Suchergebnisse

Text reflektuje úlohu vysokých škol ve společenských změnách, konkrétně v procesech transformace společnosti k udržitelnému rozvoji. Vychází z dokumentu Úmluva o vysokoškolském vzdělávání pro udržitelný rozvoj, který vznikl a byl představen u příležitosti konference Rio+20 v roce 2012 a který předkládá vizi celkové proměny univerzit související s celospolečenskými požadavky na udržitelné vzdělávání ‑ zahrnuje všechny aspekty života vysokoškolských institucí (výuku, správu, vzdělávací politiku). V tomto rámci autoři ukazují hlavní, v současné době probíhající změny ve vysokoškolském vzdělávání, a to v šesti okruzích, které zahrnují: hodnotové předpoklady akce, holistický přístup, změny v nakládání se znalostmi, důraz na procesy učení a na kompetence (jejichž význam mezi vzdělávacími cíli roste), a způsoby hodnocení kvality procesu a výsledku učení. Rekapitulují dopad těchto trendů v českém vzdělávacím prostředí i možnosti budoucího vývoje; ukazují, jak reálně probíhající změny souvisí s proměnou vědeckých paradigmat i vzdělávacích teorií. Navrhují popsat tento vývoj jako proměnu vzdělávacího žánru, tedy především s ohledem na to, jak jsou poznatky komunikovány, jak se proměňuje způsob jejich přenosu či sdílení ve vzdělávacím procesu. Ukazují, s jakými novými charakteristikami tohoto procesu bude postupně nutno počítat, a nabízejí možná budoucí výzkumná témata s tím související. ; This paper reflects on the role of universities in social changes, particularly in processes of societal transformation towards sustainable development. It is based on the document Peoples' Sustainability Treaty on Higher Education Towards Sustainable Development, produced for and introduced on the occasion of the Rio+20 Conference in 2012, which presents a vision for an overall transformation of universities related to the society-wide requirement for sustainable education involving every aspect of higher education institutions (curricula and teaching, campus operations, community engagement, cultural change). Within this framework, the authors demonstrate the main changes currently underway in higher education within six spheres that include: value-based preconditions for action, a holistic approach, knowledge management, an emphasis on learning processes and competencies (the importance of which is growing among education objectives), and methods of evaluating quality of learning process and learning outcomes . They recapitulate the impact of these trends within the Czech education environment and opportunities for future development; they show how real world changes in progress are related to the transformation of both scientific paradigms and education theories. They propose describing this development as a change of education genre, primarily with respect to how knowledge is communicated. They show what new processes in education will gradually have to be taken into account, and offer potential future research topics related to these.

Článek prezentuje výsledky kvalitativního výzkumu realizovaného mezi českými organizacemi nabízejícími programy environmentální výchovy a orgány veřejné správy, které tyto programy finančně podporují. V rámci výzkumu byly řešeny tři základní výzkumné otázky: jaké evaluační strategie organizace používají? Jak tyto strategie souvisí s metodikou realizovaných programů, resp. do jaké míry odpovídají programy hodnocených organizací požadavkům na efektivní environmentální výchovu? Do jaké míry vycházejí orgány veřejné správy při finanční podpoře těchto programů z jejich skutečné efektivity? Výzkum prokázal poměrně malé zastoupení evaluačních strategií přinášejících relevantní informace o efektivitě programu, metodické nedostatky ve většině hodnocených programů a nedostatečnou schopnost orgánů veřejné správy formulovat a vyhodnocovat požadavky na efektivitu podporovaných programů. ; The article presents the results of qualitative research that has been undertaken among Czech environmental education centres, and regional and municipal government institutions providing financial support in this area. Three research questions were discussed: what evaluation strategies are used by the organisations? How are the strategies connected with the methodology of the programmes, or how do the programmes correspond with the standards for effective environmental education? How important is the real effectiveness of the programmes for a local government's decision regarding their financial support? The research proved that few organisations use evaluation strategies that provide relevant information about programme effectiveness, there are methodological weaknesses in the majority of analysed programmes, and local government institutions do not have and do not demand relevant information about the effectiveness of supported programmes.

The 'socioenvironmental state' conceptualisation probes how contested, shifting, emergent boundaries of the state contain the possibilities for transformative change in the Anthropocene. The paper outlines a research programme capable of addressing the questions: who becomes authorised to govern change, who is required to make changes on the ground, and what subjectivities and pathways emerge in the context of rapid rate change? The conceptualisation unpacks three boundaries: state– society, its socionatural emergence, and the relationships between boundary-making and belonging to address these questions and better account for the successes and failures of attempts at governing an uncertain, rapidly changing world. In this analysis, 'environmental change' arises as a stochastic, relational becoming – ecologies and resources are emergent with the social-politics of governing them – suggesting that more analytical attention is required on how 'environmental challenges' and their 'drivers of change' are conceived and delimited. Together, these theoretical insights help reveal the way that the micro-politics of local resource use and the contradictory acceptance and refusals of authority and subjection are not only products of, but also productive of, larger scale political economies, socionatures, governance, and political struggles. The aim is to contribute towards a reimagination of political authority that begins to capture the complex interplay between our attempts at governing a changing world and the inadvertent authorisations, inclusions, and exclusions that we produce in those efforts. The paper partially illustrates the conceptual ideas with an account of forestry and climate change in Nepal. In a context wherein programmes to govern resources have become of global concern, probing the implications of these points is crucial. It is not only that states govern resources with particular consequences for 'environmental change' or 'sustainability', but also that the act of governing resources (re)produces the socioenvironmental boundaries of the state with profound implications for how future transformations can unfold.

Looking at the security environment and the genesis of military education in Czechoslovakia and the successor states, they point to the harmfulness of the ideologisation of this education, underestimation, insufficient funding and the absence of theoretical teaching and practical training in schools of all levels. The basic mechanism of functioning of the security environment not only in the Czech Republic is a comprehensive connection of military education with the life of society, which is influenced by internal and external vertical and horizontal relationships, where there are a number of friction areas and significant security risks. The main players in security on the threshold of the new decade of the 21st century are facing new challenges and perspectives. © 2022 The Author.

This dissertation analyses how the Government runs governmental agencies. Which management methods can and may the Government apply for the purpose of implementing political decisions through administratively independent agencies? Can political actions be conducted with rational methods? In accordance with Swedish administrative practice, Government and Parliament are to set up comprehensive objectives and establish the principal direction of activities, while the agencies are responsible for the implementation of the political decisions. The subject of the dissertation is primarily results-based reports, and results are analysed and assessed relative to the objects. The purpose of this study is to compare how management should work according to political programs and intensions, and how it actually works in Parliament, the Government and Government Office, and agencies. It is based primarily on a close scrutiny of management in eight agencies and in the Government Office, Government and Parliament. Special attention is devoted to the implementation of results-based management in Swedish administration, and also to relations between politicians and civil servants at various stages of the management process. Considerable differences between objectives and reality are found, and also considerable differences between different agencies and fields of activity. Certain parts of the results-based management model have been over-applied, due to the fact that the Government has set too many and too detailed objectives. Other parts are under-applied, and there are too few examples of systematic follow-ups and assessment of activities. Results-based management contains valuable features, primarily that results awareness is emphasized in agencies, but the Government has taken its management ambitions too far. The consequence is that necessary developments and changes in the activities of the agencies have not been implemented.

The SURE-Farm project aims to analyse, assess and improve the resilience and sustainability of farming systems in Europe. Farming systems face a whole range of social, ecological, economic and political disturbances and changes, such as sharp market fluctuations, severe weather events, climate change, new technologies, changes in consumer preferences and in governance structures and so forth, operating at a range of scales (local, regional, national and global). Some stresses on the farm system can be predicted (e.g. retirement of farmers), while other shocks are more uncertain and unpredictable (e.g. flooding, sudden price drop, illness). Project's WP2 aims to comprehensively understand farmers' risk behaviour and risk management (RM) decisions, and to develop and test RM strategies and decision support tools that farmers can use to cope with increasing economic, environmental and social uncertainties and risks. WP2 contributes to the development of RM in EU farming systems by understanding and eliciting farmers' risk perceptions and preferences; learning about farmers' adaptive behaviour; learning capacity and preferred improvements of current RM tools; designing and analysing improved strategies to deal with extreme weather; and co-creating improved RM tools and map-related institutional challenges.

Článek se soustředí na důrazy na výchovu a vzdělávání obsažené v politických programech pěti největších stran první československé republiky. Vychází z oficiálních stranických dokumentů, jako byly volební programy, rezoluce schvalované na sjezdech nebo prohlášení významných představitelů strany. Ačkoliv nelze už ze samé podstaty dokumentů předpokládat, že všechny postuláty v politických prohlášeních skutečně měly vliv na vzdělávání, zachycují vývoj uvažování o výchově vzdělávání jako o součásti kulturní politiky. Přestože vybrané strany uvažovaly o výchově a vzdělávání velmi podobným způsobem a zabývaly se stejnými problémy, uplatňovaly nezřídka odlišné důrazy. Cílem příspěvku je popsat stranické koncepce vzdělávání ve vztahu k ideovým odlišnostem a širšímu kulturnímu i politickému kontextu. ; This paper focuses on educational goals that were emphasised in the political programs of five the largest political parties of the First Czechoslovak Republic. The article is based on official documents of political parties such as programs approved by party congresses and election programs or statements of prominent party representatives. The character of all those documents was influenced by the goal to form statements and inform party members or persuade possible voters. It means those documents are subjective and their content was not necessarily a political commitment. Therefore it cannot be assumed that all the postulates in the programs had a real influence on the education. On the contrary the documents depict the development of the considerations about education as a part of cultural policy. Political parties of the First Czechoslovak Republic were considering education in very similar way and in continuity with development before 1918. They were concerning about same issues especially in the social context but with different emphasises. This contribution aims to describe the party-specific concepts of education in relation to the ideological peculiarities of the individual parties and their cultural and political context.

Three alternative scenarios to the much debated present organisation of the Lithuanian State forest sector are examined: (i) the integrated, where all functions are delegated to one central administrative authority – the Danish prototype, (ii) the commercialised, where State forests are managed by a commercial State company – the Irish prototype, and (iii) the minimalistic, where only negligible forest areas of special importance remain in State ownership – the Swedish prototype. The scenarios are assessed according to six imperatives: (i) sort out the ambiguity of the present structure, (ii) increase the profitability, (iii) reduce the level of public spending, (iv) accommodate changes in ownership structure, (v) rely on a holistic approach, and (vi) comply with the national forest policy. If adopted, any of the scenarios would most likely improve the various elements of State forestry, although in substantially different ways. Politicians will take the final decision that may be supported by the findings of this study.

The thesis has two purposes. The first is to understand the organizational forms of the public administration when it participates in international rule making processes. The second purpose investigates democratic implications of internationalization of the Swedish state administration. A theoretical framework, combining theories of governance with ideas on resource dependence and a neo-institutional approach, is applied to three empirical cases. The cases follow decision making processes within the European Employment Strategy, The Kyoto Protocol for reduction of green house gasses and negotiations on trade facilitation within the WTO. The studied processes can be described as complex and fragmented, containing multiple types of actors and parallel arenas, complex technical material and bureaucratic processes. They were also characterised by the fact that policy was created throughout the course of the processes. They also seemed to lack an ending and were to a high degree bound by their history. The administrations' response resulted in an organisational form that is theoretically developed in the study – enclaves. Enclaves contain members from different organizations, both private and state organizations and the work within them is carried out in an informal and interactive way. They are de-coupled units with stable membership that is related to positions in the hierarchy. As opposed to networks, enclaves are not self-organizing but the membership is mainly controlled by state-actors. The second aim of the study is carried out through a number of indicators derived from the deliberative and the representative models of democracy. The blurring of responsibilities, the lack of transparency and the barriers for entrance into the enclaves made the organisational forms of the administration seem problematic in relation to the representative model. However other features of the enclaves seemed to support a more communicative logic of action, leaving the deliberative model more promising as a way of understanding the administrations' work as democratically legitimate. Still, the analysis showed that the deliberative model also faced some challenges in terms of lack of openness and inclusion of all relevant stake holders.

In recent years evaluation has become a very important element in the public administration. The Swedish state administration to a significant extent both evaluates and is evaluated. This means that the evaluating state is at the same time the evaluated state. In this dissertation the institutionalization of evaluation is studied in a field within which this development has been particularly lively and interesting, namely the field of higher education. The dissertation focuses on evaluation activity that has been carried out in conjunction with central public authorities within higher education: the Office of the Chancellor of the Universities and Colleges in Sweden, the National Swedish Board of Universities and Colleges, and the Office of the University Chancellor, and encompasses the period 1964-1995. A newly revived research tradition within political science – historical institutionalism – is used as a perspective and a methodology. Since the application of this tradition has not yet been fully tested, another purpose is to examine the practical utility of this analytical tool and the kind of knowledge that it produces. The dissertation thereby combines the fields of education policy, evaluation research and institutional theory. The beginning of the institution has been dated to the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s. In the dissertation the forces behind the initiation of the institution are taken up. Events and developments in the field that have influenced the further development of the institution have been identified and analyzed. Developments reveal that the institution has been stable during the entire period of time under study, despite some changes. The use of historical institutionalism as a perspective and methodology has proven satisfactory on a general level. However, special solutions have been required as problems and ambiguities have arisen. The dissertation concludes with reflections on the practical utility of historical institutionalism in political science research.

Environmental conflicts of interest are important to account for when environmental policies are designed. This paper explores the quantitative connection between urban waste water treatment, coastal eutrophication, and fish biomass in the mesotrophic Gulf of Riga (northern Europe). The probable effect on the water quality from one clearly defined abatement measure, improved urban sewage treatment has been studied. Furthermore, the implementation cost and the likely effect on total fish biomass have also been assessed. Computer simulations using the previously published model CoastMab suggested that good water quality according to the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive could be achieved if urban sewage treatment would be upgraded to Nordic and German standards, and not only around the Gulf of Riga but in the whole Baltic Sea drainage basin. The Secchi depth would double according to these simulations while total phosphorus and summer chlorophyll concentrations would decrease by 54% and 53%, respectively. The total fish biomass should be expected to decrease by about 42% if "good" water quality (as defined in European Union directives) should be achieved. However, changes in total fish biomass could also be offset by changes in other important determinants such as climate related variables or fishing pressure. The study estimated that it could take about 20-40 years after abatement action for the trophic state in the Gulf to stabilise again. Upgrading urban sewage treatment to this extent would cost 468-1,118 million euros per year. Treatment could have substantial positive effects on the water quality of the Gulf but could also have adverse side effects on the total fish biomass.

Master's thesis Innovative governance and public management ME523 - University of Agder 2019 ; Developing schoolsexualityeducation policies is a complex matterdue to the controversial and politicized nature of sexuality. This thesisaims at understanding the development of institutional change in the presence of complex policy systems that involvemultiple actors in the policy process. To achieve this aim, itanalyses the actionsof an advocacy coalition that works to change sexuality education policies in Norway.The study adopts the Advocacy CoalitionFramework (ACF)for understanding the interconnections among the macro-level of the political and historicalcontext, the micro-level of the actor's motivationsand the meso-level ofcoalition's goals and strategies. Moreover, it supports the ACF with the Historical Institutionalism (HI) approach toexplain the struggle between the actors' effortsto achieve policy change and the persistence of cultural and political institutions.Through the conduction of interviews and the analysis of relevant policy documents, this study identified aclose interaction and co-dependence among differentelements of the political system. In implementing its strategy, the coalition encountered facilitating and hindering factors that determined the achievement of aslow incremental change. The advocacy coalition started and continuouslyinfluenced the change process through a strategy of knowledge production and sharingthat contributed inchangingattitudes and perception of policy participantson sexuality education.The active agency of the coalition's actors in creating arenas and channels of sharing and coordination facilitated the learning process. Nonetheless, fixed institutions and conflictsof interests hindered the achievement of a major policy change.Therefore, this thesis identifiesthe policy process as a complex interaction among different factors and elements that generate reciprocal influence and jointly determine the process' outcomes. Hence, the study concluded that the institutional setting is essential in determining rules and constraints for the actors.However,the active agency of policy participantscan strategically exploit the historicaland institutional setting for achieving the actors' goals.Keywords: Sexuality education, Norway, advocacy coalitions, institutional change, policy-learning, historical institutionalism

Already from the title of this dissertation can two important points be made. The first is that the dissertation is about the relationship between central and local government, more specifically in Sweden today. The second point is that this relationship is seen from a balance of power perspective, where the relative power of the actors is an empirical question rather than derived from a given hierarchical structure. Such a perspective is based on analysing the actors as interdependent. The central government can thus be dependent on the local government, as well as the other way around, and this interdependence can vary over time and between policy areas. This perspective differs from that of most studies, which often see the relationship either in terms of steering (that local governments are executing centrally determined policies) or local self-government (that the Swedish local governments has a constitutionally protected right to handle their own affairs within certain legal limits). I argue that both these perspectives take a hierarchical point of departure and are, to a large degree, static in their approaches, which means that they risk not discovering, or have problem explaining, changes in the relation between central and local government. To view the relationship between central and local government as interdependence leads to a focus on the resources that the actors possess. For public organisations the most relevant resources are: authority-related resources, financial resources, political resources, informational resources, and organisational resources. The central government has a power advantage concerning authority and financial and political resources while local governments generally have an advantage in terms of informational and organisational resources. The policy area chosen is Swedish refugee policy. The basic paradox within this area is that the central government grants the refugees asylum but cannot give them a place to live without the permission of the local government. This permission is accomplished through voluntary agreements signed between the National Integration Office and the local governments. It is then the local governments that integrate the refugees to Swedish society by providing housing, education, healthcare and so on while the central government is giving the local government a grant to cover the expenses. The central government has lacked political, informational and authority-related resources. The resource used to compensate for this has been the financial resource. By economic incentives the central government has encouraged local governments to increase their refugee reception. This has been the central government's universal weapon and has been used to reduce its vulnerability as well as its sensitivity. For local governments, authority-related and financial resources have been lacking. The resource that the local governments have had, all the way through the time period studied here, is the organisational resource. This is something that the central government simply cannot provide and this is why there is a relationship of interdependence – just as only the central government has authority in its power base, the local level is the only one with organisational resources.

The relationship between the state and municipalities has for the recent decades become increasingly complex, strained and infected. The education policy has for several decades been surrounded by different governing logics and conflicts where the conflict between the state's pursuit of national equality and the local self-determination is prominent. This study examines how this conflict affects the municipal official's approaches to the state's control of the municipal compulsory school through aimed government grants. The study consists of a qualitative interview study of six municipalities with 23 respondents. In each municipality, I have conducted interviews with municipal officials, principals and municipal politicians. The findings show that the aimed government grants should be seen in the field of tension between state and municipality and between politics and professions. Conflicts arise between the municipalities' different conditions as well as their local needs and the state's pursuit of national equality between schools. The municipal officials are assigned significant power regarding how the state and municipal governance is to be put into practice and are therefore given a coordinating central position where they must balance between state requirements, local requirements and school's requirements. The findings indicate that they seem to prioritize the state's target of national equality in favor of the local target of self-determination. The relationship between the state and the municipalities gets exposed through the role conflicts of the municipal officials, which both compete and cooperate. The conclusion is that the municipal officials should be regarded as the state's extended arm, or as "state municipal officials". They possess a double loyalty to the state and local government and must, with this double loyalty, be the guardians of the local and national democracy at the same time. There is a risk that the municipal officials' double democracy loyalty demonstrates that the local democracy ...

The text deals with question of European state formation in research of contemporary British sociologist Perry Anderson . Its first intention focus on how modern European medieval and absolutistic states emerged. The article consists from four main parts: (1) Introduction to theory of state-formation. (2) Analysis of structural and analytical connections between state and society in author´s treatise. (3) Third main part deals with analysis of course of European state-building. On this problem we apply specific analytical model, which distinguish causes, components, progression, and impacts on state formation processes. In this case, author analyzes mechanisms of state building in feudal period 9–15th century and period of absolutistic states (16--19th century). (4) Last part is focuses on conclusion of our findings, especially on drawings specific conceptual model of this process. ; The text deals with question of European state formation in research of contemporary British sociologist Perry Anderson . Its first intention focus on how modern European medieval and absolutistic states emerged. The article consists from four main parts: (1) Introduction to theory of state-formation. (2) Analysis of structural and analytical connections between state and society in author´s treatise. (3) Third main part deals with analysis of course of European state-building. On this problem we apply specific analytical model, which distinguish causes, components, progression, and impacts on state formation processes. In this case, author analyzes mechanisms of state building in feudal period 9–15th century and period of absolutistic states (16--19th century). (4) Last part is focuses on conclusion of our findings, especially on drawings specific conceptual model of this process.