Background: The implementation of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) in low to middle income (LMICs) has been followed by a marked reduction in their progress on economic growth, social indicators and health outcomes. Comprehensive and contextualized explorations of the effects of SAPs are needed to assist health and social policy-makers in better determining responses to such programs that continue to dominate global trade, aid and debt cancellation negotiations.<p>Methods: A comparative case study of Argentina and Uruguay was developed exploring the effects of SAPs on health. Drawing from a population health perspective and using a framework developed to analyze the relationship between globalization and health, changes in domestic policies resulting from SAPs and the corresponding population health outcomes of the countries were explored. <p>Results: In general, SAPs were implemented with greater severity and speed in Argentina than in Uruguay, with the greatest differences occurring over the 1980s. The more gradual and modest reforms implemented in Uruguay over the 1980s were associated with better population health outcomes. As Uruguays reforms began to accelerate and more closely resemble Argentinas over the 1990s, differences in population health of the countries were diminished.<p>Conclusions: Findings support those of previous studies demonstrating that countries that have maintained more protectionist policies have been better able to protect the health of the most vulnerable sectors of society.

Denna uppsats undersöker vilken roll två rektorer för gymnasieskolor spelar för hur den nya skollagen tolkas och implementeras. Tidigare forskning kring rektorrollen i Sverige har visat att  kommunaliseringsreformerna under 1990-talet ledde till att styrdokumenterna fick mycket större utrymme för tolkning. I detta läge har kontextuella faktorer blivit allt viktigare för att avgöra hur rektorer förhåller sig till styrdokumenterna.  Begrepp såsom styrmedel, ledarskapsnormer samt personliga normer är relevanta i detta avseende. Utgår man från fallstudiens empiriska material kan det föreslås att de två skolornas profil och organisation har en viktog roll i att avgöra vilka delar av skollagen de respektive rektorerna väljer att fokusera på. De här faktorerna bidrar således till hur rektorer väljer att betrakta sin roll in skollagens genomförande. Fallstudiens resultat diskuteras i ljuset av såväl tidigare forskning som samhällsdebatten kring utbildningsreformerna. På basis av den empiriska materialet resonerar uppsatsen att rektorerna har behållit ett visst mått av tolkningsutrymme vad gäller specifika åtgärder, trots att skollagen ökar statens juridiska makt överlag. Däremot anser rektorer att skollagens tydlighet på många punkter har gjort att rektorer upplever skollagens tolkningsutrymme som relativt begränsat. / This dissertation explores the role of two Swedish upper secondary school principals in the process of interpreting and implementing the Education Act. Previous research around the role of school principals in Sweden has shown that decentralization reforms in the 1990’s has resulted in much broader interpretative frameworks for central steering documents. In this situation contextual factors are important for determining how principals relate to central steering documents. Concepts such as governing tools, leadership style and personal norms are relevant in relation to this process. Based on the empirical material gathered in the case study it is suggested that the profile and internal organization of the two schools in question play an important role in determining which parts of the Act the respective principals choose to focus on. These factors thus help shape how the principal sees his/her role in the implementation of the Act. The results of the case study are discussed in the light of such previous research, as well as a wider political debate around the recent educational reforms. On the basis of the empirical material it is proposed that although the Education Act increases the judicial powers of school principals, principals still retain some independence vis-à-vis the state with regard to the implementation of certain specific measures contained within the Act. Nevertheless, principals express the view that the clarity of the Act on many points has ensured that the degree of free interpretive space experienced by principals with regard to the Act has been relatively small.

This thesis analyses determinants for structural reforms in the euro area. First, it is theoretically scrutinized how the common monetary policy of the European Central Bank causes a reform bias between small and large countries. Second, it is examined how private market adjustment, structural reforms and their interaction affect the intra-euro area current account balances of euro area countries. Third, it is analysed how an asymmetric foreign asset and liability distribution across the euro area affects single countries need for structural reforms of labour markets. Fourth, the impact of fiscal stabilization policy on structural reform activity will be examined.

The aim of the thesis is to analyze the transformation of the Turkish welfare regime in the framework of the social security reforms and the effect of the individual pension system on both this transformation and women&rsquo / s welfare considering the gender gap in retirement. While there is a growing literature on Turkey&rsquo / s social security reform, there are only few studies on the gender dimension of social security and the gender effects of the reform. This study aims to contribute to this literature by examining the gender gap in recently introduced individual pension system (2003) in Turkey from a sociological perspective. The literature review focuses mainly on Esping-Andersen&rsquo / s welfare regime typology and its critics to categorize the current welfare regime of Turkey. The Southern European welfare regimes are examined particularly to construct a theoretical framework for the Turkish welfare regime and its transformation. Furthermore, the literature on gender inequality and social security is examined to discuss the gender gap in private pension systems. This thesis based upon some statistical and actuarial analyses to explore the gender gap. By using &lsquo / actual data&rsquo / the effects of some sociodemographic and socio-economic factors on the participation and the contribution rate to the individual pension system are examined. Besides, gender gap in benefits that arise from the defined contribution schemes in a serious of projection using a stochastic actuarial model is analyzed. The study is supported by the interviews made with three experts and decision makers about these issues.

This thesis analyses the neoliberal reforms in the public procurement field by comparing the Northern and Southern examples, with a particular focus on the enactment of the Turkish Public Procurement Law and the establishment of Turkish Public Procurement Agency in 2001. This thesis argues that despite the depoliticisation claims of neoliberal ideology the reforms in the public procurement field have gone through a highly politicised process in both North and South. The reforms launched in the procurement field have been constructed around different languages. The language of reform has intended to delegitimize any business-state cooperation. This type of language of reform in themSouth, particularly in Turkey, has turned into a strategy to open the state procurement market to the Western foreign firms on equal footing with the national ones. Coming under the pressure of different coalition groups of national and foreign capital owners, the Turkish government of has intervened in the decisions of the Public Procurement Authority, which has been formed as an independent regulatory agency and in the Public Procurement Law, which was initially enacted to guarantee transparency. This thesis has reviewed the processes of the enactment and amendment of the Public Procurement. Eventually it states that the highly technical language of reform in the procurement field is highly political, and aims to redistribute resources between different capital groups.

Over the past few decades, the volume of international migrants has increased considerably. As a result, impacts of international migration on migrants' communities of origin have become much more prevalent and diverse. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, this dissertation investigates a little studied aspect of such diverse impacts: the impact upon ethnic structures and relations in migrants' communities of origin. More specifically, I examine to what extent international migration affects the level of socioeconomic inequality across ethnic groups and how such impacts influence indigenous people's ethnic identity in two Central American countries: Guatemala and Nicaragua. I contend that ethnic identity shift is one of the most significant changes that international migration brings to these countries because such a shift can even endanger the existence of the indigenous population. I have found that international migration reinforces ethnic identity shift from indigenous to Mestizo in both countries. At the same time, the pace of such a shift differs by a community's characteristics including its demographic composition and definition of indigenousness. While it is hard to deny the fact that international migration provides indigenous people in both countries economic opportunities that are hard to obtain through other ways, it can also have unexpectedly negative effects on ethnic minorities and their cultures in the long run. Since indigenous people in both countries face a tough economic reality, it is difficult to prevent them from migrating to other countries. In such a situation, to conserve indigenous cultures and prevent more indigenous people from abandoning their ethnic identities, we need to assure that indigenous people can feel pride in their cultures while they participate in national economy and politics under the strong pressure caused by changes originating from international migration and multicultural reforms. Understanding how the definition of indigenousness is constructed and transformed as well as a mechanism of ethnic identity shift is an essential step to finding solutions to the dilemma related to international migration among indigenous people and achieving a robust multicultural society. / text

During the late eighteenth century, as part of a broader reform initiative commonly referred to as the “Bourbon reforms,” royal officials attempted to transform theatrical productions at Mexico City’s Real Coliseo (Royal Theater). Influenced by new intellectual trends in Spain, especially the neoclassical movement, reformers hoped that theater could serve as a school of virtue, rationality and good citizenship. This essay analyzes the theatrical reform effort, traces its foundations from sixteenth-century Spain to eighteenth-century Mexico, and seeks to explain why the initiative failed to transform either the Coliseo’s shows or its audience’s artistic predilections. It argues that the initiative was unsuccessful for three primary reasons. First, reformers did not have the power to compel impresarios and actors to obey their new regulations, and economic constraints sometimes forced officials to bend their strict aesthetic standards to appease the audience's largely baroque predilections. Second, Mexico City’s diverse and thriving public sphere made imposing a new popular culture profoundly difficult, especially given that reformers’ one-dimensional vision of neoclassicism failed to account for the variety and debate within this movement. Consequently, the theater added fuel to public debate over the definition of buen gusto (good taste), rather than merely instructing passive citizens as reformers had hoped. Finally, widespread public derision of the performing profession meant that many spectators did not take actors seriously as teachers of morality, taste and rationality. Actors’ reputation as immoral lowlifes, which derived in part from late-sixteenth century debates in Spain over morality and illusion in drama, complicated reformers' already difficult project of transforming the theater into a school of sociability and citizenship. / text

Studiens syfte var att undersöka fängelsereformsattityder i Sverige med syfte att utreda om dessa korrelerade med kön, politisk tillhörighet, ålder och urvalsgrupp. Detta utförs genom att replikera en tidigare amerikansk studie inom samma ämne. Resultaten från den svenska studien jämfördes även med den amerikanska. Urvalsgrupperna utgjordes av allmänheten(N=105), före-detta kriminella (N=48) och högskolestudenter vid Högskolan i Skövde (N=252). Respondenterna nåddes via en mailenkät.Resultaten visade att de svenska respondenterna hade mer positiva attityder gentemot fängelsereformer än deras amerikanska motparter.Före-detta kriminella var mer positivt inställda till fängelsereformer än studenter och allmänheten. Vad gäller politisk tillhörighet, hade vänsterblocket mer positiva attityder mot fängelsereformer än högerblocket. Ålder hade ett positivt samband med fängelsereformsattityder. Det framkom även att i Sverige har kvinnor till en högre grad än män, höll attityden att våldsbrottsförövare borde få en hårdare bestraffning än andra brottslingar. Det skulle kunna vara av intresse att en studie utförs med syfte att undersöka dessa attityder relaterat till kön, för att se ifall det rör sig om interkulturella skillnader. / The purpose of this study was to investigate prison reform attitudes to see if they correlated with gender, political affiliation, age and sample group. The sample groups were the general population (N=105), ex-criminals (N=48) and students at the University of Skövde (N=252). The respondents were reached by an email survey. This was done by replicating a previously done American survey study. The results from the Swedish study were reviewed in comparison with the American study. The results showed that Swedish respondents held more positive prison reform attitudes than did their American counterparts. Ex-criminals were more positive towards prison reforms than students and the general population. Regarding political affiliation, the Swedish left-wing had more positive attitudes towards prison reforms than did the right-wing. The study also found a positive correlation between age and prison reform attitudes. It was found that Swedish women had more punitive attitudes towards violent criminals than other criminals, than did the men. It would be interesting to research these attitudes and how they relate to gender, to see whether they are a product of intercultural differences.

Darbe atlikta teorinė bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų veikla pokyčių sąlygomis analizė. Supažindinama su pokyčių realizavimo kliūtimis ir kaip mažinamas pasipriešinimas pokyčiams. Iškelta hipotezė : Tikėtina, jog mažinant atsparumą pokyčiams bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose lemia mokytojų asmeninės savybės bei vadovų vadybiniai gebėjimai valdant pokyčius. Pedagogu konservatyvumas, novacijų prasmės nesuvokimas, informacijos stoka, stabdo novacijų atėjima i ugdymo įstaigas. Todėl yra labai svarbu pedagogų švietimas šiuo klausimu. Taip pat yra reikalinga vadovų ir pedagogų kolegialumo principu paremtas bendravimas, problemų susijusiu su naujovių atėjimu sprendimas, norint išvengti bet kokio pasipriešinimo diegiant novacijas. Tyrime dalyvavo 150 vadovų iš įvairių Lietuvos bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų (darželiai, pradinės mokyklos, vidurinės mokyklos ir gimnazijos). Tyrimas vyko 2009 – 2010 metais. Svarbiausios tyrimo išvados : 1. Mokytojai edukaciniams pokyčiams šiandieninėje mokykloje dažniausiai priešinasi dėl pačių mokytojų asmeninių savybių. Vadovai įvardija mokytojų neapibrėžtumo grėsmę, baimę rizikuoti, per siaurą požiūrį į problemą, negebėjimą identifikuoti problemos, nepasirengimą numatomiems pokyčiams, jų kompetencijos trūkumą, mokytojų konservatyvumą. Tačiau didžiausią problemą vadovai įžvelgia pedagogų nesidomėjimą novacijomis ir informacijos stoką. 2. Vadovų pastangos įtraukti darbuotojus į pokyčių planavimą ir diegimą gerinant ir tobulinant pedagogų žinias ir kompetenciją... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The theoretical analysis of the activity of basic education schools acting under the conditions of reforms has been carried out in this research. The obstacles of the realization of reforms and the decrease of the resistance for changes have been presented. The following hypothesis: It seems likely that individual features of teachers and managerial abilities of leaders while controlling alterations determine reducing the resistance for alterations at comprehensive schools. Conservatism of pedagogues, incomprehension of novation meaning and lack of information stops the coming of novations to comprehensive schools. That is why the education of pedagogues is so important aspect. Also the interaction based on leaders and pedagogues principle of collegiality, solutions of problems concerned with coming innovation on purpose avoiding any resistance while implanting novations is really required. 150 directors from various basic education schools in Lithuania had participated in this research (kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools and gymnasiums). The research was performed in 2009-2010. The most important findings of this research: 1. Mostly teachers resist for educational alterations at modern-day schools regarding their own individual features. Leaders mark the threat of teachers’ indetermination, fear to risk, too narrow view to problem, incompetence to identify problem, no forwardness to predictable alterations, lack of teachers competences, conservatism of... [to full text]

Darbe teoriniu ir praktiniu aspektais nagrinėjamos policijos personalo kaitos ir valdymo problemos. Darbą sudaro trys skyriai. Pirmajame skyriuje nagrinėjami teoriniai policijos personalo kaitos problemos aspektai, skyriuje atlikta analizė apibendrinama sudarant policijos personalo kaitos vertinimo teorinį modelį. Antrajame darbe skyriuje pateikiama policijos personalo kaitos problemos tyrimo metodologija. Trečiojoje darbo dalyje atliekama teisės aktų, statistinė analizė, nagrinėjant Lietuvos policijos reformavimo eigą, personalo valdymo ypatumus, policijos personalo tekamumo duomenis. Skyriuje analizuojami atliktos Lietuvos policijos pareigūnų anketinės apklausos rezultatai, pateikiami siūlymai, kaip galima spręsti Lietuvos policijos personalo kaitos problemas. Magistro baigiamajame darbe formuluojama problema – kokiais policijos personalo valdymo sprendimais gali būti mažinama policijos personalo kaita. Darbo objektas –policijos personalo kaita. Darbo tikslas – ištirti Lietuvos policijos personalo kaitos reformų laikotarpiu problemą. Formuluojami darbo uždaviniai: Išanalizuoti teorinius policijos personalo kaitos problemos aspektus; Pateikti policijos personalo kaitos vertinimo teorinį modelį; Išnagrinėti Lietuvos policijos reformavimo ir valdymo aspektus; Atlikti Lietuvos policijos personalo kaitos ir personalo valdymo problemų tyrimą; Pateikti Lietuvos policijos personalo kaitos problemų sprendimo galimybes reformų kontekste. Magistro baigiamajame darbe naudoti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Masters degree final contains theoretical and practical analysis of problem of the flow of Lithuania‘s police personnel and problems of personnel management. The Masters degree final contains three parts. In the first part the theoretical analysis of police personnel flow problem was made. In the second part the methodology of the research of police personnel flow and personnel management problem was presented. In the third part the results of the empirical research police personnel flow in Lithuania and problems of personnel management in police were analyzed, the solutions were presented. Masters degree final contains theoretical and practical analysis of problem of the flow of Lithuania‘s police personnel and problems of personnel management. The object of the master’s degree finals is the police personnel flow. The goal of master’s degree finals is to research the problem of police personnel flow in the period of reforms. The objects of master’s degree finals: to analyze theoretical aspects of police personnel flow; To present a theoretical model of police personnel flow analysis; To analyze the aspects of Lithuania‘s police reform and police personnel managements; To research the Lithuania‘s police personnel flow problem; To propose solutions for Lithuania‘s police personnel flow problem possibilities. The methods of master‘s degree finals: analysis of scientific literature; law analysis, questionnaire research, mathematical-statistical analysis, correlation analysis... [to full text]