The purpose of this study is to examine the Swedish parliamentary debate on socioeconomicsegregation over two time periods: between 1995-2000 and 2016-2021. Considering thatsocioeconomic segregation has been on the rise in Sweden over the past three decades, thisstudy attempts to analyze how the Swedish parliament has discussed this particular issue.Using frame analysis, this study provides an overview of what frames are prevalent during theparliamentary debate over the course of each period. Essentially, this paper explores howsocioeconomic segregation has been conceptualized, particularly how the problem has beendefined, what the underlying causes are, what remedies are proposed, and what moraljudgments are made by political actors. As parliamentary debates frequently seem to revolvearound a struggle over who should get priority for a particular problem definition, this studyalso takes a further look at the framing strategies used by political actors in parliamentarydebates. As demonstrated in the results, there may have been a change in discourse over timeas political actors have to a greater extent moved away from an emancipatory frame in favorof a broader perspective on the segregation problem with housing policy measures as thecornerstone. In addition to showing which frames were advocated by which actor, analyzingframe construction through language to uncover who wins the hearing for their problempicture, results in a far more extensive and deepened understanding of power, politics andinterests.

This case study focuses on Ontario higher education policy and the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs). A sequence of policy shifts occurred during the last decade of the twentieth century and the early years of the new millennium. By 2002, the Government of Ontario had reviewed its position with regard to baccalaureate degree credentials being the exclusive domain of publicly supported universities. Governance arrangements for the CAATs had also changed. The new policy framework was set with two pieces of legislation, the Postsecondary Education Choice and Excellence Act, 2000, and the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Act, 2002. The purpose of this case study is to explain why these policy changes occurred. To facilitate inquiry, John W. Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Model was used as a platform and lens to guide data collection and organize the findings. For Kingdon, policy is the outcome of a complex pre-decision process that requires the ‘coupling’ of the problem, policy, and political streams at the time of an open policy window. A qualitative approach was adopted, and primary and secondary documents covering the period 1990 to 2002 were collected. In addition, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with key policy actors and policy entrepreneurs.  The study found evidence to support the Multiple Streams Model's contention of streams of processes. However, with respect to this study, two types of policy problems were found flowing in the problem stream: macro-structural policy problems shaped conditions and the scope of options available with respect to policy goals and policy solutions; and micro-specific policy problems were localized, actor identified, constructed, and linked to specific interests. The study also found that historical institutional structures, and intermediate institutions, had a significant impact on policy development. The policy changes occurred as the result of two open policy windows, and in both instances, policy entrepreneurs were able to couple the policy streams to effect change. In view of the findings, a Structured Dynamics Model of Policy Development is offered as an explanation of the policy changes and for consideration in future inquiry.

This case study focuses on Ontario higher education policy and the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs). A sequence of policy shifts occurred during the last decade of the twentieth century and the early years of the new millennium. By 2002, the Government of Ontario had reviewed its position with regard to baccalaureate degree credentials being the exclusive domain of publicly supported universities. Governance arrangements for the CAATs had also changed. The new policy framework was set with two pieces of legislation, the Postsecondary Education Choice and Excellence Act, 2000, and the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Act, 2002. The purpose of this case study is to explain why these policy changes occurred. To facilitate inquiry, John W. Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Model was used as a platform and lens to guide data collection and organize the findings. For Kingdon, policy is the outcome of a complex pre-decision process that requires the ‘coupling’ of the problem, policy, and political streams at the time of an open policy window. A qualitative approach was adopted, and primary and secondary documents covering the period 1990 to 2002 were collected. In addition, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with key policy actors and policy entrepreneurs.  The study found evidence to support the Multiple Streams Model's contention of streams of processes. However, with respect to this study, two types of policy problems were found flowing in the problem stream: macro-structural policy problems shaped conditions and the scope of options available with respect to policy goals and policy solutions; and micro-specific policy problems were localized, actor identified, constructed, and linked to specific interests. The study also found that historical institutional structures, and intermediate institutions, had a significant impact on policy development. The policy changes occurred as the result of two open policy windows, and in both instances, policy entrepreneurs were able to couple the policy streams to effect change. In view of the findings, a Structured Dynamics Model of Policy Development is offered as an explanation of the policy changes and for consideration in future inquiry.

This thesis presents the theme of low political awareness of adult citizens in the Czech Republic from the perspective of public policy. Low level of political awareness is conceived as a major reason that voters are not able to vote according to their real interests. The focus is on whether the problem is a topic that public policy should pursue and whether it is possible to find a public policy tools to deal with it. It is mainly based on the three-dimensional model of political sophistication, Evert Vedung's concept of public policy instruments, the concept of the correct voting and ideas of participatory democracy. Despite the fact that the given issue bears the hallmarks of an ideal problem for public policy and we can find some tools that could improve the current situation, there are broader factors that hinder their operations. These include the impact of previous undemocratic regime or the behavior of politicians. Such barriers are closely related to the way of human thinking and can be removed only with difficulty.