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In this chapter we outline the Danish and Scandinavian experiences with coalition governments and coalition governance. We do so by first briefly describing the historical path that has led to the political system we see working today in these countries. Then we tell about the political culture and institutional factors that lead to coalition governments. In the third section, we look at the nature of political agreements. We discuss the preconditions for coalition governments or coalition governance and its pros and cons. We focus on the trade-offs between including different interests into legislative coalitions and the possible lack of clarity of responsibility or of party identity that this inclusion entails. ; In this chapter we outline the Danish and Scandinavian experiences with coalition governments and coalition governance. We do so by first briefly describing the historical path that has led to the political system we see working today in these countries. Then we tell about the political culture and institutional factors that lead to coalition governments. In the third section, we look at the nature of political agreements. We discuss the preconditions for coalition governments or coalition governance and its pros and cons. We focus on the trade-offs between including different interests into legislative coalitions and the possible lack of clarity of responsibility or of party identity that this inclusion entails.

This article reports a study on the role of the media in democratic governance. Interestingly, this issue has not been given much attention by researchers, neither by media scholars with little interest in governance, nor by governance scholars with little knowledge about how the media works. Yet, as this study substantiates, the media is a key actor in governance. Theoretically, the paper aims at providing a cross-fertilization of perspectives on the role of the media in governance by drawing on governance research as well as on research on political communication & the public sphere. The empirical aim of the paper is to analyze how policy makers assess the importance of the media in governance. A key question addressed is the significance of fostering good media relations in order to be successful in governance in different policy areas. In addition, the paper analyzes the media strategies of policy makers' in terms of the intensity of the media contacts & of whether or not the policy makers themselves initiate the contacts. The study draws on a unique dataset, comprising questionnaire responses from the corporate, political, cultural & administrative elites (policymakers within the central government office) in Sweden. Adapted from the source document.

Scholarship in international law aims at addressing global forest governance comprehensively. This article reviews the recent contribution Global Forest Governance - Legal Concepts and Policy Trends by Rowena Maguire and puts it into the perspective of recent political and policy science research on global forests. While finding Maguire's volume being a very timely and valuable contribution to the interdisciplinary discussions on international forest governance, we identify some weaknesses which are mostly rooted in methodological critique and a lack of a systematic framework for analysis.

This thesis examines the question of organization, governance and choice of seeds in Swedish agriculture. It consists of four papers: Paper I investigates the evolution of plant breeding industry in Sweden. The results suggest that the establishment of intellectual property rights (IPRs) schemes creates power in the seed value chain in Sweden and has therefore been a major driver of mergers and acquisitions, together with changes in domestic agricultural policy as well the country´s entrance to EU. Based on nationwide survey among farmers, papers II and III examine the impact of IPRs and specifically the implications of the enforcement of Plant Breeders Rights on farmers´ choice between certified versus farm saved seed (FSS). Paper II uses transaction cost theory and logistics regression to examine empirically the governance structure of farmers choosing certified or FSS. Farmers´ assessment of the quality seed in terms of the genetic purity of each channel has no impact on their choice while personal relations with their upstream partners, investments in the farm as well as delivery contracts affect their procurement strategy. In paper III, spatial autoregressive models are used in order to analyze the transfer of "know-how" between farmers, and the spillover effects of social learning in farmers´ choice of seed channel. Farmers are distinguished between neighbors, based on their relative distance; and peers, based on membership in farmers' cooperatives. The results indicate the existence of spatial dependence on Swedish farmers' choice of seed channel. Paper IV evaluates the impact of farmers' social networks on their decision to be involved in the governance of the agricultural cooperative. The findings suggest a relationship between network characteristics and farmers' involvement in the governance that persists over a long period.

This chapter examines the conceptual framework boxes and fluxes on "Institutions and governance and other indirect drivers" (Ch. 1, Fig. 1). International and EU governance of relevance for ecosystem services, biodiversity and water is presented. Policy integration, policy coherence, management regimes and stakeholder involvement is reflected upon. The chapter contributes to further understanding of the current and future challenges for sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. It provides insights in options for integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services into sustainable development strategies and provides examples of current policy conflicts, along with trade-offs and innovative governance strategies for management of natural resources. Policy-makers need to find ways to handle policy conflicts, improve integration of different stakeholders' perspectives and value dimensions including ILK in policymaking, develop new data collection methods for linking biodiversity and ecosystem services, and develop governance systems that enhance transparency, sustainability and human well-being.

Sustainable development aims at addressing economic, social, and environmental concerns, but the current lack of responsive environmental governance hinders progress. Short-term economic development has led to limited actions, unsustainable resource management, and degraded ecosystems. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may continue to fall short of achieving significant progress without a better understanding of how ecosystems contribute to achieving sustainability for all people. Ecosystem governance is an approach that integrates the social and ecological components for improved sustainability and includes principles such as adaptive ecosystem co-management, subsidiarity, and telecoupling framework, as well as principles of democracy and accountability. We explain the importance of ecosystem governance in achieving the SDGs, and suggest some ways to ensure that ecosystem services are meaningfully considered. This paper reflects on how integration of these approaches into policies can enhance the current agenda of sustainability.

Sustainable approaches for waste management and sanitation are key to deal with the environmental and health challenges that growing urbanization is creating around the world. Implementing systems that allow to reuse resources contained in the organic waste streams (OWS) is an approach that can bring many benefits, especially in low-medium income areas as the Latin American and Caribbean region, where excreta, wastewater, and waste are not properly managed. The transformation towards these systems requires not only technological changes, but also changes in the way that urban waste and wastewater are governed. The aim of this study was to assess the capacity of the town of Chía (Colombia) to govern the transition towards resource-oriented sanitation and waste management systems. The Governance Capacity Framework (GCF) was used as a method to evaluate the governance capacity of the town to implement these systems. The assessment revealed that the capacity of Chía to govern the implementation of resource-oriented sanitation and waste management systems was low. Furthermore, governance factors that could be hindering the implementation of these systems were identified. Low level of knowledge of resource recovery from OWS in the public spheres, insufficient collaboration and communication across sectors and institutions that had competences on waste management and sanitation, short-term vision within the local decision-making processes and insufficient incentives to support local entrepreneurship on circular economy. Despite these challenges, analysis also revealed the existence of public-private partnerships and entrepreneurs working in successful initiatives linked with resource-oriented systems in Chía and other towns of Cundinamarca county. The study concluded that in Chía there was a gap between local initiatives of resource recovery from OWS that brought environmental, economic, and social benefits at small scale and its inclusion in the local and regional governance systems. Findings of this study touches upon many governance aspects such as knowledge, legislation, financing and even culture. Further research is needed to look closer to each of those and make concrete, feasible and effective proposals that bring change with a long-term sustainability vision. Finally, when analysing the results of the evaluation and making future proposals, strengths, and shortcomings of applying the GCF as an analytical tool for a specific case study like Chía need to be considered.

This master's thesis approaches the debate around biotechnology, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the notion of food sovereignty as they are addressed by an Indian, food sovereignty activist group called Navdanya. Basing on the material produced by Navdanya, I am determining, by the means of a theory guided content analysis, what kind of an alternative food sovereignty is. Furthermore, I am examining how food sovereignty can be considered as a means of resistance to the impacts of the GMOs in India. I am arguing that the introduction of the GMOs to India created an opportunity to govern populations and furthermore life and nature. I am examining this by utilising Michel Foucault's theory of biopolitics as a theoretical framework. In order to find out how governance and resistance are practiced, I utilise Foucault's notions of truth and power by illustrating how they can be utilised as a means to create governance and resistance. Therefore, I formulated a "truth regime of biotechnology" to represent the governance, operated by the actors supporting the utilisation of the GMOs, as well as to describe how the governance is created and justified under the regime. As a means of resistance, Navdanya produces alternative truths and puts into practice an alternative of food sovereignty – "the new politics of truth". Navdanya succeeds in its resistance by managing to create the alternative truth of food sovereignty, which does not utilise or reproduce the truths of the biotechnology regime. Navdanya does this by managing to detach the power of the biotechnology regime's truths from their economic and political roles they play in society. The traditional complexity with resistance, in relation to the State of India, is present, which can be however explained by utilising the new ways in approaching the notion of resistance in the context of the Global South.

During the 2000s, Sweden has pursued an active foreign and security policy. This has meant participation in several international military operations and has left many Swedish soldiers and officers with combat experience. Thus, the Swedish parliament decided in 2010 on a political reform of the veterans area, with more extensive societal support, war decorations to express the government recognition of personal sacrifices made in the service and a new medal for courage in combat. Considered as a reward system, it functions as an immaterial and emotionally established incentive, in contrast to the financial and bonus reward systems that are otherwise common. From a governance perspective, this setting is fundamentally interesting. The complexity of military operations and the demands for efficiency in armed combat are in contrast with the democratic state's need to guarantee the rule of law, even from a distance and under difficult conditions. Traditional government is not sufficient because the situation is characterized by high contextual uncertainty and therefore requires more situational adaptive control. Organizing in a professional model implies autonomy for military officials, and this means that there is a form of gap in terms of civilian control. In the dissertation, a concept and an analytical model are formulated to understand this phenomenon, entitled soft norm governance, that also form one of the main results. The model combines four levels of analysis to describe the dynamics of the steering mix: organizational metagovernance, rule control, policy work and professional ethics. One conclusion is that professional ethics has a two-way function in the chain of implementation steering, both as a decisive factor for concrete decision-making, but also as an objective for the government's soft norm governance. Thus, this control gap does not mean absence of control, but that other value-based norm systems govern our actions. In this way, soft norm governance also reaches beyond the scope of the law. The theoretical framework is metagovernance, the idea that the modern state is steering at a distance and with subtle methods, such as by organizational measures. It opens for the importance of soft law, social norms and ethics in governmental steering. The case study of the veterans policy and medal of courage contributes empirically to the specification of these theories. Furthermore, new institutionalism adds an explanatory value with a rationality of action for the officials, a so-called logic of appropriateness based on the professional role and on adaptation to the situation at hand and to applicable rules. Theoretically, the thesis contributes by supplementing with a logic of values, which takes into account the profession's ethical and moral rationality of action, which is particularly important in situations such as armed conflict. The methodological approach combines a structural statistical perspective with a qualitative and understanding-oriented perspective and can, with the support of the analytical model, illuminate both pattern and function. The material base is a total selection from the medal preparation of eight contingents in Afghanistan during the years 2008-2012, i.e. FS16-FS23. It consists of the archive material from the nominations as well as in-depth interviews with responsible commanders at the international units and at the national headquarters, including the Commander-in-Chief.