Accession negotiations to the EU since 2004 brought significant changes to European enlargement customary law and exacerbated the reliance of the Commission on conditionality to impose its leverage on present and prospective member states. The subsequent development of European norms in the pre-accession phase was transposed onto current member states and led to the edification of a Normative Empire. This research reformulated the concept of Normative Empire while resting on factual and contemporary evidence. It investigated why the increasingly significant role in conditionality of the principle of independence of the judiciary contributed to the metamorphosis of the EU into a Normative Empire. The argumentation of this research rested on the study of Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. In addition to their geographical kinship, these three cases share issues of rampant corruption, notably in the political and judicial structures, which remain the main obstacles to their accession or full membership. The analysis of the Commission's influence in judicial reforms during the pre and post-accession phases was supported by a thorough study of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism and the progress reports from 2004 till present. In conclusion, the Commission's post-accession monitoring in Bulgaria and...

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The practice and study of public administration has long included questions of efficiency, effectiveness, and economy. In the literature of the last decade, the New Public Management (NPM) movement argues that government should be run like a business and that entrepreneurial-based techniques should be utilized in an effort to enhance government performance. The normative perspective, however, raises counter ideas. The primary purpose of this research is to examine the impact of managed competition, a NPM technique, on four primary study areas including (1) democratic governance, (2) the politics administration dichotomy, (3) organizational effects, and (4) accountability. The study findings indicate that the economic model has had a significant impact on the four study areas to varying degrees. The theoretical propositions posed in the study center around principal-agent theory, public choice theory, and the market model and aid in reconciling the NPM perspective with normative considerations applicable to local government practice. Examining managed competition allows us to see how Charlotte has evolved in its attempt to meet demands from both perspectives. / Ph. D.

In this paper I will address a puzzle about normative significance of gender terms. On the one hand, gender is tied to many normative judgments, and questions about gender make a difference in what one should do. On the other hand, everyday use of gender terms is in flux, and there is not a consensus among language speakers about their meaning. So, questions involving gender terms are in an important sense verbal and, thus, insubstantial. If there are multiple interpretations of a gender term, questions involving them would merely leave us in a dilemma and answering them cannot provide normative guidance. After exploring the puzzle that arises from this tension, I will discuss two possible solutions to it. / Master of Arts / Gender is a normative notion: Questions involving gender terms, such as "woman", guide one's actions and influence decision-making in everyday life situations. However, gender terms can carry multiple meanings in different contexts. This feature of these terms would make questions about them particularly hard to answer: There are situations where two opposing answers to the question are equally permissible. But that raises a tension: How can a question that does not have a unique answer make a difference in what should be done in any situation? In this paper I will address a puzzle that arises from this tension and will discuss two potential solutions.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka relationen mellan commitment gentemot organisationen och chefs-commitment i en svensk kontext med hjälp av TCM Employee Commitment Survey. Metoden för att undersöka detta var en webbenkät som delades ut till sammanlagt 188 personer, med en svarsfrekvens på 35%. Respondenterna arbetade i tre olika organisationer inom offentlig sektor. I enkäten fick respondenterna ta ställning till påståenden rörande sin organisation och sin närmaste chef. Resultatet visade att ju lägre continuance commitment är gentemot närmaste chef, desto högre är affective commitment gentemot organisationen. Vidare visade resultatet att ju högre continuance commitment är gentemot närmaste chef, desto högre är continuance commitment gentemot organisationen. Dessutom visade resultatet att ju högre normative commitment gentemot närmaste chef är, desto högre är normative commitment gentemot organisationen. I motsats till tidigare studier fann vi ingen korrelation mellan affective commitment gentemot organisation och affective commitment gentemot närmaste chef. / The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between organizational commitment and supervisor commitment within a Swedish context using TCM Employee Commitment Survey. Measures were done via a questionnaire distributed to a total of 188 people, with a response rate of 35%. The respondents were employees from three different organizations within the public sector. They were asked to consider different statements regarding their organization, their supervisor and work-related identity. The results showed that if continuance commitment to supervisor is low, affective organizational commitment will be high. The results also showed that when continuance commitment to supervisor was high, continuance organizational commitment was also high. When normative supervisor commitment was high, so was normative organizational commitment. In contrast to previous studies, we found no correlation between affective organizational commitment and affective commitment to supervisor.

The purpose of this study was to examine gender depiction in picture books in preschools. Our experience is that many picture books contain old-fashioned gender stereotypes. During the analysing process, we used the following theories: Yvonne Hirdman’s theory about the stereotypic gender contract and Lev Vygotskij’s theory about experiences increasing our ability to fantasize. We read through 154 picture books in two preschools and categorized them into two categories: normative and non-normative books. Later we chose ten of these books for further analysis. Furthermore, we interviewed five preschool teachers about their views and experiences in the subject, gender in children’s picture books. We used a qualitative method when analysing both the picture books and the interviews. Noticeably, none of the ten books we analysed thoroughly were completely normative or completely non-normative; they all contained more or less content from each category. Despite this, most of the 154 books were more normative than not. Also, all of the preschool teachers said in the interviews that they thought it important in what way gender is depicted in the book collection they have in the preschool. However, most of them also said that they don’t think that the books have much influence over children’s apprehension of gender. The preschool teachers also described different ways in which they made compensations for the normativity in the books.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the Moldovan government has become both fragile and unpredictable. With a high susceptibility to external pressures, the country has fallen into a limbo between democracy and autocracy and is today classified as a hybrid regime. Since Moldovas entry to the EU's Neighborhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership in 2008, the country's sensitivity to social and political change has become evident. The EU has acted as a normative power in the country in several ways by pursuing a neighborhood policy that seeks to consolidate European norms. This study aims to explain how the EU can be seen as a normative power in Moldova through the theoretical framework of Normative Power Europe (NPE). The thesis also aims to descripture how the EU uses the five basic principles of NPE regarding peace, freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law as normative guidelines for influencing the country's political direction. A conclusion can be drawn that the EU appears to be using the neighborhood policy tools to consolidate European norms through sanctions, association agreements and treaties, thus keeping Moldova's political development in an iron fist.

American philosopher and theologian, John M. Frame (1939—) is respected as one of the most outstanding systematic theologians in our day. Likely due to the fact that he is still living, academic scholarship on Frame is virtually non-existent. Still, his writings demand engagement especially in the light of his distinctive Lordship theology, and its unique core idea: perspectivalism, also known as the lordship principle. The aim of this present research is thus to define precisely what “lordship” means to Frame. Deciphering this meaning requires more than explication, but also interrogative interaction. The research will thus begin with a biblical-theological evaluation of the Framian idea of lordship in dialogue with the eminent, Dutch theologian, Abraham van de Beek. It then moves to an evaluation of how perspectivalism affects Frame’s views on ethics, apologetics, and theology of culture. The research in these areas will scrutinize Frame’s corpus as well as examine his views in colloquia with thinkers with shared interests. Because these disciplines are linked in Frame with other areas of his thought, the data also include explications and appraisals of his work in ontology and epistemology. Frame’s lordship principle is linked with a particular methodology. He sums the whole of God and his involvement with his creation according to three perspectives (hence perspectivalism). Those are God’s control, authority and presence. Frame sums the human response to these perspectives according to three related ideas: the existential, normative, and existential. God’s perspectival interaction with his creation, and the human response, by both Christian and non-Christian alike, leads Frame to original outcomes in dogmatics, which are explored in this work. The finding of this research demonstrates a theological approach that bridges both essential and constructive interests. That is to say that, on the one hand, Frame’s method is guided solely by the voice of Scripture while, on the other hand, his lordship principle presents historic Reformed theology afresh in ways previously undiscovered. Frame’s original approach may well set the stage for an awakening of Reformed thought. It is hoped that this seminal work will spark such a revival in theology. / PhD (Dogmatics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

American philosopher and theologian, John M. Frame (1939—) is respected as one of the most outstanding systematic theologians in our day. Likely due to the fact that he is still living, academic scholarship on Frame is virtually non-existent. Still, his writings demand engagement especially in the light of his distinctive Lordship theology, and its unique core idea: perspectivalism, also known as the lordship principle. The aim of this present research is thus to define precisely what “lordship” means to Frame. Deciphering this meaning requires more than explication, but also interrogative interaction. The research will thus begin with a biblical-theological evaluation of the Framian idea of lordship in dialogue with the eminent, Dutch theologian, Abraham van de Beek. It then moves to an evaluation of how perspectivalism affects Frame’s views on ethics, apologetics, and theology of culture. The research in these areas will scrutinize Frame’s corpus as well as examine his views in colloquia with thinkers with shared interests. Because these disciplines are linked in Frame with other areas of his thought, the data also include explications and appraisals of his work in ontology and epistemology. Frame’s lordship principle is linked with a particular methodology. He sums the whole of God and his involvement with his creation according to three perspectives (hence perspectivalism). Those are God’s control, authority and presence. Frame sums the human response to these perspectives according to three related ideas: the existential, normative, and existential. God’s perspectival interaction with his creation, and the human response, by both Christian and non-Christian alike, leads Frame to original outcomes in dogmatics, which are explored in this work. The finding of this research demonstrates a theological approach that bridges both essential and constructive interests. That is to say that, on the one hand, Frame’s method is guided solely by the voice of Scripture while, on the other hand, his lordship principle presents historic Reformed theology afresh in ways previously undiscovered. Frame’s original approach may well set the stage for an awakening of Reformed thought. It is hoped that this seminal work will spark such a revival in theology. / PhD (Dogmatics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015