The 1944 German Ardennes offensive failed. It was overly ambitious, built on erroneous assumptions, insufficiently supported by logistics, and depended on the weather for success. Yet, the offensive achieved more than it should have given the strength and combat experience of the Allied armies in Europe. Previous attempts to explain the limited success of the German offensive have emphasized the failure of Allied strategic intelligence - Ultra. Intelligence is an accurate, but incomplete explanation for initial German success in the Ardennes. Three conditions allowed the Wehrmacht, approaching its manpower and logistical end, to crush the US First Army. First, coalition warfare so weakened the First Army that it became vulnerable to attack. Second, the Allies failed to develop a unified intelligence network capable of assessing the information that indicated the timing and target of the German attack. Finally, a well-executed German security and deception plan surprised the Allies. The well-executed German offensive manipulated both Allied intelligence and the Anglo-American coalition.

Klimatförändringar innebär att Sverige i allt större utsträckning utsätts för problematik relaterat till havsnivåhöjningar, erosion, ras och skred, vilket kommer bli mer påtagliga i framtiden. Det finns alltså ett behov av att klimatanpassa svenska samhällen och det finns växande förväntningar att den fysiska planeringen ska kunna hantera och främja strategiskt nytänkande i klimatanpassningsfrågor. Idag finns flera metoder och strategier för hur klimatanpassning kan ta form, men det är främst så kallade hårda åtgärder, såsom vallar och murar, som verkställs i praktiken. Vad händer om en vall brister eller feldimensioneras? För att lösa denna problematik krävs nya tankesätt och typer av klimatanpassningsmetoder, såsom planerad reträtt, vilket krasst innebär att delar av samhället förflyttas bort från riskutsatta områden. Men planerad reträtt är nästan helt outforskat i en svensk kontext. Till följd av praktisk frånvaro råder förvirring kring metoden, vilket begränsar dess relevans och bidrar till det inte övervägs som en legitim klimatanpassningsmetod. Det finns alltså en deskripans mellan den svenska klimatanpassningsplaneringen och målsättningar om långsiktig resiliens. Därför finns det ett behov av att undersöka hur svensk planerings- och klimatanpassningspolicy förhåller sig till planerad reträtt och hur det kan bli en aktuell klimatanpassningsmetod. Denna uppsats ämnar att undersöka vilka förutsättningar som finns och behöver finnas för att planerad reträtt ska vara en aktuell klimatanpassningsstrategi i en svensk kontext, samt bredda kunskapen för beslutsfattande om förhållningssätt och ställningstagande i det fortsatta klimatanpassningsarbetet. Genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av intervjuer och dokument används Advocacy Coalition Framework för att analysera och kartlägga policyläget för planerad reträtt i en svensk kontext. Resultatet visar att en version av planerad reträtt redan bedrivs idag, men att det finns ett behov av formellt ansvarstagande och institutionsövergripande samarbete för att planerad reträtt ska bli en aktuell strategisk klimatanpassningsmetod i Sverige.

This thesis seeks to analyse small parties within the Czech party system with the focus on the period of 1996 - 2010. The Attention is paid to those small parties that succeeded in the elections to the Chamber of Deputies. A theoretical framework of the small parties is presented in the first chapter. It is also necessary to outline a development of the small parties before the examined era (i.e. 1989-1996). There is a need to ask whether the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia could be seen as a small party or not. The main part of the work concentrates on years following the election in 1996 till last one in 2010 because it is recognised that circa since that time the Czech party system has begun to stabilise. It is structured in a chronological order from one election to another. Here 3 aspects that are related to the activities of the small parties, according to the author are studied: 1. results of the parties in elections to the Chamber of Deputies. 2. parties' influence at the time of creating a national government. 3. a position of the parties within a defined election period. In the last chapter the author placed results of one part of his research that was based on interviewing mainly former small parties MPs. The second part (inquiry via e-mail correspondence) is offered in the appendix.

Title: An overview of selected social procedures Author: Eva Schlosáriková Department: Department of Political Science Supervisor: RNDr. Ondrej Majer, CSc. This thesis first defines social procedures. These are studied and analyzed by social soft- ware, an emerging interdisciplinary field. This thesis will focus on a prominent social procedure, the coalition bargaining and coalition formation. Basic definition and overview of the coalition theory are introduced. Last chapter will concentrate on Bram's model of the coalition formation and his definition of the stable coalition. Other models of the coalition bargaining are briefly introduced and compared to the Bram's model. Keywords: coalition bargaining, coalition formation, stability of coalition 1

This diploma thesis "Application of the theory of the process of forming coalitions of regional councils in the Czech Republic after the elections in 2008 and 2012" discusses the process of establishing regional coalitions in the region of the South Moravian and the Central Bohemia. The aim is to answer the question of what form of the regional coalitions formed during the regional elections. Furthermore, I was describe how did the process of establishing regional coalitions and what were the key factors, that decide the outcome of negotiations. For these reasons, this thesis analyzed the official declaration of election programs, performances by regional politicians in political or public debate. The intention of this thesis is through the use of a theoretical framework and analysis of documents, describe in detail the development process, which was formed coalition and identify possible strategies of individual actors. The paper used discourse analysis. Keywords coalition, county, election, negotiation, council, political party

Smokefree policies (SFPs) have diffused throughout the US and worldwide. However, the development of SFPs in the difficult policy environment of tobacco-producing states and economies worldwide has not been well-explored. In 2007, Tennessee, the third largest tobacco producer in the US, enacted the Non-Smoker Protection Act (NSPA). This study utilizes the multiple streams model to provide understanding of why and how this policy was developed by triangulating interviews with key stakeholders and legislative debates with archival documents. In June 2006, the Governor unexpectedly announced support for SFP, which created a window of opportunity for policy change. The Campaign for Healthy and Responsible Tennessee, a health coalition, seized this opportunity and worked with the administration and the Tennessee Restaurant Association to negotiate a comprehensive SFP, however, a weaker bill was used by the legislative leadership to develop the NSPA. Although the Governor and the Tennessee Restaurant Association's support generated an environment for 100 % SFP, health groups did not fully capitalize on this environmental change and settled for a weak policy with several exemptions. This study suggests the importance for proponents of policy change to understand changes in their environment and be willing and able to capitalize on these changes.

Since the introduction of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) as a public policy framework in the 1980s, much ACF literature has tried to develop policy-process theories by demonstrating how policy-network approaches can be combined with policy-process theories and by reviewing how group dynamics can influence policy outcomes. However, the limitations of previous ACF literature demand the need for this study to develop some conceptual steps for moving beyond the previous ACF approaches to produce better policy-process theories. This study focuses on three issues: (1) unit of analysis, (2) collective action in developing policy-process theories, and (3) the role of macro-level factors in applying policy-process theories to various cultural configurations.

Bibliography: pages 180-190. / The purpose of this paper is to survey the literature of consociational theory, assess its validity as a conceptual model, and to analyse both its relevance and utility as a potential framework of conflict regulation in South Africa. The paper is divided into five chapters: an overview of consociational theory as it is presented by its leading exponents; a critique of the theory's methodology and major suppositions; a modified model of consociational democracy in light of the theoretical criticisms; an application and evaluation of the modified model to South Africa; and, finally, some observations about consociational democracy's possible viability as a transitory mechanism between the present system and black majority-rule in a unitary system. The objective is to illustrate that consociational government is, normatively, an inadequate constitutional system for South Africa and, more broadly, for polities characterised by extreme ethnic or economic conflict.

Police supervisors who enjoy membership in their subordinates' police union may contribute to organizational discord by failing to enforce organizational policy among their subordinates. The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine the perceptions of 9 municipal chiefs from a west coast state in the United States regarding how supervisors' membership in their subordinates' police union affects policy enforcement and how supervisor enforcement of policy may impact police officer discipline. The conceptual framework was based on dual-commitment conflict theory. Data were collected using semi structured interviews and e-mail questionnaires. Data were member checked and cross-interpreted through coded analysis. Findings indicated that supervisors' membership in their subordinates' police union affected disciplinary outcomes. Participants' recommendations to address dual-commitment conflict included removal of supervisors from their subordinates' union, removal of supervisors' investigative duties, and outsourcing of critical investigations involving subordinates. The implications for social change can be observed in increased organizational transparency and police accountability, which may assist in enhancing police-community relationships.

This dissertation focused on citizen advocacy groups as an intervention strategy for affecting change in the policy process. The analysis is of a specific intervention in school desegregation policy by a citizen advocacy group. The purpose of this research was to identify the conditions under which a citizen advocacy group can intervene; the constraints to a successful intervention; and the attributes of a successful intervention. The case study was of the Community Coalition for School Integration, a citizen advocacy group which existed in Portland, Oregon between 1977 and 1980. A multi-method approach was used. It involved fifty interviews with members of the Coalition, school administration, school board and the media. In addition, historical and document analysis of secondary data and extensive literature review was done. The theoretical framework guiding this research was Iannaccone's dissatisfaction theory of governance, DIS/ID/STO/OS. DIS is evidence of community changed dissatisfaction reflected in voting behavior leading next to incumbent school board member defeat (ID) followed within two years by involuntary superintendent turnover (STO) and outside succession (OS). Rothman's (1968) models of community organization practice were used to analyze the intervention of the Coalition. The findings do confirm the DIS/ID/STO/OS theory of governance, but also suggest that community intervention is an intervening variable between the stage of dissatisfaction and incumbent defeat. The analysis of the intervention identifies six conditions necessary for community intervention: timeliness of the issue, financial resources, leadership, organizational support, staff, and media coverage. The major constraints were the lack of trust between the policy-making body and the citizen advocacy groups, and the political environment of the community. Attributes of successful intervention were: focused advocacy, multiple intervention strategies, and permanency of the organization. The impact of the citizen advocacy group's intervention is discussed, as are recommendations for future research.