Suchergebnisse

On the 3rd of December 1989, Venezuelans went to the polls for the first time to directly elect their local and regional political leaders. A process of government decentralization was initiated with direct elections of municipal mayors and regional state governors. Since 1958, the political system had been dominated by two political parties, the social democratic AD (Acción Democrática) and Christian democratic COPEI, both strongly centralized parties. The system of strongly dominant political parties is often referred to as partyarchy, with penetration of organized social and political activities. Notwithstanding, the AD-COPEI partyarchy experienced a relatively rapid process of undermining from 1989, losing control over important mayordomes, governorships and municipal councils. This book deals with the transformations of the Venezuelan political party system in the context of the decentralization process. During the principal study period (1989-2004), non-traditional political parties like the socialist MAS (Movimiento Al Socialismo) and Causa R (Causa Radical) have emerged, and triumphed in the elections of mayors and governors, thus threatening the previous almost hegemonic position of AD and COPEI. The municipal, regional and national elections of 1998 and 2000 changed the political panorama even more. Several entirely new political parties have emerged. The MVR (Movimiento V República) party of current President Hugo Chávez presents the most dramatic and rapid rise in this context. But similarly, other parties associated with decentralization have achieved increased political influence. Theoretically, a combination of actors' rational choice, and, more process-structural approaches, particularly the use of the framework of political opportunity structures, helps to theoretically understand the political transformations related to decentralization and its implications for the party system. The study demonstrates that the party system and political decentralization are intimately connected and dependent of each other. This study describes and analyzes the "encounter" between the Venezuelan party system and the decentralization reform. ; Avhandling från: Renvall Institute for Area and Cultural Studies, University of Helsinki, 2004. [Även utgiven som: Renvall Institute Publications; 17]

"The ongoing restructuring of today's labour markets and the swift changes in occupational structures and skill requirements generate a risk for unbalanced growth in the supply and demand for qualifications. This paper concentrates on the instruments employed in Scandinavia to identify labour market mismatches, understood as shortages of qualifications related to a certain occupation or education group. There are various actors engaged in the forecasting of labour market developments in the individual countries. The public employment services (PES) stand out as the main actor concerning the identification of short-term needs and the characteristics of current mismatches. The PES efforts are primarily carried out on the regional and/ or local levels, and the central tools are comprehensive company surveys and ongoing regular contacts with the surrounding society. The information obtained is essential to adjust the focus of labour market training, which has the primary objective to support the employment offices in their efforts to smooth the matching process on the labour market. In all three countries, models have also been developed to project medium and long-term supply of labour by education groups and demand for labour by branch. A common feature of these models is that they offer thought-provoking mismatch scenarios rather than genuine prognoses of the most probable labour market outcome. To some extent the projections are employed to regulate the education and training dimensions, primarily within higher education. However, the central political strategy in the Scandinavian countries is to provide all individuals with an adequate education offer. Thus, the medium- and long-term projections appear primarily useful for individuals deciding on their career paths, and to highlight situations where there is an obvious conflict between the individuals' demand for education and training and the labour market needs for certain types of skills. Other central aspects of the Scandinavian system include decentralisation, management by objectives, and representation of the social partners in important advisory as well as decision-making bodies at national and regional level." (author's abstract)

This is a brief report on a study of world cities in the under‐researched poor countries. Whereas previous work has focused rather haphazardly on one or a few cities beyond the West, this is the first study to systematically cover such 'second‐tier' world cities. Fourteen leading authorities from diverse backgrounds bring their expertise to bear on twelve world cities across four continents. Alongside the economic, they consider the political and cultural role these cities play within their regions and at the global level. The study leads to three principal conclusions: (1) these cities are extraordinarily diverse; (2) the city centers have become elite enclaves; and (3) along with the forces of globalization, the state and popular movements are important actors. These findings indicate the need for research that moves beyond the focus on globalization to take into account the multiple forces shaping world cities. And they demonstrate the benefits of overcoming an ethnocentrism in urban studies that privileges Western cities as locales of study and sources of generalization.Ce compte rendu résume une étude sur les grandes villes mondiales situées dans les pays pauvres délaissés par les recherches. Tandis que les travaux précédents s'étaient consacrés, plutôt au hasard, à quelques grandes villes hors d'Occident, cette étude est la première à couvrir systématiquement les villes mondiales 'de second ordre'. Quatorze auteurs éminents d'appartenances diverses apportent leur expertise à l'égard de douze grandes villes mondiales réparties sur quatre continents. Ces chercheurs s'intéressent non seulement à la fonction économique, mais aussi aux rôles politique et culturel de ces villes au niveau régional et international. Trois conclusions majeures se dégagent: ces villes sont extraordinairement diverses, les centres‐villes sont devenus des enclaves pour élites et, parallèlement aux poussées de la mondialisation, l'État et les mouvements populaires sont des acteurs importants. Ces résultats montrent la nécessité de réaliser des recherches qui dépassent le seul plan de la mondialisation pour tenir compte des forces multiples qui façonnent les villes mondiales. De plus, ils prouvent qu'il vaut mieux s'émanciper de l'ethnocentrisme des études urbaines, lequel privilégie les villes occidentales comme sites d'étude et sources de généralisation.

The Internet globalizes the world. National regulatory autonomy shrinks. Transferring data from one country to another is almost costless. Foreign content is just a click away. Why is it that states have been able to re-install co-existence in some policy areas, and not in others? In data protection, the safe-harbour compromise between the US and the EU found a way out. In the area of content regulation, transnational conflict is no less pronounced. The Europeans are preoccupied with Nazi publications, that are constitutionally protected in the US. The US public dislikes portrayals of nudity, that most Europeans find inoffensive. Yet no attempts at organizing co-existence are within sight. This paper develops a rational choice model to explain the difference. States are modelled as actors. The good is the degree of protection accorded to a value. Nations evaluate such protection differently. Moreover, rational nations are aware of the opportunity cost involved in any activity to protect local values. To a degree, the inability of organizing co-existence stems from a difference in preferences. If so, there is no room for a win-win solution. But typically, one nation does not positively want some content to be accessible that the other nation dislikes fervently. Usually, the first nation is just indifferent, or the opportunity cost seems too high. The more important difference between data protection and content regulation thus turns out to be strategic. Organizing co-existence in both areas presupposes overcoming a strategic conflict. But in data protection, this typically is a one-to-one conflict, while in content regulation the typical conflict is of a one-to-many nature. In public goods terminology, co-existence is a weaker-link good with a very high threshold. This difference might make it advisable for countries with a strong preference for protection to shift from mitigation to adaptation. Practically speaking, they would push, perhaps even subsidize, the development of powerful filtering technologies. And they would strengthen their social norms ostracizing access to outrageous content.

The aim of the research is to describe the emergent process of the local public sphere at la Reunion island (France) in a social change context. The first part of the dissertation develops the theoretical perspective of the concept of public sphere. What is finally focused as a central hypothesis is that two major dimensions are constitutive of the public sphere. One is, along with habermas work, the procedural dimension. But the public sphere may also be considered as a social scene where social interactions, events, and social actors emerge as public ones. Moreover, the public sphere is socially diffracted into several social segments of the society : political, media, urban and school ones. The data, issued from la reunion secondary school (1970-1995) are collected in a diachronical and ethnographical perspective. The analysis (in the second part of the work) focuses on the evolution of the news produced by pupils; the third part is an ethnographical observation of the urban experience recently made by the "new" secondary school pupils. If the emergent point of the public sphere appears in the school context, the analysis shows that this social space is so deeply connected with the other social segments mentionned above, that they constitute a strong socio-political system. Finally, as one of the main result of this research, it seams to be easier to discuss the relevance of the analytical categories from which the concept of public sphere is based; their theoretical validity may be questionned when they are applied within so different social context from that one within which they were elaborated the western developed countries. ; Cette thèse tente de décrire le processus d'émergence de l'espace public dans une société en mutation : l'île de la Réunion. La première partie propose une présentation et une mise en perspective de la double conception de l'espace public - la " sphère de discussion" et la "scène d'apparition" - que la littérature tend à opposer. Cette recherche montre que ces deux dimensions sont ...

El cambio de milenio ha visto el surgimiento de una campaña global contra la trata de personas que ha tenido un marcado énfasis en el combate contra distintas modalidades del comercio sexual. Tanto a nivel global y en diferentes contextos nacionales la construcción de la trata de personas como problema público se ha valido de la producción y difusión estratégica de una serie de cifras y estadísticas, por un lado, con el objetivo de instalar la problemática en la agenda pública y por el otro, de difundir acciones gubernamentales de combate contra la trata de personas. En el presente artículo proponemos un análisis de la construcción de la trata de personas como problema público en la Argentina a través de la política de los números utilizada por organizaciones de la sociedad civil y por burocracias estatales. Señalamos las diferentes operaciones partir de las cuales las cifras fueron producidas y puestas en circulación por estos actores, y cómo esto responde a orientaciones políticas e intereses determinados. ; The turn of the 21st century has seen the emergence of a global campaign against human trafficking with a strong focus on different modalities of commercial sex. Both at the global and local levels the construction of human trafficking as a public problem has relied on the strategic production and dissemination of a series of numbers and statistics aiming, on one side, to compel public attention to the problem, and on the other side, to publicize government actions in the fight against trafficking. In this pa-per we propose an analysis of the construction of human trafficking as a public problem in Argentina describing the politics of numbers used by non-governmental organizations and government agencies. We show the different operations used by these actors to manufacture and disseminate these numbers, and how these process responds to specific political com-mitments and interests. ; Fil: Varela, Cecilia Ines. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina ; Fil: Gonzalez, Felipe Fernando. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

El presente trabajo indaga sobre las construcciones discursivas en torno a la figura de los estudiantes en el marco de las movilizaciones estudiantiles de 1969 en Corrientes en contra de la privatización de los comedores universitarios (Corrientes y Resistencia-Chaco), que más tarde desembocaron en lo que se conoció como el ?Correntinazo?. Este hecho desencadenó la visibilización de los jóvenes estudiantes como actores sociales organizados en el escenario social y político represivo del régimen de facto de Onganía.A través del análisis del discurso damos cuenta de las variaciones del sentido que se le asigna a este actor estudiante en tanto objeto discursivo, articulado desde las voces de distintos sectores que estuvieron involucrados en el conflicto. A partir de las solicitadas y comunicados de los estudiantes y de la universidad que el diario local El Litoral puso en circulación y las editoriales del propio medio, observamos como para cada sector hay un estudiante con características definidas que exponen las disputas de la época y dan sentido al conflicto. ; This paper explores the discursive constructions around the figure of students under the student demonstrations of 1969 in Corrientes against the privatization of university canteens (Corrientes and Resistencia-Chaco), which later leaded to the which he became known as the 'Correntinazo'. This triggered the visibility of young students as social actors organized in the repressive social and political scene Onganía facto regime. Through discourse analysis we will cross the variations on the meaning ascribed to this student discursive object as actor, articulated from the voices of different sectors were involved in the conflict. From requested and press students and college newspaper El Litoral put into circulation and publishers of the medium itself, we see that for each sector there is a student with defined characteristics that expose the disputes of the time and give sense the conflict. ; Fil: Campusano, Marina Noemí. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Rectorado. Centro de Estudios Sociales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

El accionar internacional de las ciudades, las regiones, es decir de los actores subnacionales en general, han despertado un reciente y creciente interés en ámbitos académicos y político-institucionales. Esta ha llevado a profundizar su análisis y a generar debates en torno a sus características, sus alcances y su conceptualización. El concepto de la paradiplomacia, ampliamente difundido, ha permitido poner en discusión la temática. Este artículo profundiza el análisis sobre los principales enfoques del campo de las relaciones internacionales y a partir de estos insumos se propone establecer un abordaje adecuado a la realidad de países como Argentina, buscando abordar de manera compleja la problemática. ; The international action of cities, regions, and of subnational actors in general has attracted growing interest in academic and political-institutional settings. This has led to deepen its analysis and generate debates about its features, its scope and its conceptualization. The so-called "paradiplomacy" concept, widely distributed, made it possible to debate the issue. This article analyzes the main approaches from the field of International Relations and, from these inputs, an appropriate approach to study the reality of countries like Argentina is proposed, seeking to address the issue in a more complex way. ; O acionar internacional das cidades, as regiões, é dizer dos atores subnacionais em geral, têm despertado um recente e crescente interesse em âmbitos académicos e político-institucionais. Esta tem levado a aprofundar sua análise e a gerar debates em torno às suas características, os seus alcances e a sua conceptualização. O conceito da paradiplomacia, amplamente difundido, tem permitido pôr em discussão a temática. Este artigo aprofunda a análise sobre os principais enfoques do campo das relações internacionais e a partir destes insumos propõe-se estabelecer uma abordagem adequada à realidade de países como a Argentina, buscando abordar de maneira complexa a problemática. ; Fil: Calvento, Mariana. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Humanas. Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios entre Problemas Internos y Locales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

In a climate change context, the implementation of adaptive strategies appears as one of the greatest challenges for our societies. At the beginning of the 21st century, the scientific community proposed an adaptation option to limit climate change impacts on biodiversity, the assisted migration (AM). Despite a good theoretical justification, the AM application raises several questions about ecological, economical, ethical and political issues. Along this thesis, I was interested in the adaptive capacity of society actors concerning the changing climate, through the implementation of new practices as AM. Given the slow migration capacity of tree species, forests represent a relevant ecosystem for AM application, especially in France which has more than 29% of its surface as forest areas that are highly fragmented. In the first part of this thesis, I concentrated on the AM debate and I analyzed the actual barriers in its conception and its implementation. On the basis of a comparative analysis between France and Canada, I highlighted that different acceptations of adaptation and AM between policy and scientific actors represent a barrier for the implementation of adaptive strategies, as AM. Hence, I proposed a new concept of AM at the ecosystem scale, allowing limiting the focus on economic issues of AM programs. Moreover, I demonstrated that the AM actions are not constrained in a precautionary approach but could be applied in a prevention context. These results unties the deadlock about the "when to act?" question. After an empirical and theoretical analysis of AM and its context, in the second part of this thesis, I was interested on the real application of AM in the field. Therefore, I evaluated the capacity of forest actors to change their practices in a climate change context, with an original method based on the estimation of local capitals. Sadly, this analysis showed that for the moment, foresters implement more easily strategies for increasing robustness than resilient or transformative strategies, increasing the fragility of socio-ecosystems and risking a violent collapse of them. ; Dans la problématique du changement climatique, la mise en place de nouvelles stratégies d'adaptation apparaît comme un des grands challenges de nos sociétés actuelles. C'est au début des années 2000, que la communauté scientifique a proposé une option de gestion de la biodiversité afin de limiter les impacts dus à la vitesse du changement climatique, cette option étant connue sous le nom de migration assistée (MA). Cependant, malgré une justification théorique intéressante, l'application de cette pratique a soulevé de nombreuses questions autant éthiques, écologiques, économiques que politiques. Tout au long de cette thèse, je me suis intéressée à la capacité d'adaptation des acteurs face au changement climatique, via la mise en place de nouvelles pratiques de gestion, en s'intéressant tout particulièrement au cas de la MA. Compte tenu du rythme de migration lent des espèces forestières, les forêts représentent un écosystème pertinent pour la mise en place de la MA, et plus spécifiquement pour la France, qui compte plus de 29% de son territoire en surface boisée avec une forte problématique de fragmentation. Dans la première partie de cette thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés au débat que la MA a suscité et j'ai analysé les blocages qui existent actuellement dans sa conception et sa mise en place. Sur la base d'une analyse comparative entre la France et le Canada, j'ai pu mettre en évidence que les différentes conceptions d'adaptation et de MA entre les acteurs politiques et les scientifiques représentaient des barrières à l'application de programmes de MA. Ainsi, j'ai proposé une nouvelle conception de la MA, avec un volet écosystémique, permettant de limiter les approches économico-centrée de ces programmes. De plus, j'ai démontré que l'action de MA ne s'inscrit pas seulement dans une démarche de précaution mais également de prévention, dénouant ainsi le blocage présent sur la question du « quand doit-on agir ? ». Après une analyse théorique et empirique de la MA et de son contexte, dans la seconde partie, nous nous sommes posés la question de sa réelle application sur le terrain. J'ai donc analysé la capacité des acteurs forestiers locaux à mettre en œuvre des stratégies d'adaptation grâce à une méthode originale d'estimation des capitaux locaux. Malheureusement, cette analyse a montré qu'à l'heure actuelle, les forestiers mettent plus facilement en place des stratégies favorisant la robustesse que des stratégies plus complexes de résilience globale ou de transformabilité, telle que la MA, augmentant ainsi la fragilisation des socio-écosystèmes et risquant des transitions brutales.

Between 2009 and 2015, several rivers in the Doubs department were the scene of episodes of fish mortality. While, due to the sensitivity of fish to variations in water quality and climatic hazards, the first manifestations of this phenomenon were considered "normal" by some professionals in aquatic environments, the observations made during its repetition led many actors to recognize the disturbing nature of the situation. Summarizing the uncertainties and concerns about the sustainability of fishing practices and potential health risks in particular, this phenomenon has most often been explained by "river pollution".However, it appeared that such a qualification is insufficient because it "covers" under a single term the attempts at solutions put in place by the actors. This is why the challenge of this thesis is to discard the notion of "pollution" in order to better understand how they respond to the phenomenon of fish mortality. To this end, my work is based on a study of the grey literature produced on the situation, on the observation of the practices and interactions of heterogeneous actors with different or sometimes contradictory interests (fishermen, environmental advocates, officials of State and local authorities, farmers, experts, etc.), as well as on a series of interviews conducted with the latter. Developing an analysis of their practices and discourses, it proposes an examination of ways of understanding the phenomenon of fish mortality, as well as the measures devised and/or implemented to control it.Based on this empirical foundation, I thus intend to demonstrate that pollution is not an entity already present, waiting to be discovered, denounced for its action in order to be controlled, but a "political" solution to a problem faced in a dispersed order and in sometimes conflicting relationships by actors forced to engage in the resolution of a disorder in order to preserve their interests. In this sense, it is a means of delimiting a diplomatic contour in an attempt to contain a disorder.In this perspective, I analyse the conduct of different investigations through which they mobilise different resources not only to try to understand the causes of fish mortality episodes but also and above all, to control them in order to prevent their return and restore share prices. It then appears that the complexity of this phenomenon, the diversity of the issues it covers and its geographical size exceed the unique capacity for resolution that isspecific to each group (environmental associations, representative structures of the agricultural world, local authorities, public authorities, etc.) and require a collective but always uncertain activity to define the problem and its solutions.Putting this work in a socio-anthropological perspective, I also show that, beyond the search for causes, these investigations carry with them the risk of mutual denunciation and the attribution of responsibilities relating to the degradation of the quality of watercourses. From this point of view, I observe that if river advocates engage in a logic of accusations of agricultural activities and sanitation management leading to the opening of a conflict situation, experts mandated by government representatives conclude that the phenomenon is multifactorial and leads to a dilution of responsibilities. The situation then remains partly undetermined and the explanation by "river pollution" becomes a political solution, or even a "diplomatic tool" for a collective problem that is difficult to make sense of. ; Entre les années 2009 et 2015, plusieurs rivières du département du Doubs ont été le théâtre d'épisodes de mortalité piscicole. Si, en raison de la sensibilité des poissons aux variations de la qualité de l'eau et des aléas climatiques, les premières manifestations de ce phénomène ont été considérées comme « normales » par certains professionnels des milieux aquatiques, les observations réalisées lors de sa répétition ont amené de nombreux acteurs à reconnaître le caractère troublant de la situation. Résumant les incertitudes et les inquiétudes à l'égard de la pérennité des pratiques de pêche et de potentiels risques sanitaires notamment, ce phénomène a été le plus souvent expliqué par « la pollution des rivières ».Or, il est apparu qu'une telle qualification est insuffisante parce qu'elle « recouvre » sous un terme unique les tentatives de solutions mises en place par les acteurs. C'est pourquoi, le pari de cette thèse consiste à écarter la notion de « pollution » afin de mieux comprendre comment ils répondent au phénomène de mortalité piscicole. Pour ce faire, mon travail est basé sur l'étude de la littérature grise produite sur la situation, sur l'observation des pratiques et des interactions d'acteurs hétérogènes aux intérêts différents voire parfois contradictoires (pêcheurs, défenseurs de l'environnement, agents des services de l'État et des collectivités territoriales, agriculteurs, experts, etc.), ainsi que sur une série d'entretiens réalisés auprès de ces derniers. Développant une analyse de leurs pratiques et de leurs discours, il propose un examen des manières d'appréhender le phénomène de mortalités piscicoles, ainsi que des mesures imaginées et/ou mises en œuvre pour le maîtriser.À partir de cet ancrage empirique, j'entends ainsi démontrer que la pollution n'est pas une entité déjà présente, en attente d'être découverte, dénoncée pour son action en vue d'être maîtrisée, mais solution « politique » à un problème affronté en ordre dispersé et dans des relations parfois conflictuelles par des acteurs obligés de s'engager dans la résolution d'un trouble afin de préserver leurs intérêts. Elle est en ce sens, un moyen de délimiter un contour diplomatique pour tenter de contenir un trouble.Dans cette perspective, j'analyse la conduite de différentes enquêtes à travers lesquelles ces derniers mobilisent des ressources différentes pour non seulement essayer de comprendre les causes des épisodes de mortalité piscicole mais aussi et surtout, pour les maîtriser afin d'en empêcher le retour et rétablir des cours d'actions. Il apparaît alors que la complexité de ce phénomène, la diversité des enjeux qu'il recouvre ainsi que sa taille géographique dépassent la capacité de résolution singulière qui est propre à chaque groupe (associations de défense de l'environnement, structures représentatives du monde agricole, collectivités territoriales, autorité publiques.) et nécessitent d'engager une activité collective mais toujours incertaine de définition du problème et de ses solutions.Inscrivant ce travail dans une perspective socio-anthropologique, je montre également qu'au-delà de la recherche des causes, ces investigations portent avec elles le risque de la dénonciation réciproque et de l'imputation de responsabilités relatives à la dégradation de la qualité des cours d'eau. De ce point de vue, j'observe que si les défenseurs des rivières s'engagent dans une logique d'accusation des activités agricoles et de la gestion de l'assainissement débouchant sur l'ouverture d'une situation conflictuelle, les experts mandatés par les représentants des pouvoirs publics concluent au caractère multifactoriel du phénomène et conduisent à une dilution des responsabilités. La situation reste alors en partie indéterminée et l'explication par « la pollution des rivières » devient une solution politique, voire un « outil diplomatique » pour un problème collectif qui peine à prendre sens.

Summary The work seeks to provide elements to reflect on the relations between territoriality, spatiality and state. To this end, it examines the various strategies put in place to design the political space and build up territorial knowledge by actors linked to the government of the province of Mendoza (Argentina) between 1849 and 1860. It shows how empirically acquired knowledge about the territory, in addition to the technical resources linked to the project geometry, was available to a provincial state in need of defining the extent to which its orders arrived and collected its taxes. We conclude that, for the period under consideration, it is essential to link the study of Cartography with that of Statistics, since, for contemporaries, they formed intellectual resources of the same process of accumulation of information in order to delimit state space, collecting territorial practice and helping to nurture the identity of the political community of belonging. ; Resumen El trabajo intenta aportar elementos para reflexionar en torno a las relaciones entre territorialidad, espacialidad y Estado. Para ello indaga en las diversas estrategias desplegadas para diseñar el espacio político y acumular conocimiento territorial por actores vinculados al gobierno de la provincia de Mendoza (Argentina), entre 1849 y 1860. Muestra cómo los saberes obtenidos empíricamente sobre el territorio, sumados a los recursos técnicos vinculados con la geometría proyectiva, estaban a disposición de una estatalidad provincial necesitada de definir hasta dónde llegaban sus órdenes y recaudaba sus impuestos. Se concluye en que, para la época abordada, resulta fundamental vincular el estudio de la Cartografía con el de la Estadística, pues para los contemporáneos conformaban recursos intelectuales de un mismo proceso de acumulación de información para delimitar la espacialidad estatal, recogiendo la praxis territorial y contribuyendo a nutrir la identidad de la comunidad política de pertenencia.

The 'globalecity' has become a very popular subject for some 15 years. However, the active participation of the cities in the interconnection movements summarised as globalisation is missing from this literature. It is assumed here that, as actors and subjects, cities through their political embodiment, that of urban municipal governments, are more than mere areas where globalisation is taking place. Exchanges between and on the functioning of these urban municipal governments, their action and their institutional situation are considered to contribute to the construction of transnational interconnection phenomena, whether regional or global. This article proposes a first approach to the 'municipal canvas' built between and with urban municipal governments in contemporary times. It includes municipal governments, elected representatives and municipal employees, but also savers and reformers; intergovernmental bodies, domestic and transnational non-governmental organisations as well as sections of national or sub-national governments, without omitting companies operating in the urban market. It organises and channels the circulation of ideas, people, services between and about urban municipal governments. The article pays particular attention to the stakeholders, materials of this web and the objects that travel it, highlighting the long-term effects of this network of contacts and exchanges that has been in place since the end of the 19th century. ; International audience There has been an outburst of scholarship on world and global cities in the recent years. Though, cities under the guise of political entities, that is municipal urban governments, have not been considered by this literature as having a relevant degree of agency in the process of interconnection that have been named globalisation. While they are both agents and subjects of this process, their part has been neglected or considered under a very limited chronological angle. This article offers an approach to the 'municipal web' that has developed ...

Climate change and its impacts are evident both globally and locally, manifesting in every sphere of life including natural resources. The African continent is considered the most vulnerable to these impacts while Ghana was ranked the 59th most vulnerable country to climate change in the world in 2014. Studies about groundwater resources under climate change point to some already occurred impacts with more anticipated. It is noted that climate change will exacerbate water stressing situations in Ghana as groundwater resources will be negatively affected. For instance, future scenarios indicate a general reduction in groundwater recharge of 5-22 % for 2020 and 30-40% for 2050. Already, the northern part of the country where most of the population depends on groundwater is noted for fallen groundwater tables. Therefore, in order to address these impacts in Africa, the role of institutions in promoting adaptation has been identified as one of the strategies. It is realised that institutions shape the nature of the impact of climate change, influence the way communities respond to climate change and serve as the intermediaries for external support. A glean of institutions in Ghana shows a plethora of them that are directly or indirectly regulating activities relating to water resources in the face of climate change. The thesis, therefore, looks at the nature of these institutions (state/formal) and their roles in promoting groundwater adaptation to climate change. In order to understand in detail the "how" and "why" of adaptation in relation to groundwater resources and also have a multi-perspective discussion that considers the voices of all relevant groups of actors together with their interactions in promoting groundwater resources adaptation, the study adopted a qualitative approach and made the Atankwidi catchment a case study area. Using triangulation, data were drawn from both primary (community/office interactions) and secondary sources and augmented by analyses of policy documents. The results of the study revealed that at both the national and sub-national levels, there is a multiplicity of state formal institutions in the form of laws, policies and administration even though there is currently no legislation designed in Ghana that focuses specifically on climate change adaptation. Focusing on the themes of groundwater adaptation, managing groundwater demand for domestic purposes appear to be receiving greater attention while storage, discharge and recharge need improvement. Like the Inuit in the Canadian Arctic, groundwater farmers of Atankwidi based on local knowledge have identified methods of adapting to the impacts of climate change on groundwater in the form of deepening wells, changing crop types, conjunctively using both surface and groundwater water and migrating to other places. Nonetheless, this local knowledge for promoting adaptation is limited. Therefore, formal institutions can enhance the scope of this knowledge by first of all recognising and documenting this knowledge as part of adaption efforts. Additionally, these institutions should educate and update local knowledge holders about some scientific methods of groundwater adaptation. This will create a new form of knowledge which is integrated and comprehensive enough to function independently to promote adaptation. Associated with this, farmers should be guided in adopting artificial methods of groundwater recharge that are anchored on local knowledge to boost groundwater availability. Inspired by the achievements of some existing artificial groundwater recharge methods in same northern Ghana, the thesis identified that the adoption of Managed Aquifer Recharge methods such as a subsurface dam in Atankwidi is feasible. This is premised on the fact that apart from the geophysical parameters of the catchment, it is realised that the institutional environment (both formal and informal) and the existence of local materials coupled with local knowledge support the construction and management of a subsurface dam. The thesis concluded that artificial recharge will contribute to promoting adaptation since natural recharge may be negatively affected over time due to the nature of rainfall pattern caused by climate change coupled with increasing population growth and booming groundwater dry season irrigation.:1. General background 2. Review of the existing literature 3. General research design/methodology 4. Background issues of climate change in Atankwidi catchment 5. Formal institutions and groundwater adaptation to climate change 6. Assessing institutions' performance for adaptation 7. Local knowledge for groundwater irrigation 8. Feasibility of managed aquifer recharge to augment groundwater availability 9. General conclusions and recommendations 10. References APPENDICES ; Der Klimawandel und seine Auswirkungen sind global und lokal sichtbar und manifestieren sich in allen Lebensbereichen, einschließlich denen der natürlichen Ressourcen. Der afrikanische Kontinent gilt als am anfälligsten für diese Auswirkungen. Ghana wurde 2014 auf Rang 59 der für den Klimawandel anfälligsten Länder geführt. Studien über Grundwasserressourcen und Klimawandel zeigen bereits eingetretene Auswirkungen und deuten auf darauf hin, dass sich der Einfluss des Klimawandels auf das Grundwasser zukünftig noch verstärken wird. Der Klimawandel wird die Wasserknappheit in Ghana verschärfen, da die Grundwasserressourcen negativ beeinflusst werden. Zukunftsszenarien zeigen beispielsweise, dass die Grundwasserneubildung im Jahr 2020 um 5-22% und bis 2050 um 30-40% zurückgehen wird. Der nördliche Teil des Landes, in dem der Großteil der Bevölkerung vom Grundwasser abhängig ist, ist bereits jetzt von fallenden Grundwasserspiegeln betroffen. Um diesen Auswirkungen in Afrika entgegenzuwirken, wurde die Rolle der Institutionen bei der Förderung der Klimawandelanpassung als eine mögliche Strategie identifiziert. Institutionen können die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf eine Region mitprägen, sie können beeinflussen wie Gemeinschaften auf den Klimawandel reagieren, und als Vermittler für Unterstützung von außen dienen. Eine Zusammenstellung relevanter Institutionen in Ghana, die direkte oder indirekte Aktivitäten im Zusammenhang mit Wasserressourcen und Klimawandel regulieren, zeigt deren Fülle. Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Art dieser (staatlichen) Institutionen und ihrer Rolle bei der Förderung der Klimawandelanpassung des Grundwassers. Um das "Wie" und "Warum" dieser Anpassung im Detail zu verstehen und eine multiperspektivische Diskussion zu ermöglichen, bei der die Stimmen aller relevanten Akteursgruppen zusammen mit ihren Interaktionen bei der Förderung der Grundwasserressourcenanpassung berücksichtigt werden, verfolgt diese Studie einen qualitativen Ansatz mit dem Atankwidi-Einzugsgebiet als Fallstudie. Mittels Triangulation wurden Daten aus primären (Gemeinebefragungen) und sekundären Quellen gesammelt und durch Analysen von Richtlinien ergänzt. Die Ergebnisse der Studie zeigen, dass es sowohl auf nationaler als auch auf subnationaler Ebene eine Vielzahl staatlicher, formaler Institutionen in Form von Gesetzen, Richtlinien und Verwaltung gibt, obwohl in Ghana derzeit keine Gesetzgebung existiert, die sich speziell mit der Klimawandelanpassung befasst. Bezogen auf die Anpassung des Grundwassermanagements, wird der Bewirtschaftung des Grundwasserbedarfs für häusliche Zwecke viel Aufmerksamkeit zuteil, während die Speicherung, Entsorgung und Anreicherung von Wasser ungenügend betrachtet werden. Wie die Inuit in der kanadischen Arktis, haben die Landwirte von Atankwidi auf Grundlage des lokalen Wissens Methoden zur Anpassung an die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf das Grundwasser entwickelt, beispielsweise in Form von Vertiefungen von Brunnen, Änderung der Kulturpflanzenart, gleichzeitiger Nutzung von Oberflächen- und Grundwasser oder der Umsiedlung in andere Gebiete. Trotz der Tatsache, dass ihr lokales Wissen eine Anpassung ermöglicht, ist der begrenzte Umfang dieses Wissens als eine Schwachstelle anzusehen. Formale Institutionen können den Umfang dieses lokalen Wissens nutzbar machen und erweitern, indem sie dieses Wissen über Anpassungsmaßnahmen anerkennen und dokumentieren. Darüber hinaus sollten diese Institutionen lokale Gemeinden über weitere wissenschaftliche Methoden der Grundwasseranpassung informieren. Dadurch wird zusätzliches Wissen geschaffen, das integrierbar und umfassend genug ist, um eine unabhängige Anpassung zu fördern. Zusätzlich sollten Landwirte angeleitet werden, auf lokalem Wissen basierende Methoden der künstlichen Grundwasseranreicherung anzuwenden, um die Verfügbarkeit von Grundwasserressourcen zu erhöhen. Inspiriert von den Erfolgen einiger Anlagen zur künstlichen Grundwasseranreicherung im Norden Ghanas, empfiehlt diese Doktorarbeit die Implementierung von künstlichen Grundwasseranreicherungsanalagen in Atankwidi. Diese Empfehlung stützt sich auf den günstigen geophysikalischen Gegebenheiten des Einzugsgebiets und der Tatsache, dass das (formelle und informelle) institutionelle Umfeld eine Implementierung ermöglicht. Diese Arbeit kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Anpassung der Grundwasserressourcen im Norden Ghanas mehr Aufmerksamkeit im Bereich der künstlichen Anreicherung erfordert, da die natürliche Grundwasserneubildung aufgrund der durch den Klimawandel verursachten veränderten Niederschlagsmuster in Verbindung mit einem zunehmenden Bevölkerungswachstum und einer boomenden Trockenzeitbewässerung im Grundwasser starke Veränderungen hervorrufen wird.:1. General background 2. Review of the existing literature 3. General research design/methodology 4. Background issues of climate change in Atankwidi catchment 5. Formal institutions and groundwater adaptation to climate change 6. Assessing institutions' performance for adaptation 7. Local knowledge for groundwater irrigation 8. Feasibility of managed aquifer recharge to augment groundwater availability 9. General conclusions and recommendations 10. References APPENDICES