The main topic of the thesis is actors and their role in the policy change process in the transport policy of the Czech Republic. It is argued that current transport system is not sustainable and the main goal of every transport policy should be sustainable transport. There exist, however, many barriers in achieving more sustainable transport system. Institutional barriers including formal organisations as well as norms and rules and actors seem to be one of the most significant. These actors can influence and change policy. One of the theories explaining how actors can change policy is the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The ACF suggests that actors form their policy proposals and solutions according to their belief system and create advocacy coalitions in order to pursue their goals and interests. A policy changes when a dominant coalition has been replaced by so far minor coalition representing policy alternatives or when a dominant coalition members change their attitudes towards, or a perception of, a given policy problem (e.g. local transport). Therefore, the main aim of the thesis is to find out how selected actors perceive problems of the transport policy in the Czech Republic and to identify potential advocacy coalitions through analysis of their attitudes. One of the objectives is...

Although smart mobile devices have only come into prominence recently, they have quickly become a necessity in the modern world. In 2012, more than 450 million new smartphones are expected to be purchased around the world, exceeding, for the first time, purchases of laptops and desktop PCs combined in a single year. That, in addition to the increasing processing power and low cost of these emerging mobile devices, creates an increasing demand for mobile applications that work in infrastructure-supported environments like WiFi and cellular networks as well as infrastructure-less environments like ad hoc networks. Therefore, the behavior of mobile devices in such scenarios should be a continued focus of research. Several factors contribute to the observed behavior of nodes in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks MANETs. For example, nodes may act selfishly to preserve their limited energy resources. This selfishness may be detrimental to network performance. Therefore, cooperation between peers is necessary to keep these MANETs operational. Beside the need for actively encouraging cooperation by providing incentives, passive encouragement is also needed to overcome the effect of factors that limit cooperation, including malicious behavior, environmental obstruction, and mobility. The contribution of this work is to provide a cooperation model in MANETs that is capable of surviving topology distortions caused by mobility, and is operable in practical distributed scenarios. Towards this goal, we first provide a study of the topology characteristics of MANETs based on real experiments. We study the node degree, link stability, and link symmetry of these networks, and, based on our observations, we suggest a two-state Markov model to model link state in such networks, demonstrating the superiority of this model over the widely-used disk model with mobility. We conclude from this study that both mobility and channel fluctuations have a significant influence on the network topology, which makes it important to study cooperation in scenarios where the topology is changing rapidly. Based on experimental observations of a real network, we propose a coalition game model for cooperation in MANETs that shows that stable, effective coalitions can be maintained, even in the face of a dynamic network topology. We provide an initial evaluation of the model using a centralized simulation approach. We use the notion of reachability to evaluate the proposed model, and we simulate the model under different speeds and node densities. Our simulations show that reachability can be sustained at stable levels despite the deterioration caused by mobility. In addition, we show that our cumulative coalition formation approach gives good results in terms of reachability level and computational complexity. We also show that our proposed model achieves a fair payoff distribution among participating nodes. Motivated by the promising results of our centralized simulation approach, we take a further step towards more practical evaluation. We integrate the cooperation model with an existing MANET routing protocol, OLSR, and evaluate it in this distributed environment. We modify and augment the OLSR messaging mechanism to enable the exchange of the coalition information required to keep the model operating. Beside ensuring that the reachability gain is still attained and the coalition structure is stable, we study the effect of the extra control traffic overhead incurred by the model. We compare deliverability over the network with and without the cooperation model. Although our results show that the cooperation model incurs an average overhead exceeding $100\%$ of that incurred by OLSR in high density scenarios, it shows better reliability in delivering traffic especially among selfish nodes in low and average density scenarios. Counter to what is commonly assumed in the literature, this study shows that cooperation can be be maintained in a distributed manner without causing significant traffic overhead to MANETs run by proactive routing protocols. Due to the simplicity, several extensions can be applied to enhance the performance of the proposed model and diversify its usage. We propose these extensions at the end of this dissertation. / Ph. D.

A coalition in a graph (Formula presented.) consists of two disjoint sets of vertices V 1 and V 2, neither of which is a dominating set but whose union (Formula presented.) is a dominating set. A coalition partition in a graph G of order (Formula presented.) is a vertex partition (Formula presented.) such that every set Vi of π either is a dominating set consisting of a single vertex of degree n–1, or is not a dominating set but forms a coalition with another set (Formula presented.) which is not a dominating set. In this paper we introduce this concept and study its properties.

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This project focuses on a comparative analysis of governing coalitions between conservative and far-right parties in recent years in Italy (1994) and Poland (2005). The aim is to show how the inclusion of the radical right in government coalitions in these countries reflects recent changes in Western and Eastern European party systems through the reformulation of the old and formation of new party cleavages. The focus in the recent literature on personality clashes of party leaders over the distribution of ministry portfolios does not explain the nature of the disagreement between these leaders about key issues of national politics. I argue that the mechanism of policy formulation between prospective coalitional partners can be traced at the level of party cleavages which pre-exist the negotiation process between party leaders. The political breakthrough of the far-right parties became possible because of the development of new issues related to the process of European integration and based on the longstanding confrontation between the left and right parties since the beginning of the Cold War. The disintegration of the previous party systems as a result of the collapse of the Communist regime in Poland and the First Republic in Italy in the post-Cold War era created a vacuum partly exploited by the previous anti-system far-right parties and the new emerging ones. At the same time, a clear tendency toward the cartelization of the programmatic supply was prominent on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum. I argue that the rise to prominence of center-right coalitions in the two countries led by Silvio Berlusconi and Jaroslav Kachinskiy respectively represents not only a new dimension in the development of the right wing in Europe but also constitutes a model of political realignment where new cleavages are gradually substituting for the old cleavages described in the Lipset-Rokkan model.

La thèse s’interroge sur l’articulation entre la plus-value foncière et l’infrastructure routière dans la fabrique urbaine à travers le cas de la ville de Tananarive. L’analyse est focalisée sur les effets des infrastructures dans la valorisation des terrains sis à proximité des nouvelles routes construites au début de l’année 2000 à Tananarive. En effet, dans un contexte de croissance urbaine et de faible disponibilité des terrains constructibles, la pression sur le gisement foncier autour des nouvelles routes qui traversent des rizières et des marais est accrue. Cependant, l’analyse de la transformation du gisement foncier révèle l’anticipation de réalisation des infrastructures routières. Il s’agit précisément de l’anticipation des plus-values foncières. Si les effets des infrastructures sur le prix immobilier et la valorisation foncière sont bien documentés, l’analyse des effets portant sur l’anticipation foncière est moins bien approfondie, notamment pour les villes en développement comme Tananarive. La thèse apporte des éléments de réponse à ces lacunes en croisant l’analyse la dynamique historique du lien entre infrastructure routière et rente foncière dans le développement de la ville de Tananarive et les instruments (PPP) ou les stratégies mobilisées par les acteurs urbains (publics, privés) autour des nouvelles routes. En effet, l’effet de valorisation foncière des nouvelles routes résultent de dynamiques historiques de l’évolution de la ville et des stratégies spatio-temporelles des acteurs urbains autour des infrastructures / This thesis deals with the question of articulation between infrastructure transport and land value in urban making. It examines the impact of road infrastructure on property value close new road infrastructure in Antananarivo (capital of Madagascar). In the context of land pressure because of the lack of land availability and growing urbanization, urban sprawl around the new road have been transforming hectares of marshes and lowlands used for rice-growing. But the conversion process of this land show the expectation of the road infrastructure impact on property value which have influenced urban making. Although the research of infrastructure impact on house’s price or land value is well documented and concentrated in the case of western cities, no more research study the case of developing cities and little attention has been given to the impact of expectation property and land values. By studying the land strategy of actors (public and private actors) through public policy instruments: the use of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) as tool for negotiation in urban making and infrastructure project and the developing of town planning documents nearby new road infrastructure area, this work point out how do actors negotiates public policy instruments to create property and land values and expect it? But this impact is part of the historical dynamic of the city’s development. In fact, we suppose that the effect of road infrastructure on land value depends on the historical context of urban sprawl by road and on land strategy of anticipation of actors by public policy instrumentation. Keywords: Land Value, Private-Public Partnership, Coalition, Road Infrastructure, Urban Sprawl, Anticipatio

Studien avser att förklara riksdagspartiernas inställning mot Natomedlemskap över tid. Därför utförs en policyanalys inom ramen för ''The Advocacy Coalition Framework'’. Detta genomförs genom att kategorisera riksdagspartierna till relevanta advocacy coalitions utifrån deras beliefs. Studien använder sig av utrikespolitiska debatter för att avgöra respektive riksdagspartis beliefs. Genom att undersöka riksdagspartiernas normative och empirical policy core beliefs över tid kan studien finna likheter och skillnader mellan advocacy coalitions. Vad studien kommer fram till är hur riksdagspartierna tar en annan ställning inom säkerhetspolitiken och hur gemensamma beliefs kan förekomma mellan advocacy coalitions. Med åren går det även att se hur riksdagspartier börjar värna mer om militära medel för svensk säkerhet. Studien erbjuder också ett teoretiskt intressant inlägg genom att lyfta upp hur empirical policy core beliefs binder också advocacy coalitions varifrån tidigare forskning visar hur oftast normative policy core beliefs avgör strukturen i advocacy coalitions. Riksdagspartiers ställningstagande antingen för Natomedlemskap eller mot Natomedlemskap blev relevant för vilken advocacy coalition riksdagspartierna blev kategoriserade inom.

Magister Legum - LLM (Public Law and Jurisprudence) / In any democratic society, elections are a significant mechanism for citizens to communicate with their representatives. As a result, elections provide a window of opportunity to every voter to hire or fire any political party or independent representative. As an aggregated measure of popular preference, elections constitute an important means to affirm that people in any society should be free to choose their own government based on the parties political beliefs and policies that appeal to the needs of the electorates. Powell sums up this perspective in two points; first, the voter must be able to identify the prospective future governors and have some idea of what they will do if elected. Secondly, the outcome of the elections should bring into office a coherent government whose inherent powers are clearly defined and limited. However, elections sometimes do not produce a single party with an absolute majority to form a government. In such an instance, a coalition or minority government becomes inevitable. It has been argued that coalitions are formed for two different yet interrelated reasons; first to pursue common goals among coalition partners. Secondly, to enable the coalition partners to share the benefits related with being in power. No matter what the intentions are for forming a coalition by the political parties, coalition governments are bound to encounter challenges. One of the challenges is the need to consult and reach consensus among coalition partners, which may not only result in government decision-making being slower but also more complex. Secondly, conflicts within a ruling coalition can make a government unstable and weak due to conflicting ideologies.

L’enjeu de cette recherche est celui de voir dans quelle mesure l’action culturelle s’intègre au processus de métropolisation, dans le sens d’un renforcement du poids des métropoles en tant qu’acteurs politiques de la mondialisation. Ainsi, il sera question de voir comment la culture prend part aux stratégies métropolitaines dans le contexte de mondialisation faisant peser différents impératifs à l’action publique (visibilité de l’action publique, cohésion des territoires urbains, transparence de l’action publique, intégration au système d’échange international entre métropoles…). Ainsi, essentiellement via la démarche de projet, nous pouvons parler d’une intégration de l’action culturelle métropolitaine dans le système de contraintes de la métropolisation, guidant partiellement les principes de l’action culturelle et ce qui en est attendu. Cela se traduit essentiellement à travers un processus d’hétéronomisation de l’action culturelle, sous la forme d’une intégration progressive de la culture dans une stratégie métropolitaine, achevant les processus d’instrumentalisation qui ont pu exister à partir des années 80 au profit du développement économique ou du développement social. Cette situation se traduit par ailleurs par l’évolution du jeu des acteurs de la politique culturelle métropolitaine. Il est en conséquence possible de parler d’une pluralisation de l’action culturelle. Suivant chaque contexte, cette pluralisation prend plus ou moins d’ampleur et s’effectue dans des directions différentes, requérant ainsi une forte prise en compte des logiques d’encastrement socioterritorial. In fine, cela met en exergue la constitution d’un nouveau modèle d’action publique culturelle pour les métropoles dont l’influence ne se décèle plus, comme c’était le cas des villes, dans la politique culturelle sectorisée d’inspiration d’un ministère de la culture étatique, mais dans l’action transversale et territorialisée de l’Union européenne. Dans une démarche comparative, nous nous appuyons sur l’étude de projets directement culturels ou ayant des répercussions sur ce secteur de l’action publique dans quatre villes européennes : Barcelone, Bordeaux, Strasbourg et Stuttgart. / The issue of this research is the one to analyze to what extent the cultural action is integrated to the metropolization process, in the sense of a reinforcement of the weight of Metropolis as political stakeholder of globalization. Thus, we will discuss the way culture takes part in the metropolitan strategies in a globalized context, having for consequence to weight on the different imperatives of public action (visibility for public policy, cohesion of urban territories, transparency of public policy, integration to the international exchange system of metropolises,…) Therefore, essentially through the set-up of project, we can evoke the integration of the metropolitan cultural action in a system of constraint due to globalization; system, which partially induces the principles of cultural action and what could be expected of it. This is mainly translated by a process of heteronomization of cultural action, by a progressive integration of cultural policy into the metropolitan strategies, completing the process of instrumentalization initiated in the 80’s in favor of economic and social development. This situation is also translated by an evolution of the strategies of actors, of the metropolitan cultural policy. As a consequence we can possibly talk about pluralization of the cultural action. According to each context, this pluralization is more or profound and is heading towards different directions, calling for an important consideration for socio-territorial embodiment logics. Finally, this stresses on the constitution of a new model of cultural public policy for metropolises whom influences is no more, as it was the case for cities, in a sector-based cultural policy inspired by the state-driven action of a ministry for culture, but is now anchored in the cross-sector and territorialized action of the European Union. In a comparative perspective, we are relying on the study of projects intrinsically cultural or impacting on this sector of public action in four european cities : Barcelona, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Stuttgart.

This thesis discusses the basics of software agents and the way they form the multiagent coalitions. Genetic algorithms are introduced as one of the methods of solving the coalition formation problem. MAPC 2018 competition is introduced, which inspired the final design and implementation of the solution by using the tools described. A demo project was created, in which agents communicate with the MASSim server and gather data which is then used as an input into the genetic algorithm. Its purpose is to assign the agents to the tasks based on the input data, so that the tasks can be accomplished in the most effective manner possible. The results of this algorithm are evaluated in experiments which are focused on the quality of the solutions found as well as the time required for the calculation.