Idag är debatten om läxor vanligt förekommande i såväl skolans sfär som i media och inom politiken. Dessa debatter kan ses som ett sätt att skapa en normalitet, och en strävan efter att få fler att ansluta sig till de olika parternas uttalade uppfattningar om läxans förekomst. Tillsammans med denna debatt utgör läroplanen några av de normer som skolans aktörer ska förhålla sig till gällande läxorna. Trots att läxan inte nämns i läroplanen så lever läxan vidare och vi väljer därför att betrakta läxan som en norm, som följs av inte bara skolans aktörer och eleverna utan även av föräldrar. Även fast läxan i huvudsak berör eleven anser vi att elevernas talan om läxor inte representeras i de debatter som förs, och vi undrar därför; var är elevernas talan om läxor? Vi har därför valt att anta ett elevperspektiv och använder oss av en diskursanalytisk ansats för att förmedla deras uppfattningar om läxor. Eftersom vi anser att läxan är en norm som konkurrerar med andra normer väljer vi att ta ett förhandlingsperspektiv och då studera; Vilka förhandlingar deltar eleverna i om läxor, och hur påverkas dessa förhandlingar av normer och diskurser?

This study got its origin in the failed climate negotiations in the Copenhagen 2009 summit. By conducting a public good game, with participants from China and Sweden, my study indicates that previous studies on public good games can predict the outcome of the game to a quit large extent even though most of my statistical tests came out statistically insignificant. My study also indicates that by framing the game as climate negotiations there were no statistical significant difference on the level of contributions in comparison to the unframed versions of the game. The awareness of the issues with emissions, global warming and other environmental problems are pretty high but even so when push comes to shove gains in the short run are prioritized to gains in the long run. There are however hypothetical willingness to come to term with the environmental issues. The results of the study indicate that the outcome of the Copenhagen summit can be avoidable but would need additional experiments made on cultural differences and behavior.

Multiagent systems (MAS) are systems consisting of several autonomous entities, called agents, which interact with each other to either further their own interests (competition) or in pursuit of a joint goal (cooperation). In systems composed of multiple autonomous agents, negotiation is a key form of interaction that enables groups of agents to arrive at a mutual agreement regarding some belief, goal or plan. The aim of this thesis is to develop a multiagent system that simulates the negotiation process between parties about sharing of cost overrun in international construction projects. The developed tool can be used to understand how the risks and associated costs are shared between parties under different scenarios related with the risk allocation clauses in the contract, objectives of parties and level of knowledge about actual sources of cost overrun. MAS can be utilized by decision-makers to predict potential outcomes of a negotiation process.

<p>The objective of the thesis is to study the Sri Lankan negotiation process during 2000-2006 sponsored by the Norwegian facilitation and further to analyse the major constraints hin-dering a final solution.</p><p>The stated purpose is analysed by studying both primary and secondary materials such as official documents, research and newspaper articles. One of the major findings of the thesis is that the Norwegian facilitation has not been very effective mainly due to both domestic and international political developments in recent years. In the case of domestic politics, the Sri Lankan political arena has a tradition of political crisis which is mainly a result of the two major Sinhalese parties fighting for power. These parties have been blocking any sus-tainable solution for Tamil demands while focusing on their political power.</p><p>Furthermore, international attitudes towards the warring parties are found to have had a huge impact on the Sri Lankan peace process during the studied period. Since one of the major constraints in the negotiation process appears to be that the Government of Sri Lanka seems to have adopted the international “realpolitik” on its domestic issue in the name of the war on terror. This political strategy may further inflate the already existing na-tionalism among the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority and thus may intensify the conflict.</p>

<p>This report asks the question how to balance thepreservation of cultural built heritage against other publicand private interests in local planning. The aim of the studyis to contribute to knowledge about how different actors valuethe built heritage and how they interact in planning. The studydiscusses how this knowledge can be taken into account inplanning practice. As society develops further into a knowledgesociety, the valuation of local environmental qualities seemsto be more complex than during previous decades. For thatreason the maintenance of cultural built heritage is moredifficult to handle than before. The planning process has bytradition been characterised by a strong public sectorinvolvement and by strict procedural links to the regulationsystem. However, private initiatives have come to play anincreasingly important role in the planning process. Thesechanges have led to a situation where decision-making becomesinformal. The question is if planning functions in such waythat all values represented by different interests areconsidered carefully when decisions are made for preservation,renewal or change of the builtenvironment. There are reasonsto question the notion of citizen representation by localpoliticians and experts of various kinds. The theoreticalfoundation for the study is economic valuation theory, andespecially environmental economics, in combination withnegotiation theory and planning theory. These theories are usedas a starting point for an analysis of different actors’understanding of the cultural built heritage, their incentivesfor participating in planning, and, hence, for understandingthe interaction which determines preservation practice.Empirical findings are based on a case study of planning andheritage management in the municipality of Umeå. Itincludes studies of five recently completed planning processesconcerning specific real estate properties, as well as, aquestionnaire directed to a random selection of 1000inhabitants in the municipality. The study concludes that theoutcome of planning to a substantial part is depending of theinteraction and relations between the stakeholders, and, hence,structured by what has developed as the intellectual traditionand context of the city. The study shows that the builtenvironment seen as a public good in general is not fullyacknowledged and understood. Consequently, the private goodcharacteristic of the built environment is stressed inplanning, not only by private actors, but also by the publicsector. Furthermore, the study concludes that one importantissue in the management of the cultural built heritage is todraw on the actors’incentives for preservation, hence,paying more attention to the question of future direct andindirect use of the built heritage. An actor who primarilyfocuses on existence value runs the risk of being situated inthe margin of planning, with no real influence on decisionsconcerning heritage management.</p>

<p>Background: The increasing global business competitiveness thoroughly intensifies the demand for improvements of communication and negotiation skills in order to adjust competence to successfully conduct the work of getting treaties of cooperation and business development to work everywhere. It is simply a matter of survival for an increasing amount of multinational companies operating in all kinds of different locations and businesses around the world. This state of nature also holds for Swedish and Spanish companies, that both heavily depend on foreign trade, and whose negotiating behavior is going to be the focus of this study. For every international company facing the challenges of developing new business in foreign cultures it should be of interest to find out what would improve their business interactions. The study is therefore investigating possible ways of how to deal with cultural implications that might appear in international business negotiations. </p><p>Purpose: To study and analyze the presence of cultural impact on international business negotiations, with a special emphasis on Swedish-Spanish business negotiators. </p><p>Method: Considering negotiations as a process-oriented phenomenon observed from empirical studies of individual cases and drawing conclusions thereof, the study takes a hermeneutic qualitative-inductive interaction approach. The frame of references are constitued by a thorough spectra of well established theories developed within the fields of communication, negotiation and intercultural studies. </p><p>Result: The study proves that the behavior of negotiators are influencing the outcome of the negotiation, particularly in international contexts where the parties have different experiences, historical and cultural backgrounds as well as different perspectives on life.</p>

<p>This study was performed during the period March – May of 2007 in Kampala and Gulu district, Uganda, and it was made possible due to a scholarship from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The main focus of the study is to examine and analyse the peace process taking place in Juba (the Juba talks), southern Sudan, with the goal to solve the 20 year old conflict in northern Uganda between the government of Uganda and the rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army. I am doing this by, first; identify the actors involved by using John Paul Lederach’s pyramid which includes three levels of actors, second; study different methods for peacebuilding and thereafter identify which methods have been used in the Ugandan case and third; discover to what extent the civil society and more specifically women’s organisations have contributed to this process.</p><p>The data collected consist of qualitative literature studies, analyses of articles dealing with the peace talks and interviews with representatives from different levels of the Ugandan society.</p><p>The analyse of the material shows that all levels of the society have been involved to some extent, but that the peace process is mainly characterized by the top-down approach to peacebuilding, with the top level leaders as the main actors. I also found that women’s organisations in Uganda want to engender the peace talks, for example by bringing women to the negotiation table and let them participate in high level decision-making. Finally, the civil society has in general contributed to a large extent to the negotiations in order to bring peace, yet with different results.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-220). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-220). Also available on the Internet.

In the 1990s Palestinian refugees sought to secure a seat in negotiations alongside the PLO and Israel in talks to resolve their situation. Their efforts raise a number of basic questions concerning the right to political participation and the negotiation of durable solutions to refugee situations. First and foremost is the question of whether peace negotiations comprise a conduct of public affairs under international law entailing a concomitant right to take part. Second and related is the question of whether citizens, refugees in particular, have a right to take part in the conduct of public affairs when they are outside their country of citizenship voluntarily or otherwise. This study examines these questions through legal analysis of the right to political participation under international treaty law, jurisprudence and soft law and through empirical analysis of all negotiated settlements to armed conflict between 1990 and 2000. The study concludes that while refugees did not have a &quot;right&quot; to take part in the negotiation of durable solutions during the period under consideration, the PLO and Israel may have nevertheless had an obligation to facilitate the participation of refugees in a manner that would have allowed for substantial influence on decisions affecting their lives with the objective of shared ownership of agreements reached. The study also finds that between 1990 and 2000 few refugees appeared to take part directly in the direct negotiations to their situation. The implementation of durable solutions and agreements reached along with unofficial or indirect peacemaking mechanisms appeared to comprise the primary or most common domains for political participation. The study concludes that the negotiation of durable solutions for refugees is nevertheless a developing area of law and practice which has arguably strengthened in the decade since Israel and PLO sought to achieve a negotiated solution to the Palestinian refugee issue.