The ongoing transformation of the Russian society largely consists in changes in the institutional framework constraining actors' behavior in the emerging market economy. While we have a substantial knowledge about the functioning of a market economy we know very little about how to create such a system. The transition in Eastern Europe offers an opportunity to acquire new knowledge about the prerequisites for the establishment of a market economy. This thesis is based upon research performed in a project called "Institutions and the Emergence of Markets - Transition in the Russian Forest Sector" conducted between 1997 and 2001 at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. The purpose of the study was to identify institutional hurdles for the reformation of the Russian forest sector. The task was approached through a series of case studies of the institutional problems hampering developments in the forest sector of eight Russian regions. Data describing the behavior of forest enterprises was obtained through an interview survey among enterprise leaders in each one of the eight regions. The so-called Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework provided a common design for the eight case study reports comprising the first phase of the project. One such case study report is included in this thesis - the one dealing with institutional problems in the forest sector of the Arkhangelsk Oblast. Based on the previous eight case studies an integrating analysis was made with the purpose of identifying more general characteristics of the institutional framework embedding the Russian forest sector. The results of the analysis were reported in a journal article published in 2001. This article is also included in the thesis. In a third and final phase of the project, the results of the previous studies were disseminated through a series of policy exercises to forest stakeholders in four of the eight case study regions, the purpose being to see if a participatory policy formulation process could be established among regional forest stakeholders. The third paper included in this thesis reports on the results of the policy exercises conducted in the regions of Murmansk, Karelia, and Arkhangelsk in the autumn of 2000 and the spring of 2001. As this thesis illustrates, transforming the old Soviet command economy into a modern market system is a formidably complex task. The reforms taken early during the transition (e.g., privatization and price liberalization) triggered a series of spontaneous changes in the economy actually threatening to bankrupt many Russian enterprises and ultimately to upset the entire social order. However, the development also triggered its own response in that it made many market non-viable enterprises enter the so- called virtual economy. Here enterprises exchanged goods and services through barter trade thus avoiding true market competition. In fact, many of the rules-in-use (institutions) constraining the behavior of actors in the virtual economy originated in the old Soviet command system. A major problem with the virtual economy is that it maintains the sub-optimal resource allocation typical of the command economy. The findings reported in this thesis empirically corroborate central hypotheses generated by the theory of the virtual economy. Some ideas are also explored about ways to disentangle the institutional deadlock preventing a large part of the forest enterprises from restructuring to become viable in the emerging Russian market economy. The study arrived at the very general conclusion that there are no easy top- down procedures that automatically will lead to an efficiently functioning Russian market economy. The results contest the claims made by the "shock therapy" school of (mainly western) reform advisors to the Russian government. While certain basic reform measures could not be introduced gradually, there was no ground for expecting rapid automatic and profound positive changes in the institutional framework constraining actors' behavior in the Russian economy. On the contrary, the institutional deadlock characterizing the Russian economy will take a long time (and quite innovative thinking) to disentangle. The problem consists in envisaging a way to introduce institutional changes with the multiple purpose of improving the efficiency of the economy (raising people's standard of living) while at the same time improving the workings of democracy and doing so in a society where the existing institutional framework does not work properly. The study led to a number of specific conclusions relating to the possibilities of reforming the Russian forest sector, making the institutional framework constraining actors' behavior more conducive to economic efficiency. It was found that there is a need for changes throughout the entire institutional hierarchy, ranging from constitutional rules, through collective choice rules, to operational rules. Separation of duties and obligations between the political and economic spheres of society should be an underlying principle in all these changes. It was also suggested that policies for improving the institutional framework governing the Russian regional forest sector should be elaborated in a dialogue with the stakeholders who are directly affected by malfunctioning of the sector. The study showed that the use of policy exercises for elaborating improved forest policies seems feasible although the Russian civil society is (still) not sufficiently developed to allow participatory policy formulation procedures to work effectively. / Godkänd; 2004; 20070116 (haneit)

Studien fokuserade på människors uppfattningar kring förändrade konsumtions- och transportvanor för att se om kortsiktiga förändringar i vardagliga vanor gjorda under Covid-19, även pålång sikt kan påverka och förändra individers livsstilsvanor. Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka vardagliga anpassningar människor gör under Covid-19 krisen och se om det leder till mer hållbara beteenden som människor tror de kommer fortsätta med även efter krisen. En enkätundersökning utgjorde grunden för studiens datainsamling och totalt medverkade 106 respondenter. Studiens datamaterial analyserades med the scale effect och the composition effect. Studien förhöll sig i analysen även till två strategier, en svag och en stark, för att diskutera hållbarkonsumtion. Resultatet visar att (1) majoriteten av respondenterna arbetade färre antal timmarunder Covid-19 jämfört med före, (2) majoriteten ställde sig positivt till digitala möten, (3) måltiderköpta på eller från en restaurang minskade i samband med den minskade arbetstiden, (4), större konsumtionsmängder minskade generellt i de olika inkomstgrupperna men störst minskningsågs hos gruppen med högre månadsinkomst. Respondenterna med minst antal arbetstimmari april hade ökat sin konsumtionsmängd men även antalet personer under Covid-19, (5) respondenterna med lägst månadsinkomst åkte mindre bil jämfört med respondenterna som hade en högre inkomst. Slutligen, (6) spenderade en klar majoritet under en timme på kollektivtrafiken under Covid-19, där en andel av respondenterna motiverade en rädsla för att bli smittad och att sysselsättningen skedde hemifrån. Studien kan möjligen argumentera för att vardagliga anpassningar gjorda under Covid-19, såsom digitala möten och att arbeta färre timmar, skulle kunna främja ett mer hållbart beteende gällande konsumtion- och transportvanor. Detta motiveras med respondenternas egna uppfattningar av att färre spontanköp gjorts under Covid-19 då vistelse i butiker och på shoppingcenter minskade, färre bilresor till och från destinationer skett samt att behovet av att köpa eller beställa lunch och middagar från en restaurang minskat. / This paper focused on people's perceptions of changed consumption and transport habits to ex-amine whether short-term changes in everyday habits during Covid-19, can also affect and change individuals´ lifestyle habits in the long-term. The purpose of the study was to investigate what everyday adaptations people make during the Covid-19 crisis and see if it leads to more sustainable behaviors that people think they will continue with even after the crisis. The study was based on a survey and a total of 106 respondents participated. To analyze the study data, the scale effect and the composition effect were used. In the analysis, the study related to two strategies, one weak and one strong, to discuss sustainable consumption. The result shows that (1) the majority of respondents worked fewer hours during Covid-19 compared to before, (2) the majority favored digital meetings, (3) meals purchased at or from a restaurant decreased in conjunction with the reduced working hours, (4) larger consumption volumes generally de-clined in the various income groups, but the largest decrease was seen in the groups with higher monthly income. The respondents with the least amount of working hours in April had increased their amount of consumption and number of people during Covid-19, (5) respondents with the lowest monthly income drove less car compared to those with a higher income. Finally, (6) a clear majority spent under an hour on public transport during Covid-19 where a group of respondents motivated a fear of being infected and of working at home. The study could possibly argue that everyday adjustments made during Covid-19, such as digital meetings, and working fewer hours, could promote more sustainable behavior regarding consumption and transport habits. This is motivated by the respondents own perceptions of fewer spontaneous purchases during Covid-19 as fewer visits to shops and shopping centers occurred, fewer car trips to and from destinations occurred, and the need for buying or ordering lunch and dinner from restaurants was reduced.

The State of Israel’s control of the West Bank and their creation of settlements has led to feelings of frustration amongst the Palestinian population. The significance of the next generation in a conflict that has been ongoing for generations becomes crucial when aiming for peace, as the youth of today will be the adults of tomorrow. Therefore, this study researches how Palestinian university students perceives the Israeli settlements as well as examining whether if the Relative Deprivation Theory can explain these potential perceptions and the possible willingness amongst Palestinian students to participate in social movements. The methodology is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with ten Palestinian students from Bethlehem University, which then has been analysed. The results of this study indicate that the respondents feel deprived of seven different themes, namely (1) Demolition, (2) Economy, (3) Freedom of Movement, (4) Freedom of Speech, (5) Permits, (6) Resources and (7) Services. Furthermore, the result shows that nine out of ten respondents are, or have been, participating in activities to achieve social change. In addition to feeling deprived of the seven different themes, all the respondents also felt frustration and/or negative feelings towards the existence of Israeli settlements. The analysis focuses on how the respondents partake in social movements as well as what their opinions about the resistance activities are. It became clear that all the respondents feel, or have felt, a willingness to participate in activities to achieve social change. However, the respondents use different forms of activities, such as protesting in the streets, demonstrating, and/or raising awareness, but there is an overarching social movement which focuses on “the Palestinian cause”. Finally, this study supports the idea of Relative Deprivation Theory, as the willingness to partake in social movements seems to be high amongst the respondents due to them being deprived of essential services and resources.

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Sanctions are presumed to work on the logic of a cost/benefit analysis, where the actors make concessions in response to induced pressure from the public who demands policy change because of hardened living conditions. The literature regarding sanctions effect on policy change are numerous, but less research has been made on what effects follow in domestic politics when sanctions are lifted. The theory of economic voting explains how voters reward or punish their leaders depending on the economic performance of the country. Most studies have focused on democratic developed countries, but this research will extend the theories to an autocratic setting. This essay fills a gap in the literature by a applying case study approach to a field of work that is largely dominated by quantitative research designs. Through a case of structured focused comparison of two periods where sanctions are implemented and then lifted, this essay is able to show that for the case of Iran, the coercive measures had an impact on support for the government. The public rewarded the incumbent for good performance when the sanctions were lifted, which confirms earlier findings that voter behavior in autocratic countries are similar to those in democracies. The economy is here shown to be of importance for regime approval, but more research is needed on what affects support for governments in non-consolidated democracies.

This thesis sets out to answer how development NGOs frame climate change in the wake of the Agenda 2030 and assess what factors might be at play in shaping the universal framing of climate change as emphasized in the SDGs. While there are several factors which might influence the framing of climate change used by NGOs, this study focuses on marketization as a potential explanatory factor. By drawing on theories of marketization, organizational uncertainties and climate justice, this thesis analyzes how the two selected cases, ActionAid and Diakonia, discursively frame and communicate about the issue of climate change in material on their websites. The findings suggest that there exists a relationship between the organization’s levels of marketization and the framing of climate change. Through discourse analysis, the findings of this study point to how a lower level of marketization seems to correspond with a larger incorporation of ‘climate justice discourse’ and the adoption of the universal framing of climate change as emphasized in the SDGs. On the other hand, a higher level of marketization seems to correspond with a more traditional framing of development aid and climate change, with an emphasis on climate actions mainly targeted towards the Global South. However, as this is a comparative case-study and the first to research this specific topic, future studies are needed in order to produce more generalizable and robust results.

This study seeks to examine the how populism impacts foreign policy discourse. The study applies role theory to the empirical case of the Brazil-China bilateral relationship in order to observe changes within role conceptions or role prescriptions before and after the election of populist leader Jair Bolsonaro. The research question put forward is   As a result of the election of populist president Jair Bolsonaro, in the case of the bilateral relationship between Brazil and China, has 1)    the role conception of Brazil’s own role changed, and if so, how? 2)    the role prescription of Chinas role changed, if so, how?    3 hypotheses are developed, based on the chosen definitions of populism, and tested on the material. The chosen materials for the study are speeches and tweets by incumbent presidents or other high-ranking officials. The data has been collected from Brazil’s ministry of foreign affairs website, or the official government website of Brazil. The chosen methodology is a qualitative text analysis. The study finds support for two out of the three hypotheses. These relate to anti-pluralism and anti-elitism as central aspects of populist discourse. The study does not find bad manners to be a key aspect of populist foreign policy discourse. The analysis reveals that the role conception has changed in some ways whilst the role prescription has remained strikingly similar.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether there are indications that the way women are included in peace processes has a meaningful impact on the level of sustainability in the outcome of the peace process. This is a discussion that is relevant in the fields of political science, peace and conflict and sustainability. This study presents earlier work that claims the importance of women in peace processes, but as mentioned before, it has been hard to find answers of how the women are supposed to be included to make the most efficient contribution to sustainable peace. The aim of the thesis is to contribute to the discussion of the “how” in the said importance of women’s participation in peace processes. It’s based on feminist and civil society theories about the need of inclusion as a basis for durable peace and tries to answer the research questions that are:   1. In what ways have women been included in the Liberia (2003) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (2002) peace processes?   2. Do the ways in which women have been included differ in the above-mentioned cases and does it affect the level of sustainability of the peace agreements?   It is done with the help of a comparative case study and addresses the Liberia peace process (2003), defined as a successful case and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peace process (2002), defined as an unsuccessful case. The cases are above all compared with the help of secondary sources; studies made of the peace processes of these countries. When the comparison is made, the thesis finds ambiguous answers to the questions. Women in unofficial roles seems to contribute more to sustainable peace than women in official roles.

This essay aims to analyse the former government Löfven 1´s gender equality politics in its correlation with three theoretical feminist orientations; liberal feminism, socialistic feminism and radical feminism. The essay is based upon the missive “Goal, power and authority - feminist politics for an equal future” (2016/17:10) (Mål, makt och myndighet - feministisk politik för en jämställd framtid) where the target for analyse is the missive´s six sub-goals in terms of achieving gender equality. This is to see if either of the three theoretical feminist orientations has influenced the direction of the Swedish gender equality politics, and if so, which of the orientations is the most distinguished. The method is of qualitative form, where a critical ideology analysis has been used. The result of this essay presented that meanwhile liberal feminism was distinguished, it is radical feminism and socialistic feminism that influenced the missive´s sub-goals.

Welfare, meaning the well-being of the citizenry, and the supply of it has been one of the central concerns of all leaders throughout history. The expansion of the welfare programs in the western hemisphere during the Cold war is by some regarded as one of the reasons why the “west” emerged victorious from the war in the late 20th century. Following the fall of the Berlin wall democratically elected governments in the newly formed states in Eastern Europe transitioned to market economies and thus formed their own versions of capitalist welfare states. In the 90s it was projected that these states would create welfare states approximate to those that existed in the west, predominantly to the (neo-)liberal model. In the 2000s this assumption changed and disregarded the assumptions about the dominance of the liberal model. Today, some argue that the welfare programs of these post-socialist countries resemble each other more than their western counterparts. The aim of this study is to find out whether this is the case in more recent years focusing on social security payments. To do this data is used from three post-socialist European countries; Estonia, Bulgaria, and Poland, and four western European countries; the UK, Germany, Sweden and Spain comparatively to determine the possible similarities between them. The result of this study shows that there are similarities between post-socialist countries’ welfare systems but also highlights the difficulties of categorizing them as belonging to the same ideal type of welfare system.