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FERNANDES, Daniel. "Governments, public opinion, and social policy : change in Western Europe." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/75046.
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Defence date: 21 November 2022Examining Board: Prof. Ellen Immergut (EUI, Supervisor); Prof. Anton Hemerijck (EUI); Prof. Christoffer Green-Pedersen (Aarhus University); Prof. Evelyne Hübscher (Central European University)
This dissertation investigates how public opinion and government partisanship affect social policy. It brings an innovative perspective that links the idea of democratic representation to debates about the welfare state. The general claim made here is that social policy is a function of public and government preferences. This claim hinges on two critical premises. The first relates to the general mechanisms that underlie government representation. Politicians have electoral incentives to align their actions with what citizens want. They may respond to public opinion indirectly by updating their party agendas, which can serve as the basis for social policy decisions in case they get elected. They may also respond directly by introducing welfare reforms that react to shifts in public opinion during their mandates. The second premise concerns how citizens and politicians structure their preferences over welfare. These preferences fall alongside two dimensions. First, general attitudes about how much should the state intervene in the economy to reduce inequality and promote economic well-being (how much policy). Second, the specific preferences about which social programmes should get better funding (what kind of policy). The empirical analysis is split into three empirical chapters. Each explores different aspects of government representation in Western European welfare states. The first empirical chapter (Chapter 4) asks how governments shape social policy when facing severe pressures to decrease spending. It argues that governments strategically reduce spending on programmes that offer less visible and indirect benefits, as they are less likely to trigger an electoral backlash. The experience of the Great Recession is consistent with this claim. Countries that faced the most challenging financial constraints cut down social investment and services. Except for Greece, they all preserved consumption schemes. The second empirical chapter (Chapter 5) explores how public opinion affects government spending priorities in different welfare programmes. It expects government responsiveness to depend on public mood for more or less government activity and the most salient social issues at the time. Empirical evidence from old-age, healthcare and education issue-policy areas supports these claims. Higher policy mood and issue saliency is positively associated with increasing spending efforts. Public opinion does not appear to affect unemployment policies. vii The third empirical chapter (Chapter 6) examines how party preferences affect spending priorities in unemployment programmes. It claims that preferences on economic intervention in the economy and welfare recalibration affect different components of unemployment policy. Evidence from the past 20 years bodes well with these expectations. The generosity of compensatory schemes depends on economic preferences. The left invests more than the right. The funding of active labour-market policies depends on both preference dimensions. Among conventional parties, their funding follows the same patterns as compensatory schemes. Among recalibration parties, parties across the economic spectrum present comparable spending patterns.
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Escalona, Fabien. "La reconversion partisane de la social-démocratie européenne : du régime social-démocrate keynésien au régime social-démocrate du marché." Thesis, Université Grenoble Alpes (ComUE), 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016GREAH029.
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La thèse porte sur la "reconversion partisane" de la social-démocratie en Europe. Elle propose une explication au paradoxe apparent entre d’une part l'existence de travaux décrivant la crise voire la mort du régime social-démocrate d’après-guerre, et d’autre part la conservation par cette famille de partis de son statut de grande alternative de gouvernement. La reconversion partisane est définie comme une modalité particulière de changement partisan, qui seule pouvait permettre à la social-démocratie de surmonter l’obsolescence (plus ou moins avancée) de son projet, de sa coalition électorale et de son modèle organisationnel. M’inscrivant dans la tradition de l’institutionnalisme historique, je propose une étude macrosociologique et comparée de quatre processus de reconversion, analysés de manière systématique au Royaume-Uni, en France, en Suède et en Allemagne. Leurs similarités et leurs différences sont ensuite expliquées, notamment à l’aide de plusieurs variables susceptibles de peser sur la forme et la temporalité des reconversions. Mon travail s’achève sur une appréciation provisoire de la mise à l’épreuve des reconversions par la grande crise économique en cours depuis 2008. Au-delà de l’éclairage nouveau qu’elle projette sur la trajectoire historique de cette famille politique, la thèse est une contribution à la littérature sur le changement partisan, sur la "cartellisation" des grands partis de gouvernement, et sur l’adaptation de ces derniers aux mutations de la structure des clivages politiques en Europe. Elle illustre aussi comment une approche "intégrée" des partis (sur plusieurs niveaux d’analyse) peut entrer dans un dialogue fécond avec les travaux sur les recompositions contemporaines de l’Etat moderne et du capitalismeThe thesis deals with the "partisan conversion" of social democracy in Europe. It aims to resolve the apparent paradox between the existence of many publications describing the crisis or even the death of social democracy on one hand, and the fact that this political family has remained one of the major party alternatives on the other hand. We define the partisan conversion as a singular type of party change, which was the only one that could help the Social democrats to overcome the obsolescence of their project, electoral support and organizational model. My analysis is methodologically anchored in the historical institutionalism paradigm. It offers a macrosociological comparison of four processes of partisan conversion in the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and Germany. The similarities and differences between these processes are then explained, partly through a set of variables weighing on the structure and the temporality of conversions. My work ends with an appreciation of how theses conversions have been put under stress by the 2008 global crisis. The thesis thus provides a reconstructed picture of the historical path of social democracy, additional analytical tools to the literature in party change, and some insights to the reflections about the contemporary cleavage structures. Our intention is also to prove the usefulness of an investigation nurtured by the most recent works on global capitalism and the modern state
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Adams, Jonathan. "Ships, innovation and social change : aspects of carvel shipbuilding in northern Europe 1450-1850." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Humanistiska fakulteten, 2003. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-93655.
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Adams, Jonathan. "Ships, innovation & social change : aspects of carvel shipbuilding in northern Europe 1450-1850 /." Stockholm : Stockholm university, Department of archaeology, 2003. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb39918145j.
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Hildermeier, Julia. "How Ideas Change Markets : Social and Semantic Construction(s) of Automobility in 21st century Europe." Thesis, Cachan, Ecole normale supérieure, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015DENS0022.
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Cette thèse cherche à comprendre et développer comment les trajectoires institutionnelles émergent, tant empiriquement que théoriquement. Sur la base d’une étude de cas de l’industrie et la culture automobile, elle identifie les trajectoires de PATH DEPENDENCY, historiquement (chap.1) et théoriquement (chap.2). Dans une approche méthodologique qualitative, les chapitres 4 et 5 identifient les effets des conflits environnementaux dans l’industrie que remettent en cause la justification de sa structure même. L’analyse empirique de différents conflits autour des standards des émissions des voitures, les innovations technologiques comme le moteur électrique montrent que l’automobilité de demain, et le secteur, vont évoluer de manière plus pluraliste et hétérogène qu’avant. Si parmi les deux scenarios de développement une trajectoire institutionnelle stable émerge, elle dépend de si un narratif cohérent peut émerger, qui rend compréhensible et évident les relations entre offre, demande et réglementation pour les acteurs. La conclusion (ch.6) identifie les conditions d’émergence de nouvelles trajectoires institutionnelles : dans les conflits où un narratif alternatif est déjà présent, mais sous-jacent, des nouvelles structures organisationnelles et sémantiques peuvent émergerThis PhD thesis seeks to understand how institutional paths emerge, theoretically and empirically. Taking the case of the European automobile industry and culture it revisits how path dependency can emerge historically (chapter 1) and theoretical patterns of path production (chapter 2). Based on qualitative research design (chapter 3), the case study identifies possibilities of path rupture through environmental conflicts in automobile history (chapter 4 and 5). It shows that through path ruptures and the emergence of new paths following new environmental requirements, 21st century automobility builds pluralistic and more heterogeneous semantic and organizational structures. Geographic and local conditions such as city planning and infrastructure matter in shaping vehicle use and culture in the future, as well does the distribution of decision making power on different political levels. Chapter 6summarize s and reflects the results of my micro-analytical study as parts of an emerging theory of path creation. If the analyzed trajectories of scenarios for the automobile sector become reality, either electrified automobility or electric multimodality, depends on whether they build a coherent narrative that ‘make sense’ of offer, demand and regulation in the sector. The case study showed that these coherent narratives can emerge when conflicts render visible already existing counter-narratives. These counter-narratives emerge in situations of crisis, such as when new environmental regulation determines technological development and behavioural adaptation in automobility. Once accepted, they create a new path – a new semantic and organizational structure in society
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Temple, Paul R. "Social capital and institutional change in higher education : the impact of international programmes in Eastern Europe." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2004. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10020464/.
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This thesis examines institutional change in higher education, through case studies of aspects of two broadly similar institutions in Poland and Romania. It finds that, during the 1990s, international programmes supported institutional change in these cases to a significant extent, although probably not with the results that the funding organisations anticipated. The case studies suggest that such programmes have been most effective in supporting change when they have encouraged relatively small-scale, academically-led initiatives, in contrast to national-level, externally-driven programmes. It is proposed that this difference in effectiveness in promoting sustainable organisational change relates to the extent to which international programmes have assisted in the formation of social capital within the institutions. Organisational social capital is formed through intense, local engagement in the activity concerned, leading to individual and institutional learning. Social capital created in one context may then be available to support other aspects of organisational development. Social capital theory thus provides insights into the process of organisational change, particularly in the complex structural and procedural circumstances of higher education. This thesis examines why social capital is an important, if often overlooked, factor in understanding change in these settings, particularly in Eastern Europe, where political arrangements before 1989 were not generally conducive to social capital formation. The particular organisational arrangements of the universities there are also important factors in understanding institutional change. A theoretical account of social capital formation and organisational change in higher education is offered, with proposals as to how this may be relevant to structural and operational matters in higher education institutions in transitional countries more widely. The thesis draws conclusions about how international projects in higher education might be designed so as to create social capital more effectively, and thereby to support sustainable institutional change.
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Altzinger, Wilfried, Cuaresma Jesus Crespo, Bernhard Rumplmaier, Petra Sauer, and Alyssa Schneebaum. "Education and Social Mobility in Europe: Levelling the Playing Field for Europe's Children and Fuelling its Economy." European Commission, bmwfw, 2015. http://epub.wu.ac.at/4720/1/WWWforEurope_WPS_no080_MS19.pdf.
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The persistence of socioeconomic outcomes across generations acts as a barrier to a society's ability to exploit its resources efficiently. In order to derive policy measures which aim at accelerating intergenerational mobility, we review the existent body of research on the causes, effects and the measurement of intergenerational mobility. We also present recent empirical works which study intergenerational mobility in Europe, around the Globe, and its relevance for economic growth. We recommend four policy measures to reduce the negative impacts of
intergenerational persistence in economic outcomes: universal and high-quality child care and pre-school programs; later school tracking and increased access to vocational training to reduce skill mismatch and facilitate technological development; integration programs for migrants; and simultaneous investment in schooling and later social security programs.Series: WWWforEurope
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Wilkoszewski, Harald. "Germany's social policy challenge : public integenerational transfers in light of demographic change." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2011. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/886/.
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This dissertation addresses the question of to what extent growing numbers of older people who might have similar preferences regarding public intergenerational transfers (family and pension policies) will limit the scope of future social policy reforms in Germany. We are interested in to what extent the shift in the country's demography will trigger a so-called "gerontocracy." As a theoretical framework, we combine Mannheim's concept of political generations with a demographic life-course approach. According to Mannheim, growing numbers of a societal group, combine with unified preferences within the group, enhance the group's political power. To empirically test this hypothesis, we use three analytical steps: First, we analyse the future age composition of the German population, including familial characteristics, using a micro-simulation approach. The results suggest that the number of older people will grow substantially over the coming decades, particularly the share of older people who will remain childless and who will not be married. Second, we analyse preferences regarding redistributive social policies according to age, parity, and marital status, based on recent survey data. Generalised Linear Models and Generalised Additive Models are applied to examine what the effects of fdemographic indicators are on these preferences. Results show that older people are less in favour of transfers ot the younger generation than their younger counterparts. This is particularly true of childless interviewees. Third, we explore the extent to which these developments are likely to have an impact on the political sphere. How do policy makers perceive ageing and the preferences structures found? How do elderly interest groups define their roles in light of these results? In-depth interviews with these stakeholders provide a mixed picture: whereas most interviewees are convinced that older people have gained more power due to their bigger population share, there is little awareness of differences in policy preferences between various demographic groups. The biggest challenge for social policy makers is, therefore, to find ways to mediate between these two interesrs. if they fail to do so, a conflict of generations might become a realistic scenario for Germany.
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Carson, Marcus. "From common market to social Europe? : paradigm shift and institutional change in European Union policy on food, asbestos and chemicals, and gender equality /." Doctoral thesis, Stockholm : Almqvist & Wiksell, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-174.
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Ou, Po-Hsiang. "Climate change v Eurozone crisis : social and economic views of risk in inter-expert risk communication." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f3619fc5-fd2a-483b-92b5-94aa90ce13d1.
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This DPhil thesis discusses how two divergent risk conceptions, a 'social view' and an 'economic view' of risk, are constructed through inter-expert risk communication. Different and sometimes contradictory concepts of risk are mobilised in regulatory practice, but the origins of these divergent risk conceptions are not extensively studied. This thesis seeks to unpack this divergence. Empirically, I analyse risk communication among experts in the European Union (EU) during the creation of two risk regulation standards. The two case studies, one related to the development of the two-degree target of EU climate policies (the climate case) and the other about the negotiation of the excessive deficit criteria of the Maastricht Treaty (the euro case), can shed light on the relations between risk conceptions and inter-expert risk communication. I argue that through risk communication, an initial 'view' of risk can be entrenched and developed into a paradigmatic 'risk conception'. My analysis uses historical and sociological institutionalism, by focusing on path dependence of risk communication and social construction risk conceptions among EU experts. Through the two case studies, I identify four analytical dimensions of inter-expert risk communication: networks (the institutional setting and relationships between different experts), cultures (the mentalities of experts in relation to discussing risks), dynamics (the actual processes of transmitting and receiving risk messages) and strategies (the rationales supporting the decisions of risk regulation standards). My thematic analysis reveals four key distinct 'features' of social/economic views of risk: expertise (the types of knowledge mobilised), normality (characterising risk as either 'special' or 'routine'), probability (considering risk as either uncertain or calculable) and impact (seeing risk as either negative or positive). I argue that these four features can help explain the construction of risk conceptions, and more broadly, provide an analytical framework for studying how views of risk evolve and interact over time.
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Mays, S. "Social organisation and social change in the early and middle Bronze Age of central Europe : A study using £Thuman skeletal remains£T." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.377647.
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Naczyk, Marek P. "The financial industry and pension privatization in Europe : shareholder capitalism triumphant?" Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c867023b-1b9a-41c9-8e46-6d4ac835cc61.
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The thesis examines the political dynamics behind the contemporary trend towards pension privatization in Europe. Its aim is to develop a theoretical model that can explain not only why governments have increasingly replaced their public pay-as-you-go systems with private fully-funded schemes, but also why there is considerable diversity both in the extent and in the content of pension privatization. Private pension funds can indeed be governed by a variety of institutional arrangements and can have very different types of links with the financial system. They do not necessarily contribute to a financialization of the economy. The thesis takes issue with the idea that pension privatization would be primarily the result of a new pensions orthodoxy promoted by international organizations such as the World Bank or of an electoral strategy that consists in attracting the votes of the middle class. I argue that the driving force behind the more or less dramatic rise of funded pensions in Europe is a series of lobbying campaigns launched by the financial industry, and their varying influence. Financial firms have a vested interest in the development of a market in private pensions, which should profit them as an industry. However, pension reform is an issue that matters to voters and can therefore prove dangerous for party politicians. Moreover, it involves complex changes that directly affect key material interests of employers and workers. In this context, the success of financial firms’ campaign for pension privatization depends on their capacity to forge alliances with a variety of actors. This in turn contributes to limit the influence financiers can exert. The argument is tested using a comparative historical analysis of pension debates in the United Kingdom, France and Poland since the beginning of the 1980s.
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Lookofsky, Sarah Elsie. "No such thing as society : art and the crisis of the European welfare state /." Diss., [La Jolla] : University of California, San Diego, 2009. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3386699.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2009.Title from first page of PDF file (viewed January 19, 2010). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-258).
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Ovseiko, Pavel Victor. "The politics of health care reform in Central and Eastern Europe : the case of the Czech Republic." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2009. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d8f1c4d3-9dda-4a2b-94d1-5afcb0cf5c87.
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This thesis examines the political process of health care reform between 1989 and 1998 in the most advanced sizable political economy in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) – the Czech Republic. Its aim is to explain the political process bringing about post-Communist health policy change and stimulate new debates on welfare state transformation in CEE. The thesis challenges the conventional view that post-Communist health care reform in CEE was designed and implemented to improve the health status of the people, as desired by the people themselves. I suggest that this is a dangerous over-rationalisation, and argue that post-Communist health care reform in the Czech Republic was the by-product of haphazard democratic political struggle between emerging elites for power and economic resources. The thesis employs the analytical narrative method to describe and analyse the actors, institutions, ideas and history behind the health policy change. The analysis is informed by welfare state theory, elite theory, interest group politics theory, the assumptions of methodological individualism and rational choice theory, and Schumpeter’s doctrine of democracy. Its focus is on the interests of health policy actors and how they interacted within an unhinged, but fast-consolidating, institutional framework. The results demonstrate that, while historical legacies and liberal ideas featured prominently in the rhetoric accompanying health policy change, in Realpolitik, these were merely the disposable, instrumental devices of opportunistic, self-interested elites. The resultant explanation of health policy change stresses the primacy of agency over structure and formulates four important mechanisms of health policy change: opportunism, tinkering, enterprise, and elitism. In conclusion, the relevance of major welfare state theories to the given case is assessed and implications for welfare state research in CEE are drawn.
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Dalton, Alison J. "John Hooper and his networks : a study of change in Reformation England." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2008. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:833f0dcf-8426-49e8-a10e-3f0f50300e2e.
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The research is a study of the context of the life and work of John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester, 1551-1555. It charts the nature of his relationships with friends, patrons, mentors, colleagues, and lay and clerical supporters and opponents in England and on the Continent, through the study of ecclesiastical, political, business and economic, intellectual, official and judicial, kinship and social networks in which he was involved. Its purpose is to reveal the complex mix of societal and confessional pressures influencing Hooper's approach and constraining his freedom of manoeuvre, and to a large extent determining how successful he was at achieving change. The study reveals key determinants of the nature and direction of the Reformation in England. It shows that the pressure to change doctrinal allegiances and to accommodate reformed church practices challenged not only personal confessional loyalties but also the very framework of society; that is, familial and social ties, economic, business and judicial groupings, educational affiliations, and ruling oligarchies. Within these societal networks there existed the momentum for, and resistance to, religious change. Confessional allegiances were just part of a complex mix of political and social pressures that included the exercise of patronage and protection, the use of conflict and compromise, the practise of different obligations, allegiances and loyalties, the employment of status and kinship, and the accommodation of various alliances and means of association. All of these influenced Hooper's approach and scope for action. As such, the research provides insight into why and how, in the development of the newly-reformed church in England, thoroughgoing religious change was resisted and contained.
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Pauls, Linnéa. "How Rainwater Can Transform Cities : An Evaluation of Success Factors for Urban Rainwater Harvesting Projects in Europe." Thesis, KTH, Urbana och regionala studier, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-254601.
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Changing weather patterns challenge societies globally and at multiple levels related to amongst others health, the environment, disaster management and mitigation. There is a need for greater flexibility and resilience, which in turn can be enabled through a transition towards increased sustainability in governance and infrastructure. Urban rainwater harvesting (URWH) is a term used in this paper to collect various approaches to the sustainable handling of rainwater in cities, a practice becoming increasingly common in some areas of the world. Global experiences can be useful learning opportunities in the planning, implementation and maintenance of sustainable urban rainwater harvesting in future smart cities. The aim of this thesis was to synthesize the factors of success of previous projects, in order to develop a framework tailored to the evaluation of projects concerned with rainwater harvesting. The review spans over 18 projects of different scale and design. The findings of the study show that successful URWH projects are: (1) found as part of urban renewal schemes; (2) successfully implemented by involved actors with open mindsets and flexible and collaborative working approaches; (3) maintained based on plans determined from the onset of the project, developed together with local actors, in order to involve the community and strengthen social inclusion. The revised evaluative framework, which is proposed as a result of the review, indicates general trends of success among the reviewed cases. To be fully operational, the framework should be further developed with additional URWH projects and revised thereafter.
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Han, Jihee. "Social Partners’ Responses to Employment of Migrant Workers in the course of the ‘Lisbon Strategy’ and the ‘Europe 2020’ : Has there been any change in the social partners’ responses from the Lisbon to the EU2020? The case studies in Sweden, the UK and at European level." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-196129.
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The research is aimed at investigating how the common EU social and economic strategies, namely the 'Lisbon strategy' and the 'EU 2020', have been influential as a 'EU incentive' in European social partners having drawn the matter of employment of migrant workers both at Member state level and at European level by looking into their respective changes in responses towards the matter in the course of the two strategies. The research has found that there have been changes made in the European social partners' responses regarding the problematic matter of migrant workers' employment, namely precarious working conditions and lower employment rates than native workers, at all levels. To be specific, the trade unions have begun to emphasize more proactive protection of migrants at workplace than before. However, there is little evidence that it was the result of either the Lisbon or the EU2020. It was rather much more because of the evolving European economic market circumstance that has been getting liberalized more actively as the single market goes on, featured by the problematic side of the increase of posted workers and agency workers. Especially, the research is also aimed at shedding a light on how the Lisbon and the EU2020 have been articulated in the two different economic, social and employment models, namely the Nordic model and the Western model by investigating the Swedish case and the UK case in the study of Member state level social partners.
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Feyertag, Joseph. "Varieties and politics of skill protection : a micro level analysis of unemployment protection systems in Europe." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c69681da-2da3-4467-985f-b644c1be6c48.
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Varieties of Capitalism theory predicts that the skill specificity of workers determines their demand for social protection. In this thesis, I test this assumption using a measure of occupational mobility between pre- and post-unemployment, which I apply to European workers in different skill groups as defined by Fleckenstein et al., (2011). Using this measure as an indicator of the portability of workers' skills, I then evaluate whether the lower marketability of human capital investments is associated with greater demand for unemployment protection. The findings demonstrate that whilst this relationship is apparent in certain countries, notably Coordinated Market Economies such as Germany, the assumptions do not apply across institutional settings. Consequently, skill specificity cannot explain variation in attitudes towards unemployment protection policies between countries.
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Rack, Mireille. "Sustainability assessment of biochar : evaluating the potential environmental, economic and social impacts of the production and application of biochar in Europe as an option for climate change mitigation." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/58339.
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Sustainable development and climate change are at the forefront of today’s political agendas, as signified by the 2016 Paris Agreement and the 2015 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies are being investigated for their contribution to reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. The PhD assesses the potential of biochar systems as a sustainable CDR technology for climate change mitigation at a European scale. The potential sustainability impacts of biochar production and land application are evaluated by applying life cycle approaches to analyse the environmental, economic and social impacts within the overarching Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) framework. Scenario modelling is incorporated to estimate feedstock potentials and the scale of biochar production within Europe, as well as the corresponding levels of carbon sequestration. The research results indicate that gasification biochar systems have potential as CDR technologies, though the uncertainty regarding biochar’s stable carbon fraction remains a significant knowledge gap. The use of ‘wastes’ as the input material is more likely to reduce potential negative impacts in all three sustainability components. Though overall, the current economic climate limits the feasibility of sustainable biochar systems. The results are sensitive to the modelling approach, especially the incorporation of ‘consequential’ elements, which was shown to significantly benefit the outcomes of the environmental and economic assessments. The scenario modelling outputs suggest that large-scale implementation of biochar systems within Europe can contribute an important share of the EU emission reduction targets. However, to incentivise the uptake of biochar and/or to generate policy support, further certainty and evidence of biochar’s impacts following land application is needed. Overall, a single-issue focus is no longer applicable in today’s policy climate. It is important to assess all three pillars of sustainability when evaluating whether a product system/process is capable of contributing to sustainable development. The novel LCSA framework shows potential to assist with such assessments at the micro-level.
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Quattrini, Nicole. "Impact of Covid-19 Response Strategies on the Rate of Change in Mortality in Europe During the First and Second Waves: A Retrospective Cohort Study." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Internationell mödra- och barnhälsovård (IMCH), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-446403.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to more than 3,000,000 deaths globally. During the first year of the pandemic, countries have focused their response strategies on non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as lockdowns and use of facial coverings. Because of collateral effects (psycho-social, and economical) by NPIs, investigating their effectiveness is increasingly important for optimal policies. The aim of this study is to investigate whether varying degrees of response strategies affect the rate of change in mortality at specific time points in the epidemic. The containment and health index (CHI) is used to identify the degree of response measures adopted by each country. Six time points around the peak of daily mortality are identified for the first two epidemiological waves for 40 European countries. The response was then correlated to the rate of change of mortality observed over one week 26 days later (time lag for the intervention to take effect). Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used for the unadjusted analysis, and multiple linear regression is used in the adjusted analysis. The intensity of CHI reduced the rate of increase of mortality before the first epidemic peak but had no detectable effect at any other time point. Different covariates and interactions between CHI and covariates such as population density and GDP, affected the rate of change of mortality at different time points during the two waves. NPIs may be effective, as suggested by a significant effect of CHI on mortality early in the first wave. However, the effect is not consistent across time points, and the extent of collateral damage suggests a closer look at other factors influencing the epidemic is necessary.
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Pham, Thuy Van. "Ancrage nominal du taux de change et coûts de la désinflation : une estimation économétrique." Phd thesis, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, 2007. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00198619.
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Nous avons établi une indication chiffrée des coûts réels issus des désinflations basées sur l'ancrage nominal du taux de change. Notre analyse s'est appuyée sur deux régions ayant recouru le plus souvent au taux de change comme instrument de lutte contre l'inflation élevée chronique ou l'hyperinflation : l'Amérique latine et l'Europe centrale et orientale. En général, la stratégie d'ancrage nominal par le change est efficace pour réduire le taux d'inflation. Cette efficacité est plus marquante en Europe centrale et orientale qu'en Amérique latine, où le bilan de désinflation reste mitigé. Quant à son impact sur l'activité économique, les résultats obtenus sont moins évidents. En utilisant deux approches, factuelle et économétrique, nos estimations des ratios de sacrifice des deux régions indiquent que, quel que soit l'ancrage nominal, les coûts de la désinflation sont faibles, voire nuls. Il ressort, cependant, de notre étude, qu'il est difficile d'établir une relation entre les ratios de sacrifice et l'ancrage nominal du taux de change, dans la mesure où les résultats varient d'une méthode d'estimation à l'autre. L'hétérogénéité des ratios de sacrifice rend impossible la comparaison des coûts entre les pays, entre les régions et entre les stratégies d'ancrage nominal. Le choix d'une stratégie désinflationniste ne peut donc pas être basé sur l'analyse des ratios de sacrifice.
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Béquet, Gaëlle. "Innovation et patrimoine numérique dans trois bibliothèques nationales européennes (Bibliothèque nationale de France, British Library, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek)." Thesis, Paris 3, 2011. http://www.theses.fr/2011PA030169.
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L’analyse historique et sociologique de la mise en place des bibliothèques numériques dans trois institutions patrimoniales (Bibliothèque nationale de France, British Library, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek), sur une période allant de 1990 à 2011, montre la façon dont ces organisations, produisant et conservant un patrimoine physique, se sont transformées pour constituer et préserver un patrimoine numérique. La bibliothèque numérique est ici considérée de manière double, à la fois innovation technique et organisation. Elle est une innovation technique car elle est fondée sur un ensemble d’inventions (photographie numérique, serveurs web, internet, reconnaissance optique de caractères, métadonnées, etc…). Ces inventions sont combinées sous l’action de groupes de référence (chercheurs, bibliothécaires, informaticiens, éditeurs, pouvoirs publics, responsables marketing, mécènes, entreprises privées). Ces groupes peuvent être soit marginaux, soit inclus dans un réseau socio-technique spécifique qui contribue à la mise en place de la bibliothèque numérique. Cette dernière est un artefact technique qui évolue dans le temps, passant du stade d’objet-valise, caractérisé par une grande flexibilité interprétative, à celui d’objet-frontière, répondant aux besoins de tous les groupes de référence inclus dans le réseau. Une bibliothèque numérique est également une organisation, émanant de la bibliothèque physique, qui crée des services spécifiques chargés de contrôler les zones d’incertitude majeures que sont les techniques numériques et l’émergence de fournisseurs de contenus en ligne. Ceux-ci concurrencent les bibliothèques nationales dans la diffusion du patrimoine culturel. Les controverses entre acteurs sont les moments privilégiés où se dévoilent leurs positions face à l’artefact technique : la traduction est alors le moyen d’enrôler les membres du réseau socio-technique pour aboutir à la fixation provisoire de l’artefact. Le réseau socio-technique évolue dans le temps pour créer de nouvelles versions de l’artefactThe historical and sociological analysis of the setting up of digital libraries in three heritage institutions (Bibliothèque nationale de France, British Library, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek), from 1990 to 2011, shows how these organisations, which produce and preserve physical cultural heritage, have evolved to produce and preserve digital cultural heritage. The digital library has two aspects: it is a technological innovation and an organisation of its own. As a technological innovation, it is grounded on inventions such as digital photography, web servers, internet, optical character recognition, metadata…These inventions are combined by the action of reference groups (scholars, librarians, computer specialists, public administrations, sponsors, private companies). These groups are either marginal or included in a socio-technical network which creates the digital library. The latter is a technical artefact that evolves from a “suitcase-object” with great interpretive flexibility to a boundary object which satisfies the needs of reference groups taking part in the socio-technical network. A digital library is also an organisation, stemming from the physical library which creates specific departments in charge of controlling major uncertainty zones such as digital technologies and emerging online content providers. The latter compete with national libraries in the diffusion of cultural heritage. Controversies between actors are key moments when actors reveal their opinions concerning the technical artefact: translation is the means to enlist members of the socio-technical network to achieve the temporary closure of the artefact. The socio-technical network evolves with time to create new versions of the artefact
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Middlemiss, Lé Mon Martha. "The In-between Church : A Study of the Church of England's Role in Society through the Prism of Welfare." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-105155.
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The aim of this thesis has been to explore the role of institutional religion in western Europe between individual and society. This is achieved through an empirical study of the role of the Church of England at local level, using the area of social welfare as the prism through which broader issues of the place of the Church in society can be brought to light. At the heart of this thesis lies a case study of the town of Darlington in the North East of England. This is set against a background of a detailed description of the situation regarding religion and welfare in England and of the organisation and situation of the Church at national level. The case study uses a variety of qualitative methods to assess the Church's role in welfare at local level and the expectations and perceptions of its involvement in this sphere held by representatives of the churches, local authorities, voluntary organisations and town residents. The role of the Church of England in its national and local context is therefore used as one example which can shed light on issues pertinent to a broader European one. To this end the results of the case study are compared with the situation in Sweden to tease out the extent to which conclusions pertaining to the established church in England can also be applied in a wider European context. The study concludes that the Church has a continued role to play in welfare both in terms of practical provision and social activism. It reveals that the Church is, at one and the same time, both seen as one of many organisations in civil society and also perceived to have a particular part to play in society at local level. This continuing though changing role 'in-between' individual and society can be further specified as including three dimensions: mediator, neutral ground and critical voice. This suggests that a distinct role in society is also possible for other religious institutions in Europe today within their national contexts, as representatives and upholders of overarching common values in the public sphere. It indicates that although the relationships between individuals and institutional religion and the role religions have to play in society today are ambiguous, they are by no means absent. Thereby the study engages with and contributes to the development of the theoretical debate concerning social change in late modern society, the continued role of institutional religions in the public sphere and the relevance of the secularisation paradigm.Impact of Religion
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Sloman, Peter Jack. "Economic thought and policy in the Liberal Party, c. 1929-1964." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c961d45b-8c97-4e4b-b91c-6d0c8c55da5b.
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This thesis examines the reception, generation, and use of economic ideas in the British Liberal Party during the period between its decline in the inter-war years and its revival under Jo Grimond. It uses archival sources, party publications, and the political press to reconstruct the Liberal Party’s internal discourse about economic policy from the 1920s to the 1960s, and sets this discourse in the context of wider economic and political developments: the ‘Keynesian revolution’ in economic theory and British public policy, recurrent political interest in economic planning, and growing concern about relative economic decline. The strength of the two-party system which developed after the First World War meant that the Liberal Party spent most of this period in opposition, and even in the coalition governments of 1931-2 and 1940-5 Liberals had limited input into economic policy-making. As historians have frequently noted, however, the party played an important role in introducing Keynesian ideas to British politics through Lloyd George’s 1929 pledge to ‘conquer unemployment’, and seemed to anticipate the post-war managed economy in important respects. At the same time, the party maintained a close relationship with the economics profession, and vocally championed free trade and competitive markets. This thesis highlights the eclecticism of the Liberal Party’s economic heritage, and its continuing ambivalence towards state intervention. Although Liberals were early and sincere supporters of Keynesian demand-management policies, and took a close interest in economic planning proposals in the 1920s, 1940s and 1960s, their interventionism was frequently constrained by their internationalism and their support for free markets. Most Liberals, then, were neither unreconstructed Gladstonians nor unequivocal supporters of Britain’s post-war settlement. Rather, successive party leaders sought to integrate new economic knowledge with traditional Liberal commitments, in order to make both a credible contribution to policy debates and a distinctive appeal to the electorate.
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Kamalak, Ihsan. "Continuity And Change In European Social Democracy: Reasserting Its Viability Within The Context Of Globalization." Phd thesis, METU, 2006. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/3/12607126/index.pdf.
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The arguments concerning the unviability of Social Democracy at the beginning of new century within the context of globalization, and the accusations for its shift towards the New Right/Neo-Liberalism in the case of the Third Way has been criticized in a historico-critical way in this thesis. It is claimed that the insufficiency of these arguments arises from their analysis of Social Democracy merely through policies, or party politics, which have displayed great variety in the evolution of Social Democracy. Their shortage also stems from misunderstandings concerning Social Democracy before 1980, such as that it was against the market economy, that it was a working class ideology, and that it neglected the individual. Against the arguments of unviability and the accusations directed to Social Democracy, the thesis will assert that the theorization of Social Democracy should be based on its principles, such as democracy, progressiveness (movement) and social justice. By focusing on social democratic conception of social justice, this thesis defends that there is continuity within the tradition of Social Democracy, even in the face of globalization and in its encounters with the developments after 1980.
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GAILLARD, CORINNE. "Prise en charge des patients italiens au centre hospitalier de briancon : problematique actuelle et perspectives europeennes." Aix-Marseille 2, 1993. http://www.theses.fr/1993AIX20021.
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De, La Torre Sebastián Ane. "Cities and climate change actions : Comparison between five european cities." Thesis, KTH, Industriell ekologi, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-33065.
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During the last few years cities are taking the lead against climate change. Theyare aware of the big contribution they can make to mitigate the climate change, so theyare working actively in this field. This thesis’ aim is to study what cities are doing andthe chance they have to be successful. The cities selected for this thesis were Madrid,Barcelona, London, Manchester an Dublin. The method followed to active the aim wasto read all the information available from the selected cities’ Councils about themeasures they are carrying out. Then, transform that information to a way that all thecities’ information can be compared. As a result, it can be seen that there are fewdifferences in their lines of action,excluding some punctual facts. All the cities areworking actively to reduce transport sector’s emissions, to improve the energy use athomes and to increase the importance of the renewable energies. Spanish cities’emissions reduction targets are still not ambitious enough, while London’s are the mostambitious among the studied cities. As a conclusion, it can be said that cities shouldwork together to face the challenge of climate change, because there’s still much to do,targets have to be more ambitious and measures stricter.Estos últimos años las ciudades están tomando la iniciativa en contra del cambioclimático. Son conscientes de las grandes oportunidades que tienen para mitigarlo, asíque están trabajando activamente en este sentido. El propósito de esta tesis es estudiar loque están haciendo las ciudades para mitigar el cambio climático y las oportunidadesque tienen de tener éxito. Las ciudades seleccionadas para este estudio son Madrid,Barcelona, Londres, Manchester y Dublín. El método para conseguir el propósito fueleer toda la información disponible por parte de los ayuntamientos de las distintasciudades acerca de las medidas que están llevando a cabo. A continuación transformaresa información a unos parámetros comunes a todas las ciudades y compararla. Comoresultado se observa que hay muy pocas diferencias en sus líneas de acción, con algunaexcepción puntual. Todas las ciudades están trabajando activamente para reducir lasemisiones del sector transporte, mejorar el aprovechamiento energético doméstico ypara aumentar la proporción de energías renovables. Las ciudades Españolas todavía notienen objetivos de reducción de emissiones suficientemente ambiciosos, al contrarioque Londres. Como conclusión, las ciudades deberían trabajar unidas en contra delcambio climático, porque todavía queda mucho por conseguir, los objetivos deben sermás abiciosos y las medidas más estrictas.
www.ima.kth.se
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Klaser, Klaudijo. "Three Economic Extensions of John Rawls's Social Contract Theory: European Fiscal Union, Tax Compliance and Climate Change." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Trento, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/11572/367793.
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In my thesis I apply the ethical model developed by John Rawls (1999) to three systems which have an economic dimension: European Union, tax compliance and environmental sustainability. With this task my purpose is to answer to the following overarching research question: is an impartial and non-binding agreement, conceived in a Rawlsian frame, sufficient to generate fair and stable redistributive institutions? This general research question is then addressed and inflected according to the specific economic domains mentioned above.
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Klaser, Klaudijo. "Three Economic Extensions of John Rawls's Social Contract Theory: European Fiscal Union, Tax Compliance and Climate Change." Doctoral thesis, University of Trento, 2019. http://eprints-phd.biblio.unitn.it/3697/1/PhD_thesis_Klaudijo_Klaser.pdf.
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In my thesis I apply the ethical model developed by John Rawls (1999) to three systems which have an economic dimension: European Union, tax compliance and environmental sustainability. With this task my purpose is to answer to the following overarching research question: is an impartial and non-binding agreement, conceived in a Rawlsian frame, sufficient to generate fair and stable redistributive institutions? This general research question is then addressed and inflected according to the specific economic domains mentioned above.
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Greunz, Lydia. "Knowledge spillovers, innovation and catching up of regions." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/211354.
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Andrews, Johanna. "Facing Obstacles to Change : implementing EU gender equality policies in the Central and Eastern European Countries." Thesis, Linköping University, Department of Management and Economics, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-2632.
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On May 1st 2004 the European Union was enlarged with ten new countries. Eight of these share a common background as satellite states of the former Soviet Union and today three more are candidate countries for an EU membership. These countries share a state-communist past. In terms of gender equality this affects the countries’ norms regarding gender and the conception of equality between the sexes. The EU has an outspoken commitment to gender equality and has throughout the years developed a number of Equal Opportunity Policies to combat the problem with gender discrimination within the EU. What happens when the EU is implementing these policies into the former communist countries and norms from two different environments meet? T
he thesis aim to critically review and discuss EU equal opportunity policies concerning the labour market in the former communist countries from perspectives of neo-institutionalist and contemporary feminist theory. The discussion concern obstacles to change and the creation of norms regarding gender equality, and whether the specific background (the communist experience) shared by the countries of the Eastern Europe might have implications for the process.
The thesis uses a multi strategy approach, combining text studies, interviews and quantitative data. The analytical framework consists of concepts relating to change and norm formation from cultural neo-institutionalism and a feminist perspective. The input consists of the present rules and roles in the former communist countries and the existing EU equal opportunity policies. The situation that appears when the perspectives meet is analysed from a critical feminist perspective based on modern debates regarding the east-west dichotomy within the school of feminism. By adding concept of change from the school of cultural neo-institutionalism the situation can be evaluated from a norm creating perspective. This creates an opportunity to discuss potential future scenarios.
The findings of the thesis show that there is a significant difference between the theoretical foundation for a discussion on gender equality between the EU15 and the CEEC11. This is reflected in a lack of gender awareness in the CEEC11 acknowledged by both NGOs and EU officials. The implication of this is that the EU is challenged to make the public aware of the importance of these values. They are forced to create a change in the norms governing gender equality in the CEEC11. However, the findings also show that the EU is somewhat uncritical towards its own role as the norm shaper in the process. There is a need for the European Commission to reflect over the present equal opportunity policies in order to create sustainable change. If the EU fail to do so it will most likely be the uncontested norm-holder and socialisation ceases to be a two way process. The consequence may be ineffective policies.
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Klaser, Klaudijo. "Three Economic Extensions of John Rawls's Social Contract Theory: European Fiscal Union, Tax Compliance and Climate Change." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Trento, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11572/291026.
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In my thesis I apply the ethical model developed by John Rawls (1999) to three systems which have an economic dimension: European Union, tax compliance and environmental sustainability.
With this task my purpose is to answer to the following overarching research question: is an impartial and non-binding agreement, conceived in a Rawlsian frame, sufficient to generate fair and stable redistributive institutions? This broad research question is then addressed and inflected according to the specific economic domains considered through the next Chapters.
Given the diversification of the analysed topics, also the adopted research methodology turns out to be differentiated. The European distributive institutions are examined in depth by means of a theoretical-deductive approach which catches on Rawls’s international social contract theory, while the distributive issues linked to tax evasion and environmental sustainability are approached with tools
elonging to behavioural and experimental economics.
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Speth, Alana. ""I Would Cut My Bones for Him": Concepts of Loyalty, Social Change, and Culture in the Scottish Highlands, from the Clans to the American Revolution." W&M ScholarWorks, 2011. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539624392.
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Carlsson, Kanyama Karin. "The political construction of climate change induced migrants: A study of the connection between immigration/asylum and climate change in the EU." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-21921.
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Studies have shown that climate change causes large scale human displacement. With this as background this thesis investigates the connection between climate change and immigration/asylum in EU documents. The EU is an institution that has not acknowledged the existence of climate change induced migration despite outside awareness that the phenomenon exists. This thesis analyzes discourses about climate change and immigration/asylum in the EU in order to find out how EU regards climate change induced migrants, and why it has not acknowledged their existence or provides protection. The thesis found that discourses of inclusion and exclusion based on European ethnicity and culture restricts possibilities for migrants from developing countries to come to Europe. It also found that EU represents its strategy to fight climate change as comprehensive and leaves no room for changes in that strategy. These two findings in combination explain why climate change induced migrants are not acknowledged, and in extension do not get protection from the EU. The research found that the absence of an acknowledgement and protection for climate change induced migrants is influenced by political discourses in the EU that see unskilled immigrants from developing countries as a threat and danger to Europe and its current climate change strategy as sufficient for coping with the effects of climate change.
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Cao, Hui. "European Union Climate Change Policy: in the nexus of internal policy-making and itnernational negotiations." Doctoral thesis, Università di Catania, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10761/1120.
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The aim of the dissertation is to examine the European Union s climate policy in the nexus of domestic policy-making and international negotiations. I firstly test the EU s internal climate policy-making by applying the rational choice institutionalism on the model of institution and preference affect EU s policy outcomes and conclude that: as the EU has a convergent preference, the EU s unique decision-making procedure, the entrepreneurship and EU s membership had been driving EU s climate policies into preferable outcomes. As the EU s preference is divergent, for instance, in the case of adopting the EU emission trading scheme (EU ETS) after the signature of the Kyoto
Protocol, external factors affected the EU s divergent preferences and unified it to approve the ETS in the EU-wide. Second, I examined the relations of the EU s internal climate policy-making and international negotiations by applying the two-level game approach. I conclude that the Kyoto Protocol has a crucial impact on the development of EU s climate change policy in terms of driving the EU s internal climate policy-making into a regulatory, centralised and market-based instruments direction. In return, the sophisticated EU instruments, such as the EU ETS, are becoming more influential at the
international climate negotiations since the aviation industry was included into the emission trading.
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García, Sánchez Miguel, and Maarten Warnshuis. "Transitioning towards Sustainable Agriculture in the European Union through Change Management and Transformational Leadership." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Institutionen för Urbana Studier (US), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-43625.
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This paper examined how Change Management and Transformational Leadership can be effective tools in transitioning towards sustainable agriculture in Europe. This paper starts with providing empirical evidence for climate change and shows that Northern and Southern Europe are impacted differently by climate change. Then this paper examined how climate change affects farmers in the different parts of Europe and what Societal, Environmental, Leadership and Organisational changes have to be made to transition towards sustainable agriculture in Europe. The qualitative analysis shows that, according to farmer associations, there is a need for a variety of options, a lack of communication and insufficient involvement of farmers on a policy making level. This paper ends with explaining how Change Management and Transformational Leadership can be used as tools to improve communication between stakeholders and improve the involvement of farmers in the co-creation process. Therefore, this paper concludes that Change Management and Transformational leadership will help the European Union in realising sustainable agriculture in Europe.
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Sobrevias, Ester Oliveras. "The new Spanish accounting regulatory framework : a case study of accounting regulation change in a European economy in transition." Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, 1998. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/1876/.
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In this thesis the Spanish accounting regulatory framework is considered as a research case study. The main objective is to illustrate the issues faced by accounting systems in European economies in transition. Many Eastern European countries undergoing an economic transition have applied for European Union membership. The emergence of new accounting systems in these economies will be strongly influenced by the obligation to comply with European Union legislation and the Spanish case may offer some useful lessons. Spain, as a case study, illustrates a European country that has undergone an economic transition in the last twenty-five years. The Spanish accounting regulatory framework has successfully undergone several changes in order to comply with European legislation and fit into a global market economy. The research case study comprises five sub-units of study. Firstly, the activities of the Spanish government with regard to new accounting requirements as well as the changes experienced by the accounting standards-setting bodies exemplifies the important role of the government's response to European Union legislation. Secondly, the evolution of accounting and professional bodies represents a society responding to the issues arising from the changes occurring at a national legislative level. Thirdly, the unique interaction between the Spanish public and professional accounting bodies is an example of joint effort in times when rapid change is required and the amount of professional expertise may be limited. The fourth sub-unit of study explores the role of the Spanish academic community which emerges as a full participant during the accounting reforms. Its influence in the new accounting regulatory framework is strongly felt through the increase in academic publications and with direct participation in the accounting standards -setting process. Finally, the fifth sub-unit of study looks at the 'true and fair view' requirement which was adopted by the European Union's Fourth Directive in 1978 as the ultimate objective of financial reporting. The origins and history of 'true and fair view' have given rise to a considerable amount of academic debate on the issues stemming from its implementation by European national legislators. The Spanish decision to adopt this Directive in full shows the high degree of commitment to compliance with the European Union. The response of the Spanish government and the profession to a requirement alien to the Spanish accounting tradition and philosophy has been dramatic. It is concluded that the changes in the accounting regulatory framework have not only been successful, but Spain has also embraced the European Directives in its national legislation to a greater extent than other European countries. The Spanish experience may therefore becorne a model to be looked to by Eastern European countries with an interest in becoming European Union members.
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Maguire, Jessica P. "Sky woman was pushed : how the European influence on Iroquoian spirituality changed the social structure of the Iroquois confederacy of nations." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 1994. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/130.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Liberal Arts
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Shen, Chong. "Topic Analysis of Tweets on the European Refugee Crisis Using Non-negative Matrix Factorization." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2016. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1388.
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The ongoing European Refugee Crisis has been one of the most popular trending topics on Twitter for the past 8 months. This paper applies topic modeling on bulks of tweets to discover the hidden patterns within these social media discussions. In particular, we perform topic analysis through solving Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) as an Inexact Alternating Least Squares problem. We accelerate the computation using techniques including tweet sampling and augmented NMF, compare NMF results with different ranks and visualize the outputs through topic representation and frequency plots. We observe that supportive sentiments maintained a strong presence while negative sentiments such as safety concerns have emerged over time.
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Brodach, Ari. "A communication study on climate change for the European Environment Agency a case study of the key role of information dissemination in catalysing a societal transition toward sustainability /." Lund, Sweden : International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University, 2001. http://www.iiiee.lu.se/information/library/publications/reports/2001/Ari-Brodach.pdf.
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Sigafoos, Jennifer A. "The European Court of Justice and social policy : a mixed methods analysis of preliminary references from the EU-15, 1996-2009." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:4d612059-2269-4e16-94bd-1e9180c2f3e2.
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Although social policy was once perceived to be solely within the purview of the nation state, there has been a move toward a more European social policy. The European Court of Justice for the European Communities (‘Court of Justice’ or ‘Court’) determines the scope of European law and how it affects national welfare states. The court’s decisions will affect not only the national law of the member states with regard to social policy but also the direction of European social policy as it expands. However, the ECJ does not choose the policy areas in which it makes its decisions, but instead reacts to the preliminary references that are sent by the national courts of the Member States. These preliminary references from the Member States will set the Court’s agenda. Preliminary references are unevenly distributed across the Member States of the EU, and some Member States’ preliminary references are concentrated in particular policy areas. The jurisprudence of the Court, and consequently the social policy of the EU, could be steered by this uneven distribution. This thesis will answer the threshold question of why scholars of social policy should care about the Court of Justice, with a legal analysis of some key themes in the Court’s decisions in the area of social policy. It will then employ a mixed methods research design to explain the variation in rates of social policy preliminary references from the EU-15. First, a Time Series Cross-Section (TSCS) model will be used to test a series of hypotheses generated from the literature, and three novel hypotheses, in a dataset of social policy preliminary references from the EU-15 from 1996 to 2009. Next, a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) (Ragin 2000) will group the variables that were found to be significant into sets of conditions, or ‘causal pathways,’ that lead to higher and lower rates of social policy preliminary references. Finally, two qualitative case studies will be conducted, in the UK and France. Analysis of documentary evidence and 25 expert interviews in the two member states and at the Court of Justice will further explain and illuminate the differing usage of preliminary reference process. The analysis of the mixed methods is integrated in the final stage. Implications for the direction of EU law related to social policy and the future development of European social policy will be considered in the concluding chapter.
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Hoffbeck, Valentine. "De l'arriéré au malade héréditaire : histoire de la prise en charge et des représentations du handicap mental en France et Allemagne (1890-1934)." Thesis, Strasbourg, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016STRAG047/document.
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Cette thèse aborde l'histoire des enfants et adultes handicapés mentaux en France et en Allemagne entre 1890 et le milieu des années 1930. Ce travail prend pour objet les personnes atteintes de déficience mentale, qualifiées à l'époque de « débiles mentaux », « imbéciles », « idiots » ou du terme plus générique d' « arriérés ». Cette étude apporte un éclairage nouveau sur plusieurs thèmes, en adoptant une perspective transnationale pour éclairer la circulation et les résistances dans les pratiques médicales et pédagogiques destinées aux arriérés. Cherchant à mettre en valeur la part de construction qui est en jeu dans l'élaboration de ces catégories nosographiques, les critères aboutissant à créer la « faiblesse d'esprit » (Schwachsinnigkeit) sont étudiés à travers de points de vue variés (famille, instituteurs, psychologues et aliénistes). On montre ainsi comment la catégorie est forgée par ceux qui les observent au quotidien. A l'échelle des institutions étudiées, l'évolution des pratiques asilaires démontre une volonté progressive de rationaliser le tri entre ceux qu'on pense « éducables » et les « incurables » par l'emploi d'outils tels que les tests psychométriques. La thèse démontre aussi comment les arriérés sont envisagés peu à peu comme une charge, voire un danger à l'échelle nationale. Après la Grande Guerre, le coût de leur prise en charge est vu comme un fardeau dans les deux pays, justifiant une rationalisation des soins qui leur sont accordés. Ils sont surtout considérés comme porteurs de tares transmissibles héréditairement, soit des individus qu'il s'agit de sélectionner voire d'éliminer en tant que danger sanitaire. La thèse explore ces deux aspects observés en France comme en Allemagne, et leur part dans la légitimation de la stérilisation forcée des arriérés comme « Malades héréditaires » mises en place par la loi adoptée dès les premiers mois de l'avènement du IIIe Reich, ainsi que les réactions du milieu psychiatrique françaisThe topic of this PhD dissertation is the history of mentally deficient children and adults in both France and Germany between 1890 and 1934. This work focuses on people who suffered from mental retardation although at that time they would have been referred to as "feeble-minded," "idiots" or "imbeciles." This study provides a new focus on different subjects. The various circulations of medical models are considered in a dynamic perspective. lt also provides an original vision of the construction of the category of feeblemidness, influenced by agents like doctors [psychiatrists], families or teachers, questioning what was done in practical terms. Mentally deficient people were shaped by the gaze of the people they interacted with. They are also examined in a social and economic context to which these individuals respond. The evolution of the characterization of feeble-mindedness and the use of intelligence tests highlight various attempts to classify those individuals in a more rational way. From a more specific psychiatrie point of view, this thesis shows how the emphasis on their classification as "unproductive persans" as well as the description of feeble-mindedness as a hereditary and "racial" disease transformed them into a social issue in the context of the rise of social Darwinism and eugenics, which led fo their sterilization in Germany from 1934 on
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Joscelyn, Morgan T. "British Imperialism Of The Ottoman Empire Gender, Nationalism, And Cultural Changes." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2014. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/914.
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British imperialism of the Ottoman Empire is analyzed in terms of power and influence. Changes in gender roles, nationalism, and culture are all examined through the lens of imperialism. The discourse flows thematically and discusses brief histories of both Britain and the Ottoman Empire. The construction of the Imperial Museum created a unified image of the nation through the collection of material items. As a result of European imperialism, the Ottoman Empire developed a sense of national culture.
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Hughes, Melissa. "The Romani Place in Kosovar Space: Nationalism and Kosovo’s Roma." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2011. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1397.
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On February 17, 2008,Kosovo declared its independence. The path to independence and the claim to Kosovo was a long process that developed in three primary phases: A) the fostering of territorial solidarity under direct rule and an emphasis on historical ties to the territory; B) the foundation of the national idea within the realms of proto-nationalism; and C) the emergence of peripheral and mass nationalism. This research seeks to define the development of nationalist ideologies in Kosovo and to explore where Roma fit within those ideologies. An historical and sociological approach to nationalism in Kosovo is critical in understanding the current situation of Roma living in, and deported to, Kosovo, including the recent phenomenon of ethnic scapegoating of the Roma by both Serbs and Albanians
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Parling, Isabella. "Climate Change Litigation Based on Human Rights : challenges and possbilities in Sweden." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-444217.
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Climate change litigation is expanding at fast speed throughout various jurisdictions around the world. Citizens are taking states’ lack of climate mitigation measures to courts, demanding that more has to be done on the climate crisis. More often now, litigants use human rights based argumentation which relies on international human rights law: human rights treaties, conventions, and precedent from human rights courts. According to litigants, states are therefore seen as both creating and prolonging this threat against the lives of their citizens, violating some of their most basic human rights, such as the right to life. Coupling these human rights obligations with climate treaties such as the Paris Agreement has proven effective when attempting to establish a causal connection between state emissions and climate change’s threat to citizen’s lives. This is sometimes characterized as a global ‘rights turn’ or a ‘greening’ of human rights. While a climate litigation case was denied to be brought up in Swedish courts in 2016, the Swedish government is now in 2021 finding itself tested again. Several children and youths in Sweden are currently suing the Swedish state, claiming that Sweden does not live up to its international human rights obligations. The claim is based on a human rights framing and is more similar to other ongoing or successful climate litigation cases at present time. While also facing a lawsuit as defendants in a case under the European Court of Human Rights, Sweden is now finding itself in the midst of this new phenomenon. Since, however, the issue of climate litigation in Swedish courts is quite new, the results of a new case in Sweden based on different grounds and on the precedent established in other successful cases in other similar jurisdictions, could be different. The overall purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the intentional human rights obligations that the Swedish state is bound by internationally which can be used in a climate litigation case based on human rights argumentation. The issue at hand is therefore to ascertain what, how and why those obligations concerning the climate and human rights makes it possible or challenging to pursue a case against the Swedish government, and what these obligations entail. If the case is tried in Swedish courts, it will establish the current obligations concerning climate change and its threat to human lives under international human rights law, as well as Sweden’s mitigation duties.
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Souri, Eirini. "Global Civil Society : A Study on the Transformative Possibilities of Civil Society as an Agent in International Relations." Thesis, Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-8530.
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Global Civil Society is a spectrum of diverse social actors, which offers an alternative to the making of contemporary politics, and towards social change; it provides us with a new approach to change the existing global order through development rather than confrontation. For this reason, global civil society has recently attracted increased interest in the academic and political discourse and consequently has left the margins and is placed in the centre of contemporary International Relations and political theory.
Utilizing neo-Gramscian ideas this study examines global civil society’s concept and core features and focuses on its role as well as transformative possibilities as an agent in contemporary world politics. This thesis demonstrates through the findings of our
case study on "Civil Society Organisations" Response to the Fourth European Union – Latin America and the Caribbean Summit in Vienna 2006” the alternative approach in dealing with political issues and actively working towards those ends.
This research’s conclusions designate the great potentialities of civil society’s organizations, if carefully managed to transform the contemporary world; as well as the necessity of addressing global civil society in order to understand the role of the social realm in reducing the gap of legitimacy in the contemporary world order.
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Cardona, Shokotko Vanessa. "Building Happy and Resilient Communities in the North of the European Union : A case study on Transition Movement in Sweden and its relationship with the EU." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-331190.
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When the world becomes drowned in multiple global problems and citizens do not see any real progressive solutions from their governments, they take the initiative in their own hands and start changing the world on their own. The Transition Town movement was born this way. It is a social movement which aims at building resilient local communities in response to climate change, peak oil and an unfair ecologically destructive economic system which is probably soon to break down. As a potentially strong actor of future social change, it is worth studying emerging local movements in Europe, and hopefully identifying new potentials for success of these grass-root innovations.The study, thus, aims to investigate the relation between the participants of the Transition Movement Sweden and the supranational/intergovernmental entity EU, which plays one of the key roles in economic, environmental and social aspects of Swedish citizens. By conducting interviews with participants of the movement in several Swedish cities, the nature of this relationship is being explored. Using the theory of Multi-Institutional Politics Approach the case study explains the connection between the movement and the EU.
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Nalepa, Moa. "EU Migration Policy Changes in Times of Crisis: Discourses surrounding EU migration policies during the 'refugee crisis' - A discursive institutionalist analysis." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-21869.
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This thesis examines the migration policy changes that were adopted by the European Union during the so called ‘refugee crisis’ 2014-2016 and problematises the discourses that were deployed by EU policy makers. It builds the method and theoretical framework around Vivien Schmidt’s discursive institutionalism, and complements it with constructivist conceptual theories around discourses that are identified through the researched empirical material. The primary material is to a large extent based upon official documents from the EU such as regulations and communications, but also includes speeches from officials such as Jean Claude Juncker (President of the Commission), Donald Tusk (President of the Council) and Martin Schulz (President of the European Parliament). The findings are comprised of discourses that can all be connected to the EU imaginary. The thesis also concludes that there has been a continuation of the securitisation of migration during the ‘refugee crisis’ as well as a normalisation of this discourse. In regards to the communicative and coordinative skills of the EU actors, it becomes clear that the former still is problematic, whilst the coordinative discourses have increased the cooperation within the EU institutions during the time period studied.
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Nonninger, Dirk. "The establishment and use of cross border criminal intelligence under a European Criminal Intelligence Model in a period of modernism and post modernism societal change in the EU, and issues of accountability and human rights in the dissemination of such criminal intelligence exchange." Thesis, London Metropolitan University, 2017. http://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/1224/.
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Policing in Europe has become more complex, due to the nature of organised crime being more and more trans-national and a growing Europeanization in policing as a result of the creation of European agencies like Europol and Eurojust taking over activities which before the Lisbon Treaty remained within the sole responsibility of single Member State. Informal law enforcement cooperation between Member States is being transferred into formalised cooperation by European agencies with a specific mandate and specific powers. This development also requires a mechanism to streamline national and European law enforcement priorities. In 2005 the United Kingdom proposed the European Criminal Intelligence Model (ECIM) as the tool to achieve this task. In general terms the ECIM is based on the principles stemming from the concept of intelligence-led-policing as proposed by Ratcliffe (2005). However, until today the implementation of the ECIM is not finalised. This dissertation will address the conditions for such a model to be successful, especially with regard to the operationalisation of strategic findings at EU level within a national or trans-national setting. In this regard, the question of the meaning of ‘intelligence’ for the ECIM is examined, especially taking into account that the concept of ‘intelligence’ in law enforcement still is a rather new discipline. In addition, this thesis will discuss the societal framework in which the ECIM is to be deployed with a focus on the respective consequences if our society has changed from modern to a postmodern society. In relation to the ECIM a reflection on this aspect is of crucial importance as a shift in the societal paradigm would also question the value of a ‘grand narrative’ like the ECIM, a single, monolithic tool that would be able to address the problems in tackling trans-national organised crime as if made from one piece in a European context which is defined by diversity.
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Paar-Jakli, Gabriella. "Knowledge Sharing and Networking in Transatlantic Relations: A Network Analytical Approach to Scientific and Technological Cooperation." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1291074262.
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