Masters in Public Administration - MPA / Agenda setting is about how some issues get onto the policy agenda for discussion and action why others do not. Drawing critically on the ―policy windows‖ approach of J.W Kingdon (2003) this dissertation will describe and explain the shifting of policy agendas in health with reference to human resources in Zambia between 2000 and 2006. This research explores how and why the issue of human resource shortages in health became prominent on the state‘s agenda in 2005.The research is a qualitative study and data was collected using both primary and secondary sources of data across various stakeholders in the country. It tested the applicability of Kingdon‘s conceptual framework to a case study of Zambian health policy by analysing the degree to which agenda-formation is influenced by such factors as issue definition, the presence of policy alternatives, presidential support, interest group advocacy, media attention, political cycles, and public opinion. The general elections scheduled for the following year, coupled with media attention and strong public action contributed to the selection of the human resource crisis as an issue on the state‘s agenda for serious action. Furthermore, the slow progress on the attainment of the health related Millennium Development Goals and the poor performance of some donor funded programmes necessitated the state to act. Despite some weaknesses, Kingdon‘s multiple streams approach was found to be useful in explaining the agenda-setting of the Human Resources for Health Strategic Plan (2006-2010) in Zambia.

This master's thesis focuses on the inability of the U. S. Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform. The main goal of the thesis is identification of key factors that prevent successful passage of this legislation. Two latest immigration reform proposals from 2007 and 2013 were selected for the research. To analyze them, process tracing was used. This method allows for better understanding of the legislative development. As an analytical framework, approach of John W. Kingdon was selected. His revised garbage can model of organizational choice applied to congressional decision making identifies three process streams that are critical for passing legislation in Congress - problem definition, policy generation and politics. Firstly, Kingdon's framework is described and then applied to the selected immigration reform proposals case studies. Emphasis is put on identification of factors that play key role in generating and passing the policy. Then, both case studies are compared to allow for more general inference. The key finding of the thesis is that the political stream is crucial to passing comprehensive immigration reform. Based on the comparative case study, political skills of leaders and political context significantly influence the ability of Congress to act on the immigration...

Fatal opioid overdoses in Massachusetts, U.S.A. increased by 311% from 2000 to 2019 and claim the lives of nearly 2,000 residents every year. Research suggests that the public is growing critical of traditional punitive approaches to opioid use disorder. In this study, a political feasibility study of passing non-arrest policies for opioid addiction was conducted. Semi-structured interviews with 32 experts from law enforcement, program administration, addiction treatment, policymaking, and policy advocacy were completed. The political feasibility of three policy proposals across six criteria (effect, relevance, support, opposition, enabling factors, and inhibiting factors) was examined. Media and document review augmented and affirmed interview data. Study participants reported a growth in the number of opioid-addicted young adult White residents and a concomitant shift in increased public support for treatment over incarceration. Data suggest that communities of color are disproportionately impacted by limited access to treatment. Study participants caution that strained relationships between people of color and the police could impede the positive effects of non-arrest programs among diverse populations. Results suggest that it may be politically feasible to scale non-arrest programs, but that it is not currently feasible to pass policies that decriminalize drugs or prohibit judges from requiring individuals to remain drug-free as a condition of probation. To ensure that policies benefit diverse populations, lawmakers must invest in treatment programs and pass legislation that accounts for the different relationships that Black and Hispanic residents have with the police. / 2022-09-26T00:00:00Z

Denna uppsats utgår från svensk krishantering av tre nationella kriser; Estoniakatastrofen, Flodvågskatastrofen och Flyktingkrisen . Syftet med arbetet är att ta reda på hur dessa kriser har format statens sätt att hantera kriser. Arbetet ämnar också att försöka skapa en förståelse för vad som händer i nationella organisationer när en kris inträffar. Arbetets har använt kvalitativ metod som går ut på att göra en jämförelse mellan de olika kriserna. I analysen presenteras svaren på frågeställningar, med ett antal olika exempel på policyförändringar som har skett, bl.a. inrättandet av ett krishanteringsorgan och skapandet av en ny myndighet. Analysen presenterar också en bild av varför kriser förändras, eller inte förändras, genom att titta på när s.k. policyfönster öppnas och stängs. Slutsatsen är att krishanteringen ständigt förändras, om än långsamt. Att vänta på att en ny kris ska inträffa för att förändra politiken går inte.

À partir des années 1960, avec l’apparition d’un « nous » québécois territorialement défini, intellectuels et groupes de pression se mettent à construire le « problème » de la sous-représentation des autochtones dans l’enseignement de l’histoire nationale à l’école au Québec. Nous comparons la place de ce « problème » à l’agenda des concepteurs des deux derniers programmes d’enseignement de l’histoire nationale à l’école secondaire au Québec : Histoire du Québec et du Canada (1982-2008) et Histoire et éducation à la citoyenneté (2007/2008-). Nous montrons que ce « problème » n’a été inscrit avec proéminence qu’à l’agenda des concepteurs du nouveau programme. Comment expliquer cette différence entre l’agenda des concepteurs de ces deux programmes? En se basant sur l’approche des courants multiples développé par John Kingdon, nous montrons qu’à partir des années 1990, tous les éléments étaient réunis pour favoriser la mise à l’agenda de ce « problème » - courant des problèmes, courant des solutions, courant de la politique, entrepreneur politique et fenêtre d’opportunité. Par contraste, nous arguons qu’à la fin des années 1970, un élément manquait : le courant de la politique, et en particulier le « national mood ». Pour rendre ce concept moins a-historique, nous déclinons le « national mood » en trois niveaux hiérarchiques de croyances, selon la typologie de Sabatier et Jenkins-Smith (1993). Nous montrons qu’il y a eu un changement au niveau des croyances les plus fondamentales et inaltérables des élites intellectuelles et politiques québécoises entre la fin des années 1970 et les années 1990 consistant à reconnaître les peuples autochtones. / With the emergence of a territorially-based Quebec identity in the 1960s intellectuals and pressure groups began to construct the “problem” of aboriginal under-representation in Quebec’s national history program. We compare the importance of this “problem” on the agenda of the designers of the last two high school national history teaching programs in Quebec: History of Quebec and Canada (1982-2008) and History and Education Citizenship (2007/2008-). We show that this “problem” only gained prominence on the agenda of the second program’s designers. To explain this difference between the agenda of the two programs’ designers, we use John Kingdon’s Multiple Streams approach. We show that in the 1990s and 2000s, all the elements favouring the agenda setting of this “problem” were present: the problem stream, the policy stream, the politics stream, the political entrepreneur and the policy window. In contrast, we argue that in the late 1970s, one element was missing: the politics stream, more specifically the national mood. To make the concept of national mood less a-historical, we use Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith’s typology (1993) and distinguish three levels of beliefs constitutive of the national mood. We assert that a change occurred at the deepest and most unalterable level of beliefs held by Quebec’s intellectual and political élite between the late 1970s and the 1990s in favour of the recognition of aboriginal peoples.

À partir des années 1960, avec l’apparition d’un « nous » québécois territorialement défini, intellectuels et groupes de pression se mettent à construire le « problème » de la sous-représentation des autochtones dans l’enseignement de l’histoire nationale à l’école au Québec. Nous comparons la place de ce « problème » à l’agenda des concepteurs des deux derniers programmes d’enseignement de l’histoire nationale à l’école secondaire au Québec : Histoire du Québec et du Canada (1982-2008) et Histoire et éducation à la citoyenneté (2007/2008-). Nous montrons que ce « problème » n’a été inscrit avec proéminence qu’à l’agenda des concepteurs du nouveau programme. Comment expliquer cette différence entre l’agenda des concepteurs de ces deux programmes? En se basant sur l’approche des courants multiples développé par John Kingdon, nous montrons qu’à partir des années 1990, tous les éléments étaient réunis pour favoriser la mise à l’agenda de ce « problème » - courant des problèmes, courant des solutions, courant de la politique, entrepreneur politique et fenêtre d’opportunité. Par contraste, nous arguons qu’à la fin des années 1970, un élément manquait : le courant de la politique, et en particulier le « national mood ». Pour rendre ce concept moins a-historique, nous déclinons le « national mood » en trois niveaux hiérarchiques de croyances, selon la typologie de Sabatier et Jenkins-Smith (1993). Nous montrons qu’il y a eu un changement au niveau des croyances les plus fondamentales et inaltérables des élites intellectuelles et politiques québécoises entre la fin des années 1970 et les années 1990 consistant à reconnaître les peuples autochtones. / With the emergence of a territorially-based Quebec identity in the 1960s intellectuals and pressure groups began to construct the “problem” of aboriginal under-representation in Quebec’s national history program. We compare the importance of this “problem” on the agenda of the designers of the last two high school national history teaching programs in Quebec: History of Quebec and Canada (1982-2008) and History and Education Citizenship (2007/2008-). We show that this “problem” only gained prominence on the agenda of the second program’s designers. To explain this difference between the agenda of the two programs’ designers, we use John Kingdon’s Multiple Streams approach. We show that in the 1990s and 2000s, all the elements favouring the agenda setting of this “problem” were present: the problem stream, the policy stream, the politics stream, the political entrepreneur and the policy window. In contrast, we argue that in the late 1970s, one element was missing: the politics stream, more specifically the national mood. To make the concept of national mood less a-historical, we use Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith’s typology (1993) and distinguish three levels of beliefs constitutive of the national mood. We assert that a change occurred at the deepest and most unalterable level of beliefs held by Quebec’s intellectual and political élite between the late 1970s and the 1990s in favour of the recognition of aboriginal peoples.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-12-20T08:46:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ivana Soares Paim.pdf: 6891293 bytes, checksum: b7d32c745fe946f89bd0dddaf46b2dc9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-20T08:46:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ivana Soares Paim.pdf: 6891293 bytes, checksum: b7d32c745fe946f89bd0dddaf46b2dc9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research studies the image of the Devil, which is taken from the stages of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) to the YouTube, according to the context of the communications that take place in the socialnetworks. The corpus of this work is made by an assemblage of scenes of exorcisms spreaded on YouTube, from 2010 through 2014, years of continuous expansion of this Church. This study aims to investigate the elements that build the representation of the Devil in the rituals of exorcism at the UCKG. These elements come from the Christian imaginary as well as from that of the Afro-Brazilian religions; they also come from the relations between the television and the religious practices, and consequently, from the marketing strategies developed by this Church. This research works with the hypothesis that the image of the Devil at the UCKG is an instrument of advertisement, part of the revival of the buzz marketing at the video sharing media and its use by religious institutions, in case, the UCKG. As an instrument of advertisement for this Church, the image of the Devil is represented in a fearful way and takes some characteristics of the Afro-Brazilian divinities by a hybridization process between these two religious imaginaries, conditioned to the UCKG’s movement of updating itself in search for recognition in a society that belongs to the web era. To develop this study, this research will consider the ideas of Hans Belting and Lúcia Santaella about the fields in which images can be classified into, as well as Gilbert Durand’s theories about the imaginary, that enable us to understand the building of images or representations as a product resulted from the interaction between an individual and his culture. It will also consider the concept of provoqued event by Patrick Charaudeau, who thinks the mediatic image is a programmed and an expected construction, whose purpose is to “reveal a truth” by persuasion and emotional appeal with obvious advertising intentions. In addition, other references will be considered for this research, such as studies about religion and more specifically about some Afro-Brazilian religions, in order to make comparisons between representations of different divinities and that of the Christian Devil. It will also consider studies about the buzz marketing that consists of an advertising strategy that makes the clients advertise the product by motivating them to talk about it with friends and acquaintances. We believe that the importance of this work relies on its contribution for the studies around the religious marketing in the time of web communication, since religious institutions have taken profit from the convergent media like YouTube to update their strategies in search for visibility and more followers / No contexto das comunicações realizadas por redes sociais de compartilhamento de informação, esta pesquisa estuda a imagem do Diabo levada dos palcos da Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD) para o YouTube. Mais especificamente, examina a produção dessa imagem diabólica nos discursos verbais, imagéticos e corporais de sujeitos presumidamente possuídos em rituais de exorcismo apresentados naquele site. O corpus do trabalho constitui-se de uma amostra de registros desses exorcismos divulgados no YouTube, postados no período de 2010 a 2014, anos de contínua expansão dessa Igreja. Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo investigar os elementos constitutivos da representação do Diabo nos rituais de exorcismo da IURD que partem do imaginário cristão e do imaginário das religiões afro-brasileiras, das relações entre as mídias televisivas e as práticas religiosas, e consequentemente, das estratégias de propaganda desenvolvidas por essa igreja. A pesquisa trabalha com a hipótese de que a imagem do Diabo na IURD é um instrumento de propaganda, parte da retomada do buzz marketing pelas mídias de compartilhamento de vídeo e de seu uso por instituições religiosas, no caso, a IURD. Como instrumento de propaganda dessa igreja, a imagem do Diabo é amedrontadora e se recobre de algumas características das divindades afro-brasileiras por um processo de hibridação entre esses imaginários religiosos, condicionados ao movimento de atualização da Universal e a sua busca por reconhecimento em uma sociedade inserida na era da web. Em plano teórico, mobilizar-se-ão os estudos de Hans Belting e Lúcia Santaella sobre os campos divisórios da imagem, assim como as teses sobre o imaginário de Gilbert Durand, que levam em consideração a interação do indivíduo com sua cultura, e o conceito de acontecimento provocado de Patrick Charaudeau, que considera a imagem midiática como uma construção esperada e programada, cuja finalidade é “revelar uma verdade” por meio da persuasão e do apelo emotivo, com fins claramente propagandísticos. Subsidiariamente, outros referenciais teóricos serão estudos abalizados sobre as religiões, inclusive as afro-brasileiras, que permitam estabelecer comparações entre representações de diferentes divindades àquelas do Diabo cristão, como também, trabalhos em torno do buzz marketing, uma técnica de propaganda que faz dos clientes os disseminadores de um produto ao estimulá-los a compartilhar informações sobre ele; o chamado boca-a-boca. Acreditamos que a relevância do trabalho está em contribuir com as reflexões voltadas ao marketing religioso na era da internet, do qual as igrejas vêm lançando mão cada vez mais para atualizar suas estratégias de busca por visibilidade e angariar mais fiéis

The purpose of this qualitative ethnographic study was to explore citizen perceptions of the phenomenon of law enforcement shootings involving an imitation firearm. A secondary purpose was to document knowledge of current imitation firearm policies and thoughts on the effectiveness of said policies. Kingdon's multiple streams approach was used as the theoretical framework. This theory addressed the sources of power that influence policy decisions, the stakeholders involved in agenda setting, and factors that shape policy debates. Data were collected using a combination of secondary data analysis, field observations and semi structured, face-to-face interviews with 23 citizens. Sampling strategies included a combination of snowball, purposeful, and variation sampling to identify interviewees from four specific subject groups: law enforcement, parents of children aged 10-17-years-old, citizens with no law enforcement experience and no children aged 10-17-years-old, and leaders in the community. Results from domain and taxonomic coding revealed the themes of safety, responsibility, and accountability. Specifically, subjects wanted to ensure both law enforcement and citizens were safe in the community, they wanted to see parents take responsibility for their children, and they wanted to see legislation that held people accountable for their actions when using imitation firearms during the commission of a crime. Findings may be used for positive social change by enhancing imitation firearm policies, recognizing ways to improve data tracking, and identifying educational opportunities for both citizens and law enforcement. Enhanced firearm policies can also help mitigate unnecessary shootings and reduce community conflicts between citizens and police.

Population growth, coupled with changing weather patterns, is straining water supplies, especially in the American Southwest. A multitude of tools, including additional storage, will be needed to meet water demand and supply gaps. The Animas-La Plata Project, a reservoir in southwest Colorado, provides a case study of how groups worked for nearly 70 years to solve a water problem: insufficient irrigation for agriculture. This qualitative case study addressed a lack of first-person narratives from those most involved. Its purpose was to gather stakeholder narratives and analyze them using Kingdon's three streams theory to address the extent to which the problem, policy, and political streams converged to open policy windows that resulted in a built facility. Purposeful sampling identified 11 organizational stakeholders with the highest seniority and longest association with the project. Transcribed data from structured interview questions were inductively coded and thematically analyzed. Key findings include identification of a major federal policy change in the late 1970s to 1980s that excluded escalated benefits of water projects. Within this same timeframe, necessary elements were present to open a policy window, the Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement, which resulted in project construction. If strategists can learn to predict the opening of policy windows "when the problem, policy, and political streams join" water resource planning and policy can be improved. Retrospective narrative analysis is a promising ex post audit and evaluation tool that policy analysts can use to assess program performance and lessons learned. Social change implications of the study are that its findings on the need for positive collaboration may prove valuable to those in management who seek to address water scarcity issues.

My dissertation examines the representations of materialism -- a philosophy stereotypically associated with a reductive, anti-theological and mechanistic world-picture -- in the published prose and (typically) unpublished poetry of several figures central to scientific discourse in the latter half of the nineteenth century, most notably W. K. Clifford, a mathematician, and John Tyndall, a physicist and media-savvy ‘champion of science’. These engagements, and representations, were not merely on the level of ‘direct’ argumentation, however. A self-consciously allusive, even polyphonous tone was far from uncommon in the many literatures arising from mid-Victorian scientific encounter, and this openness of form permitted both popularisers and critics of materialism to choose the vocabularies in which to relate their observations –- the texts with which they would engage –- towards specific ends. As I argue, such was a task they performed with great care and an often astonishing felicity: an essay on cosmology, after all, acquires quite a different colouration when interleaved with the cadences of Milton, another again if illustrated with quotations from Whitman or an epigram from ‘Tintern Abbey’. My 1st chapter provides a broader context for those that follow, analysing both changing nineteenth-century ideas of materialism and also a range of potential reactions to -– and inter alia a variety of the contrasting vernaculars used in illustration of –- contemporary metaphysical or ‘methodological’ materialism. My 2nd chapter offers a reading of Tyndall’s August 1874 Belfast Address, the locus classicus for practically all later elaborations of materialistic belief. My 3rd chapter contrasts the theologically orthodox position of James Clerk Maxwell (buttressed by allusions to the theologically doctrinaire George Herbert) with the radically atheistic and materialistic philosophy of Clifford (underpinned by the similarly atheistic Algernon Charles Swinburne). My 4th and 5th chapters are paired studies in the ‘private’ nuances of Tyndall’s ideology, elaborating on my 2nd chapter’s scrutiny of its more public attributes. The former discusses his notions of cosmic connectedness, ironically derived from the non-materialistic works of Carlyle. The latter examines both the exultancy and the despair explicit in Tyndall’s poetry and implicit in his prose. As I note in conclusion, such contrary emotions, phrased with striking clarity in Tyndall, are common in mid-Victorian writings concerning materialism, directly or indirectly. They are rooted in the hopes afforded by materialism’s explanatory prowess, on the one hand, and the ‘atrophy of spirit’ born of its austere, even dehumanising, epistemology, on the other; that is to say, in a salutary awareness of both power and pitfalls.