Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies / William Schenck-Hamlin / The following research project seeks to answer the question: “To what extent can differences among juvenile detention centers be explained on the basis of concepts of restorative and retributive justice?” To investigate, mission statements were collected from a national sample of Juvenile Detention Centers. A semantic network analysis was performed to answer the above research question. The computer program CATPAC was used to create 2-d images of the semantic analysis. From these images eight themes emerged through clusters: institutional identity, public safety, life skill values, family and child tie, and community and family tie, support from staff, support from environment, and support from environment and staff. These themes were reflective of retributive or restorative orientation. Results indicate that male public institutions are reflective of retributive justice while female public, male private, and female private institutions are more reflective of restorative justice. These findings suggest biases and treatment patterns within the juvenile justice system.

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This thesis explores the Danish labor movement’s use of Twitter during the collective bargaining in spring 2018 from a mobilisation perspective. This is done to investigate 1) the form of contentious politics practiced by the Danish labor movement, and 2) the role of trade unions in the Danish labor movement. One specific hashtag, #ok18, is analyzed. This investigation mainly builds on framing theory as developed by Snow & Benford (1986; 2000) and its connection to the logic of collective action, and the logic of connective action developed by Bennet & Segerberg (2013). Three methods were used to analyze the labor movement on Twitter: a social network analysis of @mentions, semantic network analyses of Twitter streams, and a quantitative content analysis. This study finds that the most important and central actors within the labor movement on Twitter are trade unions. Nothing indicates that Danish public employees used Twitter to organize independently of trade unions. Furthermore, the labor movement used Twitter to articulate collective action frames that served as shared “schemata of interpretation” for the collective bargaining. In addition, several framing processes that changed the collective action frames were identified. These results all indicate that the labor movement’s mobilisation on Twitter during the collective bargaining of 2018 is best described by the logic of collective action. There were no indications of personalization of politics or of an increased symbolical inclusiveness. The successful mobilisation in Spring 2018 might therefore be interpreted, with the big proviso that that this study only investigates Twitter, as the first small steps towards a revitalization of conventional trade union politics in Denmark.

One of the emerging phenomena of global competition is the increasing participation of firms from emerging economies in various industries and across value chain activities. These MNCs from developing and emerging economies have recently shown an unprecedented increase in numbers (from only 19 firms in 1990 featured in the Fortune 500 list to 47 in 2005) (UNCTAD, 2006). While these Emerging Nation Multinational Companies (EMCs) are gaining a strong foothold in the global economy, some evidence also suggests that their foreign direct investments are being targeted towards advanced economies in both resource industries and higher-value adding activities. On the face of it, the disadvantages of being a late entrant seem overwhelming and based on the stages model of internationalization the EMCs may not be able to compete against global giants whose dominance is rooted in their first-mover status (Bartlett & Goshal, 2000). However, the success of EMCs like the Tata Motors, Lenovo, and the like raise an important research issue as to what are the strategies these EMCs pursue as they begin to compete in the global competitive landscape? In the past, scholars have conducted substantial research on internationalization, Multinational Companies (MNCs), and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which explain the behavior of first-mover MNCs from developed countries based on technological superiority. Those theories were developed within a specific environmental context and do an adequate job to explain a fairly specific set of observed firm behaviors. Each, within its context, may be fairly adequate at explaining those behaviors. However, the emergence of EMCs in the global economic environment highlights that times have changed and the incumbent MNCs (studied earlier) constantly face threats from these emerging giants. As the context changes, so has the ability of the prior internationalization theories to explain behaviors observed in this global economy diminished considerably. Lately, a few researchers have started a new line of research to uncover some distinct characteristics of these EMCs. However, very little is known about the foreign expansion strategies of these EMCs and warrants a need to explore this phenomenon in-depth. In order to bridge this gap in the literature this dissertation uses an inductive approach by conducting multiple case-studies to understand the foreign expansion strategies of sixteen companies that originate from two key emerging nations: India and China. This exploratory approach supported by computerized content analysis of longitudinal text data allows us to observe the significance of specific constructs, begin to detect patterns and regularities in the behavior of EMCs and compare EMCs originating from various emerging nations. Methodologically, the dissertation illustrates the usefulness of semantic network analysis tools, especially centering resonance analysis, in identifying and interpreting the concepts that provide coherence to set of textual data. Further, using factor analysis we identify some key themes that explain the foreign expansion strategies of these EMCs. The results of this study suggest that EMCs' expansion is, on one hand, based on their ability to acquire resources and absorb them to build their own advantage (supply side dynamics). On the other hand, it is also based on EMCs' ability to find some market niches, i.e., entering into markets untapped by traditional MNCs (demand side dynamics). Finally, based on our analysis of these in-depth case-studies we identify some propositions as anchors for further theory building. Specifically, we identify three major anchors, namely, EMCs' ability to `Lick the Dirt'; `Cash Rich Positions of EMCs' and `Strategic Partnerships with Developed Country Firms' that enhance their `Competitive Advantage in Developed Nations'. / Business Administration

<p>How does collective action operate in digital space, particularly for those social movements at the cutting edge of technologically innovative contentious politics? This dissertation analyzes activist (and hacktivist) groups engaged in what I call <i>digital contention</i> with state and corporate institutions over the future of Internet policy and governance, or what they see as “the freedom of the Internet.” Based on case studies of the Digital Rights movement and the Anonymous hacktivist collective, I use a combination of computational and qualitative analyses of online texts, along with participant-observation at meetings and protest events, to explore how certain collective action dynamics are changing in digital space. Specifically, these include how movements internally perceive political opportunities and threats, as well as how they construct frames to communicate to external audiences. I find that: 1) Political opportunity is less important than threat for activists in digital contention, which is likely due to the lower costs of collective action; and 2) The digital divide and technological knowledge gap create a barrier to frame resonance which digital activists address either through “strategic inclusiveness” or “communities of anonymity,” both of which encourage diversity among participants while also reifying other inequalities in different ways. These findings have significance for the study of social movements, communication and technology studies, and Internet policy. I argue that they portend changing dynamics that may ultimately affect all forms of collective action, and indeed the balance of power in whole societies, in the future as digital technology continues to spread into every facet of our lives.</p>