this article analyzes the evolving role of WHO in the development and implementation of human rights for global health, reviews the current state of human rights leadership in the WHO Secretariat, and looks to future institutions to reclaim the mantle of human rights as a normative framework for global health governance. (C) 2013 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Infrastructure is one of the top priorities of the South African Government. Substantial amounts will be invested by the Government in infrastructure between 2014 and 2016 as good infrastructure plays a pivotal role in the growth of the South African economy. Government does not have sufficient resources to meet its infrastructure goals and is therefore dependent on the private construction sector to provide assistance. Discrepancies were noted between the judgment laid down in CSARS v South African Custodial Services (Pty) Ltd (SACS) and the interpretations from the relevant sections contained within the Income Tax Act governing the normal tax treatment of construction contractors. The aim of this study was to determine whether reliance could be placed on the judgement laid down in CSARS v South African Custodial Services (Pty) Ltd in order to determine the nature and deductibility of expenditure incurred by construction contractors in future. It is crucial that tax legislation should be correctly interpreted and applied in determining the taxable income of taxpayers as it is evident that tax consequences influence the behaviour of South African taxpayers. A literature study of prior case law, sections of the Income Tax Act governing the normal tax treatment of construction contractors as well as other relevant literature was performed in order to determine the correct application of sections governing the normal tax position of construction contractors. The negative tax consequences suffered by SACS as a main contractor due to judgement laid down in CSARS v South African Custodial Services (Pty) Ltd could influence the willingness of the private construction sector to provide assistance to Government in future. Based on the literature study performed it was found that the court's application of Section 22(2A) of the Income Tax Act was correct. It was further found that the Court erroneously applied Section 11 (a), and as a result incorrectly determined the normal tax position of SACS. In response to this it is recommended that no reliance should be placed on the judgement laid down in CSARS v South African Custodial Services (Pty) Ltd in respect of determining the nature and deductibility of fees paid to subcontractors by construction contractors, as this could result in negative tax planning consequences. / MCom (South African and International Tax), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015