Environmental policy instruments in the Czech Republic This thesis deals with environmental policy instruments and related issues. In the introduction I analyze in general what the environment is and what role it plays in our life and its importance for life, then also by short historical excursion and also by the very definition of what is the environment and also the environmental policy itself. A large part is occupied by environmental policy actors that are an integral part of this area, as it would not be possible to carry out environmental policy without them. I divide them into state and non-state, among which the main difference is especially in volunteering. I describe their activities and examples of using individual tools in their performance. An important part is also an insight into the international area in the field of international environmental conferences as well as the European Union action plans. This section presents a brief overview of the development of international conferences on environment and sustainable development. Then, in the European Union, I am analyzing the last seventh action program in detail. Last but not least, it is also the State Environmental Policy of the Czech Republic as an important strategic document defining the further direction of the development of...

People with dementia are commonly in need of some form of social care from the social services in order to manage their everyday situations. However, social services are shaped by the construction of policy targets. The aim of this dissertation is to explore the social citizenship for people with dementia. Social citizenship for people with dementia is explored by studying how people with dementia, in policy documents, have been constructed as a target group and also by studying how policies are enacted in practice by care managers, in their work and in their meetings with people with dementia. This is illustrated by studying policy documents from national level which range over nearly 40 years and 19 interviews with care managers. It is shown that, if and when, people with dementia are visible in policy documents, they commonly have a negative construction based on their cognitive and communicative abilities, as a burden, disturbing and incapable. It is further investigated how street-level bureaucrats, in this case care managers, experience meeting with people with dementia when they apply for social services. It is shown that care-managers experience difficulties concerning this group comprised of the exchange of information between care managers and people with dementia, refusal of social services by the person, the influence of relatives and other professions as well as moral dilemmas, such as the relations between the person with dementia and their relatives. The study shows that care managers have little support from policies, e.g. legislation and guidelines, in how to handle these dilemmas, and must thus create their own local ways of handling these situations. Care managers are thus influential policy actors concerning the policy target group of people with dementia. The policy processes which this dissertation illustrates, affect the social citizenship of people with dementia. It is shown that they, to an extent, have difficulties in influencing their own everyday situation concerning social services. Finally, the policy processes, will affect their possibility to influence their social citizenship. / Personer med demenssjukdom behöver vanligtvis någon form av socialt stöd från socialtjänsten för att kunna hantera sin egen vardag. Emellertid så är socialt stöd format av konstruktionen av policymålgrupper. Syftet med denna avhandling är att undersöka det sociala medborgarskapet för personer med demenssjukdom genom att studera hur dessa personer, som policymålgrupp, har konstruerats i policydokument samt hur policys iscensätts i praktiken av biståndshandläggare inom socialtjänsten, i deras arbete och i deras möten med personer med demenssjukdom. Detta belyses genom studier policydokument på nationell nivå som spänner över nästan 40 år samt intervjuer med 19 biståndshandläggare. Studien visar att om och när personer med demenssjukdom är synliga i policydokument så har de vanligtvis en negativ konstruktion som baseras på deras kognitiva- och kommunikativa förmågor, som betungande, störande och inkapabla. Vidare undersöks i denna avhandling hur gräsrotsbyråkrater, i form av biståndshandläggare, upplever mötet med personer med demenssjukdom då de ansöker om socialt stöd från socialtjänsten. Det visas att handläggare upplever svårigheter i deras möten med denna grupp. Svårigheterna ligger i utbytet av information mellan handläggare och personen med demens, vägran från personen att ta emot stöd, inflytande från anhöriga och andra professioner samt moraliska dilemman som relationen mellan personen med demenssjukdom och anhöriga. Handläggare har lite stöd från policys, såsom lagar och riktlinjer, i hur de ska hantera dessa svårigheter och måste således hitta egna, lokala, sätt att hantera dessa situationer. Handläggare är således inflytelserika policyaktörer rörande policymålgruppen personer med demenssjukdom. De policyprocesser som avhandlingen berör påverkar det sociala medborgarskapet för personer med demenssjukdom. Det visas att de, till viss del, har svårigheter att påverka sin egen vardag i relation till stöd från socialtjänsten. Slutligen påverkar policyprocesser möjligheten för personer med demens att påverka sitt sociala medborgarskap.

The master's thesis Universal basic income as a political concept and unfulfilled social reality puts focus on the concept of universalism in social policy and the possibilities of introducing its elements in the Czech Republic. The global discussion of the philosophy of social support and the popularised idea of unconditional financial transfers from the state to all citizens are thus translated into the Czech environment. The goal is to evaluate the instances hitherto applied at home and abroad, consider the perks and shortcomings of universal income, set the discussion within the contemporary Czech social framework, and assess whether it is realistic to implement reforms of this kind. The first chapter describes universal income as a concept, the second evaluates the history of universalism in the Czech Republic, the third provides an overview of the current Czech social system, and the fourth ponders possible avenues of implementing universalist reforms. The thesis aims to verify two hypotheses: the first one is to determine to which extent previous forms of universalism in the Czech environment proved to be successful; the second deals with the possibility and merits of introducing further blanket instruments in 2020. In both cases, the research puts emphasis on cash transfers to the...

公共政策是藉由重大公共議題的討論來分析政府活動的一種研究途徑，將公共政策的過程切割成議題設定、政策規劃、政策合法化、政策執行、政策評估及政策終結等階段，雖可以獲致清晰的流程架構，但此一單向的線性思考方式，不但簡化了政策問題解決的複雜性，亦會喪失政策過程的動態本質。再者，公共政策的研究領域日益蓬勃壯大，研究途徑與方法亦漸趨多元發展，理論概念與分析架構的整合自然日趨重要，如此將有助於研究者將研究議題與經驗資料作最佳的組合。是以，本研究採取非線性的政策動態概念，對政策的演變作一有系統性的探索，在融合有關政策變遷的各種觀點後，提出「政策體系」的理論概念，建立「宏觀」的分析架構作為探索政策變遷現象的基礎。 政策體系乃是以政策過程為焦點，所有與政策性質相關的要素，都可視為政策體系的構成要素。首先，政策是在開放的體系中形成、維持、接續與終結，自環境中汲取養分同時受到環境的限制，由此觀之，外在環境因素是政策體系中不可忽略的一環。其次，討論政策體系自然不能遺漏政策本身的因素，政策乃為解決社會問題而生，沒有社會問題的存在，當然就不會有政策制定的需求，另一方面，政策本身的組構方式則是攸關問題的解決與否。再者，在民主體制中，任何的政策形成與改變都必須取得正當性的依據，只有問題的存在並不保證一定會被政府所處理，必須通過政治結構的考驗才可能有政策產出。最後，政策體系是一個互動的體系，政策參與者之間就政策方案的選擇所從事的各種行為與活動，都可能影響最後的政策產出。歸納言之，一個完整的政策體系至少應該包括幾個要素：外在環境的因素、政策本身的特性、結構性因素的作用及政策行動者的互動行為，這些要素的互動作用會導致政策的變遷。 最後，政策是政府選擇目標與工具來解決社會問題的重要活動，它不是在真空中運作，而是不斷與社會進行互動的連續性過程，這也是政策走進歷史之前會出現變遷的原因，本研究雖然提出具有規範意涵的分析政策變遷的理論架構，但是基於「真實個案是檢驗理論效度的最佳途徑」的法則，本研究以民進黨首次執政時期所推動的停建核四政策個案為例，利用文本中所建立的分析架構來詮釋此一政策變遷的過程，並在結論中整合理論與個案的研究發現，就政策體系的各個面向提出幾個有關政策變遷的假設性命題，以供後續研究之參考與檢證，進而促成政策變遷知識的深化。 / Public policy is a research approach to analyze governmental activities by discussing public issues. However, in most articles, the policy process is seen as a logical succession of steps: agenda setting, policy formulation, policy legitimation, policy implementation, policy evaluation, and policy termination. Although this progression of stages provides a clear and useful framework, it often obscures the complexities of public issues. In other words, most policies are not a process of linear development, from agenda setting to policy termination. Policy change is a common phenomenon. In this way, if we want to understand the dynamics of policy, it is helpful to take a nonlinear perspective. Policy change is used by a wide range of authors in public policy and other disciplines, but there is no consensus on what the definition of policy change is. In fact, this question has not been systematically explored until now. Policy change is not simply a label, but is an important part of the policy process. It is worth drawing more attention to this phenomenon. The aim of this study is to construct an analytical framework of policy change. Within this framework, we distinguish between different types of policy change: policy succession and policy termination, firstly. And we can find some cues from policy change, including organization, statutes, budget, personnel, and media. Secondly, we use the concept of policy system to connect with policy change. This concept contains several elements: external environment, policy attributes, institutional factor, and policy networks. These elements interact with each other to produce policy change. We use this framework to analyze policy discontinuity for the fourth nuclear power plant in 2000. Finally, policy is essentially about government. The major activity of government is seen as choosing goals and instruments to solve social problems. Policy does not exist in a vacuum; it is made in a concrete environment. We should see policy as a continuing process of social action and interaction. This is why policy may be changed before it is terminated. Finally, we provide some hypotheses and suggestions for further research at the end of this study.

Several interesting findings emerged from this study. First, strong labour movements still failed to successfully bargain for employment protections due to resistance from employers to encroachments on their institutionalized managerial prerogatives. Second, governments favoured a policy of abstentionism and acquiescence to the collective-laissez-faire tradition until the critical juncture of the 1960s and 1970s. Third, the increasing power resources of trade unions and a deteriorating socio-economic climate created a window of opportunity for bold government action to improve industrial relations, albeit without the consent of employers, and at first, unions. Fourth, contrary to the liberalizing pressures one would expect to find in an archetypical free market economy, the UK has implemented far more statutory protections than deregulatory reforms. Fifth, in contrast to its traditional non-intervention in industrial relations and reputation for worker-protective regulations, Swedish governments have enacted numerous statutes, both restricting and freeing managerial prerogatives in the hiring and firing process. Sixth, statutory employment protections became an independent set of institutional power resources for unions in the long run, serving their organizational and representational interests in important ways. Seventh, unions and left parties consistently defended and advanced the policy preferences of their core constituencies in secure employment by privileging the job security of regular contracts. Eighth, employers and parties on the right of the political spectrum consistently opposed restrictions on the managerial capacity to hire and fire at will, especially for small businesses. Nineth, to increase flexibility without threatening the stability of regular contracts, reforms over the years had to foster atypical forms of work, creating a regulatory gap between permanent and temporary employment, particularly in Sweden. Tenth, differences exist between job security in the statute books and job security in action, particularly in the UK where this gap pervades all aspects of the unfair dismissal system. These findings suggest employment protection legislation has developed in ways far more complex, dynamic and contradictory than is commonly assumed by prominent theories of comparative political economy. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis examines how and why employment protection legislation developed in the United Kingdom and Sweden in the ways that it did from its early beginnings to the present period. It hopes to offer answers to questions about the initial impetus for statutory regulation, the number, content and impact of significant legislative changes and the preferences of key stakeholders with material interests in the policymaking process. It does this by drawing on a variety of both primary and secondary source materials, including employment protection databases, parliamentary records and research publications. At the same time, it assesses the explanatory merit of dominant theories in the political economy literature by testing them against voluminous empirical evidence and provides a multi-factorial account to fill the gaps in the existing body of knowledge.