This paper aims to study the correlation between the proportion of young people and climate policymaking on a local governmental level. This is measured by how the proportion of population under 18 in municipalities affectthe amount of carbon dioxide emission reducing actions and the budgeting towards institutions of environmental health, measured as a proportion to the yearly municipal budget, in respective municipality. To help unpack the results, two theoretical frameworks are used. First, Punctuated Equilibrium theory and second, the Advocacy coalition framework. The punctuation used for this paper is derived from Greta Thunberg’s school strikes for climate, and the paper uses people under 18 as a hypothesised weaker coalition trying to affect local decision makers to reach a climate policy equilibrium, in this paper, passively. The results show no such statistically significant correlation, just a couple of weak negative regression coefficients. This means that there is no support for the hypothesised relationship between the studied variables. However, this study found that the average level of formal education in the observed municipalities had a significant impact on the emission reduction actions in a positive way and budgeting in a negative way.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第19528号 / 理博第4188号 / 新制||理||1601(附属図書館) / 32564 / 京都大学大学院理学研究科生物科学専攻 / (主査)教授 中川 尚史, 教授 中務 真人, 教授 曽田 貞滋 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Many multiagent systems are environments where distinct decision-makers compete, explicitly or implicitly, for scarce resources. In these competitive environments, itcan be advantageous for agents to cooperate and form teams, or coalitions; this cooperation gives agents strategic advantage to compete for scarce resources. Multiagent systems thus can be characterized in terms of competition and cooperation. To evaluate the effectiveness of cooperation for particular coalitions, we derive measures based on comparing these different coalitions at their respective equilibria. However, relying on equilibrium results leads to the interesting question of stability. Control theory and cooperative game theory have limitations that make it hard to apply them to study our questions about stabililty and evaluate cooperation in competitive environments. In this thesis we will lay a foundation towards a theory of coalition stability and robustness for multiagent systems. We then apply this condition to form a methodology toevaluate cooperation for market structure analysis.

Embodied agents are agents acting in the physical world, such as persons, robots, unmanned air or ground vehicles and so on. These types of agents are subject to spatio-temporal constraints, which do not exist for agents acting in a virtual environment. The movement of embodied agents is limited by obstacles and maximum velocity, while their communication is limited by the transmission range of their wireless devices. This dissertation presents contributions to the techniques of coalition formation and teamwork coordination for embodied agents. We considered embodied agents in three different settings, each of them representative of a class of practical applications. First, we study coalition formation in the one dimensional world of vehicles driving on a highway. We assume that vehicles can communicate over short distances and carry agents which can advise the driver on convoy formation decisions. We introduce techniques which allow vehicles to influence the speed of the convoys, and show that this yields convoys which have a higher utility for the participating vehicles. Second, we address the problem of coalition formation in the two dimensional world. The application we consider is a disaster response scenario. The agents are forming coalitions through a multi-issue negotiation with spatio-temporal components where the coalitions maintain a set of commitments towards participating agents. Finally, we discuss a scenario where embodied agents form coalitions to optimally address dynamic, non-deterministic, spatio-temporal tasks. The application we consider is firefighters acting in a disaster struck city.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In 1922, George Tompkins was found dead in an isolated area of Riverside Park. Though the media and evidence present pointed to Tompkins having been the victim of a lynching, the official ruling was that of suicide. Almost a century later, a multiracial, driven group of individuals set out to memorialize Tompkins as a victim of lynching and challenge the ruling that he had taken his own life. In discussing deaths such as George Tompkins’, it is vital to remind oneself that the victims of lynchings were more than just statistics in the ongoing epidemic of anti-Black violence that has permeated the history of the United States. By employing a victim-centered methodology, we can examine the lives of these victims before the worst happened to them and recognize the three-dimensionality of their lived experiences. This work examines the lived experience, lynching death, and memorialization process one hundred years later of George Tompkins. In understanding the means by which he lived, died, and was remembered, we can better understand the ways that this process can play a role in multiple contemporary communities.

<p dir="ltr">New technologies are often developed to address pressing social problems such as climate change and world hunger, and social movements are often strong backers of these technological solutions. Yet political conflict can occur when those threatened by the new technology seek government action to block or delay its adoption. I analyze forces behind the development of such technologies and factors affecting the outcomes of ensuing political conflicts through an in-depth study of alternative or “alt-proteins,” plant-based and cell-cultured alternatives to traditional meat and dairy products. Developed to address the environmental and animal welfare problems of animal agriculture, alt-proteins have generated political conflict as livestock and dairy interests have sought regulations to limit producers’ ability to market alt-proteins as substitutes for meat and dairy products. </p><p dir="ltr">My research uncovers a network of organizations founded by animal welfare interest groups and activists that provide direct and coordinated support for alt-protein technology development and industry growth. Besides government lobbying, activities include founding and financing start-ups, supporting basic research, and providing various business supports to the industry. Early successes by some alt-protein companies have led dairy and livestock farmers to lobby the U.S. and state governments for protectionist labeling policies. While one might expect other businesses involved in the production and distribution of meat and dairy products to join in these efforts, I found this was often not the case. To explain this finding, I propose that the formation of a strong coalition to seek government support in opposing a new technology depends not only on businesses’ reliance on the old technology, but also on the cost to the businesses of diversifying into the new technology and on the speed with which the new technology is displacing the old. My research also shows how a social movement’s embrace of technological solutions to problems may fundamentally alter its strategies and coalition partners in both political and market spheres. In their quest to attract investment capital, organizations founded by animal welfare groups worked with large food companies to invest in alt-proteins but alienated some in other social movements. The latter fear that expensive technologies will further control of the food system by large corporations, illustrating the potential divisiveness of technological solutions to problems. I assess the effects of coalition building on outcomes of policy conflicts over alt-proteins and consider the applicability of this case to other situations.</p>

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As frequently as it occurs before elections that politicians give a united image of their potential coalition, previous studies have manly focused on explaining why coalitions of parties come to existence in the first place. However, previous scholars have not studied whether the demonstration of unity within a political bloc before an election affects the voters. The purpose of this study is to examine this aspect of politics through the following hypotheses:  H0: The demonstration of unity within a bloc before an election has no influence on how voters vote. H1: The demonstration of unity within a bloc before an election increases voters' willingness to vote for the most united bloc. The hypotheses were examined through quasi-experimental design and the study was conducted on university students. The result indicates that the demonstration of unity in a political bloc before an election has no significant effect on voting behavior, thus confirming the H0. However, further studies are suggested before confirming the result.

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