Yes / Research ethics review by ethics committees has grown in importance since the end of the Nuremberg trials in 1949. However, ethics committees have come under increasing criticisms either for been ‘toothless or too fierce’ (Fistein & Quilligan, 2012:224). This paper presents a personal account of my experience in obtaining ethical approval for my PhD study from a UK university and the ethical dilemmas encountered in the fieldwork in Ghana. In this paper I question whether strict adherence to ethical guidelines developed from western perspectives is useful in conducting research in non-western societies. As more academics are increasingly been mandated to undertake international research, the paper argues for more flexibility in the ethical approval process to accommodate cultural differences.

Yes / This paper, using data from 100 UK listed firms, investigates the relationship between audit committee characteristics and intellectual capital (IC) disclosure. We find that overall IC disclosure is positively associated with audit committee characteristics such as the size and frequency of meetings, and negatively associated with audit committee directors’ shareholding. We find no significant relationship between IC disclosure and audit committee independence and financial expertise. We also observe that the association between audit committee characteristics and IC disclosure varies with the IC components (i.e. human capital, structural capital and relational capital), suggesting that the underlying factors that drive various components of IC disclosure are different. These results have important implications for policy-makers in that they confirm that the effectiveness of audit committees in the corporate reporting processes is a function of certain characteristics.

Yes / Following the recent financial crisis, Walker (2009) recommended that financial institutions should form a separate board level risk committee (RC) to manage various risks and prevent excessive risk taking. This research focuses on investigating how firms with separate risk committees differ from those that do not have one. The main research question we address is whether RCs have a fundamental influence on financial performance. We measure financial performance by ROA and ROE and we control for firm size, liquidity and gearing. Our sample consists of all listed financial institutions in FTSE-100 index from 2010 through 2014. Results indicate a negative relationship between risk committee characteristics (i.e., existence, size, independence, and meeting frequency) and financial performance. The results also indicate that firms without risk committee (RC) performed considerably well than firms with RC. The results are contradictory to Walker’s (2009) where RCs are recommended for their ability to mitigate and manage risks more expertly. However, we argue that establish strong RC constrain management ability to make excessive risk taking behaviour which may affect financial performance negatively. We contribute to the current research on the impact of risk committee governance attributes on financial performance after banking and governance reforms.

Women’s rights to safe abortion have become recognized as a human rights imperative, and within the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW), States are obligated to ensure access to abortion. Despite this, abortion laws vary around the world. This suggests that norms of liberalized abortion laws stick better in some contexts than others. This study analyzes and compares norms related to abortion of the Philippines and the Republic of Ireland, in relation to the CEDAW Committee, through the lens of norm translation. The purpose is to explore to what extent the theoretical framework of norm translation can be used to understand how the government in the Philippines and respectively, Ireland, interact with human rights norms of liberalized abortion laws in the context of CEDAW, and if these interactions have produced legislative change. The study uses a qualitative content analysis to examine reports submitted as part of CEDAW’s monitoring procedure. The study concludes that the CEDAW Committees’ ideas on abortion coincide with those supported bythe State Party of the Philippines and Ireland, to some extent; norm translation can describe this to a great extent; norm translation can help us understand how the State Parties’ produce norm consistent measures and policies to a great extent; norm translation cannot describe why humanrights norms of liberalized abortion laws appear to have stuck better in Ireland than in the Philippines.

Title: Lobbying in the Swedish parliament - a qualitative study about experiences and attitudes of lobbying among the members of the Swedish parliament, from a communication perspective. Author: Bodil Hassel and Kristofer Persson Tutor: Emma Svensson Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study lobbying towards members of the Swedish parliament. We aim to study their point of view: what experiences and attitudes they have towards the phenomenon. Key questions to be answered are: What experiences and attitudes do the members of the Swedish parliamentary Committee on Environment and Agriculture have towards lobbying? What skills does a successful lobbyist possess, according to the members of the committee? How do the organizations Skogsindustrierna and Naturskyddsföreningen lobby? Method/Material: The material used in this study consists of interviews with nine respondents of the Committee on Environment and Agriculture in the Swedish parliament. Additionally, two informant interviews with the organizations Skogsindustrierna and Naturskyddsföreningen were made. The questions for the interviews were based on a theoretical framework based on policies of lobbying. Main results: The main results demonstrate that all members of the Committee on Environment and Agriculture have a positive attitude towards lobbying. The results further show that a professional lobbyist of choice by the members of parliament is a three-stage rocket consisting of 1) proper preparation, 2) the right way to make contact, and 3) maintenance of the relation. Number of pages: 62 Course: Media and Communication studies C University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Period: Fall 2013

This essay contributes new knowledge on Sweden’s immigrant- and integration policy during the years 1974–1986 by researching the policy’s treatment of immigrants’ religion and that of their faith communities. This is achieved through an empirical analysis on how immigrants’ religion was understood, argued for and regulated during key points of policy evaluation, as well as how this was expressed in practice by relevant actors and measures. The analysis focusses on the official government investigations that respectively formulated and evaluated Sweden’s integration policy. It furthermore delves into how immigrant faith communities were institutionally represented and allocated state support by the two state-affiliated organizations associated with these tasks, namely the Swedish Free Church Council (SFR) and its Cooperation Committee for State Support to Faith Communities (SFRS/SST). The essay draws its inspiration and theoretical departure points from theories on secularism, bureaucratization and models of immigrant incorporation, which are operationalized using a ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ (WPR) methodology. The essay’s empirical findings indicate that religion was initially understood to have reduced cultural and societal significance than ethnicity and language. This understanding gradually changed over time and was amended when Swedish integration policy was evaluated during the 1980s. The empirical analysis furthermore shows that immigrant faith communities received reduced state support in relation to immigrant ethnic organizations, which resulted in administrative and representational dependency on SFR and SST. Following the policy’s evaluation during the 1980s, an initiative to increase state support for faith communities and improve their organizational independence was taken by the Swedish state but had not been implemented by 1986.

Sammanfattning Titel: Är revisions-och CSR-kommittéer komplement eller substitut hos företag som tillämpar extern granskning och GRI:s ramverk? Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi. Författare: Susanna Malmkjell och Carolin Olsson Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2023-januari  Syfte: Studien syftar till att undersöka om revisionskommitténs oberoende och expertis påverkar benägenheten att få hållbarhetsredovisningen externt granskad av en tredje part. Studien undersöker även om de två faktorerna påverkar benägenheten att redovisa enligt hållbarhetsstandarden GRI. Studien undersöker slutligen om förekomst av CSR-kommitté modererar dessa samband.  Metod: En kvantitativ studie med en tvärsnittsdesign där fyra hypoteser prövas. Urvalet består av 1954 företag från 71 länder under året 2021. Studien baseras på sekundära data inhämtad från databasen Refinitiv Eikon.  Resultat och slutsats: Utifrån studiens resultat har revisionskommitténs oberoende en positiv koppling till extern granskning, medan CSR-kommittén modererar sambandet mellan revisionskommitténs oberoende och företagets antagande av GRI:s ramverk.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar med empirisk forskning inom CSR. Då tidigare forskning visar motstridiga resultat utifrån olika teorier, fyller denna studie en del av det forskningsgap som råder kring studiens syfte.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Tillämpning av en longitudinell design samt studera om det finns skillnader mellan olika branscher och geografiska områden.  Nyckelord: CSR-rapportering, CSR-kommitté, revisionskommitté, GRI och extern granskning. / Abstract Title: Are audit and CSR committees complements or substitutes in companies that apply external audit and the GRI framework? Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration.  Author: Susanna Malmkjell and Carolin Olsson Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2023-January  Aim: The study aims to investigate whether the audit committee's independence and expertise affect the propensity to have the sustainability report externally reviewed by a third party. The study also examines whether the two factors affect the propensity to report according to the sustainability standard GRI. Finally, the study examines whether the existence of a CSR committee moderates these relationships.  Method: A quantitative study with a cross-sectional design where four hypotheses are tested. The sample consists of 1954 companies from 71 countries in the year 2021. The study is based on secondary data obtained from the Refinitiv Eikon database.  Results and conclusions: Based on the results of the study, audit committee independence has a positive association with external audit, while CSR committee moderates the relationship between audit committee independence and the firm's adoption of the GRI framework.  Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes empirical research within CSR. As previous research shows conflicting results based on different theories, this study fills part of the research gap that exists around the purpose of the study.  Suggestions for future research: Applying a longitudinal design and studying whether there are differences between different industries and geographical areas.  Key words: CSR reporting, CSR committee, audit committee, GRI and external review

Student Number : 9908223M - PhD thesis - School of Social Sciences - Faculty of Humanities / This thesis examines the status and role of parliamentary committees in democratic theory with a view to critically assessing the performance of one such committee, the South African version of the PAC, SCOPA. It advances a pluralist theory of popular sovereignty according to which there is no single institutional complex or site, which exclusively expresses the will of the people. The latter is the case in monist theories, which reduce democracy to its practice in a single site. Rousseau and Weber are critically examined in this connection. In the pluralist notion advanced in this thesis the popular will is expressed and realized in a plurality of institutional sites and modalities of exercise. On this perspective parliamentary committees perform a function vital to the constitution of popular sovereignty itself. They are indispensable to the formation by the people of an accurate perception by it of what the Executive is doing in its name. Their investigative work is thus constitutive of the formation of a democratic subject and will. Parliamentary committees are thus central to the satisfaction of the conditions of the deliberative dimension of democracy. On this definition, parliamentary committees must in addition themselves conform to the principles of deliberation in their own practice. This specifically deliberative conception of democracy is then further delineated by distinguishing it from the aggregation – majoritarian perspective and defending it against a variety of criticisms, including that of Chantal Mouffe. With this conceptual and normative framework in place, the British and American committee systems are examined in order to establish some reference points in terms of the institutional practice of parliamentary committees. The focus then shifts to the parliamentary committees of the South African Parliament. The constitutional and legal foundation for parliamentary committees (in the South African system) is examined with particular reference to SCOPA itself and the first five years of the new parliamentary committee system identified as a period during which several South African parliamentary committees, including SCOPA, effectively exercised their “oversight” function. Once the Government’s SDP entered the scene all things changed. This thesis examines the formation of the JIT, paying particular attention to the exclusion of the HSIU and the interventions of the Speaker, Hon Frene Ginwala. It identifies in close detail all the flaws in the SDP procurement process as well as the contradictions and lacunae in the final JIT Report itself. These are of such a magnitude as to render unreasonable any claim to the contrary and in endorsing the Report SCOPA thus clearly failed in its essential function. The notion of a threshold concept of reasonable adequacy is introduced as limiting the conditions under which committee decisions can legitimately be taken via majority voting. The argument is advanced that these were clearly not met in the case of the SCOPA decision under discussion. The implications of this “collapse” of SCOPA for South African democracy more broadly are then identified and discussed in terms of deliberative democratic theory.

功能性委員會－薪酬委員會之設置可被認為是強化公司治理的關鍵之一， 其主要功能是在於協助公司完成健全高階經理人之考核與薪酬管理制度，並讓 公司治理結構更加完善。薪酬委員會之設置已在歐美國家行之有年，而我國至 最近 2011 年才強制上市櫃及興櫃公司設置薪酬委員會，目的在於希望藉由薪 酬委員會之設置能有助於屏除公司經營團隊存有肥貓之疑慮。而距離實施已有 一年之時間，本研究主要在於探討現階段上市櫃公司薪酬委員會組成及品質與 代理問題之關聯性。實證結果發現：由公股主導之上市櫃公司，委員會委員擁 有學術背景之佔比愈高；專業經理人治理及盈餘分配比愈高之上市櫃公司，委 員會委員擁有企業界背景之佔比愈高；機構投資人持股比愈高之上市櫃公司， 委員會委員擁有學術及企業兩者經驗之佔比愈高；經理人持股愈高、機構投資 人持股比愈高之上市櫃公司，薪酬委員會品質愈佳；盈餘分配比愈高、有交叉 持股行為之上市櫃公司，其薪酬委員會品質愈差。 / The compensation committee plays an important role in enhancing cooperate governance. The purpose of the compensation committee is not only to administer and evaluate the company's compensation policies for the board of directors, but also to set appropriate and supportable pay programs for the CEO and other executive officers of the company. The existence of compensation committee is common in developed countries, but was just required in Taiwan since 2011. Therefore, this paper mainly focuses on the composition of compensation committee and its quality associated with agency problem. By using sample of 1,440 listed companies in Taiwan, the result shows that government-owned corporations tend to have a higher proportion of their compensation committee members from academic background; companies ruled by managers tend to have a higher proportion of their compensation committee members with business background; the higher the proportion of institutional investors in the company, the higher the proportion of the compensation committee members possess both academic and business experience. In addition, CEO’s shareholding and institutional investors’ shareholding are positively associated with the quality of the compensation committee. However, the cash flow right is negatively associated with the quality of the compensation committee; a company with cross-shareholding characteristic is also negatively associated with the quality of the compensation committee. Key

Title: Analysis of the bidding process of Prague for Summer Olympic Games 2016 Objectives: The aim of this thesis is the analysis of Prague's bid for Summer Olympic Games 2016, the following determination of main causes of his failure and than a suggestion of the future steps leading towards the future organisation of Olympic Games. Methods: We have used three managerial methods in this thesis. It was at first the system approach that identifies all stakeholders and their relations, which are all connected. This method permits to understand our subject as a complete system. After that SWOT analysis of the bid and the Fishbone diagram was used to identify main causes of the bid's failure. Results: Main six causes were identified that have caused the failure of the Prague's bid. These causes are more a kind of internal serious problems that show that Prague is not ready yet for organising Olympic Games. Following suggestions for future steps are reacting on these results. The aim of that is to make a long-term strategy to improve the environment and relations between the sport and state and prepare good conditions in the country for the next Olympic bid. Keywords: Olympic Games, bid, causes, sport, Prague, Czech Olympic Committee, International Olympic Committee