In a world of systemic environmental destruction and growing social inequality, it is important to explore how decision-making institutions communicate about development and how they attempt to achieve social and environmental sustainability. The institutions define the problems, suggest the strategies, make the policies and set the targets in order to address the present socio-ecological crisis. Using the following key research question, this study focuses on one of these institutions, the Swedish Government: What ideologies and discourses underpin the Swedish Government’s National Strategy for Sustainable Regional Development Throughout the Country 2021-2030, and how consistent are they to the purpose of the strategy?  In order to answer the question, this research uses critical discourse analysis based on Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model for empirical research in communication, culture and society. Through a framework of postdevelopment and postcolonial feminist theories, this study questions mainstream discourses that are still today reinforced by decision-makers and practitioners within regional development in Sweden. It further examines a potential discourse paradox in the national strategy: In order to solve social and environmental problems, the document promotes economic and technological solutions that are based on the same logic of infinite growth, unidirectional progress and competitiveness that may have caused the problems.  Through explaining and discussing the discourses within a wider social context, this analysis concludes that the Swedish national strategy for regional development reinforces discourses that are problematizing and may impede the purpose of contributing to social, economic and environmental sustainability throughout the country. The study discusses how this can have negative effects on social and environmental relationships not only in Swedish regions, but also globally, and suggests ways for future regional development to become more contributive to social equality and environmental protection.

Submitted by Simone Maisonave (simonemaisonave@hotmail.com) on 2016-09-08T16:26:38Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Fernando Bilhalva Vitoria_Tese.pdf: 1479174 bytes, checksum: f3067ee1efd28b165ce75beef7957896 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Simone Maisonave (simonemaisonave@hotmail.com) on 2016-09-08T16:26:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Fernando Bilhalva Vitoria_Tese.pdf: 1479174 bytes, checksum: f3067ee1efd28b165ce75beef7957896 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Aline Batista (alinehb.ufpel@gmail.com) on 2016-09-08T21:49:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Fernando Bilhalva Vitoria_Tese.pdf: 1479174 bytes, checksum: f3067ee1efd28b165ce75beef7957896 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-08T21:49:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Fernando Bilhalva Vitoria_Tese.pdf: 1479174 bytes, checksum: f3067ee1efd28b165ce75beef7957896 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-01-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / A presente tese sobre “A crise socioecológica no labirinto do capital: uma análise das relações entre humanidade e natureza a partir dos conceitos de entropia e sociometabolismo” tem como ponto de partida o cenário de crise do capitalismo atual, que, em termos históricos, espalhou-se por todas as partes do globo sob o domínio da mercadoria. Ela é perceptível tanto em temos sociais, no desemprego estrutural e na precarização do trabalho, como em termos ecológicos, indo desde a desestruturação dos solos pela agricultura industrial e homogênea até o aquecimento global, com previsões catastróficas para o presente e para o futuro. Esta relação-limite revela, de algum modo, o que Marx chamou de rachadura ou falha metabólica sob as relações produtivas e sociais, a partir do mando do modo de produção capitalista, ou o que Georgescu-Roegen chamou de processo entrópico da irreversibilidade. Com ênfase na síntese destas duas perspectivas teóricas, a tese se situa na problemática da existência de uma crise socioecológica profunda, onde o fundamento teórico-prático desta; repousa no sociometabolismo, no sentido marxista, e na noção de entropia, a partir da bioeconomia, como uma poderosa ferramenta de interpretação e compreensão qualitativa das relações sociais e ambientais no presente tempo com “Um todo manifesto”. A tese visa, assim, contribuir para o campo das ciências humanas na pretensão de propor uma visão ampla e criteriosa das relações entre a humanidade e a natureza e do papel da educação frente a este processo, para além das tramas do capital e da ideologia do desenvolvimento verde. A estrutura da tese consiste num aprofundamento do pensamento de Marx sobre a natureza e o metabolismo, e da questão da entropia em Georgescu-Roegen, bem como da evidência teórico-prática destas duas visões de mundo. Para tanto, ela propõe um todo estruturado para a análise da crise socioecológica: No primeiro capítulo, no marco teórico, recorrendo ao pensamento de Georgescu-Roegen e Marx; no segundo, a dupla visão da crise e os limites do desenvolvimento verde; no terceiro, a historicidade da crise a partir da evolução do metabolismo, até o papel dos sujeitos e da educação como uma das dimensões necessárias para outro sistema metabólico/entrópico e conciliatório entre a humanidade e a natureza no quarto capítulo, onde o metabolismo e a entropia se articulam como um salto de qualidade. / This thesis about "The socio-ecological crisis in the capital labyrinth: an analysis of the relationship between humanity and nature from the concepts of entropy and socio-metabolism" has as its starting point the crisis scenario of the current capitalism, which, in a historical sense, has spread itself all over the world under the domain of the goods. It can be noticed in two ways. The first one is in social terms in cases as structural unemployment and work precariousness, the other one is in ecological terms ranging from soil disruption by industrial and homogeneous agriculture to global warming, with catastrophic forecasts for the present and for the future. This limit relationship reveals, somehow, what Marx called metabolic failure or crack under the productive and social relationships, from the behest of the capitalist production way, or what Georgescu-Roegen called entropic process of irreversibility. Emphasizing the synthesis of these two theoretical perspectives, the thesis lies on the questioning about the existence of a deep socio-ecological crisis, where its theoretical and practical ground lies on socio-metabolism. It is in the Marxist sense, and in the notion of entropy, from the bio-economy, as a powerful tool to have a qualitative interpretation and comprehension of the social and environmental relations in this time with "A whole manifesto". Thus, the thesis aims to contribute to the field of human sciences and intends to propose a careful and wide vision of the relationships between humanity and nature as well as the role of education facing this process, beyond the capital plots and the ideology of green development. The structure of the thesis is a deepening of Marx's thought about nature and metabolism, and the entropy issue in Georgescu-Roegen, as well as the theoretical and practical evidence of these two worldviews. To do so, it proposes a whole structured to analyze the socio-ecological crisis. In the first chapter, in the theoretical framework, using the thought of Georgescu-Roegen and Marx. In the second one, the double vision of the crisis and the limits of green development. In the third chapter, the historicity of the crisis from the metabolism evolution to the role of subject and education as one of the necessary dimensions for other metabolic/entropic and conciliatory system between humanity and nature. Finally in the fourth chapter, where metabolism and entropy are articulated as a leap in quality.

Thesis will be focused on multilayered ideal of sobriety and closer examination of its meanings in the text of the Encyclical Laudato si'. The analytical part of the thesis will examine the term sobriety (sobrietas), its occurrence in texts of the Old and New Testament and the context of its use as a cardinal virtue or moderate political action. The Encyclical Laudato si' by Pope Francis will also be presented. The second part will deal with ethical aspects of sobriety in relation to the environment, to oneself, to the other person and to God in the footsteps of Pope in the Encyclical. Keywords sobriety, virtue ethics, moderate politics, alternative lifestyle, Encyclical Laudato si', Pope Francis, socio-ecological crisis

The main objective of my dissertation is to analyze and compare the socio-ecological implications of the adoption of genetically modified (GM) seeds and alternative agroecological farming methods for farming communities in Alberta, Canada and Andhra Pradesh, India localities situated in contrasting geopolitical, socio-cultural, and structural-institutional contexts in the global economy. For this research, the adoption of GM canola in Alberta and GM cotton in Andhra Pradesh are used as comparative case studies to explore the qualitative impact of agricultural biotechnology on farming communities. Many studies have examined the potential impact of GM crops, but few have looked beyond economic cost-benefit analysis. In this dissertation, I examine social and cultural aspects of farmer decision-making in the adoption of the new seed technology, farmer receptivity to new cropping methods, knowledge translation between laboratory and farmer, and the impact of global knowledge-based technology on local knowledge systems, socio-cultural practices, the nature-society relationship, and gender relations. I use a global ethnography methodology and draw on a series of field interviews with farmers to provide sociological insight into how global processes of the Gene Revolution impact different farming communities in different localities in the world-economy. In this dissertation I argue that the debate about the new agricultural technologies (e.g. GM seeds), the environment and agrarian crises should not be narrowed to the question of new technologies per se. Rather it should be understood from an agrarian political ecology perspective articulating political economy (neoliberal governance at global, national and provincial levels, and the processes of dispossession of primary agricultural producers from their means and conditions of production), socio-cultural systems (the construction of hegemonic discourse about genetically modified organisms, agricultural deskilling, gender relations), and ecosystems (a process of mastering nature, monoculturization, environmental risks, metabolic rift) in the context of neoliberal globalization. My fieldwork study of the Gene Revolution provides closer, more fine-grained research and analysis of its impacts with sensitivity to local class and status, gender and cultural issues, and the ways in which farmers technology adoption decisions can dramatically alter overall quality of life, local knowledge systems, community development, the sustainability of agriculture and the ecosystem itself.

No description available.