As much as urban areas are centres of greenhouse gas emissions, cities hold a unique position in tackling climate change as they have legal authority over key sectors such as buildings, transportation, and urban planning. Recognising the benefit of coordinating activities on the local level, transnational municipal networks (TMNs) unite local governments across borders, providing particular services to its members. In Europe, there are several TMNs focusing on issues related to climate protection. This study examines four of these networks (ICLEI, Climate Alliance, Energy Cities, EUROCITIES) and the functions they hold available. Interviews were conducted with representatives from the networks and a sample of German cities in order to depict both their perspectives. In terms of functions provided by the TMNs as a whole, lobbying for needs and concerns of the municipalities was considered as one of the networks’ main task. Further, two forms of lobbying were identified that varied depending on the respective network: lobbying, including mayoral support; and lobbying on a technical level. In addition, interviewees valued the exchange of information and experiences that these networks enable and foster. Lastly, their role in project management was stated as an important reason for network membership. A TMN-specific analysis revealed that ICLEI’s main strength was seen in lobbying on international level for its members’ concerns by also involving its member cities’ mayors. Municipalities seemed to turn to Energy Cities and EUROCITIES with regard to lobbying concentrated at EU decision-making, project cooperation, and the exchange of information. Climate Alliance’s unique selling point – since none of the other networks was associated with this function – appeared to be in organising awareness raising events and campaigns in cooperation with its members.

In order to understand the role of discourse in a system of multi-level governance, this thesis performs a case study of Sweden’s response to the 2015-2016 refugee crisis. Initially praised as the European country who accepted the highest number of asylum applications per capita, by the end of 2015 Sweden had limited its asylum policy to the minimum levels under EU law. The abrupt policy change coincided with the emergence of two primary refugee discourses among media and politicians: a solidarity-oriented discourse and a problem-oriented discourse. While both discourses are visible at each level of governance, the national government expressed a commitment to solidarity through its humanitarian ideology while the local municipalities often described the challenges of accommodating the refugees as problematic. To analyze the impact of contrasting discourses at multiple levels of governance, a critical discourse analysis is conducted of news media in Sweden at the national level and the local level and discussed with reference to the theory of postcolonialism. The discourse analysis is then compared to the major changes to refugee policy at the national level and refugee reception at the local level. The results indicate a strong relationship between refugee policy/reception and media discourse at each level of governance, but a much weaker relationship between the levels of governance. This research provides new insight into the theory of multi-level governance and migration studies through its comparison of refugee governance at multiple levels.

This thesis is about the reasons for an involvement in the European Union. The thesis addresses this topic using the case of Region Jönköping County (RJL) and their involvement in the European Union. The method is content analysis to explore if the activity by RJL can be explained by the theories Europeanization and Multi-level governance using documentation from the region. Based on this, one should be able to answer the purpose of this study. The documentation under review is the 2013 Regional Development Strategy, which is valid until 2025, the Regional budget and the Operational plan for 2018, as well as the Multiannual plans for 2019-2010. Based on these theories, several specific issues were addressed that all addressed the Europeanization Upload-, Download- and Crossload-dimension, as well as the Resource Push and Pull factors were represented. These issues were later used in the examination of the documentation to answer the issues and the purpose of the study. A conclusion or conclusions of the study are concluded that there are some connections between the regional documentation and the theories used in this study. Which makes it possible to start drawing conclusions about the more general issues. The conclusions drawn in this thesis will be that the connections seen between the regional documentation and the theories. This means that the theories can explain what lies behind the involvement to the European Union. These theories and what they represent can also put words and underlying understanding into what lies behind and why we see some action from Region Jönköping County. This can also explain how theories can help us understand similar cases like this region.

This study addresses the problems that arise when there are many newly arrived immigrants to Sweden in a short period of time and it becomes important to be quickly sealed into Swedish society by means of various establishment initiatives.This essay investigates local integration in Three Swedish municipality's by conducting Case studies. The purpose is to find factors that affect new immigrants' opportunities for work and self-sufficiency among the municipalities with high employment rates for newly arrived immigrants. Factors refer to implementation, governance, cooperation, labor market and integration efforts.To find out, the study has identified how integrations policy are implemented and what factors that can make a difference for immigrants' opportunities for work and self- sufficiency. The material that the study uses is derived from semi-structured inter views conducted with key people with extensive knowledge of the municipality's integration work and the method used for analysis is process- tracing. The conclusion is that possible factors that can affect are interaction between all actors involved in integration and a good labor market. / <p>2018-06-07.</p>

The national parks in the Carpathian Mountains along the Polish and Slovak border represent encompassing policy agendas that strive to balance biodiversity conservation and social welfare tasks. These countries have, during the last 25 years, undergone rapid transformation from socialist regimes to liberal democracies, and this transformation has affected the political, social and economic spheres. The accession to the European Union (EU) introduced demands for further changes, such as closer integration of conservation and socioeconomic development and inclusive, transparent and accountable decision-making that are based on participatory mechanisms. This thesis explores key challenges and opportunities for nature conservation policy and practice at the local level in a context of post-socialist legacies and Europeanization. Multi-level governance, Europeanization, and post-socialist studies are used as theoretical vehicles for the analysis of four transboundary national parks: Pieninsky national parks (NP) in both Poland and Slovakia and Bieszczady NP [Poland] and Poloniny NP [Slovakia]. The results of this study show that the early designation of the studied parks as protected areas prevented their exploitation and enabled preservation of important landscapes, which currently are highly valued at the European level. These nature conservation regimes have created tangible restrictions on the possible economic uses of these areas. However, rural development alternatives depend on a broader set of local, national and global factors such as the structure of the local economy and employment, the prioritization of nature conservation in national policies, investors’ interest, and increasing urbanization. Europeanization provided opportunities for local actors to benefit from additional funding made available for nature conservation and rural development. At the same time, demands for participatory decision-making posed significant procedural and conceptual challenges to achieving transparent, inclusive and accountable governance. The prevalence of informal practices in local policy-making and the lack of trust in state authorities pose further challenges to formal participatory processes. The opportunities of local actors to reach out across levels to express their interests remain scarce and are not institutionalized, whereas the multi-level characteristics of modern governance indirectly shape local processes by defining common legal and policy frameworks. / Förvaltningen av nationalparkerna in vid gränsen mellan Polen och Slovakien i Karpaterna är framför allt inriktad mot att uppnå balans mellan bevarande av biologisk mångfald och social välfärd. Polen och Slovakien har under de senaste 25 åren genomgått en snabb förändring från socialistiska regimer till liberala demokratier, vilket har inneburit genomgripande politiska, sociala och ekonomiska förändringar. Medlemskapet i EU innebar ytterligare förändringar, som till exempel integrering av naturvårdsarbete och socioekonomisk utveckling, liksom främjande av inkluderande, transparent och deltagarinriktat beslutsfattande. Därmed bygger den moderna beslutsprocessen inte längre på den tidigare hierarkiska strukturen, utan har nu fått en aningen diffus karaktär, innefattande mängd olika aktörer som interagerar i såväl horisontella som vertikala beslutsprocesser. I denna avhandling utforskas nyckelutmaningar och möjligheter för beslutsfattande och implementering av naturvårdsarbete på lokal nivå, relaterade till de post-socialistiska arven och medlemskapet i EU. Multi-level governance (politiskt beslutsfattande på flera nivåer), Europeanization (europeisering) och post-socialistiska studier används som teoretiska verktyg för analysen av fyra gränsöverskridande nationalparker: Pieninsky, som innefattar såväl polska som slovakiska områden, Bieszczady (Polen) och Poloniny (Slovakien). Studien visar att det tidiga inrättandet av naturskydd i nationalparkerna hindrade exploatering och möjliggjorde bevarandet av värdefulla naturområden, vilka idag är högt värderade utifrån ett europeiskt perspektiv. Reglerna för detta naturskydd har dock skapat begränsningar för hur områdena kan användas för, till exempel, agrara verksamheter och turism. De mer övergripande landsbygdsutvecklingsmöjligheterna beror av lokala, nationella och globala faktorer som exempelvis den lokala ekonomins struktur, tillgång på arbetstillfällen, hur naturskydd prioriteras i nationellt beslutsfattande, intresse för investeringar i området och urbaniseringsprocesser. Medlemskapet i EU har medfört utökade möjligheter för finansiering av naturskydd och landsbygdsutveckling. Samtidigt har medlemskapet för dessa länder lett till ökade förväntningar på politiskt deltagande och nya utmaningar vad gäller transparens i beslutsfattande och inkluderande beslutsprocesser. Vidare har informella beslutsvägar i lokalt beslutsfattande och lågt förtroende för statliga myndigheter lett till ytterligare utmaningar i deltagandeprocesser. Möjligheter för lokala aktörer att kunna kommunicera och påverka beslut på högre nivåer har förblivit begränsade och är ännu inte tydligt institutionaliserade, samtidigt som det moderna, interaktiva beslutsfattandet på flera nivåer indirekt formar lokala processer genom att definiera legala och politiska ramverk inom vilka förvaltningsbeslut fattas.

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This thesis studies the transfer of disability targets in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to the local level in Sweden and how this implementation contributes to the Agenda’s result on a global scale. In the summary of its final official report to the Swedish Government (SOU 2019:13), the Swedish Delegation for the 2030 Agenda states that the expression ‘sustainable development’ is applied in Sweden in two ways: while it is used witha focus on its environmental dimension, there is another, broader definition that also encompasses its social and economic dimensions. In its own terms, the Delegation consistently adheres to the broader definition, in accordance with the meaning of the 2030 Agenda (SOU 2019:13, p. 27). Rather than concentrating on the more amply researched and documented environmental dimension, this thesis highlights a social and economic dimension of the Agenda’s local implementation, bearing in mind the Agenda’s pledge that no one willbe left behind. It examines how those among the 169 targets dealing with the interests of people with disabilities are transposed down to the local level and implemented. The conclusion points at the fact that, although all goals seem understood as indivisible at each level, results may uncover a big difference in how they are implemented and/or measured inpractice, at each of the political-administrative levels involved, which makes it difficult to produce data on quantifiable progress on a specific target.

Med en ökad utmaning i samhället med att hantera risker och dess konsekvenser sätts en allt större press på samhällets förmåga att agera vid oönskade händelser. Studien omfattar Blekinge län och har som syfte att analysera hur flernivåstyrning påverkar arbetet med risk och sårbarhet. Syftet besvaras av två frågeställningar som behandlar samverkan och utmaningar mellan administrativa nivåer. Studien baseras på en abduktiv ansats där teorin väljs utifrån empirin. Teorin i studiens sammanhang är flernivåstyrning vars ändamål är att analysera studiens tidigare forskning och resultat. Studiens resultat utgörs av en dokumentanalys av risk- och sårbarhetsanalyser (RSA) samt en intervjustudie med tjänstemän som visar på att samverkan mellan administrativa nivåer fungerar. Däremot finns det utmaningar med ansvarsfördelningen som är en konsekvens av en bristande kommunikation i ett hierarkiskt beroende system. Utmaningarna påverkar hur arbetet aggregeras upp i de administrativa nivåerna. / With an increased challenge in society in managing risks and their consequences, an increasing pressure is put on society's ability to act in the event of undesirable events. The study covers Blekinge County and aims to analyze how multilevel governance affects risk and vulnerability. The purpose is answered by two questions that explore collaboration and challenges between administrative levels. The study is based on an abductive approach where the theory is chosen based on empirical data. Results from the study are created by a document analysis of risk- and vulnerability documents (RVA) as well as an interview study from municipal employees. The result shows that collaboration between administrative levels works. However, there are challenges with the division of responsibilities from a lack of communication in a hierarchically dependent system. The challenges affect how the analysis is aggregated up to the administrative levels.

Micro-regions have gained an increasing awareness of their potential in global politics, an illogical development that have yet to be explained. In this study, we hypothesize that there is a trend where regions attempt to lobby EU-policy, and explore the role of regions, and their channels to Brussels: how they look today, and how they have changed over time. In this exploration, we conducted a comparative case study where the Swedish regions’ channels to Brussels were compared over time by a theoretical framework built on new regionalism ideas. To collect data, we interviewed representation office officials, and supported this data with a content analysis. We then compared our results to a similar study from 2007.We found that the representation offices today lobby as a daily activity, and that monitoring is often emphasized to be pro-active in policy influencing. Money is still experienced as the prime logic for regional representation in Brussels, but possibilities for financial gain may incentive regional interest to contribute to the EU policy framework. The representation offices favor the European Commission as a channel, but this depends on where in the process the office enters, while informal networks are given an increased value for several reasons.

Around 20 years ago subnational actors connected in Northern Sweden/Finland founding the Bothnian Corridor Project and lobbying successfully for support from the European Union/on the European level. This research paper will investigate the story of success from the perspective of the subnational actors. The case of the Bothnian Corridor is of interest because the Swedish subnational actors are often considered as weak or not so formalised. The Research Paper will investigate the processes which led to the activity on the European level and will review how the communication between the European level and the subnational actors is functioning.There are three driving processes. The first one is that there was a need in renewing the railroad system and the regions had a common interest. The second one is the establishment of regions as a subnational actor with a formalised responsibility for regional development. In the beginning of the 2000s the third process started where a stronger focus on regions and regional development on the European level became visible. Those driving forces are identified by this paper as the base of the Bothnian Corridor Project.The other aspect the paper is investigating is the communication between the different policy levels. There can be the picture drawn that the communication between the subnational players and the EU is cooperative; they both see the potential in this relationship. They are very open to working together which is just possible because the North Sweden European Office explained each other position to both parties and did "interest translation" and the national level is setting up limitations for the communication.