Due to on going wars and conflicts in the world, the number of people seeking asylum in other countries has increased. Including a large group of unaccompanied minors which is described as ”children who left their country without their parents or a significant other”. In 2015, nearly 35,000 unaccompanied children arrived in Sweden seeking asylum, whereupon the majority arrived in the last months of the year. The large number resulted in an extreme pressure upon the Swedish municipalities, to successfully receive all unaccompanied children. And fulfill their organizational mission according to the Swedish legislation. Therefore the purpose of the study is to establish a deeper understanding of how a social service, organizationally handled an increase in the number of unaccompanied children. A qualitative method was used, consisting semi-structured interviews with nine respondents from or related to the social services. The data of the study were analyzed using a thematic analysis, meaning a search for patterns to create themes and subthemes. The results of the study show that the increase number of unaccompanied minors were experienced and had to be handled as a crisis. The bureaucratic structure of the social service became problematic and constituted an obstacle in the efforts to receive the unaccompanied children. Including a difficulty to follow existing laws and regulations. To resolve the situation the social service had to be flexible and creative in their approach to receive the children. One conclusion is that a bureaucratic structure is not suitable in a dynamic environment that demands quick decisions and flexibility. Another conclusion is that the effort of the staff has been crucial, resolving the crisis. / Antalet människor som flyr undan krig och konflikter i världen har under den senaste tiden ökat. Av dessa människor är en stor grupp ensamkommande barn, det vill säga barn som lämnat sitt hemland utan sina föräldrar eller signifikant annan. Under 2015 anlände ca 35 000 ensamkommande barn till Sverige för att söka asyl. Majoriteten av dessa anlände under de sista månaderna på året. Det medförde ett extremt högt tryck på landets kommuner för att lyckas motta samtliga ensamkommande barn och fullfölja sitt organisatoriska uppdrag enligt den svenska lagstiftningen. Förevarande studies syfte är därmed att få en fördjupad kunskap kring hur en socialförvaltning organisatoriskt har hanterat en ökning av antalet ensamkommande barn. En kvalitativ metod har använts, bestående av semistrukturerade intervjuer med nio respondenter från eller med anknytning till socialförvaltningen. Studiens data analyserades med hjälp av en tematisk analys, där mönster eftersöktes och teman och subteman skapades. Resultatet av studien visar att den stora ökningen av ensamkommande barn upplevdes och fick hanteras som en krissituation. Förvaltningens byråkratiska struktur blev problematisk och utgjorde ett hinder i arbetet med att motta de ensamkommande barnen. Bland annat kunde inte befintliga lagar och regler följas. För att lösa situationen fick förvaltningen vara flexibel och kreativ i sitt arbetssätt. En slutsats är att en byråkratisk organisation inte lämpar sig för en dynamisk omvärld, som ställer krav på snabba beslut och flexibilitet. Därtill framgår att personalens insats inom socialförvaltningen var avgörande för att lösa krissituationen.

This research (the first long-term ethnographic study of FOI in Britain) investigates concepts at the heart of FOI - transparency, trust, secrecy, truth, private, public, power and agency. Eighteen months participant observation fieldwork, alongside policy-makers, practitioners, and end-users facilitated in depth, study of the radical subject-object transformations that FOI requires, and the aesthetics that underpin it. The introduction of FOI entailed a 'culture change' - from a culture of secrecy to one of disclosure - driven, in Scotland, by the Scottish Information Commissioner through conferences. These were an opportunity for practitioners to come into new knowledge about the Act, their shared knowledge dissolving the divisions between them. But new divisions then opened between practitioners and colleagues; culture change being in the replication of a form of a relationship that previously lay between government and citizens. In their replicated form, individual practitioners disappeared - were made 'transparent' - only to reappear on being differentiated, leaving them acutely aware of the personal relations this fissure disclosed, and throwing into sharp question a theory of people's division as indicative of their 'secrecy'. Transparency, here, depended on whether people were divided or combined - acting in their own capacity, or that of the organization. While making personal relations absent from new disclosures was necessary for FOI compliance, this concealment hid a complex network of relations, and turned knowledge into 'information'. Yet the division between information and knowledge was not crisp: end-users continued to read practitioners' personal relations in disclosed information, thus relations were both absent from and implied in the information released. Whether information was public (and accessible) depended on the undifferentiated status of those who created, handled, or were the subjects of, information. As people came into new knowledge, invoking their divided or common footing, they alternated between appearing 'private' or 'public' - person or thing - a division between individuals reflecting a division within each of them.

With over two million inmates, the United States’ prison population is the largest in the world. Nearly one in one hundred Americans are behind bars, either in prisons or pre-trial detention facilities. The rapid growth in incarceration is well-documented. However, social science explanations often stop at the prison gates, with little work on treatment inside prisons. This black box approach ignores important bureaucratic decisions, including the provision of rehabilitative services and the application of punishment. This dissertation offers a systematic analysis of treatment decisions inside the American prisons. I use a mixed methods approach, combining multiple quantitative datasets with environmental observation at four prisons, and original interviews of twenty-three correctional staff members. I offer the only large-n comparative analysis of American state prisons. Characteristics of the inmates as well as characteristics of staff are explored. I am able to analyze data at the state, facility and individual level. All of this is to answer a crucial and somewhat overlooked question; how do prison staff decide who should be punished and who should receive rehabilitative treatment? I find that theories of social construction offer insight into the treatment of American prison inmates. Specifically, I find that socially constructed racial categories offer explanatory value for inmate treatment. Black and Hispanic inmates are less likely to receive important rehabilitative programs, including access to mental health and medical care. Black and Hispanic inmates are also more likely to receive punishment including the use of solitary confinement in administrative segregation units. I find, consistent with theories of representative bureaucracy that staffing characteristics also impact treatment decisions, with black and Hispanic staff members expressing lower preferences for punishment and prisons with higher percentages of black staff members utilize administrative segregation less. I provide a historical overview of the changing social constructions of crime and prisons inside the United States, from colonial to present day America. I argue that the treatment of prisoners changes as our conception of crime changes. I discuss recent bipartisan attempts at prison reform and offer my own suggestions for reform of the American prison system.

In this essay the aim is to analyse the Social orientation course as a part of the Establishment program of newly arrived immigrants in Sweden. The questions I intend to answer through qualitative interviews and analysis of policy documents are: What factors limit the local work with refugees and immigrants within the framework of the Social orientation course as an establishment effort? How is the Social orientation course as a part of the Establishment Reform implemented in Växjö Municipality? And, how can the result of the Social orientation course in the local context be explained by the theory of street-level bureaucracy? In the light of Michael Lipsky’s theory about street-level bureaucracies the study contributes to a better understanding of the factors that limit the work with Social orientation as an establishment effort. The result shows that the local work with newly arrived immigrants in Sweden is much influenced and limited by the features of street-level bureaucracies: the resources are inadequate to the task, goal expectations are vague and conflicting, goal achievement is difficult to measure, and the clients do not serve as bureaucratic reference groups. The limitations result in an introduction program which is an inadequate basis for successful integration of immigrants. This knowledge of the outcomes of the Establishment Reform is of great importance for the newly arrived immigrants in Sweden to whom the reform is directed, as well as for the policy makers.

Cette enquête prend pour point de départ l'adoption en 2000 d'indicateurs et de cibles chiffrées par l'Union Européenne pour comparer et stimuler les performances des systèmes éducatifs de ses États-membres. Elle suit, étape par étape, la chaîne de fabrication et de diffusion de cette information statistique. Ces outils de gouvernement se développent au sein d'institutions internationales créées après la Seconde Guerre Mondiale (UNESCO et OCDE) et visent à concilier harmonie sociale et prospérité matérielle par une plus grande adaptation de l'école aux exigences du monde industriel. Cette politique par les chiffres repose désormais sur un vaste appareillage qui s'étend sous l'effet de la multiplication des données qu'il génère. Son essor connaît une accélération avec le développement des technologies numériques qui facilitent la saisie de nouvelles informations quantifiables directement auprès des écoles et dans les classes. Assurant une plus grande traçabilité des trajectoires scolaires et une évaluation plus régulière des établissements et des individus, elles sont utilisées à la fois par les administrations et par les experts en sciences humaines, pour améliorer l'éducation et sa gestion. Promues comme instruments pédagogiques, elles doivent rendre la pratique des enseignants plus efficace en leur permettant d'évaluer, classer et hiérarchiser leurs élèves et leurs difficultés. Entendue comme activité de mise en chiffres de réalités qui ne l'étaient pas auparavant, la quantification est ici appréhendée dans sa triple dimension administrative, scientifique et industrielle, afin de comprendre les origines de cette avalanche de nombres et ses effets sur nos démocraties. / The starting point of this study is the adoption by the European Union in 2000 of numerical indicators and benchmarks to compare and stimulate the performance of the education systems of Member States. It looks closely at the processing of this statistical information during both fabrication and diffusion. These tools for government have been developed within the international institutions created after the Second World War (UNESCO, OECD) in an attempt to combine material well being and social harmony by shaping education to meet the challenges of the industrial world. This policy of reliance on numbers has created an increasingly voluminous structure, in permanent expansion as it generates new data. Its growth has been fuelled by digital technologies that facilitate the direct collection of data in schools and classrooms. Because they increase the traceability of school careers and allow for more regular evaluation of schools and students, these tools are used by both management and social science researchers to improve education and administration. Presented as teaching aids, they are designed to improve teachers' performance by allowing them to evaluate, classify and grade both their students and their difficulties. The phenomenon of quantification, by which we mean the activity of giving numerical expression to realities not previously expressed in this way, is considered here from three points of view - administrative, scientific and industrial - in order to provide an understanding of the origins of the avalanche of numbers and its effects on the vitality of our democracies and their inhabitants.

I denna kvalitativa studie har åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med yrkesverksamma undersköterskor inom hemtjänst. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hemtjänstpersonalens erfarenheter av äldres psykiska ohälsa inom ramen av sitt arbete. Genom en tematisk analys identifierades två huvudteman. I det första temat Människan som projekt framkommer att intervjupersonerna ser på mötet med äldre med psykisk ohälsa som komplext och lyfter vikten av ett gott bemötande och regelbunden kontakt som viktiga faktorer för att hantera mötet på bästa sätt. Detta presenteras vidare genom två underteman – Bemötande och Kontinuitet. I det andra temat Människan i verksamheten framkommer utmaningarna i mötet med äldre personer med psykisk ohälsa som samtliga ligger i verksamheten. Utmaningarna består enligt intervjupersonerna av tidsramar som är svåra att förhålla sig till, samt en kompetensbrist hos både de själva och i samhället när det kommer till äldre med psykisk ohälsa. Även detta presenteras vidare genom underteman – Tidsramen och Kompetensbrist. Avslutningsvis kopplas resultatet till tidigare forskning. Där framkommer likheter mellan forskning och studiens resultat avseende mötet med äldre personer med psykisk ohälsa som komplext och utmanande utifrån brist på tid, kunskap och kompetens. Komplexiteten och utmaningarna problematiseras vidare utifrån Lipskys teori om gräsrotbyråkrati och visar på balansgången i hemtjänstpersonalens arbete mellan individens behov och arbetets struktur. / In this qualitative study, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with educated home care employees within the home care workforce. The aim of this study is to investigate home care employees’ experiences of elderly people with mental illness within the frame of their work. Through a thematic analysis two main themes where identified. The first theme, The individual as a project, presents how the home care employees perceive the meeting with elderly’s mental illness as complex, and experience that a good reception and regular contact are two important factors for being able to handle mental illness in the best way. This is further presented in two subthemes – Reception and Continuity. The second theme, The individual within the organization, presents the challenges that the home care employees encounter with working with elderly people with mental illness. These challenges consist of timeframes that the employees perceive as hard to work within but also a lack of competence, both within themselves and in the society when it comes to elderly’s mental illness. Furthermore, this is also presented in two subthemes – The timeframe and Lack of competence. Finally, the result is connected to previous research where similarities between the previous research and the result is revealed regarding the meeting with mental illness as complex and comprised of challenges, including lack of time, knowledge and competence. The complexity and challenges are further problematised from Lipsky’s theory of street level bureaucracy and emphasises the balance in home care employees’ work between the individual needs and the structure of the work.

This study aimed to examine the reasoning among first line managers concerning the law from 2012 which gives older couples the right to continue living together even when only one of them needs special housing for service and care. We used a qualitative method with data collected through individual semi-structured interviews with six care managers in different municipalities in Sweden. The theoretical approach and interpretative framework for the analysis consisted of Michael Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy, Roine Johansson’s swedish adaption of this theory and Max Weber’s theory about social actions. We found that there was little variation in how the interviewed care managers used the law and the guidelines to support the work in the organisation rather than seeking individually based solutions for the elderly. The main conclusion of our study was that the law concerning the cohabitation guarantee for elderly has made little difference.

Esta dissertação analisa a autonomia municipal na implementação de programas federais. Partiu-se da teoria sobre relações intergovernamentais no Brasil e implementação de políticas públicas para analisar a implementação do Mais Educação/Ministério da Educação (MEC) no Município de São Paulo, considerando o período de 2011 a 2016. Para realizar a análise, foi construído um quadro analítico que considera elementos topdown e bottom-up das teorias de implementação de políticas públicas. Foram considerados o desenho da política federal e o desenho da política municipal, incluindo seus incentivos institucionais, as relações interorganizacionais e a burocracia de médio escalão (BME). O método da pesquisa foi o estudo de caso único, operacionalizado empiricamente por meio de análise documental e de entrevistas semiestruturadas. Foram analisados o desenho do programa federal, a implementação dos programas municipais de expansão da jornada de ensino e as características do Mais Educação/MEC na rede de ensino. Verificamos que os programas municipais influenciaram a implementação da política federal por trazerem uma série de incentivos institucionais a este programa. Além disso, verificamos que o município levou cerca de 3 anos para construir outros incentivos institucionais para a implementação do programa federal em sua rede de ensino, conseguindo, assim, coordenar o programa. De 2011 a 2014, a adesão das unidades escolares ao programa foi marcada por diferenças inter-regionais, sobretudo de 2011 a 2013. Como principais conclusões, a pesquisa mostra que o Município de São Paulo construiu um arranjo de implementação colegiado junto ao MEC por ter criado uma série de incentivos institucionais para a implementação do programa federal em sua rede de ensino; e que a atuação empreendedora de parte da BME explica, pelo menos em parte, as diferenças inter-regionais em um contexto de pouca coordenação por parte da SME / This dissertation analyzes municipal autonomy in the implementation of federal programs. It was based on the theory of intergovernmental relations in Brazil and the implementation of public policies to analyze the implementation of More Education/Ministry of Education (MEC) in the city of São Paulo, considering the period from 2011 to 2016. To carry out the analysis, an analytical framework that considers topdown and bottom-up elements of public policy implementation theories. The design of the federal policy and the design of the municipal policy, including its institutional incentives, interorganizational relations and the middle-level bureaucracy (MLB) were considered. The research method was the single case study, operationalized empirically through documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews. The design of the federal program, the implementation of the municipal programs of expansion of the teaching day and the characteristics of the More Education/MEC in the education network were analyzed. We verified that the municipal programs influenced the implementation of the federal policy by bringing a series of institutional incentives to this program. In addition, we found that the municipality took about 3 years to build other institutional incentives for the implementation of the federal program in its educational network, thus managing to coordinate the program. From 2011 to 2014, school units membership of the program was marked by interregional differences, especially from 2011 to 2013. As a key finding, the survey shows that the Municipality of São Paulo has built a collegial implementation arrangement with the MEC for having created A series of institutional incentives for the implementation of the federal program in its educational network; and that entrepreneurial activity on the part of BME explains, at least in part, the interregional differences in a context of little coordination by the SME

O Judiciário sofre crise cujas causas são normalmente atribuídas à falta de infra-estrutura e incapacidade administrativa. Na realidade, a insatisfação decorre da redefinição das funções do Direito, somada à modificação das noções de tempo e espaço do mundo moderno. O câmbio do quadro em que o mundo jurídico opera demanda a revisão dos parâmetros de atuação da Justiça, para atendimento das expectativas de um mundo globalizado, de velocidade acelerada. Iniciamos o estudo do Judiciário nos modelos do estado liberal e do estado do bem-estar social. Em seguida, colocamos as novas demandas jurídicas e sociais que desafiam o funcionamento da Justiça. Há nova configuração normativa, aberta e fluída, com menor precisão na definição de condutas e aceleração da produção de normas. O próprio tempo social experimentou mutação, alimentado pelo movimento da especialização do conhecimento, que adota a urgência como normalidade operacional. Ainda, a diminuição das fronteiras potencializa os contatos humanos, e exige nova forma de regulação, incompatível com a forma tradicional de trabalho do Judiciário. Estruturado como órgão burocrático, o Judiciário não tem condições de ofertar respostas rápidas, fechando-se em um sistema de castas que não se comunicam, e uma estruturação administrativa centralizada e hierarquizada, que tende ao imobilismo. A solução dos problemas do Judiciário passa, por um lado, pelo incremento da profissionalização da magistratura, em seu caráter político, em especial a valorização do espaço de decisão num ambiente de trabalho independente. Por outro lado, passa pela flexibilização da sua administração burocrática, através da racionalização de seus serviços. Somente assim se alcançará a operacionalidade aberta e transparente, que atenda os padrões de qualidade e urgência da sociedade moderna sem prejuízo do viés reflexivo necessário para a produção das decisões judiciais. / The judicial system is currently in a state of crisis. Structural and administration problems are generally given as the causes. The dissatisfaction with its working is, in fact, caused by new configurations of Law in modern society. This change requires revision of Judiciary patterns of work in order to solve the rise of changes and to answer the expectations of a globalized world, which increasingly operates at an accelerated pace. Our work introduces the Judiciary in context of the Liberal and Welfare State. We describe the changes in the nature of Law, now less prescriptive and inspired by principles. We also focus on changes in society, firstly the adoption of urgency within the pattern of work, and, secondly, the diminishing effect of globalization on the world. This new conception of law and society demands new ways of operation, incompatible to the traditional judicial way of work. Currently, the Judiciary has no strength with which to answer those changes. It is structured as a bureaucratic organ, and it is divided in to departments which do not communicate with each other. It also has a centralized and hierarchical administration, tending to paralysis. These problems could be solved by politic valorization of the judicial profession, which would grant greater scope for the judge to decide. Furthermore, administrative flexibility would help to reduce the bureaucratic nature of the Judiciary. In this way, the Judiciary could achieve open and transparent patterns of work, capable of answering the demands for quality and urgency in our modern society.

A importância do rio Paraíba do Sul em escala local, regional e nacional mostra-se por diversos indicadores, sendo um exemplo o percentual do Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) nacional que circula na bacia, cerca de 12%. Neste contexto, o Comitê de Integração da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Paraíba do Sul (CEIVAP) torna-se uma arena de extrema relevância para diversos setores de usuários dos recursos hídricos, na qual a participação institucionalizada materializa-se, em parte, pela inserção de atores com perfil muito específico, possuidores de recursos pessoais e institucionais, além de grande capacidade de articulação (relacional), necessários, para legitimamente, defender os interesses destes setores. Assim, o CEIVAP, como um espaço participativo e deliberativo, torna-se lugar de atuação dos chamados burocratas de médio escalão (BMEs), públicos e privados, que, através das suas características e dinâmicas relacionais, permeiam a estrutura organizacional do Comitê e do próprio arranjo institucional da Política Nacional de Recursos Hídricos. Desta maneira, o papel desempenhado por esta categoria de ator mostra-se de grande importância, tanto no entendimento da gestão desenvolvida no CEIVAP, assim como, também, do próprio processo de implementação da PNRH. Logo, neste intento, o objetivo do estudo foi de analisar os BMEs a partir da perspectiva teórica relacional da burocracia, verificando sua importância enquanto ator no CEIVAP, mais especificamente na gestão 2013-2017. Para tanto, a tese delineada como um estudo de caso fez uso de métodos característicos das Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, conjugadas a um conjunto de métodos analíticos das diversas atividades dos BMEs. Destarte, verificou-se que ação dos BMEs é influenciada por legados históricos, que lhes conferem poderes de atuação na arena. Além disto, estes atores possuem uma conduta de atuação, norteada por valores e fatores relacionados à arena, e também opções individuais, apresentando, assim, atitudes para com as diversas situações e questões presentes na gestão. A partir disto, elementos institucionais do CEIVAP, combinados à atuação dos BMEs, estabelecem uma dinâmica muito particular ao espaço deliberativo, a qual, por sua vez, exprime-se nas deliberações e na forma como estas são realizadas. Sendo assim, verificou-se e confirmou-se a hipótese da tese quanto à importância desta classe de ator no CEIVAP, o qual, a partir de perfis característicos e uma atuação marcada pela articulação e a utilização de poderes (institucionais original/situacional, posicionais e econômicos), assume um determinado protagonismo, tornando-se uma espécie de referencial na arena. Portanto, comprovando a importância desta classe de ator, a partir da análise no período analisado. / The importance of the Paraíba do Sul river locally, regionally, and nationally is shown by many indicators; one of these examples is the percentage of the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) circulating in the river basin, around 12%. Within this context, the Watershed Committee of the Paraíba do Sul River (CEIVAP) is set as an arena of extreme significance for many sectors of water resources users, in which the institutionalized participation is materialized partly by the insertion of actors with a very specific profile, who possess personal and institutional resources, besides great articulation (relational) capacity, which are necessary to legitimately defend theses sectors interests. Thus, CEIVAP, as a participative and deliberative area, is the place of acting for the so-called mid-level bureaucrats (MLBs), public and private ones, who, through their characteristics and relational dynamics, permeate the organization structure of the Committee and of the institutional arrangement of the National Water Resources Policy (PNRH) itself. Therefore, the role played by this actor category is of great significance, both to understand the administration developed in the CEIVAP and to comprehend the process of implementation of the PNRH itself. Thus, with this intention, the studys aim was o analyze MLBs based on the theoretical relational perspective on bureaucracy, verifying their importance as actors at CEIVAP, more specifically in the 2013-2017 administration. For that end, the thesis outlined as a case study used methodologies from Applied Social Sciences, along with a set of analytical methods for the many MLB activities. Therefore, it was verified that MLBs action is influenced by historical legacies, which confer them acting powers on the arena. Besides, these actors posses an acting conduct, guided by values and factors related to the arena, as well as individual options, presenting, thus, attitudes in relation to the various situations and issues present in the administration. Based on that, institutional elements of CEIVAP, combined to the work of MLBs, stablish a very particular dynamics to the deliberative space, which, in its turn, is expressed in deliberations and in the way they are carried out. Given that, the thesis was verified and confirmed regarding the importance of this actor at CEIVAP, who, based on characteristic profiles and on a action characterized by the articulation and use of powers (original/situational institutional, positional, and economic ones), take on a certain leading role, becoming a reference in the arena; thus, confirming the significance of this actor class, based on the analysis of the studied period.