This diploma thesis analyses the current state of corruption in the Czech Republic. Primarily I focus on public administration and public sector, however I seek a comprehensive view on the issue in my thesis. The first part presents the theoretical approaches to corruption, bureaucracy and public administration, lobbying, interest groups etc. The practical part deals with methods of measuring corruption, the position of the Czech Republic against other states, legal specification of corruption and the impact of corruption in the states economy. Furthermore, I present causes of origin and spread of corruption and analyse current and planned instruments of government anticorruption fight in combination with the activities of organizations dealing with corruption. The aim of my thesis is to determine whether the current anti-corruption steps are properly set and whether those steps are actually implemented.

This thesis focuses on the topic of active citizenship in democratic societies. An emphasis is placed on the clarification of the role of the citizen as an engaged participant in the political process at the local level. This issue is contextualized within the theory of democracy, which legitimacy is fulfilled by the citizen participation. The empirical part is devoted to the research of the citizen participation in the Dutch city of Utrecht, where the way of cooperation between citizens and public officers was investigated in the process of public policy making. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the form and the contribution of the civic participation in Utrecht. Keywords democracy, democracy at the local level, participatory democracy, citizen, participation, codecision, cooperation, relationship between the citizen and the politician, level of participation

Denna uppsats lyfter fram betydelsen av ekonomiska incitament för att stimulera återanvändning av byggmaterial i Sverige. Trots att byggindustrin ser fördelarna med återanvändning, visar studien att det saknas tillräckliga ekonomiska incitament för att göra det till en standardpraxis. Genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med representanter från byggindustrin och litteraturstudie, identifierade studien flera hinder som kvalitetsgaranti, byggregler, brist på kunskap och ekonomiska utmaningar. Studiens syfte var att undersöka vilka ekonomiska incitament som kunde främja användningen av återanvända byggmaterial och identifiera potentiella hinder för deras implementering. Resultaten tyder på att det för närvarande saknas direkta ekonomiska incitament som uppmuntrar byggföretag till att återanvända byggmaterial. Flera hinder har identifierats, bland annat utmaningar rörande kvalitetsgarantier, byggregler, brist på kunskap och ekonomiska svårigheter. Studien framhåller också att det krävs mer omfattande politiska och ekonomiska initiativ för att stimulera användningen av återanvända byggmaterial. Uppsatsen bidrar till den befintliga forskningen genom att ge rekommendationer till beslutsfattare och andra aktörer inom byggsektorn som är intresserade av att främja hållbarhet och miljövänliga metoder. Den föreslår att framtida forskning bör inriktas på att utforma och testa specifika ekonomiska incitament för att främja återanvändning av byggmaterial. Av studien framkommer det att byggföretag identifierar en mängd hinder och utmaningar vid återanvändning av byggmaterial. Det framkommer även att det finns en märkbar brist på ekonomiska incitament från staten för att främja användandet av återanvända byggmaterial i byggprojekt. Byggföretagen föreslog olika former av ekonomiska incitament som skulle kunna främja användningen av återanvända byggmaterial, inklusive bidrag, skattelättnader och digitala plattformar. Det fanns även en variation i politiska åsikter gällande idén om att införa ekonomiska incitament för att främja återanvändningen av byggmaterial, med en del som stödde idén och andra som motsatte sig den. / This paper highlights the importance of economic incentives in stimulating the reuse of building materials in Sweden. Although the construction industry recognizes the benefits of reuse, the study shows that there are insufficient economic incentives to make it a standard practice. Through semi-structured interviews with representatives from the construction industry and a literature review, the study identified several barriers such as quality assurance, building regulations, lack of knowledge, and economic challenges.The purpose of the study was to investigate what economic incentives could promote the use of reused building materials and identify potential barriers to their implementation.The findings suggest that there are currently no direct economic incentives that encourage construction companies to reuse building materials. Several obstacles have been identified, including challenges related to quality guarantees, building regulations, lack of knowledge, and economic difficulties. The study also emphasizes that more extensive political and economic initiatives are needed to stimulate the use of reused building materials. The paper contributes to the existing research by providing recommendations to policy makers and other actors in the construction sector who are interested in promoting sustainability and environmentally friendly methods. It suggests that future research should focus on designing and testing specific economic incentives to promote the reuse of building materials. In its conclusions, it emerges that construction companies identify a multitude of obstacles and challenges when reusing building materials. It also appears that there is a noticeable lack of economic incentives from the state to promote the use of reused building materials in construction projects. Construction companies suggested different forms of economic incentives that could promote the use of reused building materials, including grants, tax relief, and digital platforms. There was also a variation in political opinions regarding the idea of introducing economic incentives to promote the reuse of building materials, with some supporting the idea and others opposing it.

La présente thèse a été essentiellement conduite sous la supervision de M. Théodore McLauchlin, mon directeur de thèse. Toutefois, des contributions extérieures d'autres enseignants du département, ainsi que certains collègues et ami(e)s, m'ont été d'une utilité inestimable. La thèse s'est construit au travers d'un long séjour de terrain (8 mois), en vue de la collecte de données empiriques pertinentes, fait de rencontres et de découvertes très instructives et inspirantes Au final, cette thèse porte un regard critique additionnel à la problématique générale des résilience autoritaires, notamment en Afrique, sur le fondement des interventions politico-militaires des leaders politiques intéressés par la "longue durée". Ces interventions sont analysées, suivant le concept du politicien investisseur de Lacam, comme des investissements porteurs de retombées qui contribuent au renforcement ou à la suppléance des stratégies internes de survie du leader. Aussi, contribuent-elles à une certaine garantie, ou du moins gestion, de la "longue durée" de ce dernier. / Comment les investissements politico-militaires internationaux contribuent-ils à la survie des leaders personnalistes en Afrique ? L’analyse du règne de tels leaders révèle un double constat : les menaces à leur survie sont essentiellement de nature irrégulière (les coups d’État, les rébellions, les insurrections populaires, etc.) ; et leurs principales stratégies internes de survie politique, la cooptation et le coup-proofing, semblent moins aptes à les protéger contre celles-ci sur le long terme. Aussi, leurs politiques internationales, fondées sur les interventions militaires directes en appui aux États et/ou les alliances transnationales en appui aux groupes armés, constituent-elles des ressorts stratégiques au service de leur gestion de la « longue durée ». Suivant la thèse du politicien investisseur de Lacam (1988), nous appréhendons ces deux actions politico-militaires internationales susmentionnées comme des investissements porteurs de retombées (politiques, économiques et militaires), dont la captation stratégique par le leader affecte positivement sa survie politique de deux façons distinctes : directe et indirecte. Il y a impact direct, lorsque les retombées à l’œuvre suppléent les stratégies internes de survie du leader à l’occurrence d’une menace ; et indirect, lorsqu’elles les renforcent plutôt à l’occurrence ou non d’une menace. A contrario, le refus ou encore l’incapacité du leader à s’investir dans de telles actions politico-militaires le priverait de soutiens extérieurs décisifs dans la gestion de sa survie politique, et lui ferait subir, généralement, des ingérences extérieures directes et/ou indirectes à sa chute du pouvoir. À travers une approche comparative des présidents Déby et Compaoré, notre recherche repose sur le theory building process-tracing, pour analyser leur « longue durée », respectivement 30 et 27 ans, contrairement à leurs prédécesseurs immédiats, Hissène Habré et Thomas Sankara, 8 et 4 ans. Mots clés : Leaders personnalistes, survie politique, politicien investisseur, investissements politico-militaires internationaux, alliances transnationales, coup-proofing. / How do international politico-military investments contribute to the survival of personalist rulers in Africa? The analysis of the reign of such leaders reveals a double observation: the threats to their survival are essentially of an irregular nature (coups, rebellions, popular insurrections, etc.); and their main internal strategies for political survival, cooptation and coup-proofing, seem less able to protect them against these in the long term. Also, their international policies, based on direct military interventions in support of States and/or transnational alliances in support of armed groups, constitute strategic drivers at the service of their management of the “long-term”. Following the thesis of the politician investor of Lacam (1988), we apprehend these two international politico-military actions reported as redemptive investments (political, economic and military), whose strategic capture by the leader positively affects his political survival in two distinct ways: direct and indirect. There is a direct impact, when the content at work supplements the leader's internal survival strategies in the event of a threat; and indirect, when they are reinforced rather with the occurrence or not of a threat. Conversely, the leader's choice, refusal or even inability to invest in such politico-military actions would deprive him of decisive external support in the management of his political survival, and he could generally suffer external direct and/or indirect interference to his fall from power. Through a comparative approach of Presidents Déby and Compaoré, our research is based on theory building process-tracing, to analyze their " long duration ", 30 and 27 years respectively, unlike their immediate predecessors, Hissène Habré and Thomas Sankara, 8 and 4 years. Keywords: Personalist leaders, political survival, politician investors, international politico-military investments, transnational alliances, coup-proofing.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate how the politicians in five local building committees view their ability to influence their cities’ aesthetics. A secondary purpose is to document the politicians’ thoughts during a building boom. This case study is based on surveys and phone-interviews with current committee members in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Orebro and Vasteras. The results show that most of the politicians think they can affect their cities’ aesthetics and examples on when they have affected the aesthetic is provided, mainly when it comes to building colour schemes, examples are provided in the study.

Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-04T12:36:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009 / O Acidente Vascular Cerebral (AVC) é a doença que mais mata e incapacita no Brasil. Caracterizado no passado como uma doença decorrente do envelhecimento que, necessariamente, levava à morte ou à incapacitação, o AVC passou por mudanças dessas percepções devido às novas evidências científicas, que hoje consideram o AVC como uma doença previnível e tratável. As estratégias de prevenção e tratamento apontam para aprevenção primária e secundária do AVC e para um melhor reconhecimento dos grupos de indivíduos que apresentam os fatores de risco associados ao AVC. Assim, é preciso que o Estado tenha uma atuação mais ativa em busca de melhoria dos serviços de saúde, com aadoção de protocolos clínicos e incorporação de tecnologias que contribuam para um melhor cuidado ao AVC. Este estudo mostra as estratégias recomendadas pela OMS para que cada país-membro dissemine suas informações, seus programas de prevenção e acompanhamento para redução de novos casos de AVC. Com o intuito de poderem servir de referências na implantação de um melhor cuidado para AVC no Brasil, são apresentadas as estratégias implantadas pelo Reino Unido, Portugal e Estados Unidos eanalisadas as estratégias já adotadas no Brasil. São também abordados os nós críticos ou barreiras que podem trazer dificuldades na disseminação das informações sobre o cuidado ao AVC e os principais problemas que repercutem no agravamento do AVC, que estão discutidos à luz das estratégias que podem modificá-los, bem como quais são as informações que devem ser direcionadas para a população, para os gestores e para os profissionais de saúde, além dos meios mais adequados para a disseminação das informações. Os resultados encontrados mostram que são poucas as estratégias encontradas no Brasil, que tem foco explícito para o cuidado ao AVC. Por isso, são necessárias revisões das estratégias para esse cuidado, de forma que propiciem o aperfeiçoamento das ações e políticas adotadas pelos gestores de saúde, além de estimular a melhoria do atendimento e dos cuidados voltados para o AVC e proporcionar a incorporação de novas tecnologias, onde a disseminação das informações tem papel fundamental. / The Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA) is the illness that causes most deaths and incapacities in Brazil. Characterized in the past as an illness resulting from aging that, necessarily, leads to death or incapacitation, the perception of CVA has changed due to new scientific evidences that today consider CVA as a preventable and treatable illness. The strategies of prevention and treatment highlight the primary and secondary prevention of CVA and a better recognition of the groups of people that present risk factors associated with CVA. Thus, it is necessary that the state has a more active performance in search for improvement of health services, with the adoption of clinical protocols and incorporation of technologies that contribute for a better care to the CVA patients. This study shows the strategies recommended by WHO (World Health Organization) for each country-member to spread its information, its prevention programs and accompaniment for reduction of new cases of CVA. With the intention to serve as a reference of implantation of better care for CVA patients in Brazil, the strategies implemented in the United Kingdom, Portugal and United States are presented and the strategies already adopted in Brazil analyzed. This article shows the struggles or barriers that can bring difficulties for information dissemination about CVA care and the main problems that can result in aggravation of CVA symptoms, which are discussed considering the strategies that can modify them, and what kind of information must be stressed to the population, health managers and health professionals, as well the most adequate strategies for the information dissemination. The results show that in Brazil the strategies focused on care to CVA patients are few. Therefore, revisions of the strategies for this care are necessary, in a way that propitiates the perfectioning of the actions and health policies adopted by health managers, besides stimulating the improvement of attendance and care for the patients with CVA and to provide the incorporation of new technologies, where the dissemination of the information is crucial.

7 The present work deals is a biography of Professor JUDr. Cyril Horacek, who was a prominent national economist, educator and politician during the turn of the century and especially in the first third of the 20th century. It examines his life stories and personal development with an emphasis on his career economist, educator and policy with regard to his private activities and interests. In several chapters, especially those concerning economics, he puts his expert view and work into the context of that time economic thinking and compares them with the work and ideas of others Czech national economists of that time.

S’il est devenu aujourd’hui assez courant de s’intéresser à la genèse d’écrits littéraires divers, il est un genre qui ne semble guère se prêter à ce genre d’approche : le journal personnel. Écriture au jour le jour, écriture a priori spontanée semblant exclure tout brouillon, toute préparation autre que mentale, on ne voit pas bien comment on pourrait en suivre la genèse. Or les Cahiers de Jacques de Bourbon Busset que nous publions ici apportent un démenti éclatant à de tels préjugés : pendant six ans et demi, d’août 1958 à décembre 1964, l’écrivain, qui a déjà publié plusieurs récits, va s’interroger très longuement sur ce que doit être son œuvre essentielle, qu’il estime ne pas avoir encore écrite. Et ces Cahiers montrent en particulier comment, peu à peu, il évolue, abandonnant l’idée d’écrire un grand roman, puis un livre d’essais, puis un grand récit autobiographique, pour accepter finalement l’idée que l’œuvre essentielle qu’il doit écrire est son Journal, Journal qu’il publiera effectivement pendant vingt ans. Comment arriver à accepter cette idée quand on déteste l’anecdotique, la complaisance, le narcissisme et quand on refuse de prendre soi-même la parole dans ses livres ? / Although it has now become quite common to study the origins of various literary works there is one genre which would not appear to be suited to this type of approach: the personal diary. Entries are written day to day, the writing is, in principle, spontaneous, and would appear to exclude any kind of rough draft, any kind of preparation other than mental. It is difficult to see, therefore, how its origin can be tracked. And yet the Cahiers written by Jacques de Bourbon Busset that we are publishing here refute such prejudices completely: for six and a half years, from August 1958 to December 1964, the author, who had already published several books, was to ask himself at great length what his essential work was to be, work that he believed he had not yet written. And these Cahiers demonstrate specifically how he gradually evolved, abandoning ideas of writing a great novel, then a book of essays and then a major autobiographical account, before finally accepting the idea that the essential work he had to write was his Journal or private diary, a Journal that he actually published over a period of twenty years. How did he come to accept this idea when he hated all things anecdotal, self-indulgent or narcissistic and when he refused to speak in the first person in his books?

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The perspectives of unique suffragists and clubwomen in Indiana, like Grace Julian Clarke, reflect the typically overlooked narrative of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Far from a bystander, Clarke engaged in political wars at the state level long before having the right to vote. She demonstrated this ability early on when she acted as a campaign manager during the 1915 Indiana Federation of Clubs presidential election. By its end, club women around the state knew who Clarke was, trusted her word, and looked to her for critical information. As World War I encroached and threatened the nationwide fight for suffrage, Clarke again remained loyal to suffrage by using war-related activities to promote and expand awareness of women’s work and abilities in Indiana. Clarke strategically used these activities as a tool to advocate for enfranchisement by pressing leaders on her belief that women had earned their rightful place as equal partners. Although she stayed active in the suffrage movement throughout the war, it became clear toward its end that her assets as a political leader were demanded at a higher level. As such, she turned her attention toward international affairs (particularly the League of Nations) and away from suffrage. Though the United States never joined the League of Nations, Clarke’s advocacy of the covenant was critical in her formation as a true political influencer. By the time the covenant was being disputed at the national level, Clarke was corresponding with national leaders to coordinate speaking events around the state. She became more exclusive in these speaking engagements, as there were very few women who actually understood the covenant well enough to speak on its behalf. Clarke was unique in her ability to speak out for her own values, in large part due to the influence of her father, former Congressman George W. Julian. Her story demonstrates that women’s political influence did not begin nor end with the 19th amendment. Rather, women’s political influence evolved over time, and is still evolving today.