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I investigate, using the R package spaMM, the effect of misspecification of the smoothing parameter, Q, of the Matern covariance structure on the mean part of hierarchical generalised linear models (HGLMs) with spatially correlated Gaussian Matern random effects. In particular, by restricting Q to the set {0.5, 1.5, 2.5} I examine via a simulation study the amount of bias introduced on the fixed effects estimates in which the data used to fit the model was generated with different values to the aforementioned set. The effect of misspecification was found to be minimal. By restricting the smoothing parameter, Q, to the set {0.5, 1.5, 2.5} I utilise the R package hglm, to develop a procedure (MaternHGLM) for fitting spatial Matern HGLMs. In particular, I constructed a hierarchical likelihood (h-likelihood) function with given correlation parameters which thus enabled me to Choleski decompose the Matern covariance matrix and utilise hglm to estimate fixed and random effects along with dispersion parameters. Using the above estimated parameters I then formed an adjusted profile h-likelihood for the estimation of the Matern scaling parameter, U, using the Newton-Raphson procedure. Simulation studies were carried out to assess the computational efficiency of MaternHGLM compared to spaMM. I found that, on average, MaternHGLM was 136% faster than spaMM. I also analysed two real world datasets using both spaMM and MaternHGLM. By fixing Q at the most appropriate value from the set {0.5, 1.5, 2.5} I examined to what extent, if any, did the conclusions drawn differ from those in the original study. I found that in general the conclusions were the same, however, on one of the datasets spaMM’s conclusion didn’t align at all with the original analysis even with Q estimated from the data.

Individuals who have travelled from Sweden and affiliated to the Islamic State in Syria will, after the fall of the caliphate, return home to Sweden. The concept of ISIS returnees has begun to dominate the debate and there is a common concern that individuals who possess radicalized opinions should return to Sweden only to commit terrorist crimes. The study is based on a qualitative research method, specifically an interview methodology with semi-structured interviews. The study identifies the capacity Sweden possesses, according to experts, both socially and legally, to deal with the problems of Swedish citizens who wants to return from ISIS-controlled areas. The study also aims to examines measures that is the most suitable to apply to returnees from the expert’s perspective. An analysis based on the Transitional Justice framework identified the importance of applying both legal aspects, as well as social processes in order to handle the problems with returnees. Through a review of previous research, three courts were identified, because they previously had the ability to prosecute individuals who committed criminal acts, these are: The Ad-hoc Tribunal, the Hybrid Court and the International Criminal Court. It was therefore considered important to examine these in order to review whether the courts were a legal alternative in the discussion of returnees who committed terrorist crimes. All actors, both international and national, have lack of capacity and efficiency regarding how to handle the ISIS-returnees. The study therefore contributes to an understanding of the capacity Sweden possesses in order to handle the problem of individuals who are now returning from ISIS, and also proposes new ways to handle the problematic aspects about ISIS-returnees to Sweden.

Decentralization has been one of the most extensively accepted political strategies since the 1980s, especially when it comes to development administration complemented by the expansion of democratization at lower levels of government. It acts as a bottom-top of authority. A proponent of decentralization argues that decentralization strengthens democracy, good governance and accountability. It is more effective and closer to the people because power is delegated to the local authority. Opponents of decentralization beliefs that is difficult to coordinate many local governments and demanding financial and human capital. This paper lies under that debate and presents how decentralization responds to droughts as a case study to Somalia.  Somalia has been exercising a highly centralized administration for a long time but now changed the structure of the government and built up a federal member states where the administration is widely decentralized. To understand the effectiveness of the system to mitigate and prevent droughts, the study will look at two different scenarios of droughts that hit the country. One was the mid-1970s under highly centralized administration while the other drought hit the country 2011-2012 under the decentralized structure of governance. This comparison aims to see the impact and respond that each system showed. The result will help the country to redesign their future prevention strategy and minimize the vulnerability of the droughts. Because of drought is one of the most destructive environmental phenomena, doing enormous damage to humankind and the livelihoods.

Although Bangladesh is considered to be a water rich country the groundwater levels are decreasing at a steady rate. The pressure on water resources is to a large extent driven by the wet processing of textiles in the country, and this thesis will therefore focus on the issue of water governance in the textile industry. This thesis will argue that the issue is made complex due to the variety of stakeholders from different cultural backgrounds with vested interests in how the water resources are being managed. Based on interviewees from two Swedish retail brands, the Bangladeshi government, suppliers and organization active in the country, the thesis aims at identifying barriers towards increasing sustainable water management practices in the country. The diversity of cultural background will be analyzed through the lens of institutional theory in order to consider the differences in governance strategies and how they might relate to the barriers. The thesis will also present the prospect of an inclusive stakeholder dialogue platform as a means of overcoming barriers and institutional differences in terms of water governance strategies. Building on the findings the thesis concludes that there are several barriers in terms of agreement, knowledge, and social and political structures. Furthermore, it is possible to conclude that the stakeholders approach these barriers differently depending on their cultural background. Lastly, the stakeholder dialogue is considered to have the capacity to create a much needed space for stakeholder collaboration in order to overcome these barriers.

With technologies changing faster than ever the need to change business models is getting more and more important. However, it is not as easy as one might think for a company to change their business model. A lot of companies believe they need to change their business models but very few has been able to do so. In order to find out why companies have such a problem this master thesis attempts to answer the question of how consulting companies understand their own business models and business model innovation. By combining a literature review with interviewing both employees at a consulting company and their customers the author presents existing business models with the help of business model canvas as a framework in order to show what parts of a business model that a consulting company focuses on. Other than presenting the findings on the consulting company’s existing business model a totally new business model is also created. The insurance model is a new way for consulting companies to raise their value proposition in order to gain more revenue streams. This master thesis also finds out that one of the main problems for a consulting company when it comes to understanding its own business model is the fact that the company hierarchy creates a diversion between the cognitive aspectsand the material aspects in the business model and a lot of innovative ideas goes missing. The thesis also finds that the main focus is on value proposition and revenue streams and that the other parts of the business model is ending up in the shadow.

The current study aims to investigate the way Greek immigrant couples who live in the United Kingdom and are going to have children, plan to maintain and transmit their language and culture to their future children. Furthermore, the study mainly includes the perceptions of participants about bilingualism and biculturalism. The present study investigates the importance of language and cultural maintenance since many peole migrate to a new country because of globalization. The study highlights the way participants picture themselves as parents and the practices they want to adopt in order to familiarize their children with both the native language and the societal language. The influence of culture on childrearing perspectives and plans is also discussed. Five different interviews via Skype were conducted and analyzed qualitatively with the aid of thematic analysis. The study confirms that cultural and language maintenance is essential to the participants and that they want their future children to be familiar with their country of origin. Participants are conscious about thei decision and there are also some negative aspects of their culture which they want to avoid. Traditions seem to play a major role in Greek culture; therefore maintaining most of them would enhance children's familiarization with Greece. Participants want to combine both their own culture and the host culture as well and they are planning practices to maintain the Greek language. On the whole, this study shows that bilingualism and biculturalism afeect parental practices but they could also have a positive impact on children's development.

Forskningsområdet hur myndigheter utövar ledarskap i relation till deras #metoo-inspirerade upprop är mycket begränsat. Studiens syfte har varit att undersöka hur två av Sveriges största myndigheter, Försvarsmakten och Polismyndigheten, har utövat ledarskap i samband med upprop sprungna ur egen organisation och anställda kvinnors uppfattning härom.   Denna induktiva studies teoretiska utgångspunkter utgörs av ledarskapsteorier utvecklade vid Försvarshögskolan, däribland ledarskapsmodellen, indirekt ledarskap samt studier om militära chefers containerfunktion och ”smittostudien”. Givet analys av empiriskt utfall har teoretiska utgångspunkter kompletterats med ytterligare perspektiv som tidigare studier om etiskt ledarskap och test av en ”trickle down modell” och Försvarsmaktens ledningsfilosofi. Inom ramen för studien har sjutton (17) personer deltagit från Försvarsmakten och åtta (8) från Polismyndigheten.   Studiens resultat visar att respektive myndighet har utövat ett indirekt ledarskap. I fallet Försvarsmakten erhåller myndighetsledningen fortsatt högt förtroende för ledarskapet och dess hantering i samband med upprop. Inom Polisen hyses lågt förtroende för sin myndighets ledarskap och hantering av upprop. Inom båda myndigheter är trenden att förtroendet sjunker på lägre organisatorisk nivå. I relation till teoretiska utgångspunkter visar studiens resultat på att chefers bristande förmåga till containering dvs meningskapande och meningsgivande leder till negativ smitta med följden att anställda kvinnor alltjämt hyser lågt förtroende för sin arbetsgivare att åstadkomma varaktig förändring.     Studiens bidrag till samhällsvetenskapen innefattar ny empiri, ett vidgat perspektiv för studier om ledarskap, indirekt ledarskap och identifiering av vilka krafter som inverkar vid chefers förmedling av budskap. Process, begrepp och relaterade krafter redovisas i genererad modell; budskapsmodellen.

Today, the humanitarian sector is faced with the interplay of several challenges: The world is increasingly becoming urbanized and cities are rapidly expanding into megacities and metacities. At the same time it is confronted with a heightened disaster risk that affects the urban realm in particular. This is due to rising exposure of the urban to natural hazards, which are exacerbated by climate change, coupled with vulnerabilities inherent in urban realms. Nonetheless, the humanitarian sector has been exhibiting difficulties in dealing with the complexities of urban realms. Therefore, the theoretical framework of this thesis discusses the added value of adopting a system theoretical approach to the study of urban systems for identifying what factors render an urban system resilient and which ones render it vulnerable. At which critical point can an urban system fail, resulting in a humanitarian disaster? In order to analyse what role humanitarian action can then play as system preserver, a case study was conducted on the specific case of Jakarta and its vulnerability to flooding. For this purpose ten interviews were undertaken: Seven interviews with representatives of humanitarian organisations that had notable involvement in past flood responses, one interview with the Head of Department of Disaster Prevention and Preparedness at the Jakarta Regional Disaster Management Agency and two further informal discussions with former staff. The main conclusions were that, in order to be resilient cities should exhibit properties of complex adaptive systems. The role that humanitarian organisations play in strengthening these properties in the specific case of Jakarta is, within their limitations, of crucial importance for the overall functioning of Jakarta’s flood preparedness system.

This thesis is based on the implementation of a bilateral rural development program in Burkina Faso. The main purpose of this study was to put the actual implementation process of a bilateral development program in view. This was done by investigating how two dominant perspectives in the implementation literature can explain what in fact happens during the realization of an aid program. A further aim of the thesis was to explore the limitations of these two dominant theories, in order to get a full understanding of the complexity of the realization of an aid program. Based on the implementation theory, this study shows that the realization of an aid program can be understood from three different angles. Firstly, through a top-down perspective, we can understand the process as an implementation problem, where the organisation fails to put policy into effect. Secondly, from the bottom-up perspective, the importance of the formal decision is questioned. Consequently the implementation process can be explained by the interaction among those involved in an implementation structure where the implementation takes place. Thirdly, also from the bottom-up perspective, the implementation process can be seen as a negotiation process between those who seeks to put policy into effect and those upon whom policy outcome depends. The result of this study shows that the top-down, as well as the bottom-up perspective, can be useful to explain the implementation process of a bilateral program. Yet they cannot alone give us the full picture. The analysis from a bottom-up view plays an important role as it explores the complexity both within and between organisations, in which the complexity outside the control of the formal organisation is also discovered. Nevertheless, this perspective has its limitations. As it does not consider an explicit theory, it overlooks the factors that are affecting the behavior on the ground. The top-down analysis is interesting in the context of development cooperation as it analyzes whether an organisation has the capacity to put policy into effect. Yet the top-down approach has a rational way of examining the implementation process and does not reflect on different reasons for various behaviors. As this perspective is restricted to the formal decision, it fails to analyse what side effects the realization process can bring. Neither implementation theories take into account how institutional factors, in a global context, are influencing the local situation where the implementation takes place. This thesis argues that institutional factors (in terms of norms) could give complementary explanations to the implementation theories, in order to develop our understanding for the realization of a program. By regarding the implementation process as a part of a greater process of development cooperation, complementary explanations could be given about why actors behave like they do. Particularly within the actual context of strong changing trends among donors concerning how sustainable development can be achieved. This study claims that we could learn more about development programs as a whole by illuminating the implementation process itself. Considering the changes in development cooperation, in which the processes and ownership-based programs are gaining importance, the implementation theory is fruitful as it highlights the process.