This dissertation explores the role of ideas, paradigms and ideology in the definition of public policies. To understand this issue, the thesis developed a conceptual framework and a set of propositions based on the academic literature related to the meaning of ideas and paradigm change in public policy, the impact of epistemic communities, the influence of legacies and the role of ideology from the perspective of the socio-cognitive school of Critical Discourse Analysis. In this dissertation ideology is understood as the ‘fundamental beliefs of a group and its members’ (Van Dijk, 2004: 6) that form the basis of social practices (Van Dijk, 2004: 9) whereas paradigms have been defined as ‘taken for granted world views (…) that constrain the range of policy choices’ (Campbell, 2002: 21) and in turn are bounded by ideology. The research examines the case of the Catalan National Agreement on Research and Innovation (CNARI) which was developed between 2007 and 2008. To capture and analyse this process of policy design the research uses qualitative methods that include face to face interviews, documentary research and coding of visual and textual data. The findings suggests that the design of the CNARI was based on ideas that were firmly placed within a widely acknowledged overall paradigm in innovation policy that itself was shaped and limited by a dominant broader ideology. Factors influencing the role of these ideas included the fact that the underlying paradigm was widely shared across different political territories and levels within Europe, and that the ideas were propagated by two key international organisations (EU and OECD) as well as by a number of highly respected representatives of the international epistemic community, which served to re-enforce the overarching policy paradigm, introduced these policy ideas to the Catalan context, and supported their regional adaptation. The dissertation identifies three proposals for future research: 1) an examination of the role of organisational structures in elaborating and implementing policy which does not involve civil servants, 2) an exploration of how a politician’s personal experience impacts the elaboration of a political programme, and 3) an analysis of the role of open and participatory processes to define policies.

This thesis is concerned with regional disparities in The Czech and Slovak Republics. The theoretical part is therefore related to the definition of the region, regional policy and regional disparities. Implied are different concepts, classification, and the methods of measurement and evaluation of regional disparities. In the practical part of this thesis, regions of the Czech and Slovak Republics are evaluated from the ecomical point of view using Bennet method. Finally there is comparison of selected regions between the two countries.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / The purpose of the study is to examine the functions of provinces in South Africa and their respective comparative advantages from 2013 to 2017, in terms of employment absorption. It is predicted or assumed that there are considerable spatial disparities in the functions and comparative advantage profiles among provinces, some of them performing highly sophisticated functions and being comparatively better in terms of labour market outcomes than others. It is also assumed that this comes as a result of spatial preferences in location of firms.

Master thesis analyses current state of European Union's Regional policy. Part of research is represented by historic overview and characteristic of basic principles, instruments and defined objectives. For futher purpose of thesis, the attention is focused on czech business environment, national programme documents and Operational programme Enterprises and Inovations, which was chosen as the the most convenient. Practical part is represented by business plan San Gimignano, which could possibly apply for european resources. The output of this master thesis is analysis of potentional abovementioned gain and factors of possible success.

The goal of this thesis, which focuses on tourism as an element of the social-economic potential of Nymburk, is to provide an explanation of the problems related to tourism in this area. In order for the region to develop, cultural-historical sights are necessary. There are plenty of these in Nymburk. The potential that the city offers has not yet been fully realized and because of this it is possible to plan many projects with EU assistance for the development of the area. The thesis focuses on the description of tourism in the Central Bohemian region and directly in the town Nymburk and offers possibilities for future development. In order to understand the changes needed a survey was created and sent to 150 respondents. The summary of the results shows the attitude of the Nymburk citizens regarding the state of services, local policy, and offers suggestions for change. A SWOT analysis was made on the basis of the strategic city plan for finding the strategic advantages. It is supplemented by a Fuller triangular matrix which clearly highlights the most important aspects.

German regional policy has changed from a strategy of redistribution to a regional growth focused policy- strategies, which are often seen as opposites. Both policies, however, still have to relate to the constitutional objective “to achieve equal living conditions for the country’s citizens.” This paper examines what effects a political change may have had on the interpretation of the German constitutional objective. Its aim is to examine German regional policy and its relationship to justice, using John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice. My research is a critcal ideology analysis, made up of a qualitative text analysis of the German government’s last annual report on the German reunification. I will also discuss whether there is any evidence of this change of policy- mentioned above- in the annual report. My conclusion is that there is some evidence of this change of policy in the report, and that the government is still very aware of the constitutional objective, though it interprets it differently today. Today there is a stronger political focus on creating growth and on trying to secure the welfare state. The government is focusing on a policy, which aims to secure a high- though most likely unequal- standard of living, rather than on one that would only be able to guarantee a low, but more equal, standard of living.

Disertacijoje vertinamos regiono unikalių išteklių panaudojimo galimybės regiono ekonominei socialinei raidai gerinti, įgyvendinant Europos Sąjungos regioninę politiką. Pagrindinis tyrimo objektas yra regioninės politikos sprendimų rengimo ir pagrindimo procesai, reikalaujantys adekvataus regionų unikalumo vertinimo, tame tarpe siekiant efektyviai panaudoti unikalius išteklius regiono socialinei ekonominei raidai. Pagrindinis disertacijos tikslas – sukurti teorinę koncepciją, skirtą kompleksiniams regionų unikalumo ekonominiams vertinimams bei parengti regionų unikalumo ekonominio vertinimo instrumentarijų, panaudotiną regioninės politikos sprendimams. Sukurto instrumentarijaus taikymo sritis – Europos Sąjungos ir nacionalinės regioninės politikos įgyvendinimas. / The dissertation investigates the issues of regional development and region possibilities to increase value added by using unique resources of the regions in the context of EU integration processes. The main object of research is regional policy decision-making processes requiring adequate economic assessment of regional uniqueness aiming effective use of unique resources of the region for social and economic development. This object is important not only to the state or regional level but also at the EU level with the aim to exploit regions basic skills and resources that can be unique from the perspective of other regions and to use competitive advantage. The primary purpose of this dissertation is building the theoretical concept that would serve as a base for the methodology creation of complex economic assessment of regional uniqueness that in the next stage would serve as an instrument for the implementation of EU regional policy.

This thesis investigates whether and how public policies can help build industrial clusters. The research applies a case study method based on 60 interviews to the emerging information communication technology (ICT) clusters in Scotland and Hong Kong. The analysis uses Molina’s sociotechnical constituency (STC) framework and its associated ‘diamond of alignment’, which help focus on two interrelated dimensions: 1) the complex technical and social aspects of the design, implementation and evolution of the Scottish and Hong Kong ICT clusters and 2) the difficulties of developing a cluster in the context of major diversity of organisational interests and patterns of interaction. This research revealed that the cluster building effort in the two regions has been fraught with difficulties due to misalignment between the perceptions and pursuits of policy makers and the interests of industry members. This thesis concludes that cluster building is an evolutionary process of sociotechnical alignment which can be facilitated by feedback and learning. It also suggests that for successful cluster building to take place, policy makers should focus on stimulating the processes of cluster formation, including the building up of the technological capabilities of the industrial actors, while facilitating the integration of the major actors’ interests and demands with the policy programmes. Cluster building involves the development of new ways of thinking as well as the practice of networking; it necessitates the coherent effort of collective learning and a long-term commitment to change the existing technological system. A long-term adaptive policy programme should be pursued to focus on effectively aligning the interests and pursuits of the different actors in the cluster at various stages.

The Thesis deals with the Structural Funds and their impact to a particular region of the Czech Republic, Královéhradecký region. It also deals with Regional Policy of the European Union at all the levels (European,regional and local). The thesis also presents a concrete project realized in a small town called Železnice to show a particular impact of Structural Funds to a local region of the Czech Republic.

Topics of this thesis are principals of Regional policy within European Union and possibilities of gaining donations from EU funds for the projects. It is demonstrated on the concrete project of Regional centre for tourism in Horažďovice. The thesis is focused on destination management and possibilities of implementing it on this project. The output of the thesis is the solution for future activities and better managing of the regional centre according to the executed analysis and questioning.